Welcome! This is a great place to get gardening tips and help for our sometimes perplexing high-altitude climate. There are some very kind and knowledgeable folks in this forum.

You can grow pelargoniums in containers and bring them in during the winter, but they definitely cannot survive our winters outside. True geraniums (cranesbill) do quite well here, though.

The CSU Cooperative Extension has a really terrific Horticulture website with great information about gardening in Colorado, including information about soil, amendments, and plants lists: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/pubgard.html

Sorry, here is the link: CSU Coop Ext Horticulture

Welcome to the intermountain west and all of the challenges that brings.

I live in Utah, but much of what applies to me also applies to you.

My first piece of advice is to find out when it's safe to plant. We tend to get a lot of nice weather followed by ice and snow. The first year in my house, I planted 3 gardens and lost them to frost. I've learned to wait until Mother's Day. At higher elevations, you'll probably need to wait a little longer.

Most of the soil is alkaline, and the climate tends to be pretty arid. This isn't universally true, but you'll want to check your soil's pH before deciding on what to try to grow. Somebody on this board used to post something along the lines that it's much easier to grow a plant that is appropriate to the soil than to try to make the soil appropriate to the plant.

Many people love aspens, and I think they're really great at a distance. In a lawn, though, they're weeds (I apologize in advance to any weeds I may be offending). You may think you want one (or some), but you really don't.

Jhaber,

Nederland is a bit higher in the mountains and may require some extra help plant and planting wise. I moved last year from a mountain town at the same elevation as you. There were tons of gardens and wonderful plants available. I was in awe at how well all grew and the selections available. I tend to stay with perrenials, but many people also did well with their annuals.

Some resources are your local Forestry department, the Chamber of Commerce and (if you can wait) a local farmers market which usually starts in mid June. They can tell you where small unadvertised nurseries are and local classes available. The Forestry sells seeds for natural lawns and flowers. Many times the farmer's market will have a couple of people selling plants for the area, mid June is not too late for planting at 8,000. For every 1000 above Denver, a week is added for planting from our Mother's Day recommendation.

Enjoy, you are living in a wonderful place.

Yay! Thank you all for the posts; each one was very helpful! I hope I did not plant too soon, but I left stakes in so I can plop a plastic sheet on them when it snows etc.

I am keeping the garden simple as we rent and plan on staying two years before we relocate to Ontario, Canada. We are stuck with:
tons of Aspens, which are providing a nice screen
yuckie grass, which I don't really mind
pine needles everywhere
and the entire neighborhood's dogs!

Not sure why, but most of this darling town keeps their dogs off leash and out of yard. Crazy, but they just wander the streets all day!

I had been studying horticulture in San Francisco, but the plants there had such different needs. I hope the sales clerk was right because I really have no idea what to plant here! That link is making a big difference! A bit nervous about the weather, but I think I'll just keep my eye on the reports. Oh, and I waited to plant until my neighbor started! Better do as the locals...

I do have some pots of pelargoniums in a tiny bathtub in my window, seeing as how my house is all windows, but I think I will try the real geraniums outside. I like their feathery shape and it will probably go best with my wild-ish garden.

Thank you all kindly!
Jennifer

Welcome!

Yes, you can grow roses. Roses developed by the Department of Agriculture in Canada are what come to mind for you. Additionally, some rugosas, albas, and gallicas would probably work.

check out:

http://www.canadianrosesociety.org/

On the left are links for "Hardy Roses" and "Recommended Roses". At your elevation and zone, avoid Hybrid Teas, Austins, Teas, Chinas, Polys, and Noisettes until you get some experience with your new location.

Also, check out highcountryroses.com for plants. Most of the Colorado nurseries don't carry a huge selection of truly cold-hardy roses. I've found a few here and there, but you might need to mail-order or trade with fellow GW members to get the good stuff :)

Nancy

Thank you! This is very helpful...very! I went to the Canadian site, which is ironic since we plan to relocate to northern Ontario in two years, and I found great roses. Naturally, all the ones I liked that they carried at highcountryroses.com were either sold out, not available or not avail. until June or late June. If anyone has ordered from this company, I'd like to know the results. After reading that post "would you pay $145 for this?", I am a little nervous about ordering online.

