PlatteForum's New Urban Garden

PlatteForum has the benefit of being in an amazing location in the heart of downtown, a vibrant urban community. In the summer of 2007 we moved into a larger location that included the addition of a courtyard. When we moved in we had visions of creating a warm and welcoming extension of what was happening indoors into the courtyard. Currently, the front courtyard is a relatively blank canvas, with little in the way of interest, color and warmth—all hard surfaces and harsh lines. The cold and practically bare courtyard certainly isn’t a reflection of the warmth and creativity waiting inside PlatteForum.Enter Ebi Kondo and Mark Fusco (senior horticulturalists with the Denver Botanic Gardens). Kondo and Fusco had an idea about transforming the courtyard into a dynamic urban garden. They were quickly joined by landscape architects Courtney McRikard and Lori Catalano of Three Sixty Design, Michael Catalano of Siteworks, Nancy Locke and Suzanna Serna of EDAW, artist Joshua Wiener (a PlatteForum creative resident in 2009), volunteer Amy Schneider, and Eagle Scout Candidate Tim Topper, whose Eagle Badge Project culminated in the construction of three large-scale hypertufa planters. When completed, the courtyard will reflect and enhance the creation and transformation that takes place at PlatteForum. It will include moveable large sculptural planting containers, a warm mixture of plantings, and sculptural entrance with a commitment to environmentally responsible choices in material and practices. All designed and built by volunteers. A special thanks goes to Concrete Express and Arvada All-Rents.Ponderosa Pine: 200-250 years oldOn Friday, May 1, 2009, Ebi Kondo, Senior Horticulturist from the Denver Botanic Gardens, planted an incredible Ponderosa Pine in one of our sculptural planter in our courtyard. The tree was harvested from the foothills west of Denver by a Denver Botanic Garden volunteer and donated to PlatteForum by Larry A. Jackell. The Japanese term for this pine is “yamadori” which means "harvested from the mountains." Although it resembles a Bonsai with its twisting forms and small size, it is a true Ponderosa pine. Mr. Jackell received a permit to harvest it from the foothills where it was growing in a crack between two granite rocks. Thus its tortured look resembling a Bonsai. The Japanese translation of Bonsai is: bon: tray; sai: planting. Where western gardens favor the leaves and flowers, Japanese gardens value the trunk, branches and roots.December 1, 2009, updatePlatteForum has received a grant from the Colorado Garden Show, Inc to support the continued growth of our garden this coming summer.