For the Love of Flowers by Carrie Garczynski

Photo courtesy Carrie Garczynski

Who doesn’t love flowers?! Especially now in spring! The first sign that Mother Nature is dancing in the streets…errr...gardens, parks, flower beds, and tiny little crevices that will grow a seed. Here in Colorado we have many kinds of spring flowers: tulips, iris, daffodil, hyacinth, pansies, snapdragon, and alyssum, to name a few. And the great part is that you can help Mother Nature out a bit by planting your own colorful party. (Of course, keeping in mind, our wonderful critters – large and small – also love our flowers, and you may have to safeguard your plantings with fences, etc.).

Easy Tricks for Pretty Treats by Carrie Garczynski

Photo by Carrie Garczynski

We all have pumpkins this time of year – either for decoration or degustation. Instead of tossing or before composting, there are a few tricks you can do to elongate your autumnal enjoyment. Not only do you have luscious pumpkin flesh to create a tasty treat, you have a perfect decorative vase for the center of your table. Decor like this can also be composted when the season is over. 

Go Hug a Tree by Carrie Garczynski

Photo by Carrie Garczynski

Trees around Colorado are abundant, and we love them! We love them for their beauty, their shade, and their ability hold that wooden swing with the long rope handles that we adore in the summer. Trees are necessary for life, and not just ours. Animals rely on trees for food, shelter from predators, and as a jungle gym; the soil depends on them to reduce erosion, hold it in place and to pass nutrients; plants use trees as a food source, shade from the sun, protection from the wind, and a trellis to climb upon. And this is just to name a few benefits.

Cheers to Your Plants! by Carrie Garczynski

Photo courtesy Horticulture magazine

Have you experienced hints of raspberry, swirls of lily, or essence of grass? Yes, in your yard, and perhaps in your favorite bottle of wine. Anyone who drinks wine probably has oodles of wine corks! What do you do with all of them? And what do corks have to do with gardening? 

Well, corks are hand-harvested and made from the cork oak trees Quercus suber from Spain and Portugal. They don’t soak up water, do not rot, are impervious to air, and can mold into the contour of any container.