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Celebrate National Pollinator Week

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED JUN 17, 2019

A bee loads up with pollen on a sunflower. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Give the bees, butterflies and other garden helpers a treat

It's National Pollinator Week, today through Sunday. No cake needed: We can't think of a better way to celebrate than with a new plant or two to help out these hard-working garden pals.

Right now the bees in my garden are loving the African blue basil plant , which is not a good culinary basil but more than makes up for that by bringing pollinators to the vegetable garden. (Note: The flowers are sterile so you have to buy it as a transplant.)

Earlier this spring, one of our posts suggested many plants to grow to entice pollinators. If you missed that, check it out here .

Here's what the Pollinator Partnership has to say about why pollinators are so important to our lives:

"Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. They also sustain our ecosystems and produce our natural resources by helping plants reproduce."

Around the area, Amador Flower Farm & Nursery is celebrating Pollinator Week by offering sales on all pollinator plants. They also are hosting a children's coloring contest that lasts all week, and on Saturday and Sunday, June 22-23, the nursery invites families to bring their kids dressed as pollinators. (Got any baby bees in your family?) Ten customers will win bags equipped to get their own pollinator gardens started.

And on Sunday, visitors can see bees up close in Uncle Jer's Traveling Bee Show from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Pollinator Week activities, see their Facebook page .

Amador Flower Farm & Nursery is at 22001 Shenandoah School Road, Plymouth. For directions, go to amadorflowerfarm.com

And if you want to read more on pollinators, check out pollinator.org .

-- Kathy Morrison

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gardening Sacramento family events National Pollinator Week bees events Amador Flower Farm pollinators butterflies

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Garden Checklist for week of April 21

This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.

* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.

* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.

* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.

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