Rocky Mountain region forum?

Would it be possible to create a forum for Rocky Mountain area gardeners? High-altitude arid regions have specific needs and problems not covered under Midwest or Southwest forums. What works for Kansas or Arizona may or may not work for Colorado. I'm sure our bugs and noxious weeds are different, too.

Thanks.

I posted a suggestion/request for a Rocky Mnt forum a few months back. Nothing came of it. There aren't many of us Rocky Mnt folk that post here on DG. I suspect that until there are more of us and space can be justified there won't be a regional forum added for this area. It would be nice though.

Have y'all tried clicking on the "members near to you" link and sending your "neighbors" a dmail to see if they'd like to rally support for your idea? It might be there aren't many interested - or it might be they just haven't wandered into this forum when the suggestion was on the table.

I would be extremely interested in a Rocky Mtn. forum also

Me too. I thought I posted a message yesterday, but guess not. I was wondering if a high altitude forum would work, since many parts of the world have similar climates.

I can see my house from here!

No, not really. :-) I agree. There are a lot of places in the world with dry, temperate alpine climate.

I would like to see one.. lol its SO hard to garden here... between the clay, the sun, the low humidity (tho not the past couple weeks), the water restrictions and drought, and did I mention the clay? I would sure love reading how everyone copes!

Don't we have great views?? Shelly, thanks for your photo. I love to see photos of our area.

As strictly a container gardener the fate of my plants lies solely in my hands. If I don't water they die. I've had more time this year than during most summers to water as much as they need it, to cut off dead leaves, flowers and just generally tend to the plants. If I had gardens in the ground I don't know what I'd do! I'd have to have a drip system. It's been so hot and dry this year. I don't know how you guys do it.

Raised beds, extreme amounts of compost, berm & swale. Rinse, lather, repeat. That's how I do it.

And i don't have any mildew or yellow spot. The sun is so brutal it kills the stuff immediately.

We sure do have great views..
Where I live, is not my forever home, so I refuse to do much amending to the soil. I do have a few beds that are amended. I have to tell you, the yarrow even hates this clay soil, which really baffles me, as I see it growing out of the cracks in streets in Wyoming LOL. The ONLY thing that thrives in this soil is the bindweed.
I see your coment about the sun killing the mildew and yellow spot greenjay, and I have to laugh. The sun sure IS intense. I see things that are invaisive to others, and think to myself "that will be perfect here" It really is such a different type of place to grow things. (Before anyone gets upset, I do NOT plant things that are invaisive here in Colorado). the list is not too huge LOL.

I have a nice spot out back of the shed that is loose stone and weed. Other than that it's flat and will be a nice spot for raised beds. And there are plenty of bees back there going after the sweet peas.

Where I'm at it's basically sand and dust. Looks kind of like the surface of the moon. There were raised beds once, and I used them for my vegetables this year, but this place needs a LOT of work.

Count me in, neighbors. We're six, right?

Terry is right, we ought to be rallying the folks who haven't seen this post if were're serious.

I have found that the sun and thin air is influenced by the altitude. Did I mention availability of water and heat? So many "full sun" plants, as we all can attest, are part to full shade plants in our areas. Xeriscaping may seem to fulfill the demand for this, but xeriscaping, although originating in Denver, focuses solely on the low-water characteristic of our fair region, but does not cover all of our general biome aspects.

Beyond the scope of "xeric", we have very dry air, generally poor soils (I hear you in Aurora), usually chalky/alkaline soils (resources for this are thinner than paper), a much more intense sun by all accounds, further more sun resulting from less clouds, dessicating wind in many places, a big problem with salt that most other biome residents have never heard of, and the much neglected concern of cold nights. Adding to the cold factor, some parts of teh Rockies have wet winters and dry summers, (Greenjay alluded to erosion control) or like the high desert here: dry winters, which pose a unique problem to plants, especially evergreens. The low elevation deserts are very different from the high ones. How many other regions have to winter-water? Whe else has earwigs and wasps when the rest of the country has Japanese Beetles?

Shelly;
My style of coping: Ridiculous amendment/compost, soaking-deep water schedule, tons of mulch, pots for fickle specimens, and well-thought aspect.
Rally On! We could use a Rockies forum.

