Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Ramble through a native plant garden in autumn

CNPS Ambassador Patricia Carpenter opens her property to visitors Sunday

Autumn softens all the colors in the landscape. This view looks west from Patricia Carpenter's garden, which is just outside Davis.

Autumn softens all the colors in the landscape. This view looks west from Patricia Carpenter's garden, which is just outside Davis. Photo by Beth Savidge, courtesy Patricia Carpenter

With plants heading into dormancy and the colors softening, autumn is an ideal time to take an observational stroll through nature.

Patricia Carpenter, a California Native Plant Society Garden Ambassador, will open her 1-acre native-plant garden from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5, for her Autumn Ramble. (Remember that Pacific Standard Time starts early Sunday; clocks turn back 1 hour.)

The garden, west of Pierce Ranch Road south of Russell Boulevard, will be open rain or shine for self-guided tours; visitors may start any time during those hours. Admission is free but registration is required here. Maps will be available for use on site.

Carpenter's Verge Experiment, along the bike path that parallels Russell, recently was honored by Pacific Horticulture magazine. It was one of three West Coast gardens described by the publication as "volunteer-powered designs with community at their heart."

 “After 35 years controlling weeds along the bike path in front of my property, I decided to start planting," she wrote in her application. "With climate change and the reality of recurring future droughts, I kept wondering just how little water I could use and the verge experiment began.”

The bike path is viewable any time, but Carpenter's property is open to the public just four or five times a year. On Sunday, an optional short orientation and Q&A gathering with Carpenter is scheduled at 10 a.m. and noon; meet at the check-in table. Other special activities for this Ramble:

-- Botanist Glen Holstein will be in attendance.  His favorite topics include the new CNPS Yolo-Colusa Chapter and conservation of native plants.

-- Restoration ecologist Julia Michaels from Hedgerow Farms will visit to give away native wildflower seeds and show off some of the cool species growing at Hedgerow.   https://hedgerowfarms.com/

-- The Miridae Mobile Nursery will parked next to the property to satisfy visitors' native-plant purchase urges. A link to their current plant list is available here.

Visitors are advised to wear sturdy shoes, and are welcome to bring a lunch or snack to enjoy onsite. No dogs, please. A composting toilet available. 

Carpenter's non-native garden will be open to view as well. Read more about her native garden on her CNPS profile page.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Local News

Ad for California Local

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Cleveland sage ad for Be Water Smart

Garden Checklist for week of June 8

Get out early to enjoy those nice mornings. There’s plenty to keep gardeners busy:

* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal or rock phosphate can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.

* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. Inconsistent soil moisture can encourage blossom-end rot.

* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant.

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

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.

* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!