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.
This is a great week for planting squash, zucchini, cukes and zukes and getting your favorite tomatoes, eggplants and peppers in the ground! This is our final tomato delivery of the season – get yours while we still have them!
We’re excited to bring you another great selection of healthy organic veggie starts this week, plus annuals, trees, shrubs and the soil amendments and fertilizers to keep them thriving! New plants should be available Wednesday.
Castilleja integra
Monday was a perfect day (except for the smoke) for us to take a wildflower ramble in our favorite foothills open space. I had one particular goal: to find Fringed Puccoon (Lithospermum incisum) in bloom. This is a very small plant with foliage and stature that are anything but charismatic, so searching for it when out of bloom is a lost cause. Even when blooming, the light lemon-yellow flowers are only a half inch across. It’s been many years since I have found any Fringed Puccoon in these meadows, and I was hoping that the generous rains we’ve had this month might have coaxed them out of hiding.[Read More]
This is the week for getting your tomatoes, eggplants and peppers in the ground!
We’re excited to bring you additional varieties of peppers and tomatoes; 7 varieties of eggplant; annuals including Cosmos, Petunias, and Geranium; shrubs and trees and water-wise perennials. These will be ready for you on Friday.
We have gorgeous new houseplants, plus the fertilizers you’ll want for keeping your plants healthy all season long.
Serviceberry
by Mikl Brawner
If you look at old photos of Colorado Front Range cities, you won’t see many trees. And if you look up native trees of Colorado, you will find a lot of mountain-growing conifers and just a few deciduous trees that grow natively along streams. And yet the quality of life for us humans depends on trees.
Lilac time is a very special and very short sweet time for us here in Colorado. Here are a few ways to use these flowers for health and well-being, from Mitten Lowe at Journey to Wellness.
We recommend harvesting lilac flowers while they are in full bloom, and making delicious medicine to enjoy through the rest of the year.
[Read More]
We know that not all of customers live in a house with a yard. Many of you live in apartments or condominiums or townhomes and have only a balcony or a very small patio on which to grow anything outdoors. We would love to help you make the most of your outdoor space, even if it’s tiny.
This is the time of year when we have the best selection of plants of the season. We are constantly bringing out new plants of all kinds from our propagators and receiving deliveries of native, fruiting, perennial, woody and xeriscape specialty plants from our favorite local growers.
By Mikl Brawner
Not Just Another Pretty Face
We gardeners see a lot of branded plants in branded pots pushed with a lot of money to make a lot of money. That’s not the story with Colorado’s Plant Select program. Plant Select began as, and continues to be a plant promotion program genuinely aimed at the success of Rocky Mt. gardeners. It’s goals include saving water, supporting pollinators and encouraging a western garden aesthetic.
Digitalis purpurea – photo courtesy First Nature
Does everyone know what a biennial plant is? It’s a plant that spends its first year of life building a substantial root system and a basal rosette of foliage. In its second year, it will have the resources to support a season of massive blooming and seeding. After having done its job, it dies away, leaving the future of its kind to the new generation of seedlings it has created.[Read More]
National Wildlife Foundation celebrates ‘Garden for Wildlife’ every year in May. You can join this effort to create habitat. We have the seeds and plants you need to grow for the planet!
Today (May 9) is the average last frost date in our area, and Mother’s Day is the traditional Colorado date considered ‘safe’ for planting.
Of course, we have lived through enough late-May freezes and snowstorms to be a bit cautious! We offer vital supplies to have on hand to protect your frost-sensitive plants. Ask about our row-cover fabrics when you come to the nursery.[Read More]
Around 60% of Coloradans live under a homeowner association. If you’re one of them, you know how difficult it is to get HOA approval for water-saving landscaping choices. Senate Bill 178 would allow homeowners to remove grass lawns, forcing HOAs to accept the alternative landscaping.
Argemone polyanthemos
by Mikl Brawner
DitchWeeds, Wildflowers, Native Forbs
Call them what you will: when Nature chooses, She knows what She’s doing. And She doesn’t need a human audience. Nature is happy playing to the bees, wasps, butterflies, moths and beetles. We humans can learn a thing or two just by noticing and appreciating Nature’s perfect performance. And that’s just what we gardeners do.
