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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Original post:
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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Flowers in My Back Yard Series
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
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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16
During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.
* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.
* Plant potatoes.
* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.
* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.
* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.
* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.
* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.
* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.
* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.
* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.
* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.
* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.
* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.
Contact Us
Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com
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
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
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
We don't talk (enough) about beets
Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
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?
Enhance your food with edible flowers
Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
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
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
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