Popular Saturday events washed out by weather
Visitors explore the Berry Garden at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center during February's Open Garden Day. Kathy Morrison
Update Thursday evening: The March 11 Open Garden at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center is officially canceled, primarily out of concerns for safety, including the potential for flooded streets and downed trees.
The word went out to the Sacramento County master gardeners Thursday from program coordinator Judy McClure. She noted that if the weather clears Saturday morning and streets are safe, master gardeners can welcome visitors to the Horticulture Center informally. But there will be no welcome tables, signs, displays, calendar sales or other official accoutrements of Open Garden Day.
The next scheduled Open Garden is 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, April 12.
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The next few days are expected to be wet, really wet. But ducks and the hardy Sacramento County master gardeners will be out there Saturday, as long as a blizzard doesn’t stir up in Fair Oaks. (For the record, no blizzard is forecast. Not yet, anyway.)
Saturday’s Open Garden Day will go ahead as planned, 9 a.m. to noon at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, rain or shine. The only times the event has been canceled due to inclement weather was when heavy rain was blowing sideways, program coordinator Judy McClure noted earlier this week.
The entire Horticulture Center is available for exploration on Open Garden Days. The master gardeners staff each area of the garden to show off what’s growing, answer questions and, as the occasion allows, take care of some gardening chores.
This March event offers a great opportunity to see how the FOHC Orchard's trees and the Water Efficient Landscape plants, in particular, are holding up against the winter weather. Need some clarification on green waste rules? The Compost team members can offer guidance on what can and what cannot go into the weekly collection bins. The Vegetable, Herb and Berry teams will be staffing those areas, doing light cleanup work as they answer questions. (Wet soil precludes much digging.)
The Fair Oaks Horticulture Center is at 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd., south of Madison Avenue and the Fair Oaks Library. More information on the FOHC and Sacramento County master gardeners is available here.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Yolo Bypass, the "atmospheric river" forecast prompted the Plant Sale planners on Wednesday night to cancel Saturday’s first spring sale at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery. That was to be a members-only event for Friends of the Arboretum.
"We don’t take these decisions lightly. The sales typically happen rain or shine, heat wave or windstorm … not to mention, pandemic,” said Taylor Lewis, the nursery manager, noted on the plant sale website. “We can deal with a lot, and so can our customers, but this next round of weather, with the quantity of rain falling so close to the sale, won’t give us time to recover before Saturday.”
"We know our community, just like us, really looks forward to these plant sales. It’s disappointing for all of us to have to cancel,” said Carmia Feldman, assistant director at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden.
To make it up to the Friends members, the nursery will turn April into Member Appreciation Month. Now $10-off coupons will be given to Friends members at both the currently scheduled April events, in addition to offering early access at both sales, and 10% off. Those sales are April 8 (with member-only access 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., public 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and April 29 (members get early access at 8:30 a.m. before it opens to the public at 9 a.m.)
“The irony of having to postpone a plant sale that offers one of the area’s largest selections of low-water plants due to rain, is not lost on me,” Lewis said. “It speaks to the extreme weather we’ve been experiencing up and down the state and actually, further reinforces the need for plants like ours to support the environment.”
For information on becoming a Friend of the Arboretum and all the perks, go here.
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Garden Checklist for week of April 21
This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.
* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.
* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.
* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.
* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.
* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.
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