[Read More]
With a clear signal from Mother Nature in the form of a lovely spring day, Harlequin’s gardeners came out to play and shop last weekend, taking in the delightful spring ritual dancing of our friends, the Maroon Bells Morris Dancers, and taking advantage of our May Day sales. We hope you’ll come out this weekend too, to enjoy our wonderful live music!
Our plant sales continue through Sunday May 7th, with a Deep Discount section still brimming with excellent perennials and various other plants, as well as 25% off our beautiful Cool-Season Vegetable starts. (Mountain gardeners – this is your moment!) And for Members, our offer of $5 off a full-price plant purchase of $50 or more still applies through Sunday. HERE are the sale and event details.[Read More]
A Wide selection of Roses, Peppers, Tomatoes, Pots and Planters!
This week, we have a great selection of Colorado-adapted, healthy, plants.
Choose from pepper and tomato plants, herbs, flowering annuals, native and non-native perennials, shrubs, trees, fruiting bushes and fruit trees. Plus the pots and planters you’ll need this season.[Read More]
Thinking this cheery yellow-flowered plant is a weed? Think again.
First of all, dandelions provide much needed early-season nutrition for the bees. If that wasn’t enough of a reason to let them into your garden, every part of this plant is good for you. Since ancient times dandelion has been used as a spring tonic. (That’s right, we’re suggesting eating the weeds!).
Some customers wonder why we are selling starts of self-sowing hardy annuals like Larkspur, Rocky Mt. Beeplant, California Poppy, Peony-flowered Poppy, Sweet Alyssum and Desert Bluebell. Shouldn’t they be grown from seed sown directly in the garden? The answer is Yes, they certainly can be, and if you find a source for the seeds and sow them at the optimal time, usually in the fall, you can get great results. But some gardeners report having little or no success with direct sowing: their timing is off, the seeds are watered in and then dry up and are no longer viable, critters eat the seeds, etc. [Read More]
Did your roses take a hit from the unusually cold winter we just experienced? Perhaps they look as though they didn’t make it, showing brown, shriveled canes and no new growth above the ground. Or maybe there are no signs of life on the canes, but there is new growth just coming up from the ground. Either way, if your roses are growing on their own roots, you’re in luck. If they were grafted onto a rootstock, the prospects are not so good.[Read More]
We have recently received a veritable avalanche of excellent well-written, regionally appropriate books about a wide range of gardening approaches, soils and plants, and more are on the way! Hint: When you become a 2023 Member of Harlequin’s Gardens, you receive 25% off all full-price books, all year!
There is something special and exciting about the arrival of May. In May, Spring weather may still be variable, but there’s nothing tentative about the progress of growth and flowering. They are unstoppable, full speed ahead!
At Harlequin’s Gardens, we love to celebrate May Day. This ancient festival from the British Isles welcomes Spring and celebrates the beauty, fertility, and abundance of the Earth. For 30 years, Harlequin’s Gardens has maintained a tradition of starting off our May Day festivities with hosting the Maroon Bells Morris Dancers, performing their lively traditional dances with bells, music, knocking sticks and waving scarves to bring forth the Earth’s fertility. The magic seems to work!
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,
Corn Gluten and Rose Food are two helpful products you should consider at this time of year.
Corn Gluten Meal
We normally recommend that applying corn gluten for weed control a bit earlier in the year, like February and March, but this year spring is a bit behind schedule, and NOW is a still an effective time to apply it on lawns and other spaces. Here are the details.[Read More]
Spinach Start
Q: Can I plant now?
A: It depends!
Yay! Warm days remind us that the threat of frost will soon be gone! If you’re planting hardy perennials, shrubs, vines, grasses or trees, you’re good to go now (as long as your soil isn’t too wet to work). Our stock of seeds and starts for cool-season greens like arugula, spinach, chard, kale and lettuce are in and ready to plant. And you can get a head start on tomatoes!
