House and Home

Why do Mexicans refuse to eat chocolate?

The sixth annual Art Farm Harvest art show is tomorrow

From 4 to 7 p.m. tomorrow, September 8, Denver Urban Gardens and Art Farm will join forces for the sixth annual Harvest outdoor community art show and garden gala, held at the West Washington Park Community Garden located at 201 Grant Street in Denver.

Herbs flavor the "The Chef's Pantry" class at the Denver Botanic Gardens

"Colorado just has so much," explains Susan Evans, longtime herbalist and avid gardener. "Most restaurants today try and offer something other than your standard menu, and Colorado is turning into a place where people want to eat what's local, fresh and seasonal." For that very reason, Evans will ... More >>

Putting Down Roots

What's for lunch? A cockroach, if you're eating at Da Lat

I had just finished eating mole at a brilliant Oaxacan restaurant in Santa Ana, California when my phone beeped. And there it was...an upside down cockroach dead on its ass on a plate. The offending restaurant? Da Lat, a Vietnamese joint on Federal Boulevard that just last month made my 100 Favorite ... More >>

Tropical Winter

Tips for gardening in small spaces from Gayla Trail

Davin Risk​Gardening writer Gayla Trail says that one of the strangest places she's seen a plant growing was corn coming up out of a crack in the pavement in an alley. Trail will use this, and other examples, to help inspire gardeners to grow their own plants even in the smallest, strangest sp ... More >>

Oil-shale plans could be derailed by ruling on Graham's penstemon, an endangered plant

Susan Meyer​William Blake saw heaven in a wildflower. The energy industry sees nothing but trouble. Last week, a federal judge in Denver ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision not to declare an obscure plant as endangered was "arbitrary and capricious" -- a ruling that could ... More >>

The Denver County Fair: Where poetry blooms

​Poetry is all about words well chosen; success in gardening starts with the right seeds. Placement, or syntax, means everything to both: While the poet needs to know exactly when to let the sun shine directly on a word and when to hide it in shadow, the gardener must likewise synchronize his ... More >>

Bed bugs: Will repealing law requiring sanitization of used mattresses encourage bugs?

Flickr​Update below: Last month, our feature story "Bug Bedlam!" detailed Denver's bed bug infestation, supposedly one of the worst in the nation. Tomorrow, the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee will hear a bill to repeal Colorado's so-called Bedding Act, which requires that use ... More >>

Bedbugs: How is Denver coping with these tiny yet terrifying bloodsucking pests?

​Blood spots on your sheets. Tiny black dots of fecal matter clustered on the edge of your mattress. Piles of translucent skins. Bunches of white eggs the size of dust specks. Itchy bites. All of these revolting clues point to the conclusion that your bed is infested with bedbugs -- a problem ... More >>

Kim Dickey's All Is Leaf creates a spectacular winter garden at Rule

Bed bugs: How bad is the infestation in Denver?

"I heart Denver!"​ Are bed bugs a big problem in Denver? Missy Henriksen, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, which is currently hosting its inaugural National Bed Bug Forum in nearby Broomfield, assures us that the decision to host the confab in Colorado had nothing to d ... More >>

Today: Chipotle gives back to Denver Urban Gardens

A Flickr photo.​Denver loves the home-grown chain Chipotle, and the restaurant empire has been loving Denver right back. On September 11, several Chipotle locations donated a portion of their proceeds to B-Cycle. And today, all metro-area Chipotles will ll be giving 50 percent of the proceeds ... More >>

Park Hill gardener pleads for life: Kenny Be's Sign Language

Full-sized photo below.​The very nature of gardening is a life and death matter. Out in the yard, something has to die so something else can live. Tending greenhouse-grown transplants from toxic weeds and voracious bugs requires round-the-clock protection from a hoe-wielding vegetable vigilant ... More >>

Way to Grow

The dog days of summer have arrived for the vacant Church in the City

Salad good for you? Only if you want to avoid divorce court

Foxglove is pretty poison.​Advice for the lovelorn: Lettuce alone. Lisa Leigh Allen of Highlands Ranch decided that she had had enough of being married and decided to skip divorce court by simply poisoning her husband, Jonathan Allen, a police officer in Jefferson County. And so she served hi ... More >>

Tonight: Plan your kitchen garden at the Denver Botanic Gardens

A Flickr photo.​There are plenty of reasons why you might want to plant your own kitchen garden -- money and health foremost among them. But how do you go about figuring out what to plant, and how do you design your garden so that you get the same aesthetic pleasure from fruits and vegetables ... More >>

