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Last Friday and Monday, the Ethnobotany Teaching Garden at the Mesa County Fairgrounds started to take shape. Friday’s planting activities involved getting in several clump aspen trees, three ponderosa pines and six freshly-dug pinyon pines.
Last Monday, thanks to Jeffrey Zentlin’s class of 23 kids, five Cercocarpus montanus, three Sarcobatus vermiculatus, three Juniperus scopulorum, seven Ephedra viridis, five Yucca baccata, nine Gutierrezia sarothrae, three Atriplex canescens, three Atriplex confertifolia, three Ceratoides lanata, six Chrysothamnus nauseousus, seven Artemesia tridentata, three Amelanchier utahensis, five Rhus trilobata and five Linum lewissii along with the remaining Populus tremuloides went into the ground. If some of those names are not familiar to you they should be. They are all native to western Colorado.
If you have a chance to visit this new garden and run into one of Jeff’s students, more than likely he or she will know the common name of each of these plants and which ones they planted.
This new garden consists of plants from the desert floristic zone to the Ponderosa-Aspen zone. When the garden is finished you will be able to start at one side of this 2.5-acre parcel of land and walk from the desert zone of four-wing saltbrush, shad-scale sagebush, yucca, broom snakeweed, winterfat, greasewood and other arid plants, through a pinon-juniper woodland and an oakbrush-mountain shrub zone to the ponderosa pine and mountain meadow floristic zone. The end product will be a living laboratory/learning garden available to local schools, clubs and senior groups, as well as visitors to the area. Interpretive signs will be used to explain the plants found in each plant zone and how they were used by American Indians and early settlers.
So what is an ethnobotany garden? It “is a demonstration and teaching garden that displays how native cultures used native plants in daily life. Specifically for this area we would be talking about Native American tribes. It can also be used as a method of teaching the public about native landscaping and low water-use planting in their own landscapes” — a quote from Tom Fisher when explaining this new set of gardens to the Mesa County Board of County Commissioners.
Most of Monday was spent talking to the kids about how plants are used, how to properly plant to avoid oxygen-starved soil, the need to guy trees and how that should be done, and numerous other gardening tips. Briana Broad from the National Park Service spoke about the walks she and others conduct at the Colorado National Monument, while Aline LaForge and Alissa Leavitt-Reynolds from the Bureau of Land Management discussed each of the plants and how the Native Americans used them in their daily lives. Some of these plants were and still are used for arrows, some have fruit that is mixed with fat and meat to create the original energy bar, while others are used for padding and as diapers, some as medicine and some for ceremonial purposes.
Without the help of Lloyd, Mike, Susan, Merilee, Judy, Angie, Lisa and Beverly, all of them master gardeners, Monday’s session would not have been half as much fun or educational. Each of them took responsibility for a group of kids and helped them plant. They talked to them about the proper planting depth, how roots develop, the need to avoid damage to plants and general care. To see the kids (and adults) at work and play check out the photos at the Ethnobotany link at http://WesternSlopeGardening.org.
The two days of planting would not have been possible if not for the $4,000 donation of plants provided by Chelsea Nursery in Palisade. Tony and Stacey have been great to work with on this project.
Next time you are out at the Arboretum at the Mesa County Fairgrounds check out the Ethnobotany Teaching Gardens. It is just west of our office. To get there you can go through the cactus and succulent garden on the north side of our office complex or you go through the garden zone on the south side of our building we are calling the Human Element. This garden is in the works and will consist of raised beds and container gardens. I’ll bring you up to date on this garden at a later date.
If you are interested in assisting with the Ethnobotany Teaching Garden, I am looking for a donation of Polygonum aubertii (silver lace vine) that will be used to cover the chain-link fence to the north. Up to 10 plants could be used. If you would like to provide other native plants for this garden, your donations would be appreciated. We can also use assistance with the interpretive signs that will be placed throughout the garden. And if you have a used (or new) gator or similar small utility vehicle (or even a golf cart) we could certainly use one. All donations are tax deductible through either the Western Colorado Gardening Foundation or the Colorado State University Foundation. Get in touch with me if you can assist with any of these needs.
We will be training docents to assist groups when visiting the Ethnobotany Teaching Garden at The Arboretum. If any of this interests you, please let me know. My e-mail address is Curtis.Swift@colostate.edu.
