Living in the high mountain desert can provide unique challenges when it comes to maintaining your Denver area's grass and other landscaping. For our latest tips, go to westandmain.co



Give Yourself a Break This Summer by Grasscycling!

Save yourself time and energy this growing season by grasscycling, or simply leaving your grass clippings on your lawn after mowing. Grasscycling makes mowing quicker and easier, and is the natural way to return nutrients to your lawn.

More than a quarter of Denver’s household trash is composed of yard debris, and grass clippings account for a large portion of this material from April to September. By grasscycling, you can help stop this material from ending up in landfills and have a real impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. If you’re not already a grasscycling pro, now is the time to start!

Tips for how to grasscycle successfully from Denver's Office of Sustainability: 

1. Use any…

1471 Views, 0 Comments

Tree experts are tackling a long-existing problem- which trees actually thrive along Colorado's Front Range. 

Big investment. Big impact. Big attachment. And sometimes, big problems — partly because of a disconnect among the various industries and professions that produce, sell, design with and maintain trees.

A little over a year ago, Sharon Harris, executive director of the Colorado Nursery & Greenhouse Association, decided to tackle that disconnect.

“I’d been hearing one group say, ‘If they would just grow the right species to sell’ . . . ‘If they would just site them correctly’ . . . So instead of finger-pointing, I thought, ‘What if we just got in a room and talked?’ “

Harris brought together a carefully chosen cadre of Colorado State…

2495 Views, 0 Comments

Now that we're past Memorial Day it's probably safe to plant our gardens...right?

Were you waiting until the end of our (hopefully) last snowstorm to get your gardens ready for the summer? If you don't know where to start, here is a list of flowers that will keep your garden looking fresh all season long. 

May 

1) Basket of Gold

2) Front Range Pensteman

3) Dwarf Day Lily

June 

1) Dwarf Cranesbill

2) Husker Red Penstemen

3) Blue Flax

July

1) Tri-color Butterfly Bush

2) Osteopermums

3) Red Knockout Rose

August

1) Sunset Hyssop

2) Hummingbird Trumpet

3) Mexican Sage

September

1) Chocolate Flower

2) Joe Pye Weed

3) Purple Dome Aster

Go to 5280 to see the full post,…

1529 Views, 0 Comments



Spring temperatures and storms in Colorado are unpredictable, so remain flexible and get the early chores finished in between these fickle weather weeks ahead.

Garden Clean Up

+ Remove any remaining annual vegetable foliage and roots from last season. Toss in the compost pile if disease or pest insects weren’t troublesome.

+ Perennial plants and ornamental grasses from last season need to be cut back in spring (if not done in fall) for new growth to emerge. Some perennials like milkweed (asclepias), balloon flower (platycodon), false indigo (baptisia), leadwort (ceratostigma), ferns and hibiscus are late waking up in the spring.

+ Many plants also benefit from spring dividing when overcrowded or not blooming well anymore.

+ Spring division…

1339 Views, 0 Comments

Over the past 30+ years, the Denver Digs Trees program has provided more than 51,000 trees to Denver residents, helping to enhance quality of life in our city.

Trees beautify our neighborhoods, enhance property values, lower utility costs, improve air and water quality, and much more! Important Info:

For each tree you request, you MUST identify whether it is a 'Street Tree' or a "Yard Tree.' You may apply for 'Street Trees, 'Yard Trees,' or both!

    'Street Trees' are for planting along the street (in the public right-of-way) These trees may be planted either in the 'tree lawn' (area between the sidewalk and the curb) or, in the absence of a tree lawn, at a distance within 10 feet of the curb. In…

1586 Views, 0 Comments

 

Denver wants to become a certified Community Wildlife Habitat, which basically means a lot of gardens

Denver hopes to be certified by the end of 2019, joining 116 other cities and towns across the country, including big ones like Houston and Baltimore. Denver would be the largest Community Wildlife Habitat in the West.

To get there, Denver will need to rack up 750 points. The minimum point total is determined by population.

Here’s what you can do:

To get your backyard (or balcony) habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation, you’ll need to meet requirements in five categories. There are various ways to do it:

  • Food. This can include things like berries, nectar and bird feeders. Your habitat needs three of the 13 options.

1202 Views, 0 Comments

Homes cost a lot of money to maintain. But are you spending extra money unnecessarily on upkeep? Here are the 10 most expensive mistakes you could be making in your home.

1. Using Traditional Light bulbs

If you still have incandescent light bulbs in your home, you could be throwing a lot of money away every month on inflated electric bills. Over its life span, an incandescent bulb can use $180 worth of electricity. A CFL will only use $41 worth of electricity over the same time period. Even better is the LED bulb, which only uses $30 per bulb. Think what replacing every light bulb in your home could do to your home's bottom line.

2. Ignoring a Leaky Faucet

A leaky faucet that drips one drop per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per…

1635 Views, 0 Comments

Halloween, harvest festivals, and general autumnal celebrations lead to an abundance of everyone’s fall favorite: pumpkins.

While you partake in pumpkin spice lattes and jack-o-lantern carvings, why not share some gourd indulgences with the birds? This bird feeder is the perfect use of an extra or post-trick-or-treat pumpkin. 

Materials:

• Small to medium sized pumpkin, up to 10 pounds

• Small sticks

• Twine or rope

• Birdseed

Steps:

1. Cut the pumpkin in half.

2. Scoop out the seeds, leaving a hollow inside with 1/2-inch thick shell wall.

3. Insert two sticks across the open pumpkin to create perches for the birds.

4. Knot two lengths of rope together at the center and tack the knot to the bottom of the pumpkin…

1585 Views, 0 Comments

Though it may not feel like it yet, fall is upon us.

Before you know it, these hot, humid days will turn cool and crisp. We’ll trade in breezy tank tops and flip flops for cozy sweaters and boots. Leaves will turn orange, red, and yellow, and trips to the mountains will replace trips to the beach.  

But fall isn’t just about pumpkin spice lattes and football. In addition to transitioning our wardrobes and hobbies to reflect autumn, there are about a million and one things you should do to prepare your home, specifically the exterior, for the new season as well. From end-of-summer lawn maintenance to cold-weather preparation, a little extra effort between September and November can save you a lot of time, trouble, and money over the winter and…

2091 Views, 0 Comments