Mason Bee
Commentary needed on Senate Bill 23-192 – the Sunset Pesticide Applicators Act
Sometimes you can make a difference. Colorado’s People and Pollinators Action Network (PPAN) is organizing a letter campaign to legislators advocating for greater local control of pesticides.[Read More]
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]
Nourishing Waters, Comforting Sky by Stephen R. Jones
Boulder naturalist, ecologist and author Stephen Jones has been visiting Pine Lake in the Nebraska Sandhills for 35 years. In his beautifully written and moving account, Jones “lends us his naturalist’s eye and compassionate sensibility…..to bring us intimately close to this natural treasure of subtle and stunning beauty “ (Chris Hoffman) and the remarkable richness of its wildlife.
Voting for the Planet, and People
With the election a week away, we wanted to bring a visionary moral community effort to your attention. Over 30 of our local environmental groups are calling on Denver municipal candidates to work for the planet, and people.
This coalition has created “The Greener Denver Platform” for a healthy, thriving and climate-resilient future.
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.
Dear Friends and Fellow Gardeners,
Welcome to Spring, to Harlequin’s Gardens and to another opportunity to mix your molecules with soil biology and partner with nature. Those of us who garden reap tremendous benefits, no matter how experienced or inexperienced we are. It’s no wonder gardeners are healthier and more cheerful.
The 21st Century is an exciting time to be gardening because we are outgrowing the petroleum mentality of solving food and landscaping problems with chemicals and poisons. We are learning how to support Life with biological solutions. It is said that we are now in the Age of Biology because our biggest problems are biological and our most successful solutions are biological. And the United Nations has designated 2021-2030 the “Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.” Some people aren’t paying attention, but a lot of us have already assumed the job of helping to heal our environment, our people and our planet. Every act of kindness, of support, of nurturing and sharing, helps to uplift some pollinator, some frog, some bird, some microbe, some child, some hungry person, or somebody just like you.
A Few New & ‘New Again’ TOMATOES: Offering 73 varieties!
BURRELL’S SPECIAL – New Again! 70-75 days, Hybrid, Determinate
A very productive and ‘picture perfect’ large red salad/slicer tomato developed by Burrell’s seed company of Rocky Ford, CO. The flattened globe fruits average 8 oz, 3” x 2.5”, and have excellent sweet, balanced flavor, plump, meaty texture and small cores, good heat tolerance, and demonstrated ability to set fruit in hot weather. Vines grow to 4’.
CASCADE VILLAGE BLUE – New Again! 75 days, Open-Pollinated, Indeterminate
This lovely indigo saladette type tomato holds well on and off the vine, is beautiful, and tastes great, too. Dark purple-skinned, 3 oz globes ripen to red on the bottom, with a red star shape that forms under the calyx, common to indigo tomatoes. Flesh is red, foliage has a dark purple tinge.
Dr. WYCHE’s YELLOW – New Again! 80 days, Heirloom, Indeterminate
Dr. Wyche’s has been away too long! One of the great heirloom tomatoes featured in Dr. Carolyn Male’s book ‘100 Heirloom Tomatoes’. The yellow fruits are large (up to 1 lb), slightly flattened globes, with very richly flavored flesh , fruity and complex, meaty and blemish-free. When completely ripe, they are golden-orange.
FLAMING BURST – New! 70 days, Open-pollinated, Indeterminate
These crack-resistant, 1oz, 1.25 x 1.75”, golden orange fruits look like a cross between a pear tomato and a cherry tomato, in clusters on a steadily productive plant. Meaty but not dense; juicy and sweet but tangy, not insipid, with the flavor and nuance that so many yellow pears tomatoes lack. The high-yielding plants grow to a manageable 4′ tall.
JERSEY DEVIL– New! 85 days, Open-pollinated, Indeterminate
Jersey Devil is a brilliant red, very prolific heirloom paste-type variety shaped like a plump banana pepper. These sweet and richly flavored, 4 to 6” tomatoes are solid and very meaty, great for making into sauces and salsas, and even eating fresh, and have very few seeds. Vines grow 3’ to 5’ tall, , fruits can be colossal! They yield very heavily.
LARGE RED CHERRY – New! 75-80 days, Open-pollinated, Indeterminate
This famous 19th century cross between a smaller currant-type wild tomato and a domesticated garden tomato bears clusters of sweet, juicy, bright red 1″ to 1.25” diameter round fruits over a long season on tall, vigorous vines. Ideal for salads, stuffing, and snacking.
