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This Earth Day party in Placer salutes monarch butterflies


The monarch butterfly is the focus of an Earth Day celebration in Auburn
this Saturday. (Photo courtesy UCCE)

I n El Dorado County, master gardeners host spring plant sale

How are you helping your planet?
Monday is Earth Day, an annual celebration held April 22 each year since 1970. This year’s theme: Protect Our Species.
Bees and butterflies rank high on the list of local species that could use some protection as well as TLC.  One of the best ways to protect our native species is to invite them into our gardens and make them feel at home -- well-fed, nurtured and protected.
On Saturday, one endangered butterfly in particular takes the spotlight at  “Earth Day: Celebration of the Monarchs.” To be held in downtown Auburn at the Armed Forces Pavilion and Community Garden, this family event focuses on this beloved butterfly and its annual migration to California. Learn all about the monarchs from the UCCE Placer County master gardeners, who will offer tips on how to help these butterflies. (Hint: They love milkweed!)
Planting California natives and flowering plants (including vegetables and fruit trees) can make bees happy and go a long way in creating a welcoming habitat.
Find a great selection at the El Dorado County Master Gardeners’ Spring Plant Sale, from 8 a.m. 2 p.m. Saturday, April 20. The sale will be held at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden, behind Folsom Lake College's El Dorado Center, 6699 Campus Drive, Placerville. Admission is free; parking is $2 in the college lot.  While you’re there, check out the beautiful garden and the ways master gardeners attract more beneficial insects.
Milkweed is the monarch butterfly's key food source.
(Photo courtesy Cheryl Rose)
Find a wide variety of fruit trees, California natives, ornamental grasses, vegetables, succulents, shrubs and perennials. Which ones? The sale plant list available here: http://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/files/302291.pdf
Cash or checks only; no credit cards. Details: http://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/
and Kathy Morrison

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Garden Checklist for week of Feb. 2

During this stormy week, let the rain soak in while making plans for all the things you’re going to plant soon:

* During rainy weather, turn off the sprinklers. After a good soaking from winter storms, lawns can go at least a week without sprinklers, according to irrigation experts. For an average California home, that week off from watering can save 800 gallons.

* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.

* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.

* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

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