editor's note

Dear Reader:

Last spring I bought a basket brimming with bougainvillea and fell in love with the plant’s papery blossoms. I nursed it through countless windstorms, when all the flowers tumbled away on torrents of air. I darted outside to remove it from the path of hailstorms, which shredded the blooms. So many times, my pretty plant was reduced to sticks. Yet, every time it battled back to delight me with a new round of magenta flowers.

Come winter, my poor plant became quite bedraggled until it was just a pile of thorns. I carted it off and gave it a home indoors, where a daily dose of sunlight filtered in through the glass doors. With not a single flower or leaf, my bougainvillea was not the attractive plant it had once been. Many times my husband said, “Why don’t you just throw it away?” But I could not. I knew its redemptive powers, and that somehow made me feel better about the world.

Now spring has come again and my bougainvillea has renewed itself with another basket’s worth of blossoms. It reminds me that sometimes you have to be tougher than the circumstances surrounding you to make it through situations. It also reminds me of the strength of rejuvenation. We all need to renew and restore, and spring is the perfect season to do that.

It’s also the time to reinvigorate our homes and gardens, so we’ve included many articles on exactly that in this issue. You can visit a finely designed remodel, get your closets organized, gear up for gardening, pick pots for container gardens and gather ideas for placing boulders in your landscape. Vegetable and flower gardeners will want to read “The Dirt on Soil” by local garden author Jim Knopf and “Growing Vigorous Veggies” by David Wann, an extraordinary vegetable gardener who has plenty of helpful tips to get your garden to yield high-quality veggies.

For those seeking inspiration for the garden, see “Fundraising with Flowers” to find out how you can participate in a tour of 15 local gardens that benefits a worthy cause. Or take a peek at “A Garden for all Seasons,” a piece on Denver’s Centennial Gardens—a good place to get ideas for more formal xeriscapes.

If you just want a list of perfect plants for your yards, turn to “Jeepers Creepers!” for the skinny on vines, or “Juicy Xeriscape Plants” for the lush-looking, low-water favorites of nationally recognized gardener and author Lauren Springer. I’d like to personally welcome her as a new Boulder County Home & Garden Magazine columnist. Her tried-and-true advice is a welcome addition to our editorial content.

If you believe in recycling and preserving the environment, you’ll want to read our interview with ReSource manager Kurt Buss to find out how this valuable community program can save you remodeling dollars and reduce landfill contributions at the same time.

I hope you’ll find something of interest in these diverse topics. Since working on this magazine, I’ve been inspired to repaint walls, tile an entryway, replace old lighting, install wood flooring, grow container herbs and plant bulbs. The only downside is that my list keeps getting longer the more I find out about the wonderful ways to improve a home and create a fantastic garden. I hope we’ve inspired you, too.

Please let me know what you’d like to read about in future issues, and have a joyous spring.

Sincerely,


Carol S. Brock
Boulder County Home & Garden Magazine
homes@brockpub.com

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Copyright 2005 Brock Publishing Company
homes@brockpub.com