K. James
Western CO Grand Junction suburbian.

Ok, I hit up quite a few, and even am trying to grab some from Wyoming. Im hoping this will fly!
LOL James.. Im tellin ya, if I want my yard to look perfect, I may have to quit my day job, and work 100% on amending, and watering on my every other days.

My piece of this high Colorado Plateau is sand. probably considered alkaline - me, I call it blow sand. I've given up on addments. Either it survives in the ground I plant it in or it doesn't. Nothing likes full sun here except native wild sunflowers and prickly pear cactus.

I've been watching the SoWest forum and the California [southern] one. I think it is amazing how willing everyone is to split into small groups. I have the dangdest time trying to find folks I used to see on here all the time. But i struggle thru

If you have a Rcky mtn forum, I'll visit it. How's that for enthusiasm.? It was ONLY 102* out there today. And we had a few clouds pass by. Probably why it didn't get to 105*. I've seen the land in the area where Kenton does his gardens, in this heat it has probably been turned to ceramic. It looks like the kinda clay you could kiln.
LOL ~~waving from my corner, Blooms

Most people, when they think of cold winter weather, assume that snow will cover your beds until spring. When I moved out here from the Midwest, it took a while to get used to the fact that we have "brown winters." It can get cold, but that doesn't mean that there's a nice insulating blanket of snow on the ground for the poor plants.

Then when it warms up, it REALLY warms up. Yet nights are still cool.

Definitely a very specific biome.

I have to water almost every single day. I didn't water last night, and today when I came home from running errands, my vegetables were all limp and droopy. And I will continue to amend this soil probably till the day they carry me out of this house feet first.

Makes us sound like a bunch of toughies.
Cheers to that!

You can still "grow a plant in it" unamended here- by making flower pots out of it! (And yea, I've met someone that has.)
Kenton

I think it is a GREAT idea. I am all for it! It ain't easy here sometimes!

Just found this I am ready and waiting Dave. Just because we live in a sparsly populated area should not limit our discussion on regional interests. Why wait for the numbers just let us share in the potential propagation of Acer Japonicus, Hellebores, Dalias, and any other plant that chooses to live in the temperate areas of the world. Just think Dave you could be responsible to bringing Acer to the eastern reaches of Canada and the highlands of America. We just need a forum to trade and develope the hardiest of the species to the Rocky Mountains. After all we send all of our clematis, conifers, potentilla, junipers, and many other hearty species to the rest of the world. It is time for us to develope another super species.

There's my man! Do you mean something like the hardy Albizia, Steve? (wink)

I don't live in the Rockies, but your problems with wind, alkalai sand, salty sand, hot days/cold nights, cold-but-not-much-snow dry winters, little humidity and little percipitation in general sure sound a lot like the Nevada High Desert where I am fighting, conning and doing everything I can to get around Mother Nature! It's a good probability that I would hang out with you all, since it does not seem like a High Desert forum would generate much interest. I searched for NV folks at Dave's and most of them seem to be from the Low Desert around Las Vegas. Keep fighting the good fight!

You will be surprised when I tell you I saw those in Salt Lake in an arboretum. When my wife and I saw it I needed one. Then I read about them from Equil view. I can live without them. But I still stand for a hearty Styrax Japonica, and Acer Japonica.

the hardy Albizia? more info? anything that has hardy in its name is worth a shot.

Looks like we're gathering quite a crew! A little different variations in growing conditions, but enough similarities to make a a good mix. As I said, I'm a container gardener and have some special problems to deal with, dessicating wind frin the west just being one of them. The other is the microclimates just on my 6th floor balcony.

I've always pushed the envelope with regard to warmer rated plants growing in my microclimate, grew a Japanese maple a few years ago. My life at the time got too busy to take care of it, so it had to go.

Dave (or Terry), please do give us our own forum with photo, title, FAQs and everything!!

I'll mail you about them, Blooms.
Kmom, what is your altitiude? I think you are right about a "high desert" forum. "Rockies" includes that and "alpine." We all seem to live on a scale between those two, eh? They are different in only a few ways, but geographically near.

Thanks Hydrangea, you've gotten me jazzed about this.

