About Jodi Torpey

Jodi Torpey and Rufus

Western gardeners are a hardy bunch, aren’t we? We try to cultivate landscapes in climates with seasons that are too short, summers that are too hot and winters that are too cold. We fret about untimely freezing temperatures and worry whether there will be enough water to keep plants blooming. But we wouldn’t want to grow anywhere else. That’s easy for me to say now, but it wasn’t always that way. Unlike other parts of the country where gardeners can plunk a seed in the soil and grow a perfect plant, growing here is much more challenging. My first gardening efforts were disappointing—the tomatoes suffered from blossom end rot, the peppers were pint-sized and my water bill was sky high.

I sure would’ve saved a lot of time, money, energy and aggravation if I would have known some of the secrets to successful growing in the West.

I decided to become a Colorado master gardener to find out how to solve my landscaping and gardening problems. Soon I was sharing information and writing about plants, gardens and gardeners for newspapers like The Denver Post, consumer magazines like Horticulture, American Gardener, Out Here, and Aquascape Lifestyles, and industry trade publications like Lawn & Garden Retailer, Landscape Management and Country Folks Grower.

In 2007 my book, The Colorado Gardener’s Companion: An Insider’s Guide to Gardening in the Centennial State, was published by Globe Pequot Press.

Ever since then I wanted to create a special online resource to help gardeners of every level learn how to improve their gardening efforts, avoid common mistakes and get more pleasure from their gardening experience.

Welcome to WesternGardeners.com!

As a Colorado native I know how difficult it is to garden in poor soil and a semiarid climate. But I also know the joys of being able to transform an ordinary landscape into a water-wise backyard habitat. While I’m busy with the cultivating, John Pendleton does all the heavy lifting and our dog, Rufus T. Smudge, helps with planting by digging on command.