Moving. Socializing. Discovering. Creating a Network. These are all components of a healthy lifestyle. Finding nature and natural activities on a daily basis can include one or all of these! Although we are at approximately 5,000 feet in altitude, there are numerous ways to participate in easy September activities in Northern Colorado that are not particularly difficult. If you need to make a quick decision, need a less-strenuous outing, consider walking and enjoying rivers and streams, a bit of agriculture, and the views of our mountains alone or with friends.
September is a particularly great month to experience the bounty of the area as the weather is beginning to cool, the leaf colors are beginning to change from green to red or tinges or gold, the late summer harvest is wrapping up, and the fall harvest is beginning. This last week and I discovered or revisited with different groups of friends four wonderful places to enjoy a stroll, our mountain vistas, and the fruits of our short growing season. Here are three of my favorites.
Three Easy September Activities in Northern Colorado
CSU Test Gardens and Flower Trials
The test garden is an amazing display of annuals and perennials on the CSU campus. The gardens are on the west side of the Colorado State University Center for the Arts. Visitors can walk through the trial gardens, enjoy the beauty of hundreds of unusual horticultural varieties from dahlias and salvias to pansies and New Guinea impatiens. Varieties include those requiring shade and full sun.
The overarching goal of the program was to allow students, researchers, industry representatives, homeowners, and extension personnel to learn, teach and evaluate through horticultural research and demonstration projects. The test trials also help determine how these many plants thrive in the unique environmental conditions of the Rocky Mountain/High Plains region. There are various awards for “Best of” including cool weather and overall survival. With luck, you might find an empty bench and enjoy a quiet conversation with a friend while overlooking the colorful display and the many bees foraging in the flowers. The garden is open daily to the public, free of charge.
On the Vine Richmond Gardens
What a find. I happened to be driving by the gardens and saw their magnificent Teddy Bear sunflowers so I thought I would drop by. The sunflowers were just a sentinel of all the bounty Bob and Debi Miller offer to residents of Northern Colorado. In keeping with their business goal of creating a place where people could see where their food came from, Debi and Bob provide us a place to truly understand the craft and care of local food sources.
The gardens are in their 10th year of production and include grown corn, potatoes, magnificent kale, 10 kinds of garlic, squash and sun-ripened tomatoes among other crops. The short rows make it easy for visitors and customers to peruse the gardens, select their own vegetables with Debi in attendance, and just enjoy the abundance of the crops. Debi, a.k.a. The Farmer’s Wife Flowers, cultivates gorgeous dahlias by hand. From digging them up in the fall, dividing and sorting, replanting in May, to covering the most beautiful dahlias with little net bags to protect them from grasshoppers, everything is tenderly cared for. Debi is known locally for her fresh floral bouquets – perfect for that Colorado-esque wedding or event.
One More Easy September Activity – A Private Artwalk in Downtown Fort Collins
Early September mornings are perfect times to walk downtown Fort Collins and have a private artwalk with friends. The traffic gets busier throughout the day, parking is a bit more difficult and sometimes the beauty gets interjected with car horns, pedestrians and cyclists or patrons enjoying our beautiful patios for lunch. We welcome visitors and want them to enjoy our darling downtown for sure, but sometimes you may want to just take pause and enjoy the 50+ painted pianos, see what new businesses have opened up, and special mural projects such as Jazz Alley. My two friends and I had never experienced the art and quaintness of Jazz Alley, which is really a pass through from Walnut to Mountain Ave. The fantastical mural, painted by Terry McNerney, is a compilation of many musical greats. The alley is underneath the Bohemian Foundation’s office. The Foundation is a major supportive of the arts and downtown projects in Fort Collins.
September is also a great time to enjoy the last of the summer flower pots and hanging baskets which the city does an amazing job of caring for from May to early October. The first heavy frost will come, the flowers will pass on, and we will begin our fall and winter festivities with lights, and yes, snow. Enjoy the pleasures of clean, beautiful downtown in the quietness of an early morning! While you are out, catch a latte or tea at Mugs Coffee Shop and continue your out and about time when you are ready. This will be a treasure walk for sure!
Life begins the day you start a garden. – Chinese proverb
