Welcome May! Below is a collection of Colorado Landscaping advice, tips, and ideas for your home garden this month.

Colorado Garden Tips

1. At lower elevations, begin to plant summer annuals, warm season vegetables, and containers. Average last frost date is approximately
May 10th. At higher elevations, wait until alter Memorial Day to begin planting warm season annuals and vegetables.

How to Divide Overgrown Perennials By: Landscape Contractor Roger Cook, This Old House magazine

2. Divide and replant summer/fall blooming perennials.

3. Plant trees, shrubs, perennials, and summer blooming bulbs.

4. Prune roses when buds begin to swell/break and fertilize monthly.

5. Begin pruning spring blooming shrubs after they are finished blooming.

6. Fertilize trees, shrubs, and perennials.

7. Deadhead spring blooming bulbs when they finished blooming and fertilize. Leave the foliage to die back naturally as the leaves make food for the bulb to store before going dormant for the summer.

8. Add additional mulch to beds and borders as necessary.

9. Continue weeding.

10. Begin scouting for standing water and conditions favorable for mosquitoes breeding.

11. Make sure the irrigation system is providing adequate coverage and water.

Garden Tips for May

It’s MAY! The merry, merry month of May. It’s one of my favorite months, although it goes by so fast these days I don’t get to enjoy it, savor it much. We are so busy in May and there’s so many flowers, trees and shrubs to be planted that May is just a blur. But May work (and that it is) brings June and the rest of summer to life.

This year we are early, almost a month early in the flowering season to be sure. We’ve had such dry, warm days and cool nights that the plants are just going crazy. They are truly rejoicing in their glory even though we’ve had so little moisture it is scary. But rain came yesterday, and a shower today and maybe tomorrow too.

What’s left of the wallflowers on the hill are blazing orange (okay, I’m not going to think of that awful ditch company and what they’ve done). The hawthorne is a blaze of double pink blooms outside my window. Not much blooming at the water feature yet, but it’s close, oh so close. What a little bit of moisture will do!

The spring bulbs are almost gone and the ha_l the other night took care of most of the rest of them, but so much else is happening in the garden it’s hard to not just move on to the next blooming thing. The robins have started building their nest in the crook of the downspout, which means little pterodactyls soon. No garden kitty now to watch out for (frown), but that ditch company sure took out a bunch of cover. We’ll have to throw some stuff around the yard for the little guys to hide in.

The spring flowering shrubs were phenomenal this year! The forsythia bloomed for a month it seemed and the lilac scent still lingers after the best year in many for those as well. The seedlings are up and being nutured. It’s time to plant, transplant, move and rearrange.

Next weekend is Mother’s Day and here in Colorado that means we are past the worst of our weather. It doesn’t mean it’s over, just past the last frost date. We can start putting annuals out and the nurseries are popping with beautiful color right now.

We’ve had May Day, Beltane, and a super full moon all in one week. It made for a bit of craziness early in the week, but things have mellowed and last night the moon was beautiful; so close to the earth you could almost touch it. This moon is called the Flower Moon and aptly so. All things growing are flowering in their own right. It’s also called Corn Planting Moon and we should be planting right now.

It’s really fun to plant by the phases of the moon; to see how it was done long years ago before tractors and internet and readily available produce. If you planted on a full moon, the tides would pull the seedlings to the surface. I personally think it was a way to get out of the house while the kids were asleep and let other flowering begin. Some full moons are crazier than others. Is it really the moon or the tides or just our madness, rushing, doing that makes us more crazy at times? No matter, we are now half way between the equinox and the summer solstice and well on our way to a wonderful summer.

Happy summer! Happy planting!

May in a Colorado Garden

Posted on denverwater.org; April 25, 2012

Denver Water asks customers to reduce outdoor use

April 25, 2012 – A dry winter has created drought conditions across Colorado. Now, more than ever, Denver Water needs its customers to use only what they need.

At its meeting today, the Denver Board of Water Commissioners adopted a resolution declaring a Stage 1 drought in recognition of the extremely dry conditions.

“Our customers have done a good job of using water wisely, but this year saving water matters even more,” said Greg Fisher, manager of demand planning for Denver Water. “We need customers to cut back water use and be mindful of the impact of the dry conditions on supply availability.”