Thanks for the helpful info!

Jennifer

You can put your Pelargoniums outside when the frosts are over (pretty soon hopefully), but in morning sun only, or dappled sun all day. If in pots they'll need watering every day or two when it warms up. In the ground you won't have to water so often, but of course they'll perish when the hard frost arrives in the fall.

Your comments about zone 17 were interesting - I've never lived in a climate like that. Be aware that you will have to water regularly here in Colorado. I'm guessing twice a week for Nederland when it gets warm out (except when you get a good rain). But try to water deeply, and infrequently. These are 'watering basics' but coming from a damp/foggy climate, I'm not sure what you might be expecting.

I would till in a compost/soil amendment instead of topsoil. I have a hard time believing that pee from Chihuahuas would have that much effect anyway, after a good rain or snow has saturated the ground. I think pine needles are acidic and they might counteract the wee doggie's pees too.

Thank you! Gee, I am getting so much helpful information that I am filled with ideas.

I decided to keep the pelargoniums inside as their bright red blooms perk up my house. Plus, they look so cute sitting in my Victorian Hungarian baby bath tub!

The thing about zone 17 is that the three places I lived in that zone, the Richmond in San Francisco, Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz, is that they were all different. SF had tons of red spider mite and always there was mildew. PG had all fog, all the time, that was so heavy it dripped off the trees and made the ground look like it had rained. SC had lots of sun, but just south of it, on the Capitola border, it was very much like PG, lots of fog and chill. The mildew there was a surprise and finding a dehumidifier for my house required mail-order. Somehow, the people who gardened there seemed to know what they were doing and did fairly well or just accepted the losses. Growing the kinds of roses I like was not easy. My Graham Thomas (Austin) was very happy but any of the ones with a different colour on the edges than the center came out spotty and with the wrong colours.

I will try to water often and pay attention to what is planted next to what. I have been talking to the neighbors and they are helping me adjust! My next step, once I take the plastic snow cover off (today was a mixture of snow and soft hail), is to put down lots of mulch. I have been told to consider 3-5 inches for anything that is not hardy as there is supposed to be a chance of frost through June 15. Sigh, lots of info!!

I plan on tilling the second plot with compost--thanks for the recommendation, as I got excited and just used top soil for the first plot. I think that my bed with strawberries and daffodils is just going to stay as-is because it seems to be fine on its own.

Luckily there are pine needles everywhere! I cleaned up some, but since I am a bit of a scrappy gardener, I left quite a bit. I think I will leave that still for the pee-balancing!

Thanks to all who have helped. The ideas I have been given have made it all seem less of a culture shock. I think this might be the nicest and most helpful G-Web forum I've been on!

Jennifer and her three dogs, Pablo Honey, Professor Gordon P. Farsworth and Lucy (the "P" stands for pee) :)

May I suggest, keeping an assortment of your moving boxes. They make marvelous plant savers in Colorado. Cardboard boxes are great protection from frost, snow, hail, and critters. I frequently cover newly planted things at dusk with cardboard boxes. Two reasons:

1. You can't trust the weather here, OR the weathermen!

2. Many a time I have planted one day, and gone out the next to admire my results, and my results are gone! What is it about deer, rabbits and the rest, that have to eat the newest, priciest, or hardest to find plants? At least if you cover them at night for a bit, until their roots get established in the soil, you might lose a bloom or couple of leafs, but the entire plant won't come up when Bambi wants a snack!

I did it. I researched the hardy roses, chose about five or six, went to the Flower Bin and bought two very pretty roses from the Canadian Parkland series, Winnepeg Parks and Morden Blush.

I took the several days effort and time to work to soil, compost and conditioner...water...compost, conditioner and soil...water...then I added top soil and rose food and popped them in the ground!! ...water...

I must say, one looks thirstier than the other, WP is a little dry looking, but I drenched the planting area, watered the rose after planting as instructed and placed lots of mulch around.

