Harlequins Gardens

Boulder's specialist in well-adapted plants

We’re Open Tues–Sun, 9-5, through October!

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Home Page Feature

Our 2025 Holiday Market Is Open!

Our staff has been busy, busy, busy transforming our store into our 13th Annual Holiday Gift Market!  We work hard to create a beautiful and interesting display of our local artisanal products so that you can shop for your holiday gifts in a relaxed and homey atmosphere.

Be sure to browse our 2025 HOLIDAY GIFT MARKET CATALOG, we will be adding several new artisans and products all throughout the sale!During the Holiday Gift Market you’ll be able to shop our Flowering Bulbs for indoor forcing just in time for the Holidays – and to find houseplants, soil products, and more! Just as in our plants and nursery products, our standards are high. We offer goods from dozens of artisans that are Local, Sustainable, Pure, Non-toxic, High-quality, Beautiful, Unusual, Innovative, Practical, Delightful, and Durable.

VIEW OUR 2025 HOLIDAY GIFT MARKET CATALOG!

We are so appreciative of your support and invite you and your family and friends to visit our Holiday Gift Market again this year!

Five Weeks of

Exceptional Local Artisan Gift Shopping!

November 20- December 21, 2024

Every Thursday through Sunday

10am to 5pm

Our Holiday Gift Market Catalog is divided into 7 categories. Click Below or “In This Section” on the right to be taken to descriptions for each individual artisan or product.

Art & Home Accessories

Body Care

Books, Music & More

Delectable Treats

Gifts for Gardeners

Personal Adornment

Science Fun & Young People

 

DOOR PRIZES!
Weekly Drawings for Harlequin’s Gift Certificates

Entries will be collected every day of the market, and at the end of each week we’ll draw 3 entries to receive $15 gift certificates to use at Harlequin’s Gardens during our 2026 gardening season!

 

The Beauty of Winter Gardens

As the year is drawing toward a close and much of the garden and natural landscape is dormant, we can still appreciate the beauty and interest of plants: the silhouetted structure of our leafless trees and shrubs, the textures and colors of their bark, the berries and seedpods ornamenting their branches, and likewise the colors and textures of dry grasses, cattails and sedges. We can also admire the color and form of our evergreen trees and shrubs, and realize how many of our favorite perennial flowering plants and groundcovers provide evergreen (or red, or silver, or purple) foliage through the winter!

The Winter Solstice season is a time for celebrating the return of the light, both literally and figuratively, and as our daylight hours increase in the outer world, we will also try to keep our inner light burning for love, justice, and compassion for all life on earth. It’s a time for generosity, opening hearts, kindness, sharing, and spreading good news. Here are a couple of our suggestions for valuable gifts you can share:
[Read More]

Spring Gardening Begins!

We are so happy to see you again, talk about our favorite subjects, share some hugs and some news, and to greet new customers too! Among our opening weekend’s first customers were a couple that drove up from Littleton for their first venture to Harlequin’s; their neighbor told them about our Fine Wood Chip mulch, that it knits together and stays in place, looks great, and feeds the soil, unlike the coarse wood chips and bark mulches you find elsewhere.

We had a lot to tell you about last week, soils and seeds, tools, classes and memberships, but didn’t tell you about the plants we have for sale! Yes! We’ve got native and beautifully adapted perennials and herbs that were over-wintered in an unheated but covered ‘house’. These can go home with you now, as long as you can let them ‘harden-off’ for about a week (introduce them gradually to the direct sun, wind and cold). See our instructions HERE. After hardening off, with only a few exceptions, these can be planted in March if you can work the soil.[Read More]

Dead or Alive?

Lace Bark Pine

by Mikl Brawner

As we enter June, most of our trees and shrubs have leafed out, but not all. Some have leaves only three quarters of the way up, and many broad-leafed evergreens are mostly brown. Should we cut them back or replace them? Let’s not, just yet.