In response to the Stage 1 drought declaration, Denver Water is asking its customers to reduce outdoor watering. Customers can do that by:

Watering only two days a week, and using a day of rain to skip watering.

Only watering the areas of your yard that are dry. For example, if shady areas look fine, only water the dry areas that get the most sun exposure.

Watering early in the morning or in the evening to avoid evaporation.

Adjusting sprinkler systems throughout the summer, starting with using less water this spring. Don’t just set your sprinkler system once and forget about it.

Watering two minutes less.

“We’re seeing conditions very similar to the drought that began in 2002, where we learned that reservoir storage is only one indicator of drought, and those reservoir levels can drop quickly when we don’t get much rain and snow,” said Fisher. “If the dry weather continues, our reservoirs may not fill and we will be vulnerable if there is low snowpack in 2013. We need to maintain our reserves in case we are entering the first in a series of dry years. We must consider the long-term potential supply outlook.”

Denver Water’s mandatory summer watering rules, which are always in effect during the summer, will begin May 1. Depending on conditions, the watering rules could change later this summer. Denver Water’s summer watering rules are:

No lawn watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Do not water more than three days per week (there are no assigned days for watering).

Do not waste water by allowing it to pool in gutters, streets and alleys.

Do not waste water by letting it spray on concrete and asphalt.

Repair leaking sprinkler systems within 10 days.

Do not water while it is raining or during high winds.

During the last drought, Denver Water nearly ran out of water in the north end of its system, which is more susceptible to water supply problems during a dry year. Earlier this winter, the utility changed its operations and reduced the amount of water leaving the Moffat Treatment Plant — fed by Gross Reservoir — to reserve more water in the north end of its system. The utility currently is in a Federal permitting process to enlarge Gross Reservoir to help avoid running out of water any given year and help balance its water system.

“We will monitor conditions closely and keep customers informed of any changes in our watering rules,” said Fisher.

Denver Water asks customers to reduce outdoor use

Colorado Front Range May Plant Sales

Are you ready for the upcoming plant sales here in the Colorado Front Range?
Mark your calendars; get your wagons & carts ready, it time to garden! For you seasoned green thumbs and gardeners, here are a few tips before you head:

-  Know how much room you have to plant, make a list and organize by priorities;
-  Don’t forget your wagon, cart, or bags to haul your purchases;
-  Wear your hat, comfortable shoes, bring sunscreen and water;
-  Bring cash and checkbooks, charge cards may not be accepted;
-  If you want it don’t leave it unattended;

Below are a few local plant sales we discovered along the front range:

Plant sale at the Pueblo Zoo – May 5
Presented by the Pueblo Zoo and Colorado Master Gardeners; Perennials, annuals, waterwise plant, rock gardening plants, hanging baskets. The Zoo’s Bloomin’ again this year for the Annual Spring Plant Sale on May 5.  This is not your ordinary plant sale.  The Zoo, once again, has teamed up with the Colorado Master Gardeners, plants, such as unique “water-wise” species, as well as annuals and perennials, will be offered for sale from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at the Mandari Picnic Shelter.  Plant advice from the experts is FREE!  Zoo admission is not required to attend the sale.

8 am to 2 pm at the zoo – May 5, 2012
3455 Nuckolls Ave., Pueblo.
719-561-1452 / http://www.pueblozoo.org/eventsPage.shtml

Denver Botanical Gardens – May 10-12, 2012
Celebrate the gardening season at the Spring Plant Sale! Purchase from more than ten plant divisions (specialized collections of plants) and get expert advice–the sale is the best way to start your gardening season. Here is a list of plants that will be available at the Plant Sale Preview Party and the Plant Sale.

Plant Sale Preview Party – Thursday, May 10, 2012
Plant Sale – Friday, May 11 & Saturday, May 12, 2012 opens at 8:30 am

http://www.botanicgardens.org/events-exhibits/special-events/spring-plant-sale

Members receive 10% discount on all purchases when they present their membership card.

Annual Spring Plant Sale – May 12
Shoppers can select from a wide variety of bedding plants, vegetable plants, herbs, ornamental grasses, perennials, hanging baskets, and color bowls. Plants grown by the Gardens on Spring Creek and students of Colorado State University and Front Range Community College. Proceeds support horticulture programs at each organization.

