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Display gardens and much more at SF Flower Show


Clearwater Landscape Design of Folsom won top honors at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show at Cal Expo.
(Photos: Debbie Arrington)


Big crowd on hand at Cal Expo for state’s largest garden show



A huge opening day crowd greeted the 34th annual San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, which made its Cal Expo debut Thursday.

Held for the first time in Sacramento, the show continues through Sunday with special events and seminars each day.

Uprooted from the Cow Palace after a scheduling snafu, California’s largest garden show settled into the Pavilion building normally inhabited by livestock at the State Fair. Scores of popular vendors such as Dan’s Dahlias and Hartley Botanic greeted returning customers who came from throughout Northern California to shop, listen and learn.

In three corners of the massive building, guest speakers entertained hundreds of patrons at a trio of presentation stages. Artistic floral arrangements, edible gardens and impressive bonsai trees – some a century old – emphasized the flower and garden aspects of this big show. So did the thousands of live exotic, unusual or rare plants offered for sale. Heirloom vegetable seedlings were in abundance.

Because of the late venue change, participants had less than three months to get ready for Cal Expo. Garden creators usually spend eight to 10 months preparing for the SF Flower Show’s competition.

Show producer Sherry Larsen said she had to scramble to get designers willing and able to create innovative display gardens, a hallmark of this venerable event. Instead of a dozen or more, seven mostly local designers took part.

The big winner was a SF Flower Show regular. Folsom’s Nathan Beeck and Clearwater Landscape Design earned Best in Show with an eye-catching “fire-resistant” display garden featuring a double waterfall, reflecting pond, steel siding and native plants. Beeck and Juan Chavez designed the garden, using plants by Site One Nursery.

Kent Gordon England's display garden
Runner-up was another show veteran: Kent Gordon England. Known for his restoration designs, the longtime designer created a flower- and citrus-filled English-style cottage garden, built around reclaimed Grecian columns and an enchanting greenhouse.

Sacramento’s Ahmed Hassan, well-known as HGTV’s “Yard Crasher,” was awarded third place for his contemporary display garden, built around twin 20-foot magnolia trees.

In the edible gardening section, Bill Maynard and his City of Sacramento community gardens crew “had fun with wattles,” straw-filled barriers. Maynard also demonstrated different ways to make an instant raised bed vegetable garden.

Several garden clubs were on hand to share their expertise. One in particular stood out: The Paradise Garden Club. President Ward Habriel was among thousands of Paradise residents who lost their homes during November’s deadly camp fire. The club’s signature project, “Daffodils Across the Ridge,” has become a symbol of hope for the community.

Before the fire, the club had planted more than 162,000 daffodils as part of its 10-year-old project. Rising from the charred streets of Paradise, many of those daffodils are now in bloom.

“There’s nothing left of our house, but we have daffodils everywhere,” Habriel said. His club is raising fire-safety awareness as well as donations to plant more daffodils.

The San Francisco Flower and Garden Show continues from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Details and tickets:
www.sfgardenshow.com .

One of many artistic floral arrangements on display

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Garden checklist for week of May 31

Remember to water early. No more rain is in the immediate forecast.

* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or other summer favorites. Make sure they stay hydrated.

* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.

* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the early hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather.

* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening

WINTER

Is edible gardening possible indoors?

Hints for choosing tomato seeds

Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

How to squeeze more food into less space

Potatoes from the garden

Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden

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