Harlequins Gardens

Boulder's specialist in well-adapted plants

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sustainable gardening

Rocky Mountain Native Plant Primer

The Rocky Mountain Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden
by Lauren Springer and Bryan Fischer

The great Colorado gardening book we’ve been waiting years for is HERE AT LAST! Over the years, Colorado’s best and brightest garden writers, including Lauren Springer, have produced excellent books to help gardeners understand and work with the weather, soils, plants, pests and peculiarities of gardening here in the Rocky Mountain region. But before long, they were all out of print! With so many new gardeners, ‘new-to-Colorado’ gardeners and ‘new-to-natives’ gardeners needing expert advice for gardening HERE, in our various situations, from the urban-suburban metro area, to the plains, foothills, steppe and mountains, the lack of good resources in print was a big problem.

Fortunately, Lauren Springer returns, partnering with colleague Bryan Fischer, with an essential resource for gardening successfully and beautifully with native plants to attract and support pollinators and beneficial wildlife, and reduce maintenance at the same time! The wonderful photographs, the organization and presentation of accurate, practical growing information, and the solid decades of experience behind this book make it a treasured resource you will refer to for a lifetime. And remember – Harlequin’s Gardens members get 25% off books all year long!

New Perennials, Vines, and Annuals!

This Weekend! New Perennials, Vines, and Annuals

Here’s a glimpse of some of the influx of plants we expect to have ready for you by this weekend! Some are rare finds in limited quantities, so try not to miss out! .

Agastache cana – Double Bubble Hummingbird Mint

Artemisia frigida – Fringed Sage

Asclepias incarnata – Rose Milkweed

Dalea purpurea – Purple Prairie Clover

Engelmannia peristenia – Engelmann’s Daisy

Iris missouriensis – Native Wild Iris

Liatris pychnostachya – Prairie Blazing Star

Nepeta x faassenii -‘Walker’s Low’ Catmint

Tradescantia occidentalis – Western Spiderwort

Dahlia – Bishop’s Children

Dahlia – Short Mix

Nasturtium – Alaska Mix

Nasturtium – Jewel

Nasturtium – Ladybird

Nasturtium – Peach Melba

Nasturtium – Tall Mix

Nasturtium – Tiptop

Pansy – Velvet Mix

Poppy – Lauren’s Grape

Poppy – Mission Bells

Poppy – California Orange

AND MORE!

Cool-Season Vegetable Starts expected 3/26/26

Cold-Season Vegetable Starts – March

We’re very excited this week to debut spring vegetable starts that MASA has grown for us!  These bioregionally-adapted varieties are so robust and full of vitality, and so irresistible!  They are also selected for resilience in our wide weather swings. If you can water your garden, these plants will give you a bountiful head-start on home-grown, delicious, nutritious, greens! We’ll be bringing in more each week.

Arugula Astro
Broccoli Nutribud
Broccoli Umpqua
Cabbage, red Amarant
Cabbage, green Tendersweet
Cabbage, green Tiara
Chard Bali Red
Chard Bright Lights
Chard Fordhook
Collards, Flash
Kale, curly purple Redbor
Kale, lacinato Black Magic
Kale, curly DarkiborCo
Lettuce, butter Adriana
Lettuce, Romaine Forellenschluss
Lettuce, dwf Rom. Spretnak
Lettuce, red leaf Hyper Red Rumpled
Lettuce, green leaf Winter Density

Shrubs and Grasses this Weekend!

Tufted hairgrass

Trees:

Amelanchier alnifolia (native)

Shrubs:

Amelanchier alnifolia ‘Regent’ (native)
Peraphyllum microphyllum (native)
Prunus besseyi ‘Pawnee Buttes’ (native)
Prunus besseyi ‘Flatiron’ (native)
Syringa vulgaris – Common Lilac
Viburnum x ‘Sarcoxie’
Cotinus coggygria ‘Winecraft Black’ – Purple Smokebush

Raspberries:

Heritage and Polana red raspberries

Grasses:

Deschampsia caespitosa – Tufted Hairgrass (native)
Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’ – Red Switchgrass
Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Prairie Blues’ – (native)

Perennials:

Sedum ‘Purple Emperor’

groundcover – Ephedra minima

 

First Tomatoes and Peppers!

There is nothing like a homegrown tomato!  Here they come, Harlequin’s’ fabulous and enormous selection of tomato starts, and some of the first peppers, too! We cover all the bases, including varieties of many uses, sizes, colors, flavors, days to maturity, origins and special qualities, but they are time-proven and resilient in
Colorado. 

Tomatoes:
[Read More]

May To-Do List

TREES & SHRUBS: To avoid breakage from heavy snow, periodically put on your boots, heavy coat, and a hat with a brim, and gently shake snow off trees and shrubs that are already in leaf.

ROSES: If you have not already pruned them, now is the time to remove canes that are dead,
damaged, crossing and rubbing, or growing out of bounds. Make clean cuts with a good, sharp
pair of clippers. Avoid cutting back roses that only bloom in spring until after they’ve bloomed.[Read More]

Tomatoes Worth Waiting for!

Tomatoes: We’ve always started bringing out our outstanding selection of tomato varieties in the second week of April, but a little glitch with our new grower has caused a slight delay…we expect them to arrive starting the week of April 21st. So please hang in there with us – our exceptional, locally adapted varieties are truly worth waiting for!

Anasazi

Aurora det.
[Read More]

More vegetables for your Summer Garden!

Planting a vegetable garden provides access to fresher, more nutritious, and organic produce while also cutting down on grocery bills. It acts as a therapeutic, stress-relieving activity that offers exercise and sunshine, alongside positive environmental impacts like lowering your carbon footprint and supporting local pollinators.

The list of magnificently MASA started veggies is updated to incude:

Arugula – Astro

Arugula – Surrey

Broccoli – Happy Rich

Broccoli – Nutribud

Broccoli – Spring Raab

Broccoli – Umpqua

Cabbage (Green) – Tendersweet

Cabbage (Green) – Tiara

Cabbage (Red) – Amarant

Chard – Bali Red

Chard – Bright Lights

Chard – Fordhook

Collard Greens – Cash Crop

Collard Greens – Flash

Kale (Curly) – Rainbow

Kale (Curly) – Redbor

Kale (Lacinato) – Black Magic

Kale (Lacinato) – Darkibor

Kale (Lacinato) – Mamba

Lettuce (Butterhead) – Australe

Lettuce (Butterhead) – Nancy

Lettuce (Green Leaf) – Green Pack

Lettuce (Little Gem) – Spretnak

Lettuce (Oak Leaf) – Oscarde

Lettuce (Red Butter) – Alkindus

Lettuce (Red Leaf) – Hyper Red

Lettuce (Red Leaf) – Ruby Sky

Lettuce (Red Romain) – CalShot

Lettuce (Romain) – Solid Green

Onion (Cippolini) – Gold Coin

Onion (Grilling) – Red Bottle

Onion (Keeper) – Front Range Globe

Onion (Keeper) – Rosa Milano

Onion (Keeper) – Valencia

Pac Choi – Little Shanghai

Pac Choi – Mei Quing

Pac Choi – Tatsoi

Pac Choi – Win Win Choi

Radicchio – Indigo

Spinach – Hammerhead

Spinach – Kolibri

Spinach – Rangitoto

Dill – Bouquet

Cilantro – Calypso

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serviceberry

Indigenous scientist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer tells us that the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of interconnectedness and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth of berries to meet the needs of its natural community, and this ensures its own survival.