MOUNTAIN DELIGHT – New! 70 days, Hybrid, Determinate
One of the Mountain series developed by NC State University and similar to Mountain Fresh and Mountain Spring, but plants are more compact with higher yields. Bright red flattened globes weigh 10 oz. and are firm and flavorful, great for salads, slicing and sandwiches. Healthy determinate vines grow to 3 to 5’ tall and are resistant to many diseases.
ORANGE KING – New Again! 65 days. Open-pollinated, Semi-Determinate
One of the earliest full-size tomatoes to ripen and one of the best producers of tennis-ball-size, very meaty, bright orange globes that can weigh up to ¾ lb. Blemish-free fruit grow on stocky 3’ bushes that are easy to cage. An excellent short-season slicing variety, it has great low-acid, sweet, fruity flavor. This Orange King was bred by Tim Peters
PINK BUMBLE BEE – New! 65-70 days, Open-pollinated, Indeterminate
Recently bred by Artisan Seeds to perform under tough conditions, these gorgeous, streaked cherry
tomatoes hang in trusses of pinks, yellows and oranges. Vigorous, tall vines yield loads of crack-resistant fruit over a very long season; bright, sweet flavor; tolerates cool nights and hot days.
SUNRAY – New! 75 days, Open-Pollinated, Indeterminate The beautiful golden orange, blemish-free, 6 to 9oz fruits have a meaty texture and rich, sweet and tangy flavor, said to rival the best reds and perfect for salads, sandwiches, slicing or canning. Vigorous, leafy, high-yielding vines have strong resistance to Fusarium wilt. They are known to be very drought-tolerant and thrive in hot, dry climates.
Returning Varieties: ‘Anasazi’, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Big Rainbow, Black from Tula, Black Krim, Black Prince, Black Sea Man, Cherokee Purple, Chianti Rose, Dona, Gold Medal, Italian Heirloom, Moskvitch, Pink Brandywine (Sudduth), Pruden’s Purple, Striped German, Burrell’s Special, chocolate Cherry, Isis Candy, Juliet, Large Red Cherry, Lemon Drop, Matt’s Wild Cherry, Mexico Midget, SunGold, Supersweet 100, Tommy Toe, Gold Nugget, Red Robin, Stupice, Tasmanian Chocolate, Tidy Treats, Tumbling Tom Yellow, Cuor di Bue, Martino’s Roma, Native Sun, Jaune Flamme, Principe Borghese, San Marzano Redorta, Blush, Garden Peach, Glacier, Green Zebra, Indigo Apple, Floradade, Better Boy, Bella Rosa, Bush Early Girl, Carmello, Chocolate Stripes, Cosmonaut Volkov, Orange King, Sasha’s Altai, Azoychka, Black Truffle, Paul Robeson, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Taxi, Thessaloniki, Super Sioux (Lakota).
Every 5 years or so Congress has the opportunity to transform our food system by revising a piece of legislation known as the Farm Bill, which covers everything from supporting farmers to ensuring food security for all. Politicians and local and national advocacy organizations are working to determine how nearly a billion dollars a year will be spent. You can help!
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]
Two 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.
Harlequin’s Gardens has Two Positions to fill for our 2023 Season!
When applying, please send a resume and a cover letter sharing why you think you’re a good fit for the position at Harlequin’s Gardens. Please indicate the Position you are applying for in the email subject line. Send to: staff@nullharlequinsgardens.com
If you know of someone who may be interested in one of these positions, please share this with them. To become more familiar with our nursery, view our website.
Our nursery provides a busy, fun and stimulating educational work environment. We’re looking for positive, energetic and dedicated, earth- minded folks who love plants, love people, learn fast, and are dedicated to an organic approach, and want to be part of a successful eco-nursery with a great reputation. Our seasonal positions are great opportunities to learn in a friendly, healthy atmosphere. Experience in nursery or other plant-related work and/or studies is greatly preferred but most important is your can-do attitude, organic commitment and friendly demeanor.
