Denver-Boulder City Nature Challenge Sets New Record in 2025
The City Nature Challenge is a yearly community science event for folks in cities all over the world to observe and document biodiversity in their own backyards, and 2025 was the 10-year anniversary
Can Green Spaces Survive with Less Water?
Over the past two years, I have been doing research to better understand the relationship between water limitation and plant growth. Most recently, I have been analyzing data that I collected last
Mosquitoes, Urban Wetlands and Colorado’s High Line Canal
Last summer, along with a team of dedicated volunteers and seasonal employees, I surveilled Colorado’s High Line Canal in search of urban wetland habitat and larval mosquitoes. We found plenty of both
How Did Colorado Get a State Mushroom?
On March 31, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed bill HB25-1091, enshrining Colorado’s first state mushroom, Agaricus julius. Colorado has many state symbols that serve to represent the natural
City Nature Challenge 2025
Join your community in documenting biodiversity during the 10th anniversary of the City Nature Challenge! City Nature Challenge is a yearly event for folks in cities all over the world to observe and
The Origins of the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi
The Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi is the largest macrofungal collection of mushrooms found along the Southern Rocky Mountains. How did this collection rise to fame? What are its origins? Let us begin
Stop and smell the flowers - for science!
From sweet and floral to skunky and funky scents, the fragrance of a flower is unique. Certain floral scents are hypothesized to attract pollinators, defend against herbivores or act as a mode of
Read the Winter Issue of Inside the Gardens
It always starts out as such a good idea. A redesigned home is the fulfillment of dreams. That new raised bed vegetable garden is perfection. A few decades ago, the channelization of creeks and rivers
Conserving Threatened Species
Last year we initiated a study on a rare and Federally listed plant, Penstemon penlandii, in partnership with colleagues from the Gardens’ Horticulture Department. We tested the suitability of
Sending Specimens Away: How Sharing Supports Global Biodiversity Research
Natural history collections have served as libraries of our world’s biodiversity for centuries. These libraries—holding plants, fungi and insects—are known as herbaria. There are over 3,565 herbaria
Understanding and Conserving Genetic Diversity in Native Plant Restoration
Last month I had the pleasure of moderating a symposium at the Society for Ecological Restoration North American Conference in Vancouver, Canada. The theme of the conference was Cross-Biome
History of Mushroom Toxicology
Mushrooms can be poisonous. That is one of the first things we are taught as kids. Even though plants produce more detrimental toxins than mushrooms, society, rightly or wrongly, tends to teach the