That’s right, we’ve decided to run another Groupon promotion for the 2012 season. We’re keeping the date close to our chests but we can tell you it will happen in March. We’d suggest signing up for Groupon updates so you don’t miss out on this once-yearly deal.

JUST TO BE CLEAR:

If you want to participate in our Groupon promotion, you’ll need to signup for updates via Groupon’s website yourselves. We can’t tell you when it will run, only that it will happen sometime this month, so signing up for Groupon Daily updates will help you make sure you don’t miss it!

How a typical Groupon deal works:

• Every day, Groupon announces what group coupon deals will be running that day
• Deals are typically only available for a few hours on the day they’re run, that’s why you should be signed up for updates
• Once the limit is reached, the deals are sold out and we can’t sell more

Our promotion:

• If you buy a $20 coupon, we’ll double its value to $40!
• Once a certain number of people commit to purchasing the coupon, the deal is on.
• The deal is open for an entire day or until the limit is met. Last year, all of our Groupons were sold by 9 a.m.
• Your $40 Groupon is good at Timberline for most of the 2012 season, but make sure to check the expiration date.

Here’s another way to think about it: A $40 Groupon will get you 6 perennials, or a 5 gallon shrub, or 8 1-gallon heirloom tomatoes.

If you’re landscaping, you could get a cubic yard of Planter’s Mix with money to spare, or even 350 pounds of red flagstone.

You can even use it to buy something for Mother’s Day; the possibilities are endless! This kind of deal doesn’t come around very often, so make sure to take advantage of this great opportunity to help us help you save a little green this season. Don’t miss out on this incredible deal!

Here’s what to do this week:

• Drag out all gardening tools, including hoses and wheelbarrows, and evaluate their condition.
• Mix up some hot, soapy water to loosen impossibly stuck clay from shovels, spades, forks, and trowels.
• After they’re clean, lubricate digging tools with WD-40 or other oil.  Remove excess to avoid staining the floor.
• Sharpen pruners, loppers, hedge trimmers and saws, or take them to a sharpening expert before they get too busy.
• Patch hoses that are still in good shape, and dispose of those that have become too stiff and full of permanent kinks.  Invest in quality hoses; they save you a lot of frustration.
• If you haven’t done it yet, overhaul the lawnmower, rototiller, edger and other machinery so that it is ready to use.  If you have someone else do it, take it in now before they’re swamped.
• Put up some new shelves and hooks, There are twice as many tools as you have places to store them.
• Clean the seedling trays and pots for transplanting so they’re ready to use later this month.
• Test out and clean the “Wall of Water” so that you can get those tomatoes out early.  If compartments leak, inserts are available to patch them.
• If you have fabric row covers get them out, wash in soap and water, then bleach them so they’re nice and white.

Gardening is so much easier when your tools are ready to use. How do you prepare for the growing season? Tell us about it in the comments.

Also this season, we look forward to bringing some more voices into our ever-growing e-newsletters. We’ve talked some great people into sharing advice, insights and experience through guest columns this year. We’ll have more information about that in the next newsletter.

After some good feedback last season, we’ve decided to bring back our popular Plant Pairs and Q&A columns from time to time. We’ll rotate those pieces in with our normal newsletter fare through the year. If you have an idea for something you’d like to read about in our monthly e-newsletters or on our blog, get in touch!

Why would I make a claim like this? Year in, year out, for twenty years now, I have watched the Buckley oak I am writing about literally soar into the sky and blaze each autumn like a bonfire of red. It has not been watered once since it was planted almost a quarter century ago. What other tree can you name that is as sturdy as this oak, that has such a fabulous shape, will not get too big but grows quickly and thrives without supplemental irrigation in Denver? This native of West Texas is unfazed by summer heat or extended drought.

Pictures simply cannot capture the wonderful russet-scarlet-orange magnificence of the leaves throughout all of November. They cling on the tree for much of the winter, making a gorgeous presence until spring. Sadly, I do not know a single nursery in the Denver area that sells Buckley oak. One or two occasionally stock them, but they have discontinued: no demand.

There is something sad about this: the best tree in the world. And you can’t have it! Nya nya! Is that mean or what? Actually, you CAN have Buckley oak if you work at it. This is a very popular landscape plant throughout Texas. For years I drove to Texas for Thanksgiving with my late in-laws. Amarillo, Lubbock and Sweetwater would be filled with wonderful big Shumard and Buckley oaks that made driving through these towns a pleasure this time of year. And every garden center in these cities (and elsewhere in Texas too) sells Shumard and Buckley oaks very cheaply. So take a road trip to Texas with a truck some day and load up!

And you can occasionally find these in Colorado as well (pester your local nurseryman–they may order one for you if you make a nuisance of yourself). Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii) is closely related to Buckley oak, coming from a tad further east in Texas, it seems to need a bit more water and can grow to incredible heights (our state champion tree at the Gardens is nearly 100′ tall). I finish with a picture of my own Shumard,(all these pix, by the way, were just taken the last few days)…

Shumard oak seems to be a bit more purple red than Buckley in my experience, and grows every bit as quickly. Mine is easily over 20′ tall, and less than 15 years old. I got this specimen locally, so there is hope!