[Read More]

The Spirit of Motherhood

The nursery industry is well aware that the majority of shoppers for plants are women. And it’s not just a cliché that women are the leaders in nurturing. Most of us are here because mothers took care of us when we were helpless. It is the spirit of motherhood, in people of all genders, that is turning lawns into gardens and gardens into habitat. When we take plants from pots and put them in to soil, they are helpless until they grow their roots into the earth. Our care and nurturing mothers them until they are more independent. Then our relationship becomes a partnership, and the plants give back to us, too.[Read More]

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

Mother’s Day is Sunday!  Harlequin’s has a plethora of goodies to bring joy to Moms!  First and foremost, you may purchase a gift certificate HERE.

Delightful gifts abound from locally crafted garden aprons to hold your trowel, gloves, and clippers to beautiful glazed ceramic pots to plant your vibrant annuals, herbs, or houseplants.

Glazed Ceramic Pots in 3 sizes

[Read More]

Earth Day Greetings!

It may sound trite or boastful, but truly – every day is Earth Day for us.

We are not just here to sell plants. We have a deep love and respect for plants and their roles in everything from making life on Earth possible for us humans and so many other life-forms, down to the minute details of their wondrous adaptations, behaviors and forms. We want to share all this with you,

[Read More]

Plant Recovery After a Cold, Snowy Winter

We’ve just endured one of the coldest and snowiest winters in the last 16 years.

On December 22nd Boulder saw low temperatures of minus 24 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by minus 10 on January 30th , and again in late February the temperature fell to minus 11. These cold temperatures seem to be the explanation for damage to plants that we are seeing.[Read More]

Pop-Up Markets for Your Bulbs and Gifts!

And now for the surprise! Just when you thought the gardening season was over, and that Harlequin’s Gardens has gone into winter hibernation until March 2024, we have a surprise for you! We will be open for 2 Saturday    Pop-Up Markets, on November 11th and 18th from 10am to 4 pm!

Our earlier fall weather was so mild and beautiful that many of you weren’t ready to think about planting bulbs for spring flowers, let alone holiday gift giving. So these pop-ups will include lots of bulbs on sale (see below), and some of the CURATED ARTISANAL GIFTS we offered at our Holiday Gift Market, now  25% to 50% off.

[Read More]

New Year’s Greeting!

January sun on the gardenTwo quotations greet me every morning, posted on our bathroom mirror: “Tell me. What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” (poet Mary Oliver) and “I wake up each morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. This makes it very hard to plan the day.” (author/editor E. B. White). The first inspires me to define my priorities, while the second, which perfectly describes my daily dilemma, allows me a little slack and sense of humor in the midst of my personal chaos and the chaos of life on Earth in this time. Perhaps you can take some inspiration and comfort from them, too.

 

[Read More]

Hold off on Spring Cleanup and Build a Strong Backyard Ecosystem

Praying Mantis Egg Case

It’s the time of year when we’re itching to begin planting for the season and preparing for this year’s growth. But hold onto those shears! We know that regeneration is occurring in our soil, with microbes and  overwintering insects. Delaying Spring cleanup for another few weeks will ensure a healthy, vibrant ecosystem that best supports your plants.  Here are tips for you to best help this process take place, while still having an aesthetically pleasing garden.  [Read More]

Big Changes in Colorado Curbside Compost Collection

Spring is here and the time is right for dancing in the garden – to stay warm!

You can also work up a mild sweat by beginning your spring clean-up. If you have not yet sheared back your cool-season grasses, like Alkali Sacaton, Appalachian Sedge, June Grass, Korean Feather Grass, Karl Foerster’s Feather Reed grass and other Calamagrostis varieties, now is the time. And if you have any Clematis vines that are categorized in Pruning Group 3, February and March are the best times for cutting them back to 1 set of growth nodes above the ground.

[Read More]

June is Colorado Pollinator Month!

We’re celebrating all month, and we’d love to encourage you to support pollinators in your gardens. 

Pollinator Month is a special time for Harlequin’s Gardens – a time when we celebrate the hard work of bees (honeybees, solitary bees, bumblebees) wasps, ants, flies and bee flies, butterflies and moths, beetles, some bats and birds, and some mammals. They’re all around us, connecting the dots between flowers and food.

Come check out our special pollinator display, which is our whole facility! The descriptive signage on most of our plants is marked with bee, hummingbird, and butterfly icons, and you might notice that almost everything is important to bees, of which we have over 500 species here in Boulder County alone. Even our native bunch grasses can provide nesting sites for bumblebees in the dried leaves at the bottom. [Read More]

Fall Sale Continues!

