• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Harlequins Gardens

Harlequins Gardens

Boulder's specialist in well-adapted plants

We’re Open for the Season! Thursday – Sunday 9 – 5 in March!

Gift Memberships & Gift Certificates  – available online!
See our seasonal hours and address, below.

Read our latest e-newsletter!

 

FacebookPinterestInstagram
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Staff
    • Display Gardens
    • Why the Name “Harlequin’s” Gardens?
    • Sustainability
    • Policy on Pesticides Including Neonicotinoids
    • Careers
  • What We Offer
    • Products
    • Plants
    • Gift Certificates
    • Membership
  • Plants
    • Annuals
    • Bulbs
    • Fruits
    • Groundcovers
    • Herbs
    • Natives
    • Ornamental Grasses
    • Perennials
      • Plants for Pollinators List
    • Roses
    • Vegetables
      • Tomato Starts
      • Pepper Starts
      • Other Vegetable Starts
      • Fall Vegetable Starts
      • Garlic
    • Xeriscape
  • Resources
    • Mikl’s Articles
    • Handouts
    • Newsletters
    • Links
  • Garden Tours
    • Virtual Garden Tours
    • Submit Your Garden!
  • Events
  • Classes
  • Blog
  • Wholesale
    • Wholesale Mailing List Sign Up
    • Who Qualifies
    • Wholesale Availability
  • Contact
Home | Blog | Good News from the Old Guy

Good News from the Old Guy

I turned 75 this year so I get to give some perspective on the state of the world. Here is some of the good news that is not being reported these days. I should begin by acknowledging that, oh, yes, there are lots of things that are getting worse, but many things are getting better, too.

In 1976 when I was starting to manage a little apple orchard organically, the general consensus and what I was told, was that “there are two crops you cannot grow organically: apples and cotton”. Lesson: don’t believe everything the experts tell you about what we can’t do.   

When I started Harlequin’s Gardens in 1992, people were not that interested in native plants: “they’re kinda scruffy-looking”. Lesson: people can change their views and wake up to a more intelligent and ecological perspective.

Ten years ago at Harlequin’s we used to be asked for plants that didn’t attract bees, “you know, they sting”. Now gardeners want to plant Pollinator Gardens to attract and support them. Lesson: our world is coming to the realization that humans are only one of the important beings on the planet.

Not long ago if a teacher was asked what is soil, the answer was “clay, sand and silt”. Now more and more people are aware that our soil is biological as well as mineral and that that biology is essential to plant health. Lesson: what we can’t see is important and microbiology is a leading edge of our awakening.

Organic food is continually increasing in market share and is acknowledged as valuable to our health and to the health of our land. Even buying organic landscape plants has moved from “why bother” to “important to our pollinators and to our family’s food”. Lesson: even the power of the petroleum world view can’t keep common sense in the dark forever.

These are just a few of the inklings that our world is on the mend, and none too soon. It’s good to acknowledge that things are getting better and to change our lives so they get better, faster.

 

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

Sign-up for E-Newsletters!

Sign-up for our weekly e-newsletters to receive empowering gardening tips, ecological insights, and to keep up on happenings at Harlequin’s Gardens — such as flash sales and “just in” plants. We never share customer’s addresses!

We do not ship plants!

Our plants are for sale ONLY at our Boulder location. We DO NOT ship plants. Come visit us!

Hours by Season

MARCH HOURS
Thursday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

APRIL-OCTOBER HOURS
Tuesday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

Mondays, CLOSED

Footer

Contact Us

303-939-9403 (Retail)
staff@nullharlequinsgardens.com

4795 North 26th St
Boulder, CO 80301

Sign-up for E-Newsletters!

Sign-up for our weekly e-newsletters to receive empowering gardening tips, ecological insights, and to keep up on happenings at Harlequin’s Gardens — such as flash sales and “just in” plants. We never share customer’s addresses!

Map

Our Hours

Seasonally, MARCH to OCTOBER.
MARCH HOURS:
Thursday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

APRIL-OCTOBER HOURS:
Tuesday-Sunday, 9AM-5PM

Mondays, CLOSED

The plants we grow are organically grown. All the plants we sell are free of bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides.