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What rain? McKinley Park Prunathon goes on

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 7, 2019

Prunathon volunteers warm up inside Clunie Center
after tackling McKinley Park's rose garden.
(Photo: Ellie Longanecker)

Volunteers brave weather to prune garden's 1,200 roses

Call it the miracle on H Street.

Despite wind, rain and mud, 70 volunteers turned out Saturday for the annual McKinley Park Prunathon and finished the memorial rose garden’s 1,200 bushes by noon.

They got “lots of fresh air,” noted garden coordinator Lyn Pitts, who organized the Prunathon along with Ellie Longanecker. Both women gave their “sincere gratitude” to those who braved the bad weather.

“Seventy wonderful volunteers turned out to make the annual pruning event a success, in some pretty cold wet windy weather,” Friends of the McKinley Park Rose Garden posted on Facebook.

After pruning, volunteers warmed up with lunch at the park’s Clunie Community Center.

“The hot soup from Friends of East Sacramento and Evans Kitchen was appreciated by all,” the post read.

After all that work, the volunteers enjoyed minestrone and clam chowder.

“All the volunteers could not fit in the room,” Longanecker said. “Not a drop (of soup) was left.”

Now freshly pruned and weeded, the McKinley Park rose garden is ready for another year of weddings and other celebrations. Featured in the movie “Lady Bird,” the famous garden is considered among Sacramento’s most romantic settings.

With forecasts for the season’s worst storm so far this winter, organizers had set a Jan. 12 rain date for the Prunathon, usually held on the first Saturday of each new year. But ignoring the weather, volunteers turned out in force on Jan. 5.

“I arrived at 9 a.m. and Lyn Pitts already had all the volunteers at work,” said Dave Coop, president of the Sacramento Rose Society. “Community volunteers, AmeriCorps young people (and more) were busy pruning. While they were working, Lyn was instructing another large group about the (morning’s work) and briefly ‘how to prune a rose.’ ”

Coop led a hands-on pruning workshop for some of the public attendees. “All had good questions and eager to learn,” he noted.

"Yes, it was wet off and on and a bit breezy, but not intolerable,” Coop added. “It even cleared slightly late in the morning.”

All that wet work was worth it, Coop noted.

“It was - as in the past - amazing to see that large garden get pruned by noon,” he said. “But I was happy that we ignored the network weather reports that said this storm was going to 'dump' on us.”

All done: McKinley Park's 1,200-bush memorial rose garden
is now pruned for 2019, thanks to volunteers. (Photo: Lyn Pitts)

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

rose garden Sacramento Sacramento Rose Society roses Clunie Center gardening Ellie Longanecker AmeriCorps Lyn Pitts Friends of East Sacramento McKinley Park Dave Coop rose care

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Garden Checklist for week of May 5

Survey your garden after the May 4 rainstorm. Heavy rain and gusty winds can break the neck of large flowers such as roses. Also:

* Keep an eye on new transplants or seedlings; they could take a pounding from the rain.

* Watch out for powdery mildew. Warmth following moist conditions can cause this fungal disease to “bloom,” too. If you see a leaf that looks like it’s dusted with powdered sugar, snip it off.

* After the storm, start setting out tomato transplants, but wait on the peppers and eggplants (they want warmer nights). Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias. Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.

* Don’t wait; plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

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