Yolo master gardeners also to present garden talk, plant sale soon
Pumpkin contests, workshops and games are part of garden fun for the whole family
Get water-wise favorites and California natives in time for fall planting.
Sacramento show highlights floral freedom of expression
Spiced coffee cake an ideal treat for early-fall breakfast
Autumn starts on cool side – with a chance of rain coming soon
Eradication efforts underway to stop the spread of this highly destructive pest
Advice for the vegetable garden, orchard, roses -- and late-summer produce
American Bonsai Association, Sacramento, welcomes public to bid at Shepard Center
Huge street party set for Friday and Saturday on Capitol Mall
Placer County master gardeners to break ground on 11,000-square-foot project
Leftover beef pairs with fresh tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and green beans
Final days of summer will be perfect for fall planting
In addition, American River Ranch holds its own plant sale, fall gardening clinic
Learn about planting garlic -- and preserving it, too
2023 was a great tomato year for gardeners, farmers who planted later
On Wednesday, Warren Roberts guides free tour of earliest fall color
Find hundreds of indoor plants in rare varieties at Shepard Center event
Recipe: Easy cake can be gluten-free, too
Sunny, clear and not-too-hot days make for good planting weather
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Garden Checklist for week of Dec. 29
It's prime pruning weather. After Sunday's rain, get to work!
* 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 a prime time to prune fruit trees. (But not cherry or apricot trees -- they're susceptible to the fungus Eutypa dieback in wet weather; save those for July or August.) 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.
* Prune Christmas camellias (Camellia sasanqua), the early-flowering varieties, after their bloom. They don’t need much, but selective pruning can promote bushiness, upright growth and more bloom next winter. Feed with an acid-type fertilizer. But don’t feed your Japonica camellias until after they finish blooming next month. Feeding while camellias are in bloom may cause them to drop unopened buds.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees soon after a rain 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 gladiolus 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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