Free event Sunday includes plant sale, botanist's visit
Island bush poppy, left, and red California poppy are among the colorful blooms this time of year at Patricia Carpenter's native plant garden. Photos by Beth Savidge, courtesy Patricia Carpenter
Yes, it's still spring. Some of the native wildflowers may have faded for the year, but there is still plenty to see -- and plenty of color -- among the California natives.
An excellent site to witness this is Patricia Carpenter's property just west of Davis. Carpenter is a California Native Plant Society Garden Ambassador, and this Sunday, May 19, she opens her 1-acre native plant garden to visitors free of charge for the Late Spring Ramble. The garden includes approximately 400 species and cultivars of California native plants.
Registration is required to attend, and can be accomplished here. Directions to the site and maps for the ramble will be available after registration.
The garden will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and registered visitors are welcome to take the self-guided tour any time during that period.
Carpenter herself will give an optional short orientation and also answer questions at 10 a.m. and noon; meet near the check-in table.
Botanist Glen Holstein, a wildflower expert, will also be at the ramble to chat with visitors. His favorite topics include conservation of native plants and the new Yolo-Colusa chapter of CNPS.
Miridae Mobile Nursery will be on site for sales of native plants. A link to the current inventory can be found here.
And Carpenter notes that she has been collecting native seeds to share with visitors.
Folks attending the ramble are advised to wear sturdy shoes, and bring a hat and some water. Visitors are also welcome to bring a snack or lunch to enjoy at the garden. No dogs, please.
To read more about Carpenter and her garden, visit her CNPS page here.
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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.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* 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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