CASHIER
We are looking for someone who loves people and loves plants, is good natured, patient, and detail-oriented, and has experience with Square POS or a similar system. The ideal candidate will be able to stand for long periods of time, be content to work inside the store the majority of the time, be physically fit to lift heavy soil products based on customer needs, is a good listener, comfortable with the ever-changing needs in a sales and retail environment, reliable and team-oriented. If this speaks to you please apply!
Ideally, we are seeking a Full-time team member who could commit to Wednesday through Sunday, but we encourage you to apply if you are able to commit to one of the following two shifts: Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday OR Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Please indicate which shifts you are applying for when you submit your cover letter and resume.
Full Time from mid-March through mid-June, 9am-5pm, $15.50 an hour (see preferred days and/or options above. Includes one full day of training. Possibility of continuing through end-of-season to be determined based on staffing needs.
SALES & CUSTOMER SERVICE + PRODUCT ORDERING/RECEIVING
A great opportunity to share your knowledge while assisting our wonderful customers with their selections of plants and products, while contributing to the sustainable success of our gardening community. The ideal candidate will have gardening and/or nursery experience (especially in our region), be able to stand for long periods of time, be content to work inside the store as well as outside regardless of weather, be physically fit to lift heavy product boxes as received including our heavy soil products, is a good listener, comfortable with the ever-changing needs in a sales and retail environment, have excellent communication skills, reliable and team-oriented. You will work closely with our Retail Manager to ensure success and vigilance in receiving and stocking our extensive line of products. If this speaks to you and you feel excited just picturing yourself in this setting, please apply!
Part-time (4 days/wk) including one weekend day, from March, 2023, through October 2023. $15.50/hour. Includes one full day of training. 1 – 2 days per week may be spent on products.
Harlequin’s Gardens, Celebrating 31 Sustainable Years, is a great place to learn about organic plant culture, native plants, fruits, and perennials etc. We have a fun and respectful atmosphere!
Gary Meis teaching
Last Saturday a group of dedicated plantspeople came in from the cold to learn and volunteer with Harlequin’s Gardens’ expert propagator Gary Meis. We’re passing a few of his native plant seeding and propagation tips along to you.
Herbal Tea
Herbal Teas are some of the best home-grown medicines! This time of year infusions of herbs from Harlequin’s Gardens plants you’ve grown can keep you well, and warm.
Buttercup, one of the sweetest squash with dry, golden flesh.
This past season Harlequin’s offered several delicious varieties of pumpkin and winter squash, from arguably the finest tasting pie pumpkin, Winter Luxury, to Buttercup, Butternut and Kabocha.. With cold weather on the way, this week is the perfect time to try a nourishing recipe with your harvests (just in time for Thanksgiving!).
Here’s a recipe from Boulder’s Mitten Lowe and Journey to Wellness for Apple Cider-Glazed Butternut Squash. It’s sure to keep you warm from the inside out. [Read More]
Big Foot Mycorrhizae – combines 4 species of mycorrhizae with biochar, worm castings, seaweed, and rock minerals to provide a strong population of plant allies to bring water and nutrients. NEW
Endo Mycorrhizae – water soluble symbiotic fungus, inoculate roots to bring water and nutrients. Easy to use and very effective. Good for shrubs and trees, veggies too; dissolve in water, wet roots
Myke Vegetable and Herb–enhances growth, development & production; wet roots and dust on the powder or sprinkle in seed row to improve germination
Freshly dug Dahlia tubers
For our Dahlia fans, there’s still time to dig and save your best-performing varieties from 2022 for next season. Our friends at Arrowhead Dahlias, Harlequin’s supplier of dahlia tubers, have easy instructions for harvesting your tubers.
Tuber Harvest:
After the first frost of the season, it is time to dig your dahlias. Dahlia tubers will not survive if they freeze so they must be dug in cold climates, including Colorado. Dividing takes practice and patience, but it is well worth the hassle! [Read More]
Yellow Finn, Purple Majesty, Harvest Moon, Sangre (all certified seed potatoes from the San Luis Valley).
Potatoes should be coming in this week! Call before you come to be sure we have them!
ONIONSIn bundles – Patterson, Redwing, Walla Walla.
In pots – Ailsa Craig, Red Long of Tropea, Clear Dawn, Borrettano, Rosa di Milan, Walla Walla.
