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All aboard! It’s Train Day at Maple Rock Gardens

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 13, 2018

The trains will be running at Maple Rock Gardens on Saturday. (Courtesy Maple Rock Gardens)

Whimsical railway comes to life at famous gardens

When Scott Paris bought Maple Rock Gardens, the unique Penryn property came with one especially whimsical feature: About 1,000 feet of miniature train tracks.

Miniature trains were a hobby of the gardens’ original owners, Frank and Ruby Andrews. Besides its famous formal gardens and working farm, Maple Rock Gardens boasts one of the largest garden railroads in Northern California.

The little rails wind through several of the terraced garden “rooms,” past forests of bonsai trees, around boulders and over meandering streams. The magic of this Lilliputian railