Show and sale features Sacramento Valley's best outdoor orchids
Cold, rainy conditions in forecast for Sacramento
Greatest hits recipe: Ricotta cheese, phyllo part of a perfect brunch dish
Expect a soggy end to winter and start of spring
Expect spring to get off to a soggy start, weather service says
Visit a garden of natives as the green season gets going
Award-winning garden writer, author helped solve backyard mysteries
New Roseville nursery and garden store will be packed with activities March 18
Sacramento Perennial Plant Club hosts vendors and 'The Plant Lady' on Saturday
Triple-orange sugar cookies with or without orange glaze
Sacramento gets soaked (again) as we ‘spring’ forward
Workshop focuses on how plant-based diet can promote better health
Popular Saturday events washed out by weather
Sacramento region could get 4-plus inches of rain, wind gusts up to 50 mph
First of the season's four sales features huge selection of water-wise plants
Find plants and much more at this popular event
Flavorful recipe can be a vegetarian main or lively side dish
March arrives with more cold, damp weather
Weather service says 'expect substantial disruptions to daily life'
Online sale of California natives begins Saturday
Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 24
In between rainy episodes this week:
* Keep your gutters and storm drains cleared. Watch out for leaning trees or weakened branches; if you spot trouble, call an arborist.
* Remember to turn off the sprinklers or other irrigation. Be careful walking on or working with wet soil; it can compact easily.
* On rainy days, do some indoor gardening. Tend to houseplants. Sort seed packets. Start seed indoors for cool-season veggies and flowers.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Rake and compost leaves, but leave at least some healthy leaves in planting beds for nesting insects and foraging birds. But dispose of any diseased plant material. For eample, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* If you decide to use a living Christmas tree this year, keep it outside in a sunny location until Christmas week. This reduces stress on the young tree.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* After they bloom, chrysanthemums should be trimmed to 6 to 8 inches above the ground. If in pots, keep the mums in their containers until next spring. Then they can be planted in the ground, if desired, or repotted.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers such as California poppies and plant spring bloomers such as as sweet peas, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.