Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

CNPS chapter kicks off spring plant sale season

Online sale of California natives begins Saturday

Common yarrow is a reliably hardy green perennial in winter,  but will show off with white flowering stalks as the weather warms up

Common yarrow is a reliably hardy green perennial in winter, but will show off with white flowering stalks as the weather warms up Kathy Morrison

March brings a rush of spring plant sales. Kicking off the season is the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society with a four-day online sale this Saturday through midday Wednesday, March 4-8. 

SacValley CNPS has a propagation nursery and demonstration gardens on property at Soil Born Farms, 2140 Chase Drive, Rancho Cordova, though it is a separate entity from Soil Born. Formerly called Elderberry Farms, the nursery’s name now is SacValley CNPS Nursery and Gardens, in order to focus better on the chapter’s activities.

If you want a garden filled with natives – and why wouldn’t you? – this is one of the best sales in the Sacramento area at which to find them. The 61 plants on the inventory list range from Achillea millefolium (yarrow) to Vitus californica (California wild grape), and many other great plants in between. Check out the inventory here. Shopping tip: Create a wishlist ahead of time, then when the sale starts, just indicate the size of plant desired. Attributes of each plant are in this detailed list. Most will be in 1-gallon pots ($13), with some in 4-inch pots ($6). 

The sale also will feature about 20 books and pocket manuals on native plants and/or wildlife, including a few children’s books. Prices are half what you’d expect. (Example: “Gardening for Butterflies” from The Xerces Society, just $10.)

Shoppers also can make a donation to CNPS on the site.

The sale goes live at 8 a.m. Saturday and closes at noon Wednesday. Pickup is at Soil Born Farms, When purchasing plants, choose a pickup date within the windows of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 12 or 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 15. Anyone who can’t make either date will be advised to message nursery and plant sale chair Chris Lewis (email on the website).

Sac Valley also is planning a small in-person plant sale 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 15 during a Soil Born Farms marketplace day. Some guest vendors, including Find Out Farms, will be at the sale as well. More details are coming, the chapter notes. But the online sale is likely the best bet to get their popular plants.

For general information on the Sacramento Valley CNPS chapter,  including how to volunteer, visit  https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/

– Kathy Morrison

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Sept. 8: A must for fall gardens, asters are little powerhouses

Sept. 1: Yarrow an easy-care, sturdy flowering plant

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

Local News

Ad for California Local

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Garden checklist for week of Sept. 13

Now is the time to plant for fall. The warm soil will get these veggies off to a fast start.

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees. Make sure to deep water before and after feeding.

* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.

* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.

* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.

* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with “eyes” about an inch below the soil surface.

 .

Contact Us

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event.  sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!

Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening

WINTER

Is edible gardening possible indoors?

Hints for choosing tomato seeds

Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

How to squeeze more food into less space

Potatoes from the garden

Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Add asparagus to your edible garden

Soggy soil and what to do about it

Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Change is in the autumn air 

We don't talk (enough) about beets

Fava beans do double duty

Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

How to prolong the fall tomato harvest 

SUMMER

Time to shut it down? 

How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

: Put worms to work for you

Grow food while saving water

Enhance your food with edible flowers

Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

Does this plant need water?

 Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

How to grow summer salad greens

 Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

Help pollinators help your garden

Battling early-season tomato pests

Make your own compost

Where are the bees when you need them?

How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

Grow culinary herbs in containers

When to plant summer vegetables

Don't be fooled by these garden myths

Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth