Classic! These thumbprints are a twist on a traditional favorite
Clean up after the latest deluge – there's more rain on the way
Elk Grove garden store offers several creative classes
Winter is ideal for planning to improve what's underfoot
No matter the color, how to help your Christmas plants look their best
Tips for winter rose care start with sharp shears
Sacramento Tree Foundation welcomes volunteers of all ages for Folsom event
New! When ripe, the fruit is more juicy, floral than tart
Rain is coming back to Sacramento – but when?
Nursery, cafe, brewery and historic fruit shed in Loomis are open late three nights a week
Popular fundraisers benefit local programs; Woodland tour sold out
RUFF hosts free planting party near Pistachio Park
Oak Park urban nursery and garden store puts its own twist on tradition
Sacred Heart fundraiser includes cafe, boutique featuring 25 local makers
New! Bakery-style mandarin muffins with raisins
Make the most of dry, clear (and chilly) weather
Succulents, holiday poinsettias among most sensitive plants
A grateful pause on Thanksgiving
El Dorado County growers ready to welcome tree hunters
After atmospheric river, we'll have some chilly nights
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 5
Take advantage of this break between storm systems to give your garden some much-needed TLC.
* 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. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* 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.
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees soon after a rain 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 fungicide 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.)
* 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, ranuculous and gladiolus 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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