Native plants, Arboretum All-Stars and more will be offered
Shoppers and a student volunteer check over the supply of plants at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery during the May plant sale. The nursery has three sales planned this fall. Kathy Morrison
Fall is for planting, Sacramento-region gardeners know. The air temperatures come down but the soil is still warm, giving young plants the best chance to establish good root systems before winter.
The region's fall plant sales are always a big deal, but they're easy to miss once the season gets busy. Here are the late-summer and early-fall dates we know, followed by one expected sale whose date has yet to be announced.
-- American Begonia Society 75th Anniversary Show and Sale, "Diamonds in the Shade." The first fall sale involving the garden clubs that use Sacramento's Shepard Garden & Art Center as their headquarters. 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10. Shepard Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento. https://www.sgaac.org/calendar/2023/9 or https://www.begonias.org/
-- California Native Plant Society. Sacramento Valley Chapter. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, for the in-person sale at the SacValley Nursery at Soil Born Farms in Rancho Cordova. This will be followed by an online sale Sept. 23-25, with plant pickup on Oct. 1. Fabulous source for California native plants. Information: https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/plant-sales/
-- Delta Gesneriad and African Violet Society Show and Sale. A judged show and sale, typically featuring rare and hard-to-find varieties, 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, at the Shepard Garden and Art Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento. Details here.
-- UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery. This series of Saturday sales is hugely popular for its plant selection, which includes natives and the Arboretum All-Stars, aka plants that do well in our region. Join the Friends of the Arboretum to get 10% off all purchases and gain access to members-only sale hours. The sales on Sept. 30 and Oct. 21 will be "split sales," with members only admitted 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., then open to the public from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The fall clearance sale will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 4 and will be open to everyone. https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/plant-sales
-- Shepard Center Fall Sale. The event features all the clubs and groups that use the center. Plants, jewelry, art, food and more. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8. Shepard Garden and Art Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento. https://www.sgaac.org/calendar/
To be announced:
-- American River College Horticulture Department. The department holds a sale each semester of student-propagated plants. Typically bargain prices on annuals and vegetables, but the sales also include natives, shrubs and even trees.
Note: Any Sacramento-area groups or clubs with plant sales planned, or other events for that matter, can email us at Sacramento Digs Gardening: sacdigsgardening@gmail.com, to be added to our calendar.
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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.