Friday, May 11, 3 pm – 7 pm: members only shopping hours
Saturday, May 12, 9 am – 4 pm
2145 Centre Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80526
970.416.2486 / http://www.fcgov.com/gardens/

Colorado Springs Horticultural Art Society Annual Gigantic Plant Sale – May 18-20
Everyone is welcome at this popular plant sale, featuring many native, xeric and heirloom plants that are hard to find anywhere else! Come shop from the hundreds of varieties of perennials, annuals and drought-hardy plants. We’ll also have many varieties of organic heirloom.

9 am to 5 pm – May 18-20
Demonstration Garden, Monument Valley Park
www.hasgardens.org

Friends of the Library Plant Sale – May 12
If the weather is good, we will also have plants outside! Everyone is encouraged to donate your overadundance of perennials or other plants to our sale the week prior to the sale! Stop in and catch some great deals!

May 12, 2011, in our work room from 8:00 a.m. to noon.
http://www.denver.lib.ia.us/Friends/plant2012

Plant-A-Palooza Plant Sale – May 19
It’s almost time for the CSU Extension Colorado Master Gardeners fundraiser, featuring short season tomatoes & productive New Mexico chiles,

May 19, 8a.m.-3p.m.
888 E. Iliff Ave. in Harvard Gulch Park. Info: 720-913-5270.
http://events.colostate.edu/event_view.asp?EID=38730&ID=59&cTYPE=1&month=5&year=2012&cate=

FROG Plant Sale – May 19, 2012
Large selection of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, herbs, other vegetables, perennials and ground covers. Cash only.

9am – 1pm, – May 19, 2012
Denver Presbytery Center, 1710 S. Grant St.
303-744-7871 / http://www.gardenfrog.org/PlantSales.html

Growing Gardens Community Plant Sale – May 5; 12-13; 19-20
Thousands of vegetable seedlings, plus annuals and perennials. Benefits Growing Gardens programming such as Cultiva! Youth Project, Able Gardening, and community gardens.

8 am to 4 pm – May 5; 12-13; 19-20
1630 Hawthorn Ave. in Boulder.
http://www.growinggardens.org/community-plant-sale

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Memorial Day Weekend Plant Sale -  May 26-28
Once again, the largest plant selection to date, with incredible prices. Proceeds from the event go toward supporting the Horticulture Department, and the Zoo’s Horticulture Staff will be on hand to answer gardening questions.

Saturday, Sunday & Monday, 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. daily
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
www.cmzoo.org/animalsPlants/plants/horticultureHappenings.asp

Colorado Front Range May Plant Sales

Drought Conditions Threaten.

You are probably aware of media reports about widespread concerns over dry conditions and snow pack this season.

Today, Denver Water announced a Drought Watch (Stage 1) Response. Stage 1 is a voluntary call to reduce water use up to 10% and involves an advisory that continued dry weather could lead to a Stage 2 response.

We have known for some time that the Colorado River basin is reportedly a mirror-image of what it was preceding the drought of 2002. Denver Water’s announcement today, given our hot, dry spring and concerns over water supply, is no surprise. We will be monitoring what other Denver metro water providers do in the days ahead.

Drought Conditions Threaten Colorado

Find us tomorrow making a difference! Nearly 100 ALCC volunteers will be out tomorrow making things happen with plants, shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows . . . and in the process bringing food, places to gather and healing gardens for others in our communities. The PLANET/ALCC National Day of Service is when the green industry gives back to the people and places we love in and around our own home towns.

“Thursday, 12 April 2012

Feeling good about the ALCC 2012 National Day of Service

What’s that Chinese proverb about if you teach someone to fish, you feed him for a lifetime? Isn’t it the same about gardening?

If you teach someone how to grow a garden, they can raise food for a lifetime—and a gain a whole lot more in the process. Gardening not only nourishes the body with the harvest, but reduces stress and burns as many calories in 45 minutes as 30 minutes of aerobics.

This is what two of ALCC’s 2012 National Day of Service projects on Friday, April 20, are all about. In Colorado Springs, our team is helping to develop a community garden for AspenPointe Enterprises. They provide education and employment for the disabled, high risk youth, seniors and veterans. This garden will help them help their people even more.

