About Us
Harlequin’s Gardens is a small family business that specializes in Colorado-adapted plants: hardy own-root roses, xeriscape plants, natives, perennials, shrubs, herbs, rock garden plants, fruit and trees. We have been testing these plants since 1985 at our exposed and dry North Boulder location and we welcome you to come out to visit our demonstration gardens.
We are more than just a garden center; we grow many of the plants we sell, and use potting mixes we formulate ourselves to produce the strongest, not the biggest, plants. In this way we can offer both unusual and hard-to-find varieties that are grown tough so they will succeed in your garden.
We operate our nursery organically, so once the plants arrive, they are neither sprayed with toxic pesticides nor fertilized with chemical fertilizers. This is possible by choosing well-adapted plants and by keeping their vitality strong with proper management. We offer completely organic vegetable starts and many organic herbs. We are also very resource-conscious, relying largely on solar energy, intermediate technology, using recycled materials, shopping locally, and believing that small and personal is beautiful.
Not only are our plants dependable, but our staff is very knowledgeable and able to help you choose the right plants for your specific gardening projects. And because we have been gardening under water restrictions since 1985, we can recommend plants, products and approaches which will be most likely to succeed during drought periods.
We are very proud of our staff, so to help you to get to know us and to know the best times to come out for our specialists, here are our portraits. This year we are pleased to welcome three new people to our staff.
Elaine Walker is a landscape architect with an emphasis in ecological practices. Her recent work has focused on native and drought tolerant plantings. She has helped clients enhance their outdoor living spaces.
Elaine works Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Deb Svoboda is a Master Gardener, and has years of experience with her own xeriscape garden and vegetable garden. She has grown a lot of plants from Harlequin’s Gardens and has enjoyed taking classes from Lauren Springer Ogden. Deb works Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings, and Saturdays.
Linda Taylor specializes in heirloom roses. She started and operated her own rose nursery in Montana and she knows the tough and hardy varieties. She has her own practice in Horticultural Therapy. Linda works Sundays in May, June and September.
Roses are one of our primary specialties and Sharron Zaun is one of our most knowledgeable people in that area, especially for the David Austin roses. Besides growing 90 roses in her own garden, Sharron has 3000 square feet of growing area to test perennials and shrubs. To say she has a master’s degree in botany and 25 years gardening experience in Boulder doesn’t describe her passion for working with plants and people. She has been with us for 15 years (can that be possible?) Sharron works Tuesdays and Fridays.
Diane Badertscher earned a degree in horticulture with honors, and has qualified as a Certified Colorado Nursery Professional. She specializes in trees and shrubs, especially the natives. Her 10 years of experience gardening at 8,000′ is very valuable to mountain gardeners. Diane works Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Christina Thomas has been gardening in Boulder for 25 years with particular experience in herbs, Mediterranean plants, xeriscape and vegetables. She has worked as an editor for “Conservation Biology”, for articles and books on climate change, natural sciences and the environment. She works on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
Matt Patrick is trained as a CSU Master Gardener and has operated his own landscape business for the past three years. He was raised farming tobacco in Kentucky. He has worked for the Boulder County AIDS Project, Boulder Human Relations Comm., & Foothills United Way. Matt works Tuesdays and Sundays.
Engrid Winslow has degree in Urban Horticulture and has taken Master Gardener training, and has experience with gardening at her home and professionally. Engrid works on Saturdays in May and June.
Gail Clarke has been gardening in Colorado since 1977. She is a CSU Master Gardener and has a landscape business. She is involved with the Garden to Table Project, helping to bring vegetable gardens and fresh food to the public schools. Gail works Wednesdays and Fridays.
Michele Bailey has worked for 15 years in the landscaping and nursery industries. Her special interests are perennials, natives and vegetables. Michele works Saturdays and Sundays in spring, and weekdays later on.
Eve Reshetnik Brawner has always had a passion for gardening and for studying, growing and drawing plants. She has a degree in landscape architecture and over ten years of experience in that field. She has a special love and knowledge of roses, fragrant flowers, ornamental grasses, clematis and vegetables. Eve, with Mikl, designed the rose garden at the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House. In her “spare” time she is an artist and musician, and she loves to cook from the bounty of her garden. Eve works on Fridays, and is available for garden consultations.
Mikl Brawner got his initial training along the creeks and woods of eastern Iowa. Then he studied biology at the University of Iowa, but the further education he sought to become an ecologist and naturalist was not available, so he went to India with the Peace Corps. Back in America, he managed a small organic apple orchard, and started a tree care business. Studying plants, researching alternatives to pesticides, and developing a xeriscape garden led him from the tree tops to a plant nursery. Now the evolving Harlequin’s Gardens is his life-work, helping the gardening community to bring nature into their personal lives and homes using sustainable plants, materials and methods. Mikl works Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and is available for consultations. Mikl was honored with the 2009 PaceSetter Award for the Environment.
Clarence Mills is pursuing an education in Permaculture, organic agriculture and natural living, and operates his own gardening service. This year we are pleased to have Clarence maintaining our Display Gardens.
Also working at Harlequin’s Gardens is Kurt Reber, our production manager. And we’re delighted to have occasional help from: Marty Crigler, Natalie Shrewsbury, Carol Gerlitz, Juanita Hakala, Marilyn Kakudo, Sandy Swegel, Heather Baltrush and Zachary Smith.
Eve transplanting seedlings in our solar-geothermal greenhouse.
