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Happy Arbor Week! Plant a tree

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED MAR 8, 2019

We love our trees in California, from gnarled valley oaks, like the one above, to wispy desert willows. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Special events, tree plantings in Sacramento and Rancho Cordova

California loves trees. So it's no surprise we take a whole week to celebrate Arbor Day.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, California celebrates Arbor Week from March 7 through 14. That allows volunteer organizations plenty of opportunities to plant trees -- especially in the City of Trees.

Sacramento has been a Tree City USA community for 41 years, tied with Burbank as the longest tenure as a Tree City among 147 California communities with that distinction. (Davis is close behind at 40 years.) Just over 3,400 communities are Tree Cities nationwide.

The Sacramento Tree Foundation is celebrating Arbor Week with tree plantings at Valley Hi Park, 8185 Center Pkwy, Sacramento, on Saturday morning, 8:45 a.m. to noon, and Williamson Elementary School in Rancho Cordova on Sunday.

In addition, the Sunday event includes a performance by Tree Circus and a lot of family activities, including arts and crafts. The free event will be from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at the school, 2275 Benita Drive, Rancho Cordova. For more details and to register in advance: www.sactree.com .

Also on Sunday, another Arbor Week celebration will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Dave Roberts Park, 10805 Mapola Way, Rancho Cordova. The UCCE master gardeners of Sacramento County who specialize in landscape trees will staff a table where you can get your tree questions answered. Got a mystery tree, weed or pest? Bring a sample in a sealed plastic bag and get answers.

Most states have their own state Arbor Day or Week, staggered throughout the spring or fall, according to the National Arbor Day Foundation. There's one more tree holiday to remember. Held each year on the last Friday in April, National Arbor Day is April 26.

Details: www.arborday.org .

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UCCE master gardeners gardening Rancho Cordova Sacramento planting events trees Arbor Week Tree City Arbor Day

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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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