Water-wise gardening, lavender crafts, fascinating insects and a river habitat celebration
All seven locations will offer seasonal family fun, garden workshops
After oak falls on her house, Auburn teacher turns once-shady space into pollinator paradise
Mazes, pumpkin patch, free tram tours plus gardening experts
New! End-of-summer squash in a side dish or appetizer
Fall gets off to a hot start; it’s time to plant for cool weather ahead
Placer County master gardeners will sell new information-packed calendar at Auburn Home and Harvest Fest
CNPS chapter holds Sept. 21-22 sale with pick-up later
Participate in national Roses in Review survey
Street Festival takes over Capitol Mall; The Village Feast returns to Davis Central Park
Elk Grove landscape designer shows how to use native plants to create bird- and bee-friendly gardens
New! A cobbler perfect for a seasonal transition
Coming soon: Much cooler temperatures with possibility of rain
Demonstration garden in Loomis hosts open house, workshop
Sacramento master gardeners will be available for questions, tips during Open Garden
The Secret Garden celebrates with two weekends of family fun
Green Acres hosts veggie talks plus a houseplant pot-up event
Delta society hosts annual show and sale of African violets, gesneriads and rare bloomers
New! Very Berry Syrup mixes strawberries, blueberries, blackberries -- or whatever you have
This week could be the perfect time to plant for fall, winter
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 5
Take advantage of this break between storm systems to give your garden some much-needed TLC.
* 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.
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees soon after a rain 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, ranuculous and gladiolus 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.