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Dr. Curtis E. Swift is the area horticulture agent with the CSU Extension. Reach him at Curt.Swift@mesacounty.us. or visit WesternSlopeGardening.org.
Last Monday, thanks to Jeffrey Zentlin’s class of 23 kids, five Cercocarpus montanus, three Sarcobatus vermiculatus, three Juniperus scopulorum, seven Ephedra viridis, five Yucca baccata, nine Gutierrezia sarothrae, three Atriplex canescens, three Atriplex confertifolia, three Ceratoides lanata, six Chrysothamnus nauseousus, seven Artemesia tridentata, three Amelanchier utahensis, five Rhus trilobata and five Linum lewissii along with the remaining Populus tremuloides went into the ground. If some of those names are not familiar to you they should be. They are all native to western Colorado.
If you have a chance to visit this new garden and run into one of Jeff’s students, more than likely he or she will know the common name of each of these plants and which ones they planted.
This new garden consists of plants from the desert floristic zone to the Ponderosa-Aspen zone. When the garden is finished you will be able to start at one side of this 2.5-acre parcel of land and walk from the desert zone of four-wing saltbrush, shad-scale sagebush, yucca, broom snakeweed, winterfat, greasewood and other arid plants, through a pinon-juniper woodland and an oakbrush-mountain shrub zone to the ponderosa pine and mountain meadow floristic zone. The end product will be a living laboratory/learning garden available to local schools, clubs and senior groups, as well as visitors to the area. Interpretive signs will be used to explain the plants found in each plant zone and how they were used by American Indians and early settlers.
So what is an ethnobotany garden? It “is a demonstration and teaching garden that displays how native cultures used native plants in daily life. Specifically for this area we would be talking about Native American tribes. It can also be used as a method of teaching the public about native landscaping and low water-use planting in their own landscapes” — a quote from Tom Fisher when explaining this new set of gardens to the Mesa County Board of County Commissioners.
Most of Monday was spent talking to the kids about how plants are used, how to properly plant to avoid oxygen-starved soil, the need to guy trees and how that should be done, and numerous other gardening tips. Briana Broad from the National Park Service spoke about the walks she and others conduct at the Colorado National Monument, while Aline LaForge and Alissa Leavitt-Reynolds from the Bureau of Land Management discussed each of the plants and how the Native Americans used them in their daily lives. Some of these plants were and still are used for arrows, some have fruit that is mixed with fat and meat to create the original energy bar, while others are used for padding and as diapers, some as medicine and some for ceremonial purposes.
Without the help of Lloyd, Mike, Susan, Merilee, Judy, Angie, Lisa and Beverly, all of them master gardeners, Monday’s session would not have been half as much fun or educational. Each of them took responsibility for a group of kids and helped them plant. They talked to them about the proper planting depth, how roots develop, the need to avoid damage to plants and general care. To see the kids (and adults) at work and play check out the photos at the Ethnobotany link at http://WesternSlopeGardening.org.
The two days of planting would not have been possible if not for the $4,000 donation of plants provided by Chelsea Nursery in Palisade. Tony and Stacey have been great to work with on this project.
Next time you are out at the Arboretum at the Mesa County Fairgrounds check out the Ethnobotany Teaching Gardens. It is just west of our office. To get there you can go through the cactus and succulent garden on the north side of our office complex or you go through the garden zone on the south side of our building we are calling the Human Element. This garden is in the works and will consist of raised beds and container gardens. I’ll bring you up to date on this garden at a later date.
If you are interested in assisting with the Ethnobotany Teaching Garden, I am looking for a donation of Polygonum aubertii (silver lace vine) that will be used to cover the chain-link fence to the north. Up to 10 plants could be used. If you would like to provide other native plants for this garden, your donations would be appreciated. We can also use assistance with the interpretive signs that will be placed throughout the garden. And if you have a used (or new) gator or similar small utility vehicle (or even a golf cart) we could certainly use one. All donations are tax deductible through either the Western Colorado Gardening Foundation or the Colorado State University Foundation. Get in touch with me if you can assist with any of these needs.
We will be training docents to assist groups when visiting the Ethnobotany Teaching Garden at The Arboretum. If any of this interests you, please let me know. My e-mail address is Curtis.Swift@colostate.edu.
----------------------------------
Dr. Curtis E. Swift is the area horticulture agent with the CSU Extension. Reach him at Curt.Swift@mesacounty.us. or visit WesternSlopeGardening.org.