This is the ethic of reciprocity that that lies at the heart of the gift economy, in which wealth and security come from the quality of our relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.

[Read More]

Native and Waterwise Shrubs in Full Bloom -Ready to Plant

Ribes aureum, Golden Currant

You have likely been seeing delightfully spectacular shows of blooms around the Front Range these past couple of weeks. There are currently many gorgeous spring blooming shrubs to choose from at Harlequin’s -your trusted source for native and waterwise shrubs. In stock and ready to plant are:

Amelanchier alnifolia, Saskatoon serviceberry

Amelanchier regent, ‘Regent’ serviceberry

Artemesia ludoviciana, White sagebrush

 

[Read More]

Water-wise Shrubs Available Now

Our healthy, overwintered and water-wise shrubs are waking up! Choose from hardy Manzanita, Banana Yucca, Creeping Mahonia and Western Sagebrush.

  • Arcostaphylos x coloradensis, Mock Bearberry Manzanita (pictured here) is an outstanding selection of a native broadleaf evergreen shrub. Needs good drainage, and prefers afternoon shade. 10-18″ high x 26-60″ wide. Deer resistant, provides winter interest, supports pollinators. Up to 8125′. From Plant Select.
  • Arctostaphylos x coloradoensis ‘Chieftain’ adda a beautiful structural element to landscapes and introduce a more natural look to our man-made urban environments. Plant them around large pine trees, over retaining walls and as foundation plantings around homes and businesses. The green, rounded leaves last all year, including through the winter! These shrubs grow to a mature height of around two feet tall.

[Read More]

Perfect Houseplants for Valentine’s Day!

Who doesn’t love houseplants?  Here a few that make perfect gifts.

Ceropegia woodii ‘Variegata’ (Variegated String of Hearts). The heart shaped leaves boast greens, creams, and blushy pinks. While this plant may look delicate, it’s hardy, needing bright indirect light, and little water. Let it dry out completely between waterings. This variegated version of the  “String of Hearts” vine displays beautifully cascading in a hanging basket. Its petite heart-shaped leaves boast greens, creams, and blush pinks, along with small mauve pipe-shaped flowers.  While this wonderful Valentine’s day gift looks delicate, the care is quite easy. It requires bright indirect light and because String of Hearts is a succulent, let it dry out completely between waterings, generally about 2-3 weeks during the growing season and every 4 weeks during the dormant season. Make sure the pot has plenty of drainage so the roots don’t rot.

Stromanthe ‘Triostar’ (Triostar Stromanthe).  This striking tropical plant’s long leaves are green and cream, with magenta undersides. The leaves change position throughout the day. They prefer to have more consistent water, generally water thoroughly when the top inch or two of soil is dry. An occasional misting benefits this plant as it helps mimics its natural jungle-like habitat.

Ficus ‘Ruby’ (Ruby Rubber Tree).  This pink-tinged variety of the standard Rubber Tree adds an interesting splash of color to any space. They typically grow with multiple stems each with multi-colored leathery leaves, with the newest growth showing the most intense red/pink coloring. The Ruby Rubber Tree prefers bright indirect light with moderate moisture. Generally, they prefer a thorough watering when the top 2 inches of soil is dry.

Roses that Thrive!

Roses primarily symbolize love, passion, admiration, and beauty, with specific meanings varying by color and culture. At Harlequin’s we take pride in our excellent selection as well as the confidence that you will take home a healthy and robust rose for your garden.  We currently have a spectacular selection in a rainbow of colors. Listed by Name, Height, Color, and Fragrance.

AC Navy Lady– 2-3′, Dark red, Light

Autumn Sunblaze– 1-2′, Orange blend, None

Awakening– 10’+, Light Pink, Moderate

[Read More]

Whiskbroom Parsley

Whiskbroom Parsley

In spite of the drought, rambles in local open space parks reveal the early signs of spring. Now showing at a park near you, a conspicuous star is Whiskbroom Parsley (Harbouria trachypleura), a genus with just a single species. Native to Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico, we’ve encountered it from the lower foothills to subalpine locations, on dry, sunny, rocky slopes, but it is even more at home in moist meadows, grasslands and under trees.

Many ‘wild parsley’ species are highly toxic, but this one is edible and was commonly used in culinary and medicinal ways by native Americans. The very fine, bright green dill-like foliage is surprising for a dryland plant, and the umbels (heads) of tiny, bright yellow flowers are an important nectar source for many native pollinators and beneficial insects. This plant is not in commerce, as it spends years developing its deep soil-stabilizing taproot before producing much top-growth, let alone flowering. Enjoy it in the wild!

Dahlias for Color and Beauty!

Hapet Daydream Dahlia

Colorado gardens provide just the right amount of heat and sun that our locally-sourced dahlias need for spectacular summer shows. Our selection of tubers is especially strong this year!

Choose from: Bracken Palomino, Brookside Snowball, Hapet Daydream (pictured above), Kara Sangria, Mondriaan, MM Buttercream, Mikayla Miranda, PG Woodhouse, Robann Creamsicle, Tanita, Orange Symphony.

Descriptions:

Bracken Palamino -Large 6-8″ Orange Sherbet blooms. 5′ tall.
Brookside Snowball – 4″ pure White blooms, 4′ tall.
Hapet Daydream – 3-4″ wide ball form, blend of Pink, Yellow and White.
Kara Sangria – Brilliant combination of Salmon, Pink and vibrant Yellow in a cactus form, 4′ tall.

[Read More]

Houseplants for Winter Health!

Snake Plant, Sansevieria spp.

When the world outside turns dormant, houseplants become essential indoor companions  Bringing greenery into your home during the winter offers several science-backed benefits:

  • Natural Humidifiers: Central heating systems can drop indoor humidity to as low as 10%. Plants like ferns release moisture through transpiration, which helps combat dry skin, sore throats, and respiratory irritation.
  • Mental Health Support: The presence of greenery is a powerful antidote to “winter blues”.  Tending to plants serves as a mindful ritual that reduces cortisol levels.
  • Improved Air Quality: Since windows stay shut in the winter, indoor air pollutants can accumulate. Hardier winter-friendly plants like Snake Plant (pictured here) and ZZ Plant help filter out common toxins while replenishing oxygen levels.
  • Enhanced Focus: Studies suggest that being around indoor plants can boost concentration and memory retention by up to 20%!

This week we have a wonderful selection. Here are a few of our favorites:

[Read More]

Protecting Trees and Shrubs in Winter

Another January day in the 50s? The buds are swelling, crocus are blooming. Only one other recorded winter was this warm and dry. Will these extreme conditions be harmful to our trees and shrubs? We don’t need to panic; our care can help.  