Can we have that arrangement where threads with a picture show a "thumbnail" picture when viewed on the forum page? I have read about folks preferring that- some color to spice the forum and make it navigable. I agree.

K

I too would be extremely interested in a Rocky Mountain Forum. I found JamesCo and White_Hydrangea have similar environments to my own here in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Our seasons can be short, our air is dry and our nights are cool to cold. Altitude can be a problem as well. Water conservation is definitely an issue most of us face.
And I have another nominee to suggest for sharing with the world -- the Canyon Maple which is native to the Rocky Mountain region. Maybe the Japanese would like to try them!
Please, Dave and Terry. This would be a great boon for those of us who live in the high desert around the Rockies and in the Rockies themselves.
Yes, I like the arrangement with thumbnail pictures as well.

This message was edited Jul 29, 2006 10:31 PM

PajaritoMt made me realize that important climate-specific things I learned came from D-mails with folks in the rockies. The beginning- a twoperson forum- in a way. Imagine the good we could get out of a real bona fide one! (I've already got topics in mind I want to share/ask about)

Ask away. The more we post on this thread the more it's obvious we need our own forum.

This thread can serve as our own miniforum until we get a real one. The last time I had a yard to garden in, I was helping my grandmother in the Midwest. We had plenty of rain, nice black soil, humidity above 12%, and "global warming" referred to paleoclimatology.

Colorado in the 21st century is waaaay different.

I must have not posted my message. I think this forum should have the Name : Mountain/Desert forum. This is what my mountain garden goes through each year. May thru early July is a zone 6 July-Oct is a Desert, Oct thru November is a Zone 5 Mountain and Dec thru Feb is a Zone 2-3 variable.

Can all of you post pictures of where you are? Something that shows your context? Obviously, Shelly and I are city dwellers, but I'll bet some of you live in more rural parts of the mountain west.

You bet cha. I live in Kalispell and here is a diary of my garden. Welcome to The New Mountain/Desert forum! http://davesgarden.com/journal/d/t/Soferdig/1717/

I live in a residential area east of Denver.

Here's my yard. You can tell I've got a lot of work to do.



This message was edited Jul 30, 2006 5:48 PM

Ahhh another clear palette. You are fortunate to be able to turn this into your own garden of pride and ownership. Find a good source of compost material. IE horse barns, city composting bins, or any other area that has waste to use. Kenton (JamesCo) has a big bunch I'm sure he would give you. He's in Clinton.

This is great. I live in Salt Lake city with a small, square, flat suburban lot. Soferdig, that is one drop-dead gorgeous garden!

With the heat this summer I think we are becoming the new Phoenix - some days in SLC were hotter than Moab!

Sofer, you lied about where you live. You live in HEAVEN! What a wonderful place, and such care. I especially love Sophie's place with all the heart-shaped things.

White, your work is cut out for you. At least you have a yard, compared to my 20 ft. balcony. I live near Lowry on the 6th floor of an apartment building. Here's my view to the west.

I saw something on TV this weekend that said that within the next century, Aspen will be as hot as Moab.

And take that skiing trip to Colorado sooner rather than later. Within the same time frame all of the snow will melt. No snowpack, no snow to ski on. No spring runoff, either.

The term that comes to mind is, um, "chilling."

Hi Idvogt, welcome to the group! It was 105 here today. Thank God for air conditioning. I hate to put the poison into the environment, but it's either that or fry.

Here's a view toward the east.

My yard is *definitely* a blank slate!

I actually have my programmable thermostat set high, 82 when I'm not home, 78 when I am. And the air conditioner is still going round the clock. I can deal with it being a little warm, but when it's 9:30 at night and the temperature is still (checking) 85 degrees out, that's just too warm.

I remember sledding down the street and snowbanks piled up all winter long, and now we are lucky to have snow stay on the ground for more than a week. On the other hand, the wildflowers in the Wasatch Mt just keep getting better and better. This weekend was peak viewing. Every element listed in the great English gardening guides - texture, contrast, balance, focal points... - all laid out across the meadows. In spite of the tough gardening conditions, we are very lucky to live in an area where wandering in the wilds is still possible.