In the Denver area, our team is developing a veggie garden for the Girl Sprouts (great name, isn’t it?) at Excelsior Youth Center in Aurora—a school for at-risk teenage girls. The Sprouts have already been gardening for a couple years, but needed a proper garden with good soil and a master plan that gives structure as they expand their efforts.

Up north, our project isn’t growing edibles, but it touches another basic level of human need. Our team is actually un-paving a parking lot to create paradise in the form of a healing garden. Here staff, patients and visitors at Poudre Valley Hospital, Fort Collins, will find tranquility and healing in this outdoor space.

Isn’t it great to know that even a parking lot can be transformed to a peaceful oasis? Just one more step in a healthy direction!

On April 20, our industry will be touching a lot of people’s lives to help them meet and cope with very basic needs. It’s exciting and humbling at the same time.

And if you’d like to get in on doing good in our communities, there’s still time to volunteer and help people live better by getting closer to the earth. Oh, I almost failed to mention, these projects are also timely because they coincide with the observance of Earth Day!”

ALCC National Day of Service

Unless we get some moisture, it could be a bad year for water as reported by the U.S. Drought Monitor, Colorado Drought Watch Details. Meanwhile, the West is slipping a bit further into drought. As a region, the states from the Rockies to the West Coast saw a one-percentage-point increase in both “moderate” and “severe” drought.However, the changes were more pronounced in Colorado, where firefighters continue to battle a deadly and destructive wildfire west of Denver. For the first time since May 10, 2011, more than half the state is in some stage of drought, although “severe” drought remains far less common than it was during most of 2011.The lack of snow this month isn’t helping. Denver has only had a trace of snow this month, which will break the record for the least snow on record in March — a record that has stood since 1883, when a measly three-tenths of one inch fell. With highs in the 70s and 80s the rest of this month, that record will be broken.

Slipping into Drought

SPRING

Yesterday was the first official day of spring, the season of birth, re-birth, new, re-newal, hope. The trees, shrubs and bulbs are budding, some even blooming. Perennials are emerging from the ground, re-birth, re-new each year.

 This is the time of year of love, harmony and new beginnings. The robins are here, looking for worms and places to nest. The sun is a little higher in the sky, a little warmer in the mornings. The days are longer. There’s a little more cheer in the air. The Earth has awakened.

We just celebrated the equinox when the days and nights are the same length. St. Patrick’s Day is just past – it’s time to get those root veggies in the ground. St. Patty’s Day is the perfect time to plant potatoes, onions, carrots and beans.

The Italians just celebrated Women’s Day, Festa della Donna, where men bring yellow mimosas to the women in their lives. Mmmm, mimosas, both flowers and drinks. The Ides of March have passed with no apparent ill effects, except for Caesar all those years ago. The donkey race now seems to be the event at St. Joseph’s Day, which is also celebrated this week.

The spirit of new growth, fresh beginnings, rebirth and renewal, Eostre, the goddess of spring fertility, dances exuberance. She calls to the tune of the rhythm of the earth, to awaken, to embrace fresh growth, to live and rejoice. Eostre is the pagan root of the Christian holiday of Easter. We embrace bunnies, chicks, eggs, all a symbol of the pagan rituals of spring. We embrace the resurrection of Christ, his rebirth, miracles of life. The Mayans celebrated the Spring equinox and this year was no exception. Will it really be the end of civilization after the winter equinox this year? If so, the Mayans had it right by partying big at all the equinoxes, culminating this winter with the end of the calendar.

The Spring Equinox is associated with, or known as: Alban Eilir, Eostar, Eostre, Feast of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Festival of Trees, Lady Day, NawRuz, No Ruz, Ostara, Ostra, Rites of Spring, and the Vernal Equinox. All the religions and most every country have a Spring celebration.

Life is upon us once again. Revel in the warmth, the buds, the coming of the new. What does this year hold for you? After a long cold winter, Spring comes just when you need it most. We are much like our yards, hibernating in winter and returning to the outdoors in Spring, waiting, coaxing, beckoning.

Spring

When you left for your walk this morning, what did you see? Did you notice the crocus blooming in your yard? There were only 2, but they were open, many more ready to go. Did you see the daffodils and tulips peeking through the ground? Did you see the skunk lying dead next to the road or only smell him after you passed?

Why did you choose to walk a different way from your normal route around the lake? Was it to see the coyote walking across the field with breakfast in his mouth, then put it down to munch? Did you notice the red wing blackbird call to, or perhaps for, a mate? An answer coming from a ways away, where is she? Did you even see him in the cattails? Did you notice the Canada goose sitting on the beaver mound, keeping watch, his spouse behind the mound in the water?

Did you see the trees topped by mother nature this winter, the entire top standing up next to the tree? Did you notice the pair of ducks, not on the lake with the rest, but in the standing water next to the path? Is she already pregnant or did they just want some alone time, away from the pack? Did you stop to watch the geese take off from the lake right over your head? Can you hear the wings beating, that plastic swishy noise of wind through their feathers as they rise? Or were you plugged in, turned on, tuned out?

Were you chatting with your friend and didn’t notice the sparrow scamper in front of you seeking cover in the brush not yet come to life? Your dog did.  Were you looking out over the lake, at the mountains shining in the morning sun when the coyote walked by, less than 10 feet away? Did you feel his presence, look him in the eye and say hello? Did you notice the broken tree branch that looked like an ostrich head and neck sticking up out of the tree? There, can you see the start of a new nest in the still-barren trees? Look at the bright green under the snow crushed foliage.

Was your walk just another duty in your day or is your exercise to see with both eyes, listen with both ears, to move among nature, another creature? Did you see the single girl, followed by 2 boys, ducks on the water looking for a wife? Or were you getting your exercise out of the way before the rest of your day, thinking of what was next, not what was now? Look out over the lake and notice the ducks swimming in pairs, teens at the prom? Was this an “exercise” in futility to notice those around you, all creatures great and small? Yes, you nod and say hello to the two legged creatures walking past you, but do you acknowledge all the others? Do you even see them, hear them? Courting, ready to nest, starting to produce new life?

Today it’s warm, but snow is coming tomorrow. You can see the clouds over the mountains, the wind will blow this afternoon, pushing the moisture ever closer. There’s still snow on the ground, but bulbs are poking out in the bare spaces; sure signs that spring is really on its way.

Will you notice the signs of spring?

Signs of Spring

MMMmmmm, Snow. 17” and still falling seems a little excessive, but it’s snow – and wet snow mostly at that. Wet snow means moisture. Mmm, moisture. I was starting to feel a little scaly so I can’t imagine what the plants felt like, especially the trees and shrubs. It might not mean much to parts of the world, but at least most in this country are starting to understand what we in the West have been dealing with forever. January is usually our driest month and it has certainly proven the fact this year. I talked to a client yesterday who said she hadn’t watered her trees and shrubs because it had snowed. What she failed to grasp was that snow held almost no moisture and that it had been 60+ degrees with desiccating winds off and on all through the month. Those winds suck the moisture – and the life – right out of the branches and needles of every living thing – including me! I’m glad for a little humidity in the air (yes, my Southern family and friends will chide me about this – come on down, we have plenty of humidity for you!) and moisture on the ground. It plumps up those cells and provides a big drink, for both plants and humans. And while I’m sure the native wildlife were hunkered down yesterday, they, too, will benefit and enjoy a little (or a lot) of snow today.

This snow is cleansing and quiet, hushing everyone for a day. It was strong and fierce and forced closure of most schools and businesses even before it really started. But there is a reflective quality to a snow like this, both analytical and luminescent. It shone in the moonlight last night; you could see the ground and even the big flakes falling in the darkness. It was beautiful. And here in my little haven that only feels like wilderness, it brought thoughts of cowboys and Indians, prairie life, fires in the hearth, staying put for a day, mending and quilting because the outside chores would be put off for a few days. Today, it’s back to business. Shovel the drives and the walks for us and our neighbor, clean up, get going, do. This crazied, harried life we live, we choose; how often can we just sit by the fire and let the world go by – only when we are forced? Already the birds and squirrels are flitting about. Can’t stay still; can’t reflect; can’t just be.

I am learning to be still, to listen and then I am given gifts, like 17 inches of snow and still falling.

Snow