LEEKS: King Richard, Blue Solaise.
SHALLOTS: Crème Brulee, Zebrune.
Jersey Knight – All-male hybrid with big spears, doesn’t produce seeds so doesn’t become weedy. Best selection for dense clay soils. Very productive & disease resistant. Cold-hardy to Zone 2 (5 crowns per bag)
Purple Passion – Beautiful deep burgundy spears with high sugar content and antioxidants. Delicious, tender, less fibrous, great raw, turns green when cooked (5 crowns per bag).
We’re bringing you a fantastic selection this year!
ARTICHOKE: Imperial Star
ARUGULA: Wild, Astro (spring), Ice Bred (fall)
ASIAN GREENS: Tatsoi, Pak Choi, Mustards, Mizuna, Senposai, Shiso and more!
BROCCOLI: Fiesta, Nutribud, Aspabroc, Sorrento Broccoli Raab, Piracicaba
CAULIFLOWER: De Purple, Snow Crown
BRUSSEL SPROUTS: Speedia
CABBAGE: Red Acre, Red Express, All Seasons
CELERY: Ventura
CELERIAC: Brilliant
CUCUMBERS: Lemon, Marketmore 76, Armenian, Nat’l Pickling, Silver Slicer, Spacemaster 80, Shintokiwa, and more!
Lacinato Kale
KALE: True Siberian, Red Russian, Dinosaur/Lacinato, Dazzling Blue, White Russian, Baltisk Red, Dwarf Blue Curled, & more!
LETTUCE: Several varieties of each type – Leaf, Butterhead, Romaine, Oakleaf, Batavian, Dwarf, Mixed, Mesclun
RHUBARB: Glaskins Perpetual, Victoria, Canada Red
SPINACH: Caucasian Climbing Perennial (Hablitzia tamnoides), Bloomsdale, Giant Nobel, Lavewa, & more!
SWISS CHARD: Bright Lights, Seafoam, Fordhook Giant, Perpetual Spinach, Ruby Red Rhubarb, Rainbow
MELON: Minnesota Midget, Tuscany, Noir des Carmes
PUMPKIN: Casper, Cherokee Bush, Cinderella, Jarrahdale, Winter Luxury
SUMMER SQUASH: Black Beauty, Costata Romanesca, Dirani, Cocozelle, Jackpot, White Bush Lebanese, Tromboncino, Jaune et Verte Scallop, Yellow Summer
WATERMELON: Early Moonbeam, Golden Midget, Sweet Dakota Rose, Sugar Baby
WINTER SQUASH: Kabocha, Stella Blue, Spaghetti, Uncle David’s Buttercup, Tuffy Acorn, Table Queen Acorn, Honeyboat Delicata, Sweet Dumpling, Butter Baby Butternut and more!
PLUS: Amaranth, Bulbing Fennel, Collards, Endive, Escarole, Ground Cherry, Kohlrabi, Okra, Tomatillo, Radicchio, Watercress & more!
And LOTS of HERBS, both Culinary, Medicinal – Many varieties of THYME, LAVENDER, BASIL, MINT, ROSEMARY, SAGE, OREGANO, CHIVES, plus Parsley, French Tarragon, Cilantro, Dill, Fennel, Lemon Balm, Lemon Thyme, Lime Balm, Marjoram,, Lemon Grass, Vietnamese Coriander, Pineapple Sage, Lemon Verbena, Borage, Savory, Lovage, Cutting Celery, Catnip, Calendula, Aloe, Greek Mountain Tea, Comfrey, Echinacea , Feverfew, Lobelia, Valerian, Motherwort, Mullein, Sweet Leaf, Lomatium, Hyssop, Anise Hyssop, Plantain, Clary Sage, Skullcap, Arnica, Sheep Sorrel, Self-Heal, Rue, Mugwort, Wormwood, and more.
Go to www.HarlequinsGardens.com/Plants/edibles/Vegetables for excellent descriptions of the hundreds of varieties we offer!
We think we are so smart, in a clever way, but these plants have been breeding microbes for centuries which has resulted in wise evolutionary traits that they have developed.