Trees and shrubs do have energy reserves; they have evolved to be capable of living through difficult conditions. Many shrubs need less water and can regrow from their roots. It is normal for buds to be swelling somewhat in January. Trees and shrubs are making leaf buds all winter so that when the day length and warmth of spring arrive, the leaves can unfurl and start photosynthesizing. And if temperatures drop dramatically or suddenly and kill buds, a healthy tree has “back-up” buds and enough energy to develop a new set of buds. However, multiple successive seasons of stressful conditions can cause serious damage or death. Here’s how we can help trees get through difficult times:

[Read More]

Rising Grocery Costs Got you Down? Plant These Veggies for Storage, and Savings

Grocery prices are projected to rise even more this summer. You can save, by planting your own veggies for storage. These delicious, hardy varieties are some of the longest-storing, and can be  enjoyed for most of the winter, and even into spring.

Potatoes:  While all the potatoes we offer (usually available in March) are delicious and hardy, these are the best ‘keepers’: HARVEST MOON -85-100 days. Round tuber with purple skin and deep yellow flesh. Firm texture after cooking, with a nutty taste. Good for roasting, baking, soups, and chips;  NICOLA – 85 – 105 days. Early. Thin skinned, yellow inside and out. Good for winter storage; SANGRE – 80-90 days. Midseason. Beautiful red skinned variety with shallow eyes and medium-sized oblong tubers. Originally released by Colorado State University in 1982, Sangre ranks high in taste tests with creamy white flesh that is especially delicious boiled or baked.

 

[Read More]

Take your Gardening to the Next Level with Essential Self-Care Practices! 

The benefits of gardening on mental and physical well-being are renowned. But here across the Front Range gardening isn’t just laying around in the hammock! (although there is that, too.) For gardening to truly increase your quality of life, a bit of pre-season preparation pays off.

Skin Care:  Stock your cabinet with special skin-saving products now. Our continued dedication and commitment to sustainability extends to what you put onto your body. This season, our excellent selection of body care products that are completely non-toxic and chemical-free. We offer our favorite small-batch, local artisan-crafted products including soaps, lotions, specialty herbal salves, facial toner, lip balms, and our exclusive, famous Dr. Brawner’s Aftershave! [Read More]

Daphne Shrubs

They’re hardy, evergreen, fragrant, gorgeous! Some of you are familiar with Daphne ‘Carol Mackie’, a much sought-after semi-evergreen shrub with cream-edged leaves that try to be evergreen all winter but usually defoliate by February.

But there are less well-known, compact, mounding Daphne shrubs, like ‘Lawrence Crocker’ and D. neapolitanum that are much easier, completely evergreen, and even more gorgeous and fragrant, and we’ve got some very nice ones right now!  [Read More]

Potted Spring Bulbs!

Miss planting bulbs last fall? No worries, we’ve got you covered. Choose from miniature daffodils, chionodoxa, hyacinth, tulips and more.

You can enjoy these in their pots while they bloom and plant in-ground later, or plant the blooming flowers now. Either way, you’ll have blooms for years to come!

 

[Read More]

The Fullness of Spring

The fields and the foothills are turning green! So many trees are blooming or beginning to leaf out! There is so much energy bursting forth everywhere I look! After the lovely rain last weekend we emerged from our Sunday class to be greeted by the singing of frogs in a big puddle in the parking lot! How can they develop that fast???

To help celebrate Spring, we’ve got a really exciting line-up of local live music and dance for this coming weekend and for Mother’s Day, too! And some great deals on beautiful, Harlequin-grown, pesticide-free plants.

[Read More]

Blown Away!

It could have been worse. We are grateful that the severe winds didn’t cause any fires, blow down very many trees, kill or maim anyone (at least not that we’ve heard) or tear off roofs. It must have been a terrible time for anyone that was unhoused.

We lost one small hoophouse that was empty at the time, but the others made it through with little damage. And we were forced to stay closed on Saturday with no electricity, no heat, no water pumps, no internet and no phone. Our huge thanks go to the customers who came out on Sunday and helped us recoup a bit of our Saturday losses. Our phone and internet are still down, but we were blown away by the gracious patience of our customers as we tallied their purchases by hand and if they didn’t have cash or checkbooks, we wrote down their information so we can call them and complete credit card transactions over the phone when we have our service restored. We will continue to provide this service until our internet service is back, and we hope you will come and shop at Harlequin’s with cash or checks. [Read More]

April Garden To-Dos

There’s much to do in the garden in April, from finalizing your garden plan, attending to your tools, to the annual spring clean up and pruning and lawn and vegetable garden prep, and PLANTING, DIVIDING and TRANSPLANTING!

We have your checklist and the information and products you’ll need this month, here.

[Read More]

New In Store This Weekend

Cherokee Purple

THE FIRST TOMATOES!

Anasazi

Black from Tula

Black Krim

Bush Early Girl

Cherokee Purple

Glacier

Green Zebra

Large Red Cherry

Mexico Midget

Moskovitch

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye

Pink Brandywine

San Marzano II

Sun Gold

Taxi

ANNUALS

Poppies:  Papavar glaucum (scarlet), Papavar paeoniflorum (“Purple Peony” and “Violet Blush”), Papavar somniferum (“Heritage”)

Yellow Wonder, courtesy PracticalSelf Reliance.com

FRUIT

Strawberries: Fragaria vesca, Alexandria Alpine Strawberry and Yellow Wonder Alpine Strawberry

HERBS

Chives; Cilantro; Mint ‘Kentucky Colonel”; Greek Oregano; Creeping and Arp Rosemary; Lemon and German Winter Thyme; Stinging Nettle

PERENNIALS

Agastache, Blue Fortune Anise Hyssop

Aquilegia barnebyi, Barneby’s Columbine, native

Aquilegia chrysantha, Yellow Columbine, native

Berlandiera lyrata, Chocolate Flower, native

Coreopsis lanceolata, Sterntaler, native

Delosperma nubigenum, Yellow Hardy Iceplant

Dianthus arpadianus

Digitalis x mertonensis, Strawberry Foxglove

Eriogonum umbellatum, Sulfur Flower, native

Gaillardia aristata BoCo, Yellow-rayed Blanket Flower, native

Gaillardia grandiflora ‘Goblin’, Dwarf Blanket Flower

Gallium odoratium, Sweet William

Hablitzia tamnoides, Caucasian Spinach Vine

Lallemantia canescens, Dragon Head

Monarda fistulosa, Bee Balm, native

Monarda ‘Jacob Cline’

Oenothera berlandieri, ‘Siskyou Pink’

Perennial Poppies – Papavar nudicaule, Icelandic Poppy ‘Champagne Bubbles’, ‘Matador’ (scarlet), ‘Meadow Pastels’; Papavar orientale ‘Beauty of Livermere’ (deep red), ‘Brilliant’ (scarlet), ‘Fruit Punch’, ‘Prince of Orange’, ‘Princess Victoria Louise’ (salmon pink)

Physaria bellii, BoCo, Bell’s Twinpod, native

Ratbida columnifera, Yellow Prairie Coneflower, native

Salvia nemorosa, ‘East Friesland’, ‘Cardonna’

Scabiosa columbaria, ‘Flutter Blue’

Thymus, creeping thyme  ‘Pink Chintz’; praecox ‘Elfin’, serpyllum ‘Magic Carpet’

Veronica ‘Waterperry Blue’

VEGETABLES

Nutribud Broccoli, OP

Radicchio ‘Fiero’

Rhubarb ‘Glaskin’s Perpetual’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pansies and Violas available now!