Phew, my arms are tired!

I think I remember the guy at the flower shop saying to water every day for the first three days, then once every three days for three times. Now I am not sure. Maybe he said to water three times a day for the first three days???

Thanks again for all the help!

Also, I do have a million boxes folded and saved and will use them if the weather goes off.

:) Very Happy Gardener

Let's see if my suppositions are at all correct, Jennifer:

"Colour, bit of a scrappy gardener, weather goes off, relocate to Ontario" - is that not just relocate but return to Ontario??

My grandfather was from Southwestern Ontario (near London). And, if that is the part of the country you are headed for (or back to :o), you'll be enjoying a 150 day growing-season instead of whatever you are struggling with there above 8,000 feet. 8,000 feet!?! Those Colorado elevations always throw me! Of course, my garden here on the ID/WA line is CONSIDERABLY higher in latitude than Grandpa's hometown in Canada.

I was saying on another thread that I was born in Steinbeck country. Your home in Pacific Grove has exactly the reputation you mentioned - fog . . . fog . . . fog. One of these days that town may slip below the ocean waves and I'm not sure if the residents will even notice.

DigitS'

I am laughing very out-loud at the mention of the PGers not noticing!! Too true!

Hah! Nice work. My father and his family are from Ontario, Griffith area and Toronto area. I have only been twice, visiting with my boyfriend's family and visiting my second cousin. Fun! Plus, for my boyfriend, it will be a returning. I fell in love with the area as a little girl; my two goals have always been Thailand and Ontario.

The roses I chose struck my fancy as they are Canadian roses. the altitude does worry me, though, as they were grown over three thousand feet lower than where I planted them. I did let them rest a while (3 days) so they would not be doubly shocked by changing altitude and being transplanted. One looks tired, the other looks very happy.

I think that they grow everything in Ontario! So many blueberries I almost exploded! Fresh, wild berries, by the basket full...achy tummy...

Ah, you were born there! I was so disappointed when I saw Cannery Row. I was expecting it to be just as he described years ago. But the aquarium is magnificent and the beaches are full of life. I spent so many days wandering the beaches and looking at stuff I wanted to pick up.

yeah, all fog...fogggggg! Right now, I am enjoying the ocassional clouds passing between the sun and me. Every day is a long-sleeve, hat, gloves, sunscreen kind of day. I kind of wonder how my neighbor manages in shorts and a tank top? I don't MISS the fog, I just am surprised at all this sun.

Oh, Idaho! I've never been but my best friend's mom lives there and grows everything imaginable.

Oh, and I have a bad habit of spelling the English/Canadian way as my grandparents taught me how to spell "correctly!" Sometimes I forget or if I type fast...ou! Although I have traced my family on five or six sides (it just keeps growing) to original settlers in Canada, there is still a "bit of the Irish in me" as my gram would say!

And sometimes the milk would "go off" in the frige...but not since I stopped drinking dairy!

Thanks for the post.

J.

London, Ontario about the same year Grandpa was born:

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky-tonks, restaurants and whore-houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flop-houses." John Steinbeck

Cannery Row about the same year I was born:

Promise, we can get back to gardening issues as soon as you like.

DigitSteve

Gardening? Who is gardening in all this hail? Oh, I was...ouch, even tiny hail hurts.

Nice old photos! My family(ies) came over in the 1600s from France to settle, explore and all the other stuff early Canadians were doing.

I wonder how old that photo of the row is?? :)

Today, I raced inside to get out of the hail, then remembered all my plants were delicate and new. Raced back out, to the shed, placed my hail tarp over everything and laughed.

My neighbor does nothing. She just plants and lets it happen and, gee, her garden is grand!

If I figure out how to post a photo, I'll put one I took of my wee garden, before the hail.

Gosh, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure we drove near London, Ont., on the way into and out of Canada last months. Hmm...thinking...Port Huron, Sarnia...then London, I think!

Yeah, we can get back to gardening, as soon as the weather clears!

Here is a link that might be useful: today's garden