Join Us Sign In

Powered by California Local

Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Sacramento’s elms need eyes – yours

Take a walk and save a tree in this volunteer program

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 26, 2021

park elm tree

Sacramento's remaining heritage elms are threatened by disease and development. The Sacramento Tree Foundation is recruiting volunteers to keep an eye on the elms. (Photo courtesy Sacramento Tree

Consider this a neighborhood watch for favorite trees.

The Sacramento Tree Foundation is recruiting volunteers to take part in a census of the city’s tallest residents – century-old elms. Endangered by disease and development, these beloved trees have dwindled, greatly decreasing Sacramento’s tree canopy.

Once home to many thousands of big elms, Sacramento now has just about 1,900 remaining American, English and Siberian elms. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.

This is where SacTree’s STEP – Save the Elms Program – steps up. The foundation needs volunteer “community scientists” to visually check on these remaining trees and see if they’re doing OK. Volunteers use a downloadable app to relay their observations to the foundation with the goal of saving our remaining heritage elms.

“Our heritage elm trees are the most historic and iconic of Sacramento’s trees,” says the foundation. “Elms represent a remarkable legacy spanning generations; many of our elms are over 100 years old and climb as high as 130 feet into the city skyline.

“But they’ve been in trouble for a while,” added the foundation. “Dutch elm disease (DED), a fatal and contagious fungal disease with no cure, has plagued our city since the 1990s.”

Protecting the remaining elms is vital to our tree canopy.

“Replacing this elm canopy and the benefits provided to our community is not possible,” says the foundation. “Large mature trees provide the most benefits, but they require a lot of space to thrive. As our city grew up around these elm trees, their planter sizes shrunk to make room for buildings, roads and sidewalks. Because most of today’s planters are no longer large enough to accommodate another large tree, once these heritage elms are lost, the health, economic and environmental benefits of their immense canopies will be lost forever.”

The volunteer effort is coordinated with the City of Sacramento’s Urban Forestry program to monitor the remaining elms and slow the spread of Dutch elm disease. This summer program continues through September while the trees still have their green foliage and before they drop their leaves in fall.

Volunteers (as well as anyone interested) can watch an informative video on the warning signs of Dutch elm disease on SacTree’s website. Download the STEP app, then take a walk around your neighborhood. Your local elms will thank you.

Details and links: https://www.sactree.com/

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

volunteering gardening Sacramento City of Trees elms trees Sacramento Tree Foundation heritage trees Dutch elm disease leaf canopy

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

FALL

Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it

Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air

Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets

Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty

Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest

SUMMER

Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?

Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you

Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water

Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers

July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

July 15: Does this plant need water?

July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

July 1: How to grow summer salad greens

June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

June 17: Help pollinators help your garden

June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests

June 3: Make your own compost

May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?

May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

WINTER

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

Local News

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Sites We Like

Garden checklist for week of Dec. 14

Rain is due midweek, but there should be some partly sunny breaks between rain clouds, especially Thursday. Make the most of those opportunities and show your garden some TLC.

* Brighten the holidays with winter bloomers such as poinsettias, amaryllis, calendulas, Iceland poppies, pansies and primroses.

* Keep poinsettias in a sunny, warm location. Water thoroughly. After the holidays, feed your plants monthly so they’ll bloom again next December.

* Rake and remove dead leaves and stems from dormant perennials.

* Rake and compost leaves from trees, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Clear gutters and storm drains.

* Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Plant bulbs at two-week intervals to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* Seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while they’re dormant.

* Clean and sharpen garden tools before storing for the winter.

* Bare-root season begins. Plant bare-root berries, kiwifruit, grapes, artichokes, horseradish and rhubarb.

Contact Us

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!