PANSY VARIETIES:

 

Pansy Ullswater

Ullswater

Claret

Jolly Joker

Silverbride

Beaconsfield

Frizzle Mix

Pansy Jolly Joker courtesy National Garden Association

Ultima Morpho

VIOLAS:

Chantryland

White Perfection

Viola Chantryland courtesy National Garden Association

 

Some Shrubs and Fruits Available Now

Lots of Fruit Trees: the best cherries, plums and apples for the Front Range!

Lots of Berry Bushes:
Gooseberries: Hinomaki Red, Pixwell, Captivator
Currants: Imperial White – great flavor!, Gwen’s Buffalo Currant, and more
Nanking Cherries – Orient, Black-fruited

Fallugia paradoxa -Apache Plume

Lots of great water-wise shrubs, many native!:
Fernbush (Chamaebatieria millifolia) native Plant Select!
Seaberry (Hippophae rhamnoides) – High Vitamin C berries
Western Snowberry – native, white berries, likes shade
Guernsey Emerald Green native creeping juniper – Plant Select
Artemisia Wormwood ‘Leprechaun’ Plant Select!
Rock Spirea (Holodiscus dumosus) xeric native, supports beneficial insects
Mountain Ninebark (Physocarpus montanus )native, part-shade
Lilacs – at least 12 great, fragrant varieties!!!
Viburnums – many varieties
Soongari Rockspray Cotoneaster – Plant Select!
Potentillas – native, many selections
Boxwoods – Hardiest types!
Forsythia – best two varieties, including Meadowlark
Western Bigsage (Artemisia tridentata) fragrant and super-tough native!
Yucca glauca and Y. baccata – both native!
Hardy Manzanita – (Arctostaphylos selections) Choice native broadleaf evergreens
Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa) native super-xeric, long-blooming

Our Community of Growers

As part of HG’s commitment to supporting local ecology and local economy, we have the pleasure of connecting with and (mutually) supporting small growers in our state and our region. Yesterday, I paid a visit to our immensely talented and dedicated off-site custom propagator, Sue J., in Fort Collins. Sue is a self-taught organic grower with decades of experience. She is a nurturer by nature, singlehandedly managing three large hoop houses full of thousands of vegetable, herb and annual flower starts, many of our most interesting and hard-to-propagate perennials, and some woody shrubs. And when she gets home, she raises award-winning alpacas and llamas and tends to a sweet rescue dog who never leaves her side.[Read More]

Mid-March Deja Vu

March is bringing us a characteristic tilt of the see-saw that this month always brings. Tank tops can go back in the drawer for a little while, as this week we will see night-time temperatures dipping into the mid-20s. We are expecting rain (~1.6 inches in Boulder, ~3 inches in Denver!), and heavy, wet snow, too. We’ve been here before; no need to panic. And we need the moisture!

This is when it’s important to make sure your seed furrows are level (so the seeds don’t all wash down to the low end), and when row cover fabric comes to the rescue.[Read More]

Fruiting Trees and Shrubs 2024

HARLEQUIN’S GARDENS 2024 Fruiting Trees, Shrubs and Vines

APPLE
– Cortland
– Freedom
– Haralred
– Honeycrisp
– Liberty
– Red Regent
– Sweet 16
Available August 2024
– Honeygold
– Snow Sweet
– Zestar

BLACKBERRY
– Triple Crown

CHERRY
– Evan’s Bali
– Mesabi
– North Star
– Carmine Jewel
– Romeo
– Juliet

CURRANT
– Alagan Black
– Champagne Pink
– Crandall Clove
– Gwen’s Buffalo
– Imperial White
– Red Lake

ELDERBERRY
– Marge
– Mikl’s
– Thundercloud

GRAPE
– Concord Seedless
– Flambeau
– LaCrosse
– St. Theresa Seedless
– Swenson’s Red
– Valiant
Available August 2024
– King of the North
– La Crescent
– Reliance

HOPS
Available August 2024
– Cascade
– Willamette

GOOSEBERRY
– Captivator
– Hinnomaki Red
– Pixwell

PEAR
Available August 2024
– Parker
– Patten
– Summercrisp
– Tawera

PLUM
– Mt. Royal
– Stanley
Available August 2024
– La Crescent
– Superior
– Toka
– Waneta

RASPBERRY
– Anne
– Caroline
– Heritage
– Niwot Black
– Polana

SERVICEBERRY
– Autumn Brilliance
– Prince William
– Princess Diana
– Regent

OTHER
– Chicago Hardy Fig
– Hazelbert
– Jostaberry
– Orient Nanking Cherry

 

Pepper Starts 2024

Bastan Pepper, courtesy Johnny’s Seeds

HARLEQUIN’S GARDENS 2024 PEPPER STARTS

SPICY PEPPERS

Anaheim
Adaptive Early Thai
Aji Cristal
Ancho Poblano ‘Bastan F1’
Big Jim Anaheim
Chimayo
Czech Black OG
Early Jalapeno
Fish
Hot Red Cherry
Hungarian Hot Wax
Jalapeno TAM (milder)
Korean
Lemon Spice Jalapeno
Long Red Narrow Cayenne
Caribbean Red Habanero
NuMex 6-4 (milder Anaheim)
NuMex Sandia
Pasilla Bajio
Mosco (Pueblo) Mirasol
Purple Tiger
Santa Fe Grande
Serrano Tampiqueno
SWEET and MILD PEPPERS

 

Aurora
Biquinho, red
Italian Pepperoncini
Lanterna Piccante
Shishito
Aconcagua
Buran
California Wonder
Cambuci
Cubanelle
Golden Treasure
Gypsy Queens
Habanada
Healthy
Jimmy Nardello’s
King of the North
Carmen F-1
Marconi Red
Mini Belle
Purple Beauty
Sheepnose Pimento
Sweet Chocolate
Sweet Pickle
Sweet Red Cherry
Yankee Bell

Tomato Starts – 2025

HARLEQUIN’S GARDENS 2025 TOMATO STARTS

for descriptions, click here

 

Anasazi
Big Rainbow
Black Ethiopian
Black from Tula
Black Krim
Black Sea Man
Burrell’s Special
California Sungold – NEW!
Carmello
Cherokee Purple
Chianti Rose
Chocolate Cherry
Chocolate Stripes
Coyote Currant
Cour de Bue
Carbon
Cosmonaut Volkov
Green Zebra
Glacier
Gold Medal
Indigo Cherry Drops
Isis Candy cherry
Juane Flamme
Koralik
Maglia Rosa
Matt’s Wild Cherry
Martino’s Roma
Magic Bullet
Market Miracle
Mountain Delight
Native Sun
Orange King
Paul Robeson
Pink Bumblebee
Pink Brandywine (Sudduth)
Pink Berkeley Tie-Die
Pinocchio
Pruden’s Purple
Rutger’s Indeterminate
San Marzano
Sasha’s Altai
Sungold
Super Souix
Tasmanian Chocolate
Taxi
Tidy Treats
Thessaloniki
Tommy Toe
Yellow Pear – Beam’s
Dwarf – Vilma (a 2024 Customer Trial Selection)
Dwarf – Awesome
Dwarf – Hundreds and Thousands (a 2024 Customer Trial Selection)
Siberian
Aurora Indeterminate
Azoychka
Italian Roma
Moskvitch
Northern Light
Siberian
Sweetie

Custom Grass Seed Mixes!