Walter Goldstein, Mandaamin Institute
The 2023 calendar marks the eighteenth year that Boulder artist Theresa has been designing, carving and creating her block print scroll calendars. It has become an annual tradition for her to make the calendars, and for many people, a tradition to buy them for themselves and to give as gifts. The theme for this year is some of the many houseplants she, and many people have around their homes. [Read More]
As the holiday giving season steadily approaches, we invite you to consider our very special selection of wearable local-artisan creations that range from practical to luxurious, including:
Harlequin’s huge choice of pollinator-supporting Native Perennials-including:Castilleja integra – Indian Paintbrush – Brilliant scarlet-orange early summer hummingbird magnet, challenging
Allium cernuum – Nodding Onion – 1’+ tall graceful, nodding scapes of light to deep pink flowers are bee-loved
Heterotheca pumila – Alpine Goldenaster – a rare Rocky Mt. subalpine/alpine wee mound dotted with golden daisies for the butterflies and bees
Hymenoxys argentea, H. scaposa – Perky Sue – Lemon yellow daisies dance above tight linear foliage clumps, xeric
Native Yarrow- clusters of white flowers for pollinators, strong spreading for natural lawn; herb-medicine, supports many native beneficials and pollinators
Lithospermum multiflorum – very pretty, small golden yellow trumpets on 18” shrublet for part shade; north or east exposure. Foothills native no other nursery carries
Scarlet Gilia- Ipomopsis aggregata- red trumpets on 2’-3’ stems call in the hummingbirds; very show in the garden
Native Campanula rotundifolia- sweet blue bells on 12”-16” stems for pollinators; tough in dry part shade
Sulfur Flower–Kannah Creek, Eriogonum umbellatum, E. jamesii: yellow pom-pom flowers are important to butterflies, best native ground cover
Asclepias incarnata & Asclepias tuberosa – Butterfly Weed, pretty flowers, 1’-2’ high, essential Monarch butterfly food
Native Bee-Balm –Monarda fistulosa: Showy purple blooms bring bees, hummers, butterflies; deer-resistant
Penstemon secundiflorus (Sidebells Penstemon)
Many Penstemons including:
P. virens: 2”x 8”, short spikes of blue flowers; shiny, dark evergreen leaves
Penstemon secundiflorus: violet-pink flowers, silvery foliage, long lived local wildflower
Many Columbines including: Rocky Mt., Denver Gold, Western Red, Barneby’s, and more!
Purple Prairie Clover – long lived xeric native loved by many bee species, bright purple-pink, nitrogen-fixing.
Gaillardia aristata- BlanketFlower – beautiful 2″ yellow daisies with notched petals, red centers, can bloom all summer, drought-tolerant. We have the local genotype
Liatris punctata-Gayfeather – butterfly essential late summer/fall, 1′ tall purple spikes, xeric
Oenothera caespitosa
Oenotheras-Evening Primroses – O. howardii – early, very xeric, large yellow blooms turn orange; O. caespitosa (Tufted Evening Primrose) – gorgeous big fragrant white blossoms age pink
Chocolate Flower – 12″ x 24″ wide, yellow daisies with chocolate fragrance, very xeric, blooms all summer
Sphaeralcea munroana: Hardy, 18” vivid orange blooms all spring, bee-loved, low-water, silver leaves, rare
Erysimum wheeleri/Wheeler’s Wallflower: Tall, long-blooming biennial, vivid burnt-orange flowers, HG exclusive!
Geum triflorum, Prairie Smoke
Geum triflorum/Prairie Smoke: CO native, handsome foliage, reddish flowers, feathery seedheads, sun/pt shade
Engelmannia peristenia/Engelman Daisy: Plant Select, neat golden daisies all summer, 18”h low-water beauty
Townsendia hookeri & kin: Native ‘Easter Daisies” grow dry, begin bloom super-early in neat little clumps
Echinacea angustifolia/Narrow-leaf Coneflower: premier immune herb, large pink or white summer blooms on tall stems bring butterflies, finches
Native Pussytoes, Aster, Skyrocket Ipomopsis, Blazing Star, Navajo Tea, Prairie Sundrops (Calylophus serrulatus) and many more!