After-action report: Broadway Book Mall and beyond

​So how many people braved the weather last night and came out for my last book signing? Eleven. Which some people might see as sad, but not me. First, because that doesn't even take the record for my least-attended signing (which would be eight people showing up on a night without apocalyp ... More >>

Macy's and Food Bank of the Rockies aim to feed 10 million

​ September is Hunger Action Month, and department store giant Macy's is partnering with Feeding America and food banks across the country to fight hunger here at home. Macy's will launch its "Come Together" awareness and fundraising campaign, which aims to feed 10 million people suffering fr ... More >>

Urbavore's Dilemma: Breaking Ground is putting down roots in vacant lots

Joel WarnerThe Breaking Ground team​Urbavore's Dilemma is an ongoing web series detailing city dwellers' commitment to urban homesteading. From May through September, Westword writer Joel Warner will get his hands dirty, covering everything from backyard chickens to front-lawn gardens, from gr ... More >>

Urbavore's Dilemma: Blue and Yellow Logic hopes to mix up a new form of green

Joel WarnerAshara Ekundayo and Maurice Ka at the Eastside Growers Collective garden​Urbavore's Dilemma is an ongoing web series detailing city dwellers' commitment to urban homesteading. From May through September, Westword writer Joel Warner will get his hands dirty, covering everything from ... More >>

Denver offers a bonanza of free construction permits

www.denvergov.org Applying for permits of any kind isn't thrilling stuff. But for the next two weeks, the process of getting the city's building department to check off on your home improvements involves the words "free" and "bonanza." What's more exciting than that? From June 1 until June 15, dur ... More >>

Dave Logan invades Tom Martino's territory with TeamDaveLogan.com

There could be some tension at the next Clear Channel Denver staff meeting. Dave Logan, longtime voice of the Broncos and co-host of the KOA afternoon-drive program The Ride Home (as well as a former high school athlete recently honored as being one of the fifty best ever by Parade magazine), is l ... More >>

Urbavore's Dilemma: Grow Local Colorado brings back the Victory Garden

Urbavore's Dilemma is an ongoing web series detailing city dwellers' commitment to urban homesteading. From May through September, Westword writer Joel Warner will get his hands dirty, covering everything from backyard chickens to front-lawn gardens, from greenhouses to co-ops and food-sharing. His ... More >>

Will the Denver Rescue Mission's dinner be chile?

The Denver Rescue Mission and more than fifty volunteers are serving up their traditional holiday dinner to homeless men, women and children today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lawrence Street Shelter, 1130 Park Avenue West. New this year: every guest - and the organization expects about 500 peopl ... More >>

Playing the name game with Union Station’s new public spaces

Art In Bloom

Eric Matelski brings the gallery outside.

The Democratic National Convention: Caveat Renter

Suite Dreams

Things are looking up — way up — on 14th Street.

Voice of Reason

Now Playing

Brief reviews of current shows

A Garden Gala

Xeriscaping can turn dry, brown yards into green retreats.

Across Time and Space

Lasers speed up passages at the Colorado History Museum.

Birthday Blues

In this pyramid scheme, no one comes out on top.

Stop, Look, and Listen

The sounds of jazz erupt in quilted form

Drink of the Week

Stoli Doli

A Tale of Two Cities

From a royal mess to a people's playground, Denver's parks grounded the Webb years.

Party Proopser

World horrors reduced to reality TV

Artbeat

Brief sketches of what's happening in the Denver art scene.

Best Seeds for Alpine Gardeners

Rocky Mountain Rare Plants

Exhibit A

Where it's always showtime

Talking Shop

Rare finds and real deals.

Dirty Work

A tale of prison gardeners is this summer's sweetest feel-good comedy.

The Secret Garden

Employee concerns bring an early frost to the Botanic Gardens' blossoming bond proposal.

Night & Day

April 30 - May 6, 1998

Something Bugs You

Growing, Growing, Gone

When the U.S. declared war on drugs, Colorado's carnation industry went up in smoke

ROOM TO GROW

UP IN WINDBLOWN CHEYENNE, SHANE SMITH CULTIVATES ALL KINDS OF LIVING THINGS--BANANAS, SWEET PEAS AND PEOPLE NO ONE ELSE WANTS.