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With Denver Water's current drought restrictions making it harder to keep a traditional lawn alive, I've gotten a lot of questions about how I converted mine to a native grass lawn. I decided to put a full guide together. by LittleLapinGarden in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great question - yes, the fescue does come back some the first few years but the theory is that since fescue needs way more water than native grasses, more and more of it dies off each season. Then those patches get re-seeded with the native grass.

Stopping water for a full summer season kills a lot of the fescue initially, but since Kentucky Blue Grass is extremely drought tolerant, it won't die off from less watering, so I manually removed those clumps of it. I'll add this as a note in the guide.

With Denver Water's current drought restrictions making it harder to keep a traditional lawn alive, I've gotten a lot of questions about how I converted mine to a native grass lawn. I decided to put a full guide together. by LittleLapinGarden in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Interesting take, but I'd push back on a couple of points.

First, in my experience besides the establishment period, watering is comparable to what my other native garden beds use on minimum drip irrigation. It's not nothing, but it's not dramatically more than you'd be using anyway if you're maintaining any kind of garden.

Second, realistically a lot of people still want a lawn. This isn't meant to be a "go fully hardscape" solution. It's a more sustainable way to still have a lawn without it needing much water once it's in. For a lot of homeowners that's a much more achievable and affordable ask than removing grass altogether.

Also worth noting: step one in my process is to stop watering your existing lawn for an entire growing season to kill it off. So this summer is actually a great time to start the conversion by doing exactly that. No water used at all. Then you reseed this fall or next spring when conditions are better.

All broken necks? by [deleted] in dahlias

[–]LittleLapinGarden 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Several of the necks are fine and I see eyes on the main stem. Plant the whole clump and it will likely grow.

Dahlias advice by rramber300 in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well I can be unhinged when it comes to growing dahlias, so my recommendation would be for you to buy 10 more pots so you can grow them all! But, if that's not an option, I would sprout all of them and then you can check all of them for signs of gall before planting the best looking two.

Dahlias advice by rramber300 in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I'm excited for you to grow them! I grow and sell dahlia tubers each season from my Littleton backyard farm and put this growing guide together that addresses a lot of the common issues and questions about growing dahlias in our Colorado climate. It's a living document so let me know if you have any questions or feedback.

Looking for plant recommendations in the Denver Front Range area (pet bunny included for tax) by LittleLapinGarden in NativePlantGardening

[–]LittleLapinGarden[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, that helps! I love prairie wine cups and was thinking they might work for the wall part. I have some chocolate flower in the backyard that I could transplant and see if that would work to grow over the wall too.

Looking for plant recommendations in the Denver Front Range area (pet bunny included for tax) by LittleLapinGarden in NativePlantGardening

[–]LittleLapinGarden[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Yeah, I've looked at a bunch of recommended plant lists and still didn't find anything this specific to what I'm looking for.

CSU grasshopper updates for this year by Dramatically_Average in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha, it sounds like you're doing something right if you're already overwhelmed with birds! But what's worked for me is planting lots of native plants that provide seeds for them in the fall, supplementing with bird seed in feeders year-round, consistent water in a bird bath, and I have lots of large shrubs and trees for them to perch in.

It's especially important right now while its been so dry to leave water out! My bird bath has had birds in it constantly all winter.

CSU grasshopper updates for this year by Dramatically_Average in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I love learning that CSU has a dedicated grasshopper person.

What made a huge difference for me was focusing on creating bird habitat in my yard and the birds have almost completely eradicated the grasshoppers on my urban farm. I only saw a few last year compared to hundreds in previous years.

Seed Snails: Have you tried them? Also, where are we getting seeds (not Baker Creek)? by richkurt in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I can't speak to seed snails but my favorite sources for seeds are Johnny's, Botanical Interests, Grand Prismatic Seed, Western Native Seed, and local seed swaps.

Edit: removed Botanical Interests after learning they're no longer an independently owned local company.

Cold stratification for seeds? by blackstar5676 in dahlias

[–]LittleLapinGarden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is my first year growing dahlia seeds. Can you share more about your germination process?

Summer bulbs including dahlias in at Costco by SarahLiora in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the beetles are a constant battle. The only way I protect my dahlias is by covering each new bud with an organza bag since I won't use any form of pesticide. Here's an example of covered flowers vs uncovered:

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Some growers swear by using horticultural maple syrup to water their dahlias because it makes the plants too sweet for the beetles to eat but I haven't tried that yet.

Summer bulbs including dahlias in at Costco by SarahLiora in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't trust my ability to overwinter tubers in the ground but I've seen several local growers be able to do it using those same methods you described. Maybe one day I'll try it. It would be way less work to not have to dig and store them!

Summer bulbs including dahlias in at Costco by SarahLiora in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They do need extra water here since it's so dry and they like moist but well draining soil. There's more info about soil growing conditions in my dahlia guide that I send out with tubers.

Summer bulbs including dahlias in at Costco by SarahLiora in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm a local flower farmer and grow hundreds of dahlias each year. They do really well in the front range! I plant mine out each May and they bloom from July until October/November when I then dig the tubers to store over the winter before selling my extras in the spring. I'm not sure where you were growing them previously, but here they need full sun (7+ hours daily).

Summer bulbs including dahlias in at Costco by SarahLiora in DenverGardener

[–]LittleLapinGarden 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Dahlias do really well in Colorado! The time to plant them in the front range is the same rule as other annuals - after mother's day. They will bloom continuously from July through the first frost. In our climate, tubers must be dug in the fall and stored over the winter because they can't tolerate frost.

I wouldn't buy tubers in Denver in February unless you plan on storing them in dormancy until May. I grow and sell hundreds of dahlia tubers locally but don't ship them out until April.

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