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Go native! Sac Valley CNPS hosts fall plant sale

Order plants online, then pick up at Rancho Cordova nursery

A monarch butterfly pauses on the blossom of a salvia clevelandii at the Cosumnes Preserve.

A monarch butterfly pauses on the blossom of a salvia clevelandii at the Cosumnes Preserve. Photo courtesy Robin Rogerson via Sac Valley CNPS

In time for fall planting, the Sacramento Valley chapter of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) is hosting its online fall plant sale at its nursery, starting at noon Wednesday through Sunday, Sept. 14-18.

Orders are available for pickup on two Sundays, Sept. 25 and Oct. 4. The demonstration gardens also will be open for viewing; see website for availability.

Also known as Elderberry Farms, Sac Valley CNPS Nursery and Gardens are located at Soil Born Farms’ American River Ranch, 2140 Chase Drive, Rancho Cordova.

Fall is the best time to transplant most native plants, especially shrubs, trees and perennials. It allows them months (hopefully with rain) to put down roots and get established before the stress of summer heat next year.

“Native plants are not only beautiful and climate adaptable, but they also feed and shelter birds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators,” says Chris Lewis, the nursery’s longtime director.

Gardeners gravitate towards native plants, too; they naturally use less water. Survival of our dry summer weather is stamped into these plants’ DNA. Many varieties need little if any summer irrigation.

Not only do native plants save water compared to traditional lawn-based landscape, they support local wildlife. Providing flowers and often seeds or berries, native plants offer food for pollinators and birds; that’s something turf never does.

Among the native favorites offered by the nursery: Monkeyflower, buckwheat, lupine, penstemon, salvias, asters, redberry, mountain mahogany and, of course, elderberry.

For full details and plant list: https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/plant-sales/.

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Garden Checklist for week of April 27

Once the clouds clear, get to work. Spring growth is in high gear.

* Set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, 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. Late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.

* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants 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.

* 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.

* Start thinning fruit that's formed on apple and stone fruit trees -- you'll get larger fruit at harvest (and avoid limb breakage) if some is thinned now. The UC recommendation is to thin fruit when it is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about 6 inches apart; smaller fruit such as plums and pluots can be about 4 inches apart. Apricots can be left at 3 inches apart. Apples and pears should be thinned to one fruit per cluster of flowers, 6 to 8 inches apart.

* 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.

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