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.
Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar on fennel
Thank you for doing what you can, and more than you think. We are so grateful that you are keeping Harlequin’s alive, growing resilient gardens and sharing our expanding awareness in tune with Nature. Every garden that is grown without pesticides, that holds organic matter in its soil, that cultivates carbon-consuming, oxygen giving plants, that feeds healthy food to the gardener, the family and the neighborhood, and has space for many kinds of Life…these gardens are soothing the climate and are a gentle Revolution to “Restore our Ecosystem.”
Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. Photo Credit Stephen Lea
As so often occurs in Colorado, our winter was a mixed blessing. Showering us with plenty of moisture in the form of snow and slapping our plants with severe cold that will kill some and make others grow new leaves. We can support their recovery and healthy growth with some pruning once we see what is clearly dead, and giving some organic fertilizer, compost, compost tea, minerals and love where it is needed.
Recent research has shown that the smell of humus exerts a physiological effect on humans. Breathing in the scent of Mother Earth stimulates the release of the hormone oxytocin, the same chemical that promotes the bonding between mother and child, between lovers. Braiding Sweetgrass– Robin Kimmerer
Bok Choy ‘Dwarf’
As always we will have a great selection of organic veggie starts. Eve spends hours and days, reading dozens of seed catalogs, searching for new and special varieties that resist disease and pests, are very productive, taste fabulous, and that we think or know will be successful and rewarding here on the high plains and in the mountains. We think you’ll find the very best choices at Harlequin’s Gardens. Please give us your feedback on what you grow from us; use our suggestion box at our store. We want to know what works and what doesn’t. Go to HarlequinsGardens.com/Plants for a complete listing and descriptions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A FEW NEW AND “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’.
Read more tomato selections ….
Bishops Crown Pepper, courtesy Cayenne Diane
A FEW NEW AND “NEW AGAIN” PEPPERS – Offering 53 Varieties!
BISHOP’S CROWN – New! 90 – 95 days, Open-pollinated, Capsicum baccatum, 5,000 – 30,000 SHU
A graceful, tree-like plant to 4’ and sets a bounteous crop of exquisite fruits with superb fruity, sweet flavor and a moderate spicy kick; resembles a bishop’s crown or a bell; great for snacking, marinades, hot sauces, soups, garnishes, jellies, salsas; looks identical to our milder Lanterna Piccante & heatless Cambuci peppers; beautiful in large containers.
Read more pepper selections ….
EGGPLANTS FOR 2023
KURUME LONG – New! 60 days, Open-pollinated
This popular, early and productive Japanese heirloom variety is a favorite for its cylindrical 9 to 10”- long, shiny black fruits with black calyx, excellent texture and mild, delicate flavor. The attractive, high-yielding plants are very vigorous. Can do well in containers.
Read more eggplant selections ….
POTATO, ONION and ASPARAGUS
about our Potato, Onion, and Asparagus selections.
GARDEN VEGGIES & HERBS
We’ll be 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!
HOURS, EVENTS & SALES
Morris Dancers
about our days of operation, May Day and Members Fall Plant Sales, and our Holiday Market.
CLASSES
Our teachers have spent years honing their skills in Colorado and will help guide you to success. We are charging $22 (unless otherwise stated) for our classes to support our speakers and Harlequin’s educational direction. It is best to pre-register for these classes both in case they fill up, or too few people register and we have to cancel. Pre-payment assures your place in the class. You can register on our website (best), by email or at the nursery.
If you are a member and you want to take one class for 50% off, you will have to come into the nursery to register or register by email (staff @HarlequinsGardens.com) and pay before the class begins at Harlequin’s.
Most of our classes run from one and a half to two hours in length, and sometimes longer for hands-on classes or if there are a large number of questions.
Read about our class offerings and register ….
MEMBERSHIP & WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTERS
about the value of our weekly e-newsletters and a Harlequin’s Gardens membership.
OUR STAFF
We are very proud of our staff, so to help you to get to know us and our specialties, here is a link to our portraits.
Susan Schiliro Guegan brings her love and enthusiasm for Mama Earth when sharing information about soil, seeds, plants, microbial life, and the interconnectedness of our health and the health of our planet. She is often working in the Harlequin’s office. She is Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition & is a Certified Health Coach. More on Susan’s nutrition work at www.mbsnutrition.earth.
Read more about our team members ….
VERY SPECIAL PRODUCTS TO BENEFIT YOUR SOIL LIFE AND YOUR PLANT LIFE
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.
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
Read more …. about our Soil Products, Composts, Fertilizers, Mulch, and Potting Soils.
CACTI AND SUCCULENTS
Harlequin’s Gardens has many winter-hardy cactus: our cold-hardy cacti: Chollas, Ball Cacti and Prickly Pear. Succulents: hardy Agavi, Yucca, hesperaloe, Iceplant, Sedum and more!
HOME GROWN FRUIT
One of our specialties is fruiting plants that are adapted to Colorado conditions. All the apples we carry are resistant to fireblight and good tasting. And the cherries we sell are all proven successful in Colorado. Our grapes are the hardiest of any you will find, delicious fresh, in juice and a few are good for wine.
Read descriptions of our fruiting plant selections ….
ROSES
We are known far and wide for our selection of sustainable roses and for our expertise in helping people choose the best varieties for their gardens and landscapes. We sell roses on their own roots not grafted, which makes them more cold hardy, longer lived, with more flowers.
SHRUBS & VINES
We have a large selection of drought-tolerant shrubs and vines. These will need no water after the first year (except in drought).
PERENNIALS
Harlequin’s offers a huge choice of pollinator-supporting Native Perennials, including:
Sulfur Flower–Kannah Creek
Mahogany fall color. Eriogonum allennii – 3′ wide, very xeric, yellow flowers, a winner. Eriogonum umbellatum – yellow blooms cover xeric native mat, feeds butterflies, bees.
Read more perennial selections ….
TREES
The TREES we sell are smaller than ball & burlap trees that are dug in the field, leaving at least 75% of their roots in the ground. Ours are grown in a container so they have a complete root system and begin growing immediately and are not stressed. Here is a sample of some of ours.
Russian Hawthorn
Very tough and xeric, grows 15’ high and wide, white flowers and red berries, loves Colorado.
SEEDS
This year we continue to offer a wonderful selection of seeds from our local Botanical Interests for tried-and-true vegetables, herbs, flowers, and sproutsl local Beauty Beyond Belief flower seeds and mixes. And from Seed Savers Exchange preserving heirloom varieties & sharing them.
SALUTATION
Thank you, local gardeners, for helping to cultivate a healthy 21st Century World!
Sincerely,
Mikl Brawner & Eve Reshetnik Brawner
And the Great Staff at Harlequin’s Gardens!
I can think of no better form of personal involvement in the cure of the environment than that of gardening. A person who is growing a garden, if he is growing it organically, is improving a piece of the world. He is producing something to eat, which makes him somewhat independent of the grocery business, but he is also enlarging, for himself, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating. Wendell Berry