Sacramento Valley CNPS event spotlights wildlife-friendly landscapes
This colorful garden was part of a previous Gardens Gone Native tour. This year, 30 gardens from Woodland to Rocklin are on the tour Saturday. Photo courtesy SacValley CNPS
This garden tour covers a lot of ground – and inspiration. This Saturday, April 27, visitors can see 30 local wildlife-friendly landscapes that spotlight California native plants.
Hosted by the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, the “Gardens Gone Native” tour stretches throughout the greater Sacramento area. The tour is free, but registration is required to get the addresses, tour brochure and map.
Each of the gardens is at least 50% native plants. Some are well-established; others are relatively new. Every garden does something for local wildlife as well as the people who care for these plants. Many of these native-centric gardens are distinctly Sacramentan.
Since it's a self-guided tour, see as many or as few gardens as you like.
“The Gardens Gone Native tour is a free garden tour featuring 30 California native plant home and school gardens in the Sacramento region,” says SacValley CNPS. “Gardens are comprised predominantly of California native plants in the urban landscape.
“These gardens feature a variety of ways in which native plants can flourish in the home garden,” add the organizers. “Some are professionally designed while others are more functional and are a mix use of natives, food production, and living spaces. You will find delightful and sustainable gardens that harness water, create habitats, and add a sense of place.”
Don’t just drive by; get out and see these gardens up close – and ask questions. This is an opportunity to really learn about natives from gardeners with personal experience. How did they grow their gardens? What’s their secret to native success? What wouldn't they plant again?
“Attendees will have the opportunity to ask garden hosts about their choices and challenges," say the organizers.
Tour hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. See virtual tours of past “Gardens Gone Native” as well as register at https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/gardens-gone-native-tour/.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
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* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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