Our 2022 Big Fall Sale continues, with 30% off most plants! 

Sept. 20 thru end of the season take 30% off perennials, shrubs, roses, and trees, and 30% off soil products in big bags, and Compost Tea. (No discount on fruit trees, veggies, bulbs, 2023 seeds, or Holiday Market Books).

In our experience, fall is the most successful time to establish most plants, especially when mycorrhizae are applied to the roots during planting (and we’re well stocked with several types of mycorrhizae!).  We have a large and diverse selection of perennials, particularly in larger quart and gallon sizes, that are ready for planting. (Photo: Grass Calamagrostis brachytricha)

[Read More]

Fall Sale Updates & More!

Our Big Fall Sale continues with many fresh, new plants added. We are continually propagating and potting up plants, and some of them are just ready now, just in time to go on sale at 25% off!

Our 2022 Deep Discount Area opens today & our Big Fall Sale continues, with 25% off for everyone! Included in this week’s sale are:

Sept. 6 thru 11 Enjoy:

  • 25% off perennials, grasses, vines, shrubs, and trees
  • 20% off Roses. Note: the discount on roses will not increase
  • 20% off Compost Tea.
    No discounts on fruit trees, veggie starts, and bulbs.

[Read More]

Winter Solstice Greetings

Agave parryi in snow

As temperatures fall and the shortest day of the year approaches, most of us are taking a break from the physical work of gardening. But some of us are already beginning the seed-sowing process, following seed germination protocols for pre-treatment – from stratifying (exposing seeds to controlled cold temperature to break dormancy), scarifying (carefully sanding hard outer seed coats) to soaking in hot water or hydrogen peroxide solution, etc. At Harlequin’s, many of our growing-houses are full of seed trays or beautiful plants we potted up in the fall for spring 2023.[Read More]

Fall Sale Updates!

Our 2022 Big Fall Sale continues, with 30% off most plants! 

Sept. 13 thru 18 take 30% off perennials, shrubs, and trees, and 20% off roses, soil products in big bags, books, and 20% off Compost Tea. (No discount on fruit trees, veggie starts, bulbs, and 2023 seeds).

We’ve added lots of timely COVER CROP SEEDS and BEEKEEPING SUPPLIES to our DEEP DISCOUNT offers!

In our experience, fall is the most successful time to establish most plants, especially when mycorrhizae are applied to the roots during planting (and we’re well stocked with several types of mycorrhizae!).  We have a large and diverse selection of perennials, particularly in larger quart and gallon sizes, that are ready for planting. (Photo: Sedum “Matrona”)

[Read More]

Welcome to a Whiff of Approaching Spring!

Rock Garden Iris

It’s probably safe to assume you’re as anxious as we are to get our hands in the dirt, and happily, Harlequin’s Gardens is opening for our 31st season this Thursday March 2nd. We’re so looking forward to seeing you all again!  We’ll have everything you need to get started for the season. Here’s what we’ll have available for you on March 2nd.

[Read More]

Gardening with your Values in Mind

Snowdrops in February (Galanthus), courtesy Bob Nold

Your landscape is not just something to look at.  It is an opportunity to support your values by:

  • Supporting global, local, and personal health
  • Helping to reduce the impacts of the Climate Crisis
  • Nourishing your family with organic, nutrient-dense food
  • Partnering with Nature and learning from your garden
  • Restoring habitat for our critically important beneficial insects, pollinators, birds, wildlife, and native plants
  • Expressing your artistic vision while increasing biodiversity
  • Experiencing the joy of sharing your goodness with the goodness of the natural world.

[Read More]

Crops to Start from Seed in May

Baby cucumber

Soil temperature—not the calendar—is the real signal for when seeds will sprout. Soil warms up far more slowly than the air. Many garden crops can be direct-sown this month when your soil is sufficiently warm to support germination and ensure survival of tender seedlings.

Prominent among these are all the vegetables in the group known as Cucurbits, including cucumbers, melons, summer and winter squashes, pumpkins and gourds.

[Read More]