Sherwood hosts Open Garden Days; guided tour Saturday
Milkweed attracts aphids, too! The yellow dots on the stem are oleander aphids. Learn how to control those and other pests during Open Garden Days at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden. Kathy Morrison
Gardeners have lots of questions – especially this time of year.
On Friday and Saturday mornings, find answers during Open Garden Days at Sherwood Demonstration Garden in Placerville.
From 9 a.m. to noon on June 30 and July 1, the El Dorado County master gardeners will open Sherwood to the public for in-person and hands-on advice. Got a mystery plant or pest? Bring photos and, if possible, samples in zippered plastic bags.
Saturday, July 1, also features a docent-led guided tour of Sherwood’s 16 demonstration gardens. The tour starts promptly at 9 a.m. (If no one shows up, the docent leaves at 9:15.)
At Sherwood, master gardeners demonstrate research-based, sustainable gardening practices specific to the west slope of El Dorado County – but also applicable to other foothill and valley gardens. They teach by doing. Watch them at work on fruit trees or in the vegetable garden. In summer, the shade garden is especially popular with visitors.
Sherwood offers something for all ages and cultures, and reflects a variety of environments and gardening experiences, say the master gardeners. Its wide range of demonstration gardens feature plants and ideas that can be adapted to home landscapes.
Admission is free. No dogs allowed.
Sherwood Demonstration Garden is located at 6699 Campus Drive, Placerville, on the campus of Folsom Lake College’s El Dorado Center.
Details and directions: https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/.
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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.
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