Sorghastrum nutans

Instead of maintaining a Kentucky Bluegrass lawn, why not try an area of Natural Meadow, combining well-adapted grasses, wildflowers and perhaps some shrubs too. Such a Meadow can conserve water and fertilizers and should not require pesticides or herbicides. Like all gardens, the first 2-3 years will require more weeding, then less after plants grow together. It can be beautiful, provide habitat for birds, butterflies and beneficial insects, while taking water into the ground, preventing erosion and capturing carbon. [Read More]

This Week’s Featured Plants

Viola corsica, courtesy D. Johnson

You’ll be delighted with this week’s featured plants – water-wise, regionally-adapted and beautiful.

Choose among Corsican Violets (pictured), Tansy, Rosemary, native Prairie Winecups, and more![Read More]

2024 Vegetable Starts

HARLEQUIN’S GARDENS 2024 TOMATO STARTS

“Anasazi”
Aunt Ruby’s German Green
Beam’s Yellow Pear
Better Boy hyb.
Big Rainbow
Black from Tula
Black Krim
Brown Sugar
Black Sea Man
Blush
Burrell’s Special
Bush Early Girl
Carbon
Carmello hyb.
Cascade Village Blue
Cherokee Purple
Chianti Rose
Chocolate Cherry
Cosmonaut Volkov
Early Girl Hyb.
Flaming Burst
Floradade
Garden Peach
Glacier
Gold Medal
Gold Nugget
Green Zebra
Isis Candy cherry
Japanese Blk Trifele/Black Truffle
Jaune Flamme
Juliet hyb
Large Red Cherry
Maglia Rosa
Martino’s Roma
Matt’s Wild Cherry
Mexico Midget
Moskvitch
Mountain Delight Hyb
Native Sun
Orange King
Paul Robeson
Peacevine cherry
Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye
Pink Brandywine, Sudduth Strain
Pink Bumblebee
Principe Borghese
Pruden’s Purple
Red Robin
San Marzano  II
Sasha’s Altai
Striped German
Stupice
Sun Gold hyb
Sunrise Sauce
Super Sioux
SuperSweet 100  hyb
Sweetie
Tasmanian Chocolate
Taxi
Thessaloniki
Tidy Treats hyb

HARLEQUIN’S GARDENS  2024  PEPPER STARTS

SPICY PEPPERS

Anaheim
Adaptive Early Thai
Aji Cristal
Ancho Poblano ‘Bastan F1’
Big Jim Anaheim
Chimayo
Czech Black OG
Early Jalapeno
Fish
Hot Red Cherry
Hungarian Hot Wax
Jalapeno TAM (milder)
Korean
Lemon Spice Jalapeno
Long Red Narrow Cayenne
Caribbean Red Habanero
NuMex 6-4 (milder Anaheim)
NuMex Sandia
Pasilla Bajio
Mosco (Pueblo) Mirasol
Purple Tiger
Santa Fe Grande
Serrano Tampiqueno
SWEET and MILD PEPPERS

 

Aurora
Biquinho, red
Italian Pepperoncini
Lanterna Piccante
Shishito
Aconcagua
Buran
California Wonder
Cambuci
Cubanelle
Golden Treasure
Gypsy Queens
Habanada
Healthy
Jimmy Nardello’s
King of the North
Carmen F-1
Marconi Red
Mini Belle
Purple Beauty
Sheepnose Pimento
Sweet Chocolate
Sweet Pickle
Sweet Red Cherry
Yankee Bell

Onions on the Way!

We just received word that our onion plants were shipped today and should arrive and be ready for sale by Friday or Saturday! We’ll be offering onion plants in bundles of approximately 60 to 70 plants, and half-bundles of approximately 30-35 plants.

[Read More]

Harlequin’s Gardens 32nd Season Begins Friday March 1!

This morning the window-shades were opened to reveal a perfect winter day with big, soft flakes of snow filling the air, sticking to the trees and covering the ground. Less than two hours later, the snow has stopped falling and the sun keeps peeking out between the clouds. I know that the snow will soon melt off the early species Crocus and Iris blooms I photographed yesterday, some scouting honeybees will be out gathering their nectar and pollen. I will soon see other spring garden ‘pioneers’, like primroses, species tulips, Bearclaw and Purple Hellebores, Winter Aconite, and our local native Townsend’s Easter Daisy (Townsendia hookeri) making their entrance. It’s all good!

Harlequin’s Gardens is back this Friday, Saturday and Sunday to start another year of exceptional plants and seeds, empowering and cutting-edge classes (see this weekend’s classes below, and our full class schedule here), the best soils, amendments, pest solutions and tools, and everything you need to grow your own plants from seed!

Let’s start SEEDS:

Now is the time to seed many spring greens indoors for transplanting in early spring, such as lettuce, pak choi, mustards, broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard, kale, kohlrabi, and hardy herbs such as parsley, chives, sage and thyme.
 [Read More]

Save the Date – Opening Day March 1st!

Helleborus niger

February is always an exciting time for me. The snow is melting in my south-facing front yard, revealing the first few spring blooms and rekindling my passion for gardening. In my garden, the Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger) and Crocus ‘Firefly’ and our tiny but hardy and tough native treasure Townsendia hookeri are the earliest flowers this year. And at the warmest part of the day, I’ve also seen a few honeybees visiting them. They are the unmistakable, irrepressible signs of spring!

In just a couple of weeks, there will be a lot more flowers blooming , and Harlequin’s Gardens will be open for the 2024 season! We’ll be opening through March in Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays beginning on Friday, March 1st. Classes, soil products, seeds, seed-starting supplies, tools and houseplants await you![Read More]

We Can Reuse or Recycle SOME Plastic Pots

pot recyclingAt Harlequin’s Gardens, we’ve been reusing and recycling black plastic nursery pots since day one. It is very important to us that we minimize our plastic waste. We have always encouraged our customers to bring back to us the nursery pots that came with the plants you purchased from us, and you have responded with enthusiasm, which we appreciate!

But many people have brought us pots that we cannot reuse and cannot recycle, and this has been costly for us. For us to be able to afford this pot drop-off service, we need your help! This year we would like to clarify exactly which pots we can accept and use. Following these requirements is the first way you can really help us out![Read More]

Strawberry Fields Forever!