Many Agastaches –Blue Fortune, A. rupestris, A. foeniculum and ‘Ava’
Sage: culinary, Purple, Berggarten, Blue Hill, May Night, Caradonna, Furman’s Red, Mojave, S. azurea, S. argentea
Dianthus – Tuscan Honeymoon-grassy foliage, 2’-3’ stalks of pink flowers late summer; D. gratianopolitanus – very tough groundcover. very fragrant pink flowers, durable; D. Blue Hills – the bluest foliage, fragrant flowers, 12” diameter; D. Petraeus noeanus – Jasmine Dianthus, powerfully fragrant
Geranium ‘Rozanne’
Hardy Geraniums – Biokovo, Splendens, St. Ola, Crystal Rose, Cambridge, Ballerina, G. macrorrhizum, G.sanguineum
Echinacea purpurea, Magnus, White Swan, E. tennesseensis, E. pallida, E. paradoxa
Rosemary – Arp, Madeline Hill, Tuscan Blue, Prostrata
Harlequin’s Silver Germander (2024 Plant Select!) T. rotundifolium, T. chamaedrys
Many Lavenders – Royal Velvet, Grosso, Twickle Purple, Munstead, Hidcote, Thumbalina Leigh, Vera, Wee One
Ornamental Oregano – Kent’s Beauty, Amethyst Falls, etc, cascading groundcovers, long blooming, bee-loved.
Plus: Scabiosa Fama, Sedum nevii, Corsican Violet, Limonium gmelinii, Lallemantia canescens, Firefly Coralbells
Campanulas, Townsendias, Delospermas, Saxifraga, Physaria, Daphnes, Asphodeline, Aethionema, Hosta Venusta and more!
Papaver ‘Lauren’s Grape’
Snapdragon, Zinnia, Lauren’s Grape Poppy, Petunias, Datura, Pansies, Calif. Poppy, Nicotiana, Salvia, Honeywort, Cleome, Sweet Alyssum, Marigold, Larkspur, Calendula, Cosmos, Dahlia, Bachelor’s Button, Summer Geranium, Nasturtium, Four O’clock, Peony-flowered Poppy, Verbena, Black-eyed Susan, Mexican Sunflower, Hyacinth Bean, and lots more!
We have 4 featured books, lots of Mikl’s hand-picked Children’s Books, plus an ENORMOUS INFLUX of other new books and puzzles! Our Featured books are:
Don the Rooster and Me: a true story of life, death, and the power of gratitude
Our own beloved office coordinator, Susan Shiliro Guegan (pictured left!) has written this deeply personal account of her education as an omnivore. [Read More]
Still looking for the Perfect Gifts for Gardeners?
Gift Certificates and 2023 Memberships are sure to please this holiday season! We want to express our thanks and gratitude to all 2022 members, and to invite you to become a 2023 Member today.[Read More]
We know our customers have beautiful gardens (some have even shared them in our Virtual Garden Tour,) but when the snow is flying, or after a long summer day, it’s nice to retreat to a beautiful home. From hand-printed, dyed or stitched table linens to hand made pottery we’ve found some outstanding gift ideas: the perfect beeswax candle to light up the winter’s darkness, a handcrafted mug for the hot cocoa, an ornament for the tree, or some nature-inspired wall art to bring beauty inside.
We are coming to the end of Harlequin’s 30th year in business and in service to the community. We are so grateful that you have supported us all these years. You have found us in our hidden location, told your friends about us, planted our native flora, xeriscape and pollinator-supporting selections and organic veggie starts, and supported your soil life with our help. This partnership over 30 years has made a difference in our local ecology and in people’s individual lives. Our dedication to organic gardening has been multiplied by thousands of you. [Read More]
We are thrilled to announce that a little miracle has occurred, thanks to our amazing network of friends in the community!
For 3 days, Artemis Flower Farm, located just outside Boulder, will be setting up a tent here, selling high-quality bulbs that their Dutch family imports directly from Holland. Happily, you will notice that there is some overlap with the list of bulbs we had intended to bring in!
We look forward to seeing lots of our customers come out to buy beautiful hardy bulbs and support both Artemis Flower Farm and Harlequin’s Gardens!
And you can still shop our fantastic Holiday Gift Market at the same time!
Here is a list of varieties they will offer: [Read More]
