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It's officially spring! Let's talk about seeds

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED MAR 19, 2020

California poppies are easy to grow, and the seeds are easy to

find. There are many other great flowers to sow for

pollinators, too. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Plan for native pollinators with native flowering plants, if possible

Welcome to spring! The sunshine has returned after that nice soaking the past several days. Since most of us are at home for the time being, we can get outside and work in the garden. Maybe even sow some flower seeds to bring in the pollinators.

May I make a suggestion? Stick to named varieties. Don't buy or sow seed mixes without knowing what's in them. The package photos look so cheerful, but what's on the front may not be what's inside. "Packet illustration is a guide only to the contents," to quote one package. At the very least, you could waste your money on seeds that don't sprout. At the worst, you unknowingly may plant something that's invasive in California.

One national seed company sells a variety of "wildflower" collections in its online shop, from "Fragrant Mix" to "Meadow Mix" to "Pollinator Mix," and I was shocked to discover that not one listing notes what's inside the package. They're aimed at a general audience, for "any sunny garden location in the United States and Southern Canada." Really? That's dozens if not hundreds of microclimates. Quite a crapshoot.

Here's the deal, especially if you're hoping to attract bees, birds and butterflies to your garden: Native pollinators need native plants for their young to thrive. And even if you just want to offer nectar plants for adult pollinators, wouldn't you prefer knowing what those plants are? After all, if they do well, you can plant them next year, too.

When in a nursery or shopping online, look for mixes chosen for California, native seed mixes or individual packets of some of these flowers:

-- California bluebells ( Phacelia campanularia ). Adorable blue flowers are great in rock gardens.

-- California poppy ( Eschscholzia californica). Our state plant is easy to grow and reseeds readily. Like most wildflowers, its best bloom is typically through May.

-- California gilia ( Gilia achillefolia ). A native member of the phlox family, it's popular in bee gardens.

This 'Moonbeam' threadleaf coreopsis, growing at the

Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, is a cultivar best grown

from transplants, but many other coreopsis easily can

be grown from seed.

-- Coreopsis, many varieties. Often called tickseed, these easy-to-grow flowers --- both natives and cultivars -- attract pollinators.

-- Lacy phacelia ( Phacelia tanacetifolia ). Butterflies as well as bees and hover flies love this native member of the borage family with lavender flowers.

-- Lupine. California has 138 native varieties of lupine. If you can find seeds for Lupinus bicolor , that's the blue and white lupine that often grows wild with California poppies; those two together gave us our state colors. But there are many others that grow well in the Sacramento region.

-- Purple Chinese houses ( Collinsia heterophylla ). This is a pretty native that grows well under oak trees.

-- Salvia. Another species with many California natives, these are wildly popular with hummingbirds and bees. Easiest to find (especially in transplants) are hummingbird sage ( Salvia spathacea ) and Cleveland sage ( Salvia clevelandii ).

-- Tidy tips ( Layia platyglossa). This cute yellow daisylike California native grows well in coastal and valley areas of the state.

-- Western yarrow ( Achillea millefolium californica ). The small white-flowered perennial grows just about anywhere and is popular with butterflies. Look for it as a transplant.

I've found good selections of native seeds at Peaceful Valley ( groworganic.com ), Renee's Seeds ( reneesgarden.com ) and Botanical Interests ( botanicalinterests.com ).

Baker Creek Seeds also carries some California natives, mostly poppies, but apparently has been overwhelmed with orders since the coronavirus closures began. The website is temporarily shutting today until March 23 so the skeleton staff can catch up on orders.

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

seeds hummingbirds Sacramento California natives wildflowers spring flowers gardening annuals bees pollinators butterflies perennials flowers

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Garden Checklist for week of May 12

Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. 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. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.

* 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.

* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.

* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier 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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