We’re pleased to bring you a wonderful selection of Colorado-adapted strawberries with real strawberry flavor! You can choose Ogallala, Earliglow, Ft. Laramie, and Yellow Wonder Alpine. March is the perfect time to prepare your bed for planting these delicious fruits that will come back for several years. [Read More]

Soil Preparation Products

Photo Credit: Aaron Favila – AP, and The Daily Camera.

Our Soil Products for 2024 include:

Here are descriptions of many of the soil products we’ll have available at our store (sorry, we are not able to make deliveries). All of these are sold pre-packaged, and we bag many of them ourselves in refundable, reusable plastic bags. Our Compost Tea is sold in refundable, reusable 1-gallon jugs, or you can bring your own.

We currently do have straw in (not organic).

 

COMPOSTS

A1 Compost

A1 Eco-Gro: We nearly always have this premier compost in stock. A1 Eco-Gro is a Class I compost made from leaves, grass, chipped branches, and beer wastes. It contains a healthy population of microorganisms and diverse nutrients.  It is very stable and will not burn or steal nitrogen. Fine-textured, low in salts, with some woody particles. Use in vegetable and flower gardens, lawns, trees, shrubs. The pH is 8.3; the
NPK 1-1-1.

EKO Compost: Made locally from forest and recycled wood products composted with egg-farm poultry manure. Use in vegetable and flower gardens, lawns, trees, shrubs. Improves soil’s physical, chemical, and biological health.

EKO Lawn Topdressing: a finer textured sifting from Eko Compost, ideal to topdress lawns following aeration and fertilizing; gets food and water-holding capacity to roots; great on perennial beds, too.

Organic Mushroom Compost: from a local organic mushroom farm. Premium food for soil life and wonderful in vegetable gardens, helps to loosen heavy soils and improve aeration and porosity. Limited quantities.

FERTILIZERS
Harlequin’s Gardens Fertility Mix: Harlequin’s blend of certified organic fertilizer, humate, rock minerals, dry molasses, land: sourced coral calcium and mycorrhizae. Great for veggie gardens and all plants. Increases root mass, top growth, soil life, and productivity naturally. This is not just a fertilizer. The combination of ingredients and mycorrhizae act synergistically to support soil fertility.

Yum Yum Mix: 2-2-2  Vegan/Organic fertilizer for alkaline, nutrient-poor Western soils, feeds plants and soil microbes. Made from alfalfa, cottonseed meal, kelp meal, rock dust, green sand, humate. Great for native plants, Xeriscapes. Available in large and small bags.

Richlawn 5-3-2 organic: made in Platteville, CO from poultry manure and wood wastes. Excellent for shrubs and trees and is recommended for raspberries and other small fruits. Also economical and effective for fertilizing lawns.

Alpha One Fertilizer: locally made 7-2-2. An alfalfa-based product with a high organic matter content, very high humic acid value, low pH for Colorado alkaline soils, and is non-burning. It also contains blood meal, cottonseed meal and bone meal. Excellent for vegetable gardens and lawns. 20# and 40# bags.

Age-Old Liquid & Granular fertilizers: For foliar sprays and soil application. GROW formula – great, smell-free choice for houseplants, seedlings, container gardens; BLOOM formula – supports plants ready to bloom and fruit; FRUIT FINISH – perfect at fruiting phase for berries, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squashes, cukes and zukes.

Neptune’s Harvest Organic Fertilizers: We carry several of these excellent liquid fertilizers derived from the mineral-rich North Atlantic Ocean, including Neptune’s Fish & Seaweed Blend, Neptune’s Seaweed Supplement, Neptune’s Tomato & Veg Formula.

Fish Bonemeal – A natural source of phosphorus which is responsible for root development, fruiting and flower production in plants.

Earthworm Castings – Worm castings are soil or compost that had passed through an earthworm. What comes out contains 5x more nitrogen, 2x more calcium, 7x more phosphorus and potassium and many minerals and beneficial microorganisms all in water-soluble and plant-available forms. Worm “manure” will not burn and is safe for all plants, including houseplants. Worm castings support growth, root development, and disease resistance.

Rose Fertilizer: Down to Earth Rose and Flower Mix is our substitute for Mile Hi Rose Feed, and it looks good: OMRI Certified: Fish Bone Meal, Langbeinite minerals, Blood Meal, Seabird Guano, Rock Phosphate, Humate, Kelp.

Corn Gluten – a truly safe Weed & Feed; keeps weed seeds from growing, fertilizes with 9% Nitrogen. Lasts 6 months, Apply in March/April and again Sept/Oct for good weed suppression. Perfect for lawns.

SOIL-BIOLOGY BOOSTERS
Compost Tea: In our Vortex brewer, we make compost tea with a biodynamic compost, a mineral concentrate, kelp extract, molasses, trace minerals, etc. Compost tea increases the beneficial micro-organisms in your soil, which can bring more nutrients and water to your plants and make them stronger and better able to cope with stress. It can be used full-strength as a mild organic fertilizer, or it can be diluted in water up to 3 times as a soil inoculant. It can also be used to inoculate compost piles to make materials break down faster. Available when temperatures are frost free. Bring your own jugs, or use ours for a $1 deposit (refundable upon return).

Humate
A natural trace mineral, carbon, and humic acid soil conditioner. It is not a fertilizer, but it has a significant effect on fertility by feeding soil microorganisms that make nutrients in the soil available to plants.

Humic Acid
3% humic acid derived from Leonardite. A natural liquid product with the same benefits as Humate – soil conditioning and feeding soil microorganisms that make nutrients in the soil available to plants. It is applied as a soil drench to established beds where granular materials can’t be dug in.

Big Foot Mycorrhizae
Water soluble symbiotic fungus, combining four 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, trees, all plants (even cacti!); dissolve in water, wet roots.

Myke Vegetable & Herb
Enhances growth, development, and production; dust the granules on wet roots or sprinkle in seed furrow to improve germination and growth.

POTTING SOILS
Fort Vee: Compost based, peat, rock dust, blood meal, kelp, bone meal, gypsum, vermiculite, biodynamic preps; Proven locally at Kilt Farm for seed germination and transplanting of seedlings and potting up house plants. Bag 20 qt (18 lb.)

Ocean Forest: FoxFarm’s top grade with sphagnum peat, kelp meal, bat guano, fish emulsion, crab and shrimp meal, nutrient rich, performs well for seedlings and gardening in containers of all sizes. Bag 1.5 cf

Coco Loco: FoxFarm potting soil uses Coconut fiber (coir) instead of sphagnum peat, perlite, worm castings, composted forest products, sandy loam, bat guano, kelp meal, granite dust, oyster shell, dolomitic lime. Looks good, performs well for seedlings and gardening in containers of all sizes. Bag 2 cf (41.7#)

CLAY-BUSTERS
Expanded Shale: a shale product that is mined and fired near Boulder to create a light-weight, porous “gravel” that holds both water and air, and creates optimal housing for microorganisms. Aids water penetration and aeration in tight clay soils (a Real ‘clay buster’).

