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So many begonias! Come get some!

Sacramento show and sale features more than 1,000 plants

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 17, 2021

A rex begonia shows off the spectacular form

and color pattern that make these plants so desirable.

Rex begonias will be featured during the Sacramento
Begonia Sale and Show this weekend.

(Photo and video courtesy Mike Tentis, Sacramento
Begonia Society)

If you’re looking for unusual and eye-catching plants, this is the place. More than 1,000 begonias — many of them rare and hard-to-find varieties — will be available this weekend at the Shepard Garden and Arts Center during the annual Sacramento Begonia Show and Sale.

But it’s two days only: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18; 10 a.m. to 3 pm Sunday, Sept. 19. That’s a small window – not just to buy begonias, but to sell.

For their first big sale since 2019, members of the Joan Coulat Sacramento Branch of the American Begonia Society went to great lengths – and mileage – to gather the best plants possible. Last weekend, they took a bus trip to Los Osos near San Luis Obispo to personally pick out the specimens at a major begonia nursery.

Society members Mike Tentis and Paul Tsamtsis shared photos and video (see below) of their great begonia hunt. What they brought back to Sacramento is truly eye-popping: Rex begonias with foliage in a rainbow of colors and patterns. (They’re called “painted begonias” because each leaf looks like a living masterpiece.) Some even shimmer with a silvery patina.

Besides the amazing rex begonias, the sale will feature cane-type “angel wing” begonias as well as rhizomatous-type begonias and begonias which require terrariums. And they all need to be sold in just two days.

This is the society’s largest fundraiser in two years; those funds are needed to support its programs and keep this important and historic Sacramento garden club thriving. Admission and parking are free.

Show your support – and maybe discover a new favorite plant.

Shepard Center is located at 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento, in McKinley Park. Due to Covid restrictions, patrons are required to wear face masks while inside the building.

Details and directions: www.sgaac.org .

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Keywords:

gardening Sacramento rare plants container plants Shepard Garden & Arts Center fundraiser begonias garden club plant sale perennials

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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