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Learn how to propagate native plants

Center for Land-Based Learning hosts propagation workshop

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 6, 2026

Native plants form part of the hedgerows at Center for Land-Based Learning in Woodland. Courtesy of Center for Land-Based Learning

Want to help California wildlife? Grow more native plants.

Want more native plants? Learn propagation.

For budding native plant enthusiasts as well as experienced gardeners, here’s a great hands-on workshop, led by two top experts at an interesting venue surrounded by wildlife.

At 9 a.m. Saturday, July 11, Center for Land-Based Learning in Woodland will host “Let’s Get Rooted!,” a three-hour native plant propagation workshop. Instructors are CNPS Ambassador Patricia Carpenter and Rich Sonne, Certified California Naturalist.

Carpenter is well known for her Davis garden featuring more than 400 different cultivars and species of natives, many of which she propagated herself. Sonne, an accredited California native plant landscaper, “is passionate about climate-appropriate, low-water gardens that support pollinators and create a strong sense of place,” say the hosts.

“Learn how to grow your own native plants from scratch – and why it’s one of the best things you can do for your farm, garden, and local ecosystem,” say the organizers. “Native plants are naturally adapted to California’s soils, climate, and seasons. Once established, they support native wildlife, attract and house beneficial insects, and significantly reduce your landscape’s water needs. In this workshop, you’ll learn the hands-on skills to start multiplying them yourself and take home several plants to help get your garden growing.”

Among the lessons will be:

* Propagation techniques including cuttings, layering, divisions, and seed starting;

* Stratification and scarification methods for seeds that need a little coaxing to germinate;

* How to identify, collect, and assess plant materials and seeds on a guided plant walk; and

* Common propagation problems and diseases – and the nursery sanitation practices that prevent them.

No prior gardening experience is necessary, say the organizers.

Registration fee is $75 including materials, cuttings and plants. Women in agriculture and military veterans can both receive discounts. Thanks to the support of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, Sacramento Chapter, women in agriculture may apply for a 50% percent discount. Military veterans can receive a full scholarship to this class thanks to a grant from the Farmer Veteran Coalition, California chapter. (Both discounts require filling out a form; links are available on the event page.)

Center for Land-Based Learning is located at 40140 Best Ranch Road, Woodland.

For details, directions and registration: https://www.landbasedlearning.org/native-plant-propagation-workshop/

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Summer July Sacramento gardening native plants propagation woodland CNPS Center for Land-Based Learning

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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.

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

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