OTHER SOIL PRODUCTS
Raised Bed Soil Mix

Azomite: 70 minerals from volcanic source, to increase health, crop yields, root development; support immune function, resistance to diseases, and overall vitality of plants; prevents deficiency problems; good for fruit trees, berry bushes

SOIL-RELATED CLASSES – Learn from Harlequin’s expert educators on topics including: building soil micro-biome, composting, soil selections for Front Range gardening, and much more. Sign up early to ensure your seat — our classes fill up fast!

 

 

What You Need to Know about Front Range Soil, by Mikl Brawner

Nobody would want to spend their winter weekends pouring over soil catalogues. To humans, soil just isn’t sexy. To plants, on the other hand, soil is very intimate, and as we humans know, intimacy can be wonderful or awful. So even though we don’t have any sexy soil pictures for you, we’d like to seduce you into looking under the covers where your plants roots are sleeping, because this is where the action will be getting warmer in a little over a month.

By now, most of us know that plants get aroused by soil, not dirt. We used to think soil was just physical; stuff to hold the plant up, so we could add a strong chemical fertilizer to make that plant, or grass, grow Fast! But we’re smarter now, because we know that soil is also biological—full of fungi, bacteria, and if it’s healthy, hundreds or even thousands of different organisms—all living and dying in a mutually supportive relationship with the plants. The plants share their carbon nutrients from photo-synthesis, and the soil life shares water, phosphorus and other riches with the plants. This is symbiosis—and symbiosis is sexy, because it supports Life.

So even though there is nothing you can do at the moment, very soon, before it’s warm enough to plant, you can start making your bed sexy. Sexy soil sprouts seeds, grows roots and leaves, builds strength, makes flowers and fruit, and defends against pests.

Why bother digging and amending? Why not just plant natives and other tough plants and skip the work? You can….some plants will do OK without much help. But Colorado soils are not Iowa soils. Colorado soils are characteristically deficient in nitrogen and organic matter, and mixing certain amendments with our tight clay allows oxygen and water to penetrate. Oxygen and water are essential to support healthy soil bacteria and other soil organisms. They encourage growth and support plant health.

So how can we support the soil life? Think how Nature does it: tree leaves fall to the earth, dead stems and leaves fall over and after years of snow and decay, a rich layer forms that feeds the soil. We humans are looking for faster results, so we can add already matured compost, healthy animal manures or organic fertilizers and rock minerals, plus, if the clay is very tight, we can add expanded shale. Too much of anything is not a good thing: add 20%-30% compost to new plantings, half the recommended organic fertilizers, a handful of rock minerals, scattered, and no more than 10%-20% expanded shale.

Let the biology do a lot of the work. It’s not hard to add more later; it’s very hard to correct too much. Keep the soil covered with mulch or living plants. Even native plants appreciate some compost to hold moisture and provide a light feeding when they are young. One more thing: avoid poisonous pesticides, fungicides and herbicides, like the plague. They kill or undermine the health of your allies—the soil life. Toxic pesticides are the opposite of sexy; they are like inviting the Grim Reaper into the bedroom. There are effective, non-toxic alternatives.

What about no-till? Not turning the soil makes sense once you’ve got the soil life in a good environment. Then you don’t want to disturb the symbiotic networks. Then you can feed from the surface; good tilth and worms will take the food down.

Harlequin’s Gardens has been guiding gardeners with soil care for many years. We source our materials mostly from local suppliers, and we’re very picky: we don’t sell feedlot manure or bio-comp with human wastes, or composts that are too hot or too raw. We don’t sell chemical fertilizers because they burn the soil life, disrupt the plant-soil relationship, limit plant nutrition and contribute to global warming. Our potting mixes are expensive because they nourish plants without chemical fertilizers. Sexy soils support the health of the plants and the health of the gardener who grows and eats those plants.

The Path to your Summer Garden Begins Here

With some deeply chilling temperatures on the near horizon, gardeners can gain a little comfort by fast-forwarding to spring in our minds as we plan for our 2024 gardens. The predictable and unpredictable consequences of climate change call upon us to observe our gardens more closely, revise our expectations of our gardens, broaden our vision of what makes a garden, and make our gardens more resilient and less dependent on uncertain resources.

We have been absorbed in seed catalogs; the past couple of nights my bedtime companion has been has the always-fascinating J.L.Hudson Seed Catalog, which is much more interesting in print than it is online. Our seed orders have been arriving and our propagators have been cleaning our precious wild-collected seeds, applying treatments to break dormancy (mostly hot water, physical scarification, and refrigeration), and making new plants from old by division and cuttings.[Read More]

Valentine’s Day Greetings!

In our culture today, Valentine’s Day immediately brings to mind Romantic Love, Flowers, Gift-giving and Chocolate. And though this very old Saint’s Day has now been commercialized to the Nth degree, it’s still one of the happier occasions we celebrate, so why not enjoy it in our own way? Romance, Love, flowers, gifts and chocolate are all very positive and uplifting. And we have some recommendations for all of those categories except Romance (you’re on your own there!).[Read More]

Late Fall Musings

Agave seed stalk

The day before Thanksgiving in the Reshetnik-Brawer home was largely spent cleaning the house, but we also decided it was time to cut down the towering inflorescence of our Century Plant (Agave utahensis x parryi v. couesii). I held the 3”- thick stalk while Mikl cut through it with his folding hand-saw (a great tool!), then we laid it down on a ground-cloth to catch the copious seeds that fell out of the hundreds of pods. To me it felt as if we had just felled a large and noble animal or tree, and there were several quiet minutes of awe and reverence. Now that it was horizontal, we were able to get an accurate measurement of the bloom stalk’s height, 14.5 feet, and I counted 34 branches! We will be planting the hundreds (or thousands?) of seeds to produce new plants for you.

[Read More]

Our 32nd Gardening Season Begins March 1st!

As I write, the ground and rooftops are blanketed in snow, and the sun is streaming in the windows. Gotta love the Colorado winter! In less than a month, we’ll be open for our 32nd year as a nursery and garden center, and we are quite excited!

I don’t think we’ve ever had an easy year, but ‘easy’ isn’t an option in this business. So many aspects of running a nursery have never been predictable, and we’re always relating with thousands of details and challenges.

BUT we have a great crew and there are many things you can always count on finding when you visit Harlequin’s Gardens, and we hope you will appreciate the value you receive when you shop at our big little nursery.

For 31 years, we have always been committed to non-aggression, health and environmental stewardship in horticulture and all other spheres of Life. And this commitment will always continue!

We’ll never use toxic pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers.

We are the best source for Colorado and regional Native Plants on the Front Range.

We have and will always specialize in Water-Thrifty plants, Native and Colorado-adapted plants and Pollinator-Supporting plants.

We are always broadening our plant offerings, often bringing into cultivation wonderful local wild plants that were previously unavailable in commerce. (*see below for examples)

Our staff, e-newsletters, classes, and hand-outs offer empowering, cutting-edge organic and environmental gardening advice and education gained from our 31 years of research and experience.

Our customer service team is exceptionally knowledgeable, helpful and accessible.

We grow most of our own plants and supplement with plants from other local and regional growers that never use neonicotinoids.

