Construction puts limits on Teaching Nursery access; first sale April 9
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The Arboretum Teaching Nursery plant sales always drew a good crowd before the pandemic. Above is a sale from April 2019. In-person sales return this month with the first on Saturday. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)
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If you want access to Arboretum All-Stars and other water-wise garden gems, it’s time to join the Friends of the Arboretum. This spring, that’s the only way you’ll be able to shop the UC Davis Arboretum’s fantastic selection of drought-tolerant flowering plants.
More changes – and construction – are happening at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery, the hub of the arboretum’s wildly popular plant sales. The current construction project – the creation of an indoor-outdoor multipurpose learning center – has restricted the nursery’s space and patron access.
So, instead of a series of public plant sales, the arboretum will host only two members-only events, scheduled for Saturday, April 9, and April 30. Both in-person sales will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and restricted to members of Friends of the Arboretum.
The Arboretum Teaching Nursery is located on Garrod Drive across from the Vet Med complex.
Before the pandemic, the arboretum’s plant sales attracted more than 8,500 patrons annually.
“Thank you to both our Friends members and community customers who, over the last two years, supported our plant sales as they moved online due to the pandemic,” the arboretum staff posted on its website. “During this time, the Arboretum Teaching Nursery transitioned from a location designed for seasonal public plant sale events to a pick-and-pull warehouse, prepped for fulfilling hundreds upon hundreds of orders.
“We are incredibly grateful for your willingness to put your trust in us and dive in. Together we adapted to a new process, so we could continue providing the attractive, low-water, region-appropriate plants our community has come to expect and you could provide their forever homes!
“Today, the nursery is transitioning again! It’s under construction! A large portion of the Arboretum Teaching Nursery is currently allocated to building the Elizabeth Mary Wolf Environmental Learning Center, a new education space that will offer expanded opportunities for community engagement thanks to its indoor-outdoor multi-purpose room.”
The solution? Bring back in-person plant sales, but restrict them to two members-only events.
“With Covid restrictions easing and our nursery team adjusting to navigating the temporary construction zone, we are taking this season to focus on thanking our loyal Friends members, whose support has kept us going strong for more than half a century,” said the arboretum staff. “For these reasons, both spring sales will be member appreciation sales.”
Current members receive 10% off their plant sale purchases in addition to receiving a free plant as a member appreciation gift.
Not a Friend? No problem. Sign up (either in advance or at the gate) and receive a $10-off plant sale coupon as a thank-you gift.
Member benefits include plant sale discounts, discounts at partner nurseries and retailers, free entry to gardens and museums nationwide and more.
Sign up for membership and find a list of current plant inventory at https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/plant-sales .
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 19
Dress warmly in layers – and get to work:
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based oil to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback if pruned now. Save those until summer.)
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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