So Denver, please go out there and create a ruckus for Buckley and Shumard oaks! As little kids demonstrate every day, if we make enough racket they will have to give them to us!

Published originally on the Denver Botanic Gardens blog.

January:

Water deeply during the first warm spell over 50º F.

February:

Water if necessary. Apply pre-emergent herbicides like corn gluten to prevent the seed germination of dandelion and other early germinating weeds. Water it in thoroughly. This will prevent about 90% of weed control later.

March:

Check dry spots on the south sides of buildings, trees and bushes for clover mites and two-spotted spider mites. Spray area with mixture of soap and water or neem oil. Repeat in two weeks.

If lawn is looking thin, TOPDRESS with compost ¼ inch deep (rake out evenly), fertilize with organic lawn food (stimulates worm activity=natural aeration), then core aerate. Do this in THIS order for best results. Prior to topdressing with compost, trim dormant grass to 1” or so to facilitate spreading of material. Topdressing can only be done in the cooler months of March, April, September and October.

April:

Turn on sprinkler system when damaging temperatures have passed. Irrigate the lawn about once a week. If you didn’t topdress and fertilize in March, fertilize now. Over-seed lawn now or seed/sod new areas. Apply pre-emergent herbicide such as corn gluten in early April to prevent the seed germination of crabgrass, spotted spurge and purselane.

May:

Increase frequency of watering to twice a week (about 1” water per week for Kentucky Bluegrass). Cut grass to about 2 inches high.

If you follow these steps, you should be well on your way to having a healthy lawn in the summer months. Stay tuned for Parts II & III of the series where we’ll talk about lawn care in summer, autumn and fall. If you have more questions, leave them in the comments or send us an email via the contact form at the top of our website. Happy growing and mowing!

1. Alternatives to lawns, ie groundcovers, gardens (23 votes)

2. Ponds and waterfalls (14 votes)

3. Lawn care 101 (13th votes)

If you have a class idea, or just want to vote on ideas already suggested, head on over to vote.timberlinegardens.com to cast your votes today!

Thank you for taking part in our little experiment, we’re looking forward to offering more of the classes you want this season.

And remember, the 3 top-voted classes will be automatically placed on this season’s class schedule, so make sure to keep an eye on the class list so you know which classes are coming up and when.

You asked for it and we answered! For an entire day this month, Timberline Gardens will have a featured coupon on the popular group-coupon website www.Groupon.com.

We worked with Groupon to create an awesome deal for you, here’s how it works:

• If you buy a $20 coupon, we’ll double its value to $40!
• Once a certain number of people commit to purchasing the coupon, the deal is on.
• The deal is open for an entire day or until the limit is met.
• Your $40 Groupon is good at Timberline through August 4, 2011.
• That’s it.

Here’s another way to think about it: A $40 Groupon will get you 6 perennials, or a 5 gallon shrub, or 8 1-gallon heirloom tomatoes.

If you’re landscaping, you could get a cubic yard of Planter’s Mix with money to spare, or even 350 pounds of red flagstone.

You can even use it to buy something for Mother’s Day; the possibilities are endless! This kind of deal doesn’t come around very often, so make sure to take advantage of this great opportunity to help us help you save a little green this season.

We can’t tell you when the deal is on, but we can tell you it will happen around the middle of April. Make sure to sign up for email updates at www.Groupon.com and tell your friends and family! Also, make sure to keep an eye on your email inbox for a sneak peak from us the day before the offer opens. Don’t miss out on this incredible deal!

The searchable/sortable versions of all our 2011 plant lists will be added to the website Sunday, so keep an eye peeled for those. Enjoy!

I just have a couple of updates concerning the website and classes list:

• Shortly after the March E-Newsletter started to roll out 2 days ago, we had an issue with class times not showing up on the class schedule. Big time oops, but the issue was corrected in short order. Thank you to everyone who called and emailed to let us know.
• Mary Lilja’s Planting by the Moon class (original set for March 12) has been rescheduled for Sunday, April 2 at 1 pm due to a scheduling snafu. You can view the listing here.
• Many of you who subscribe to our email newsletter may not get our annually printed newsletter in via snail mail. All of our past newsletters–including the Spring 2011 one–are available for download via the Resource Center. There are many money-saving coupons and other great info from co-owner Kelly Grummons. Check it out.
• Mary finished polishing up the 2011 Perennials list today, so it will be added to the Resource Center very soon. I’ll update this post with the link soon. The 2011 Annuals list will be forthcoming.

Also, if you haven’t already, check out the Customer Choice classes suggestion board. We’ve already received great suggestions for more than 15 classes. The top-three voted classes will be chosen for this season’s schedule. And who’s to say we can’t use some of them next season too? Really, thank you to everyone who’s contributed there. If you haven’t yet, visit vote.timberlinegardens.com to cast your votes and suggest a class idea.

Until next time, keep those thumbs green.