We grow our plants in our own carefully formulated potting soils that grow healthier, stronger, more resilient plants that will establish successfully into your garden.

Our pest management products are always non-toxic, child-safe and pollinator safe.

We compost and make our own powerful Compost Tea.

We aim to be a zero-waste business: we bag compost and mulches in returnable plastic bags that we reuse to reduce plastic in the environment. We also reuse nursery pots, and sell our compost tea in returnable/reusable jugs.

We offer superior, CO-specific resources and advice for supporting bees, butterflies, birds and other pollinators and beneficial insects.

We test and evaluate our soil products (composts, organic fertilizers, mulches and other amendments), and most of them are sourced locally.

We recycle and use recycled materials for our building projects.

Our greenhouses don’t use fossil fuels; our heat and energy come mostly from the Sun, with a little electricity from renewables. And this year we are installing a heat-pump system for our store!

We are located in unincorporated Boulder County, where sales taxes are only about half the rate of those in Front Range cities.

We support local growers, artists, artisans and musicians as well as non-profit environmental efforts.

We connect our customers with events and other educational and activist opportunities related to environmental, agricultural and horticultural issues.

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Wild Plants we are Propagating in 2024.  We have our fingers crossed that good germination and growth on the unique native plants described below will allow us to bring them to you this season.

The plants we offer will contribute to a beautiful, thriving garden that will be a joy to behold, but they can also provide so much more than a pretty picture to look at. The ecosystem services that our plants provide add much more value to your gardens.

Celtis reticulata, courtesy Oregon State University

Celtis reticulata, Netleaf Hackberry
You may be familiar with the larger Celtis occidentalis or Western Hackberry, which makes an excellent long-lived, water-wise deciduous shade tree. Netleaf Hackberry is substantially smaller, fairly slow-growing to 15’ to 25’ with a spreading canopy, interesting sculpted bark, an attractive twisting branch pattern, rough green leaves and reddish brown or purple berries. The leaves support the caterpillars of Mourning Cloak and Hackberry Emperor butterflies and a number of moths, which in turn, along with the sweet berries, attract and feed many birds. In Colorado, Netleaf Hackberry occurs in the wild in the Front Range foothills and on the western edge of the plains. It is rarely available in nurseries. We’ve seen some handsome specimens growing around Lyons. Cold hardy and highly adaptable to many soils, moisture levels and exposures, it can be grown as a small to medium-sized tree that will not require any supplemental watering after initial establishment.

Mertensia lanceolata

Mertensia lanceolata, Prairie Bluebell, Languid Lady
Dropping way down in scale, we are hoping for good germination on this lovely local spring wildflower that inhabits a wide range of Rocky Mountain habitats and elevations, from the plains to alpine habitats, in dry partial shade under deciduous shrubs and trees, on north-facing slopes, near rock outcroppings and in sunny meadows. In mid to late spring (May and June in Boulder) the delicate bell-shaped flowers nod from slender stems, opening from plum-colored buds and maturing to blue. The leaves are blue-green due to a waxy coating, with a prominent center vein. Prairie Bluebells are in the Borage family, prized for its many striking blue-flowered constituents. The plants can produce sizeable colonies, several feet across and can range from 6 ” to 14” tall. Prairie Bluebell goes dormant by early summer, dying back to its substantial roots.

Argemone hispida, courtesy Mik Kintgen

Argemone hispida, Rough Prickly Poppy
This is one of my favorite local wildflowers. It took me awhile to notice that it was different from the Prickly Poppies I had met before (Argemone polyanthemos), being more stout and shrubby, with grey-green foliage and much more dense, numerous and slender golden prickles on all parts, from stem to bud to seed-pod. The fabulous silky white flowers are just as big (4” wide) and just as stunning as the more commonly found Argemones, but the plant is more compact, up to perhaps 15” tall where I’ve seen it growing. They both grow in the same habitat, so Rough Prickly Poppy is also happy growing dry and hot, and blooms at the same time – May to August. Found in Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming.

 

Astragalus utahensis, courtesy James L. Reveal and the LadyBird Johnson Wildflower Center

Astragalus utahensis, Utah Milkvetch
Utah milkvetch is in the legume family (Fabaceae). One finds quite a few plants in this family in the arid west. They are probably making life better for themselves and the plants around them by fixing nitrogen from the air and transferring it to their roots and the soil. Native to Utah and several adjacent states, this very pretty spring-blooming milkvetch is particularly abundant in the Wasatch Mountains. Its typical habitats include rocky hillsides, sagebrush openings, and pinyon-juniper areas. A rock garden, crevice garden, or the front of a Xeriscape garden with excellent drainage will suit it well. The plant is lovely even after bloom, with its wavy silvery pinnate leaves.

 

Yours in support of abundant Life,
Eve Reshetnik Brawner & Mikl Brawner

Bulbs for every Front Range Garden!

We still have LOTS of gorgeous spring-flowering bulbs! When these ‘buried treasures’ emerge, they are among the first signs of spring and are welcomed not only for their beauty, but also for providing early pollen and nectar sources for our pollinating insect as they, too, emerge.

Customers have been inquiring about which bulbs can thrive in the particular circumstances of their gardens. Whether you have a rock garden, native garden, xeriscape, fragrance garden, traditional flower border, cutting garden, or meadow, or you are living with deer, squirrels, chipmunks, limited water, baking sun, shade, clay soil or decomposed granite, there are spring flowering bulbs you can grow successfully, and we still have plenty of them! We carefully curate our selection to provide the best of the best for our climate and all our various garden types.

[Read More]

You Never Know, with Nature!

Well, that was a false alarm!

You heard it from us (and all the weather guessers in the media) – we were going to have our first freeze, possibly a hard freeze, late last week. As my friend Elise put it, after harvesting all of her dahlia blooms, tomatoes, etc., “Huh?”.

In fact, Mikl and I did clear counter space and we did spend all day Thursday harvesting, cutting down and cleaning up much of our vegetable garden, and starting up the dehydrator to dry what seemed like thousands of tomatoes. And we hauled in all the houseplants that spent the summer outside. Our winter squash harvest was remarkable, especially considering that the bed where they were planted had been neglected most of the season, with only 3 or 4 intentional waterings.[Read More]

Protecting your Plants, Pampering Yourself!

It’s time to clear counter space in your kitchen and bring in final harvests of tomatoes, peppers, basil, ground cherry, beans, and squash for whatever processing you like to do. My dehydrator has been churning out dried tomatoes to snack on and use in soups, sauces and stews through the winter. Frost is predicted for Friday and Saturday nights (29-30 deg. F) and can be damaging or fatal to these summer crops. On the other hand, if you’re not ready to say goodbye to them this week, we have the knowledge and tools you’ll need to protect your plants! (see this article for more)

Our annual, month-long Holiday Gift Market, open through October 29th, is the perfect place to warm up and enjoy perusing the work of many local artists and artisans. Some of our offerings are available this month exclusively at Harlequin’s Gardens, and nowhere else! From art for the home to personal adornment, the best books for adults and kids, from gardening gifts to delicious treats for foodies, you’ll find unique and beautiful items.[Read More]