Calendars, clothes pins and memberships are top suggestions
Either of these master gardener-created gardening guides/calendars make a great gift. The seeds? Perfect for stocking gifts. Kathy Morrison
With less than a week until Christmas, crunch time is here for anyone choosing gifts. Still need a few small stocking goodies? Want to find a gift for that kind neighbor with the colorful garden? If you have a gardener among friends or family members, I have these can't-miss suggestions:
A gift you can walk in and buy right now:
-- Either Gardening Guide and Calendar produced by two area UC master gardener groups is, right off, my top choice for any area gardener. The Sacramento County version is best for those in the Sacramento area or flatlands of the Central Valley. The 2025 theme covers things gardeners are "Passionate About," such as succulents, fragrant plants or gardening with kids.
The Placer County master gardeners also have an excellent guide/calendar, aimed more at gardening in the foothills. "Healthy Garden, Healthy You" is the theme, and the price is $12. Find it at more than two dozen retailers in Placer and El Dorado counties; the link to the full list is here. Online and mail orders also are accepted.
Sacramento's also is $12 and can be found at several nurseries: The Plant Foundry, Emigh Hardware, Talini's and the four Green Acres in the county, plus the Wild Birds and Gardens store. (Call first to make sure a particular store still has it in stock.) It also can be ordered online here; postage is extra.
Great little stocking gifts:
-- Seeds, but not just any seeds. Look for seeds from Hedgerow Farms, now carried at Green Acres stores. These seeds are grown in Winters, at a farm that provides California native plant seed for large-scale conservation and habitat restoration projects around the state. The retail seeds are a side business. My choice: The Central Valley wildflower mix, but they also have native milkweed seeds (showy and narrow-leaf), tidy tips, blue-eyed grass, lacy phacelia and more. Prices are 99 cents to $4.95.
-- Wooden clothes pins. Check the local hardware store or some big-box stores for these. Usually in a pack of 36. Endlessly useful in the garden, as fertilizer or soil bag clips, trellis assistance, shade cloth clips and even plant markers. The wooden ones last much longer than plastic ones.
A gift for the whole year, easily purchased online:
-- Membership in the Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. The Arboretum is a regional treasure, with its acres of native and other plants, quiet spaces to observe nature, and a top-notch Teaching Nursery. Members get deals on the fall and spring plant sales in addition to supporting all the good work that goes into maintaining the Arboretum. Plus, members get discounts and free admissions to gardens throughout North America, and discounts on purchases at select nurseries and online retailers.
For gift memberships, check this page. Individual memberships start at $48, and $72 for a family. The main Friends membership page is here.
(Psst: The spring plant sale dates have been announced! Mark your calendar for March 8, April 6, April 26 and May 10.)
Happy holidays!
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Local News
Sites We Like
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.
Powered by California Local
