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Find perfect Valentine at this auction

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED FEB 12, 2020

Love at First Sight is among the new roses to be auctioned Thursday.
(Photo courtesy Weeks Roses)

At this event, buy a bush, not just a bouquet

Sweetheart alert: Friday is Valentine’s Day. Why give only a dozen cut roses when you can give a whole bush?

Besides finding a creative gift for your favorite gardener, your pre-Valentine purchase also benefits a local club: the Sacramento Rose Society.

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, the society hosts its annual auction of rare and new roses at Shepard Garden and Arts Center in McKinley Park. The public is invited; admission and parking are free. Cash or check only please.

New releases will be offered as bare root. Dozens of miniatures and minifloras as well as some larger shrubs will be offered as bushes grown on their own roots.

Weeks Roses donated five of their new releases including two with perfect names for Valentine’s Day: In Your Eyes (a unique shrub rose with cup-like yellow blooms with red “eyes” that fade to pink and purple) and Love at First Sight (a bicolor hybrid tea; red petals are silvery white underneath). Also available will be: Queen of Elegance (a ruffly pink floribunda); State of Grace (a multi-color grandiflora; the big pink and gold blooms have a citrus scent); and Celestial Night (a purple floribunda).

In addition, the auction assortment features something for every rose lover – and your favorite Valentine, too. Some examples: Miniature favorites Irresistible (snow white with a slightly pink blush at the center) and Joy (cream edged with bright pink). Both roses look like full-size hybrid teas – only little.

Or go for something different (and maybe appropriate) -- Grumpy, a pink and very fragrant polyantha released almost a century ago as part of a fairy tale tribute to the Seven Dwarfs.

The auction supports the club’s activities throughout the year including its annual rose show in April and workshops.

This is a second chance for local rose lovers; Sierra Foothills Rose Society held its auction last week. Roses for both auctions, which have different selections, are featured in the same online catalog and the clubs’ shared newsletter.

Shepard Center is located at 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento.

For an online auction catalog with photos, go to: http://sierrafoothillsrosesociety.org/

- Debbie Arrington

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Keywords:

Weeks Roses Love at First Sight Sacramento Rose Society Shepard Garden & Arts Center fundraiser roses new introductions auction

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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