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As gardeners, we receive many gifts all year

The natural world provides joys and food and more

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED DEC 25, 2025

A bee pollinates blossoms on a peach tree, representing two of the many gifts gardeners enjoy. Kathy Morrison

It's the season of gifts and giving, so I'd like to take a moment to recognize the gifts we as gardeners receive all year.

-- Pollinators who do their thing in the garden without any prompting, and do even more with a little encouragement (and plants they love). From almonds to zucchini, the area's crops and our home gardens depend on bees, butterflies and other insects, and the birds, too.

-- The trees that provide valuable shade in summer and give us leaf mulch in the fall. They also can provide food -- even if just for wildlife. (Oh, those hungry squirrels!) And birds depend on trees for shelter, too, of course.

-- The magical soil below us, full of nutrients and microorganisms and earthworms and so many things we're not aware of as we walk over it. Caring for the earth, the soil, is our charge as gardeners, and we reap the rewards.

-- Our gorgeous Mediterranean climate, which even as it's changing lets us work outside nearly year-round and grow so many things so well that we're the envy of many of the country's gardeners.

--The wonder of tiny seeds that turn into 2-pound tomatoes or tender lettuces with just the right amount of care.

-- Finally, the generosity of fellow gardeners, who give freely of seeds, divisions, transplants, produce, tools and advice. Plants I've been given -- that rose, those herbs, that hydrangea -- provide fond memories of the giver. If a new acquaintance says, "Oh, you're a gardener, too!" you have instant rapport. It's a community to cherish.

Happy holidays, everyone. See you in the garden in 2026!

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

gardening planting garden advice pollinators bees soil microorganisms orchard trees flowers seeds transplants wildlife winter holidays December Sacramento gardening

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

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?

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Garden checklist for week of July 19

Remember to water early and deeply; your garden depends on you.

* It’s not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers.

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Water, then fertilize vegetables and blooming annuals, perennials and shrubs to give them a boost.

*Fertilizing flowering plants every other week will extend their bloom. Give vegetable plants bone meal or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting.

* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week. Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.

* If your melons and squash aren’t setting fruit, give the bees a hand. With a small, soft paintbrush, gather some pollen from male flowers, then brush it inside the female flowers, which have a tiny swelling at the base of their petals. (That's the embryo melon or squash.) Within days, that little swelling should start growing.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves. New leaves have the best flavor.

* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.

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

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