Summer has arrived in all its lush glory. Festivals, outdoor concerts, swimming in freshwater lakes, wildflower hikes, and all sorts of activities abound. Take out your calendar and cross out dates to take a garden tour, attend a food or music festival, hike a mountain, and see a concert in the park. You won’t have memories of the extra work you did or the TV series you caught up on. Get out there and participate in this glorious time of year.
Upcoming Classes!

Garden to Glass, Summer Drinks and Tapas Workshop
Friday, June 28, 6 – 8:30 pm, Denver Botanic Gardens, $77, $70 member. https://catalog.botanicgardens.org/Selection.aspx?item=2100&sch=324696
Join Susan Evans, author of “The Herbalist’s Happy Hour,” and learn how to make the most of your summertime libations. We cover refreshing aqua frescas, extraordinary elixirs, and sensational syrups made from fruits, veggies, and herbs from the garden and summer markets. Become your own mixologist and dazzle your family and friends with crafted cocktails and delicious thirst quenchers. Create delicious tapas to go along with your drinks. Add some sparkle to those summer gatherings. Handout with recipes, drink samples, and tapas included.
A special class price of $15 for Susan’s book.
*No alcohol will be served in class.
Fun Things to Do!
Farmers Markets start this month. Support your local farmers and enjoy all the varied bounty of summer. https://www.
Parker Days Festival, June 13 – 16, Live music, food, and carnival rides. https://
Juneteenth Music Festival, Five Points, Denver, June 15 and 16, Parade, free music, vendors, and dancing in the streets! https://www.
Strawberry Days Festival. Glenwood Springs, June 21-23. Hometown parade, entertainment, arts and crafts festival, food, free strawberries and ice cream. https://www.
Cherry Blossom Festival. Sakura Square, Denver, June 22 -23, Celebrating Japanese heritage and culture with entertainment, food and drink, and more. https://cherryblossomdenver.
Denver Pridefest, Civic Center Park June 22 and 23, 5K run, parade, music, performances, food, and fun. https://denverpride.org/
Free Days – remember to reserve a space ahead of time if required.
Molly Brown House – Tuesday, June 4, 5 -7pm.
Denver Museum of Nature and Science,– Tuesday, June 4, 5-9pm, Wednesday, June 19, 9-5.
Denver Botanic Gardens – Wednesday, June 5, 9-2pm,
Denver Art Museum – Tuesday, June 11, 10-8pm
Four Mile Historic House – Friday, June 28, 10-8pm
For more ideas check out:
https://scfd.org/find-culture/
Before another summer goes by in a blur, take time now to mark off some dates to get out and have fun.
Gardening
This is a great month for garden tours and plant sales. Take a look at Colorado Gardener Monthly Magazine, for lots of local events and good articles on gardening in Colorado. https://www.coloradogardener.com/current-issue
The recent rain has been a blessing for gardeners. With global warming, record temps, and drier summers it’s time to rethink our water-guzzling, high-maintenance lawns and consider the beauty, resilience, and low maintenance of xeriscape gardening. I am not talking colored rock here. Check out https://www.denverwater.org/ and take a look at the low water gardens at Denver Botanic Gardens and around Colorado for inspiration.
Time to finally put in all those tender annuals and vegetables, but keep an eye on nighttime temps. Keep control over weeds and retain moisture in your gardens by adding a generous layer of mulch. Pine needles, straw, bark, cocoa hulls, and other possibilities are available at your garden center. If you are using bark, it will leach nitrogen out of the soil as it breaks down so you will need to fertilize.
Start deadheading (removing dead blooms) so you have healthy, bushy plants all summer long, full of flowers. Pinch flower buds off of your herb plants to preserve taste. You can start clipping back your herbs once they have reached a decent size and dry them for your winter pantry.
Garden Centers still have a great assortment of plants which often go on clearance as the heat escalates. Don’t have room or time for a garden? Go with containers. You can grow everything from vegetables and herbs to fragrant flowers and stunning foliage. Try some gallon size sweet 100’s, a few basil plants, and some edible flowers like nasturtiums. I like to buy larger pots of annuals and plant them in interesting combinations in a large container. Voila! Instant garden. Container gardens don’t take a lot of time, planning, or weeding; just make sure you have good drainage and quality potting soil.
For your rusty garden tools, spray them down with white vinegar, cover loosely and let them sit overnight. Scrub them down with steel wool, oil them, and voila! Like new.
Herb of the Month – Basil – Ocinmum sp.
Basil seems to be the cook’s favorite plant. It is an annual in Colorado and grows best in moist, rich, well drained soil with plenty of sun. It’s not crazy about cold temperatures so an area that will retain some heat at night, up against a house or cement or rock wall is ideal.
The classic basil is Genovese basil, growing up to 3 ft. and featuring white flowers. This is the one you’ll find most often at your grocery store. Fantastic in Thai and Asian dishes, salads, pastas, or just ribboned over fresh tomatoes with a dash of good olive oil. There are also purple and burgundy varieties, including Dark Opal, African Blue and Red Rubin basil. Not as flavorful but sure pretty.
The bush basils which are smaller with tiny leaves include Spicy Globe and Greek Mini. They have great flavor, are wonderful for borders or containers and are easy to grow. There are also the scented basils, including lemon, lime, cinnamon and licorice to name a few. They all impart a distinct flavor, the cinnamon and licorice basils great in Mexican cooking and fruit salads. The citrus basils are great with fish, poultry, veggies and fruit and wonderful in summer drinks.
Basils are best preserved frozen. Wash, air dry, then blend with olive oil in a food processor or blender to form a paste. Freeze in mounds on wax paper or in ice cube trays. Once frozen and store in a zip lock. Add cubes to soups, veggies, pasta or wherever you would normally use your basil.
Recipes of the Month
The season for salad greens, asparagus, radishes, rhubarb, cherries, sugar snap peas, strawberries, and more has begun. With hot weather returning it’s time for refreshing salads and lots of hydration.

The Herbalist’s Happy Hour – Crafted Cocktails and Tapas from the Garden is the perfect book for summer. A great reference for cooking up easy, fresh, delicious drinks, cocktails and appetizers for entertaining and enjoying. Get it https://www.amazon.com
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." – Maya Angelou