Sacramento Digs Gardening: Christmas camellias bloom early

Raindrops on camellias may not be a song lyric, but the sight is a delight after so many smoky days. Be sure to pick up fallen blooms. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Thanksgiving rain refreshes shrubs, but can lead to petal blight

Camellia City is enjoying the rain.

It may be Thanksgiving weekend, but Christmas camellias are in full bloom throughout Sacramento.

Camellia sasanqua, a close cousin to the February-blooming japonica camellias, blooms when weather conditions are just right, which is usually December in Northern California. But warm October weather coaxed out thousands of early flowers on shrubs all over town. With big red or dark pink flowers with distinctive gold centers, those bushes will continue blooming a few more weeks, adding a festive touch to our local landscape.

The current storm system washed ash, dust and other debris off leaves, giving camellia shrubs a bright sheen. Heavy rain also can knock off blooms or cause petals to turn to mush. Pick up and dispose of those fallen flowers to help prevent petal blight, a fungal disease that turns camellia petals prematurely brown.

Christmas camellias brighten the landscape.

Christmas camellias also make excellent cut flowers. Put a stem of flowers in a tall vase or float blooms in a shallow bowl of water.

As for our Thanksgiving storm, Sacramento received .21 inches Thursday, bringing the total to .93 for the first wave of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Just as much is expected Friday and early Saturday, before a warm and clear weekend.

That will make for excellent planting weather with soft ground, ideal for transplanting shrubs. Camellias -- both sasanqua and japonica -- can be planted now.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

ash gardening Sacramento planting fall weather air quality rainfall camellias petal blight weather

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Food in My Back Yard Series

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

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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Garden Checklist for week of May 18

Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. Transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

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