Rain, rain go away... that’s what I found myself thinking in the middle of June when Denver experienced one of its wet, cold spring weekends, reminding us that Mother Nature is in charge. Temperatures were downright chilly, in the wake of sizzling 90º readings earlier in the same week.
    But one thing about being bitten by the gardening bug is an appreciation for weather that isn’t considered good weather, such as our recent cold and rainy weekend. That’s because lousy weather is usually very good weather for gardens. The more natural moisture our gardens can get, the better. No fears around this arid climate about plants rotting from too much moisture. Hardly.
    Same thing goes for cooler temperatures. Most plants much prefer temperatures in the 60s rather than in the 80s.
    So the next time your weather isn’t perfect, try thinking about how good it is for your garden. That might help, a little.

     Returning from eight days in the Boston area was a bit of a shock for me. I’ve always known that Denver’s climate is that of a high desert plateau, and this was starkly apparent as we drove home across the flat, treeless, brown plains surrounding DIA.

    The Boston area during my early May visit was a feast for the eyes: crabapple, azalea, dogwood, lilac... all in spectacular, full bloom. Even the rhododendrons were beginning their show. Everything that wasn’t in bloom was green, green, green. Even the ugly, unkempt houses didn’t look so bad (there weren’t many), because stuff just grows there.

     The Boston area receives about 50 inches of annual precipitation. Compare that to the 15 or so we count here in the Denver metro area and it’s immediately obvious why most trees don’t choose to grow here unless we plant them.

     It’s all in the water. Then again, it’s the soil, too: The Northeast is famous for its richly acidic soil. It just amazes me how stuff grows there. Here, our alkaline soil requires a little help, and then there’s all that clay.

     Yet Denver is home and my little garden on Gaylord welcomed me with blooming spring anemone, creeping phlox, hellebores, candytuft and basket of gold. Waiting in the wings are my tree peonies, bent with the weight of their huge buds, and iris, clematis, day lilies.

    My favorite spring bloomers are those plants that have flowers before they develop leaves. These plants include forsythia, magnolia, and pear and crabapple trees. I drove around our neighborhood this morning just to scout out some of my long-standing favorite spring bloomers and I was not disappointed.

            For decades my Auntie Mag would plant sweet peas in her Aspen back yard every year on St. Patrick’s Day. It was her way of honoring her parents, both Irish immigrants.

            Over the years Auntie Mag’s sweet peas became an Aspen tradition and, over time, a living landmark of sorts there on her wire fence.

            After she died and the property was sold to developers, sweet peas were planted there in her memory. To this day, many Aspen residents consider the sweet pea to be the town’s own special plant, thanks to my Auntie Mag.

            This year I am going to plant sweet peas, too, in her honor. I’m going to plant them along the alley and in a big, old whiskey barrel behind my back fence. And every time I see them, I will think of Auntie Mag.

            This is one of the many joys of gardening.

             On south-facing walls you will see tulips, daffodils and crocus starting to peep above the surface of the soil. Fear not. They are right on schedule – these plants respond to increasing amounts of daylight, not temperature. And they can take the cold, too.

            By the end of February the earliest crocus will start to show their colors, looking like purple, lavender, white and gold Easter eggs hiding in the snow.

   I read an article about a skyscraper in Portland, Oregon that will be built to accommodate ten-story-tall trellises. Vines will be grown on the trellises and these in turn will shade the west side of the building and help to cut down on costs for air-conditioning.

    This is an incredible idea and one that we will be seeing with greater frequency as the years go by.
    In Denver, the rooftop of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at 15th & Wynkoop is a so-called “living” roof. It’s the same concept as the trellises: huge slabs of rooftop are planted with beautiful sedum, a winter-hardy, xeriscopic plant.
    Unfortunately we can’t appreciate the beauty of this rooftop from down on the sidewalk, but we can benefit from the energy savings that it affords. The plantings will help shade the rooftop from intense summer sunlight.
    And, who knows, I’ll bet the view is pretty spectacular from the traffic helicopters.
    Truly, gardens can save the world.

Ideas?

   A half dozen or so Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees are languishing in the planters on the patio at the now-closed restaurant, Juicy Lucy’s, on the 200 block of Josephine. Should I go over there after dark and dig them up and bring them home? Should I call the property managers and ask them to donate the little trees to a good cause?

   All I know is that I cannot bear to watch them die. At this point they're still salvageable. Ideas?