Elizabeth Kricfalusi is a San Jose-based freelance writer who fosters orphaned squirrels for the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley (WCSV), a nonprofit organization that rehabilitates sick, injured, and orphaned birds and mammals until they’re able to be released back into the wild. She chronicles her squirrelly adventures at Life in Squirreldom.

(“Shoebox of Squirrels” text and image copyright of E. Kricfalusi)


Did you know that Eastern Grey and Fox squirrels have two breeding seasons?

As we head into this year’s second wave, the WCSV will soon be facing a new influx of babies.

In 2008, more than 250 arrived from July through October.

Although we know the people bringing them in have only the best intentions, in many cases it would have been better for the squirrels if they’d been left where they are. We call this situation “over-rescue.”

The Gardens on Spring Creek in Fort Collins, Colo., has a delightful Children’s Garden that made me wish I were a kid again.

On my way home from CSU after the short course a few Fridays ago, I took a little detour to The Gardens on Spring Creek and I’m so glad I did.

I learned about The Gardens earlier this summer because it’s a Plant Select demonstration site. The Gardens is a community botanic garden on 18 acres along the Spring Creek corridor and is a public and private partnership. The Gardens are located at 2145 Centre Ave.

It was late in the afternoon, so I didn’t get a chance see everything I would’ve liked to see, but I did get to spend some time in the Children’s Garden.

In addition to its annual flower trials, CSU has three garden beds devoted to testing new perennial plants.

Across the street from CSU’s Annual Flower Trial Garden are three beds for testing new perennial plants. Perennials undergo two years of testing and include cultivars that have been introduced within the last three years.

The top performers from the 2007-2008 perennial trials are available now.

Plants being tested in the gardens include one bed of Achillea, Geranium, Lavendula and Pulmonaria; a second bed of Heuchera and Salvia; and a third bed of Achillea, Coreopsis, Echninacea, Euphorbia and Gaillardia.

Seeing all the different varieties of Coreopsis gave me the idea to create a bed in my yard featuring only tickseed plants like Coreopsis ‘Red Shift’, ‘Full Moon’, ‘Sienna Sunset’, and ‘Big Bang Galaxy’. With all the different flower colors and plant sizes I think it would make an interesting and beautiful new garden.

Welcome to the first guest blog of a brand new Western Gardener’s feature called Garden Clippings!

Amy Grisak is a garden writer who’s been playing in the dirt for nearly 30 years. She loves pushing the envelope on her Great Falls, Mont., garden where she grows fruits, vegetables and herbs for her husband and two young sons.

To keep track of Amy’s gardening adventures, please visit her blog called Living in Season. If you have questions on what’s eating your garden, post a note on her Pest Patrol blog at PlantersPlace.

“When my family moved to Great Falls, Mont., on the east side of the mountains a couple of years ago, its reputation for being a windy area preceded it. The relentless gales do not disappoint. I quickly had to learn how to protect my garden and tender seedlings from a force that causes neighbors to chain down their barbecue grills and sends trampolines flying.

The straightneck early yellow squash in my garden would start to form and then mysteriously die on the plant.

I’ve always had plenty of bees and other pollinators in my garden, so it didn’t occur to me my summer squash was dying on the plant because of a pollination problem.

When I was at CSU last week for the short course program, I had the chance to ask Carol O’Meara what the problem could be. She asked questions to determine the cause: Blossom end rot? Inconsistent watering? Watering from above? Pollination problems?

I had to answer, no, no, no–wait. Pollination problems? Maybe. Even though I’ve seen bees in the garden, they don’t  seem to be finding my squash blossoms.  Carol suggested hand pollination. I tried it and it seems to have worked.

If you’re having trouble with squash dying before maturity, you may be having pollination problems, too.

Here’s how to take over the pollinator’s task to pollinate by hand:

A healthy garden can be destroyed by a hail storm in a matter of minutes.

The thunderstorm last night in the Denver Metro area was a destructive one. High winds, drenching rain and hail destroyed the hopes of many gardeners who woke up to find their gardens in shreds.

I heard from one gardener this morning who told me the community garden she was working with in Lakewood was “completely destroyed last night in the hail storm…bad day in the neighborhood.”

This is another one of the challenges of gardening along the Front Range in Colorado. The eastern half of the state is especially prone to severe hail storms because of where the plains sit in relation to the Rocky Mountains and clashing wind currents from the east create a perfect thunderstorm.

CSU’s Annual Flower Trial Garden is one of the top tourist attractions in Fort Collins, Colo., at 1401 Remington Street.

I was in Fort Collins on Friday attending the “Knowledge Stimulus Package” program presented by CSU and the Green Industries of Colorado.

During the full day of classes I learned about organic lawn care, what might be bugging veggie gardens and small fruits for the Front Range. I also had the chance to tour the perennial and annual trial gardens and I’ll share much of what I learned in future posts.

CSU’s Annual Flower Trial Garden has 1200 different varieties of annuals undergoing testing there. The flower trial program helps plant and seed companies evaluate how well their new plants will perform in the landscape.

Colorado is an ideal test site because of its high light intensity, low humidity and dry climate. Companies are interested in seeing how their plants perform in the Rocky Mountain region as compared to other areas of the country like California or Florida.

Crops with tasty roots, shoots, and leaves are nature’s way of making sure we get plenty of fresh vegetables even when the weather turns cold.



If you’ve never grown a fall garden, now’s the time to start. Besides the joy of bypassing expensive veggies in the produce aisle, many cool-season vegetables are also good for your health.

Vegetables belonging to the cabbage family, like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and flowering kale, have cancer-fighting phytonutrients.

Other delicious cold-weather vegetable friends include beets, onions, carrots, peas, chard, endive, lettuce, collards, mustards, turnips, radishes, spinach, and even Chinese cabbage. Look for cultivars that are known to be cold-hardy and fast-maturing. Garden centers often carry transplants of fall crops that are most suitable for their specific area.

An added benefit of planting for cold weather is that the frosty temperatures actually bring out the flavor and sweetness of some vegetables, like parsnips and kale.

Thanks to the cool wet weather, my spring crop of sugar snap peas did exceptionally well. But now it’s time to think about planting for fall.

It’s hard to believe that we’re at the halfway point for summer. For hardy gardeners, it’s time to think about planting for the fall vegetable garden.

Cool season vegetables, like peas, spinach and lettuce, typically take around 60 days from planting to harvest. Planting now means these vegetables will be ready in September.

Even if you’re starting to burn out from gardening, it’s worth a little extra effort to extend the gardening season. You’ll be so glad you did.

First, check the back of seed packets for the number of days to harvest. Second, find the first fall frost date for your area. Use this information as a guide only. An earlier frost is always possible.

Celebrate Colorado Weed Awareness Week by checking your garden for noxious weeds like this invasive ornamental called Dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis).

Gov. Bill Ritter proclaimed June 12-17 as Colorado Weed Awareness Week to bring attention to the serious state-wide issue of noxious weeds in our environment and to challenge us all to be better stewards of our lands.

Non-native plants, also called noxious weeds, can take hold and displace native plants. Opportunistic invasive plants, like yellow toadflax and Russian knapweed, crowd out native plant species, damage wildlife habitat and force wildlife to change their foraging habits. In addition, noxious weeds affect property values and land productivity.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Noxious Weed Program works to keep new invasive plants out of the state while working to eradicate and manage the current noxious weed population.

Gardeners can help by becoming familiar with Colorado’s noxious weeds on the Department of Ag’s website or by purchasing the Noxious Weeds of Colorado booklet found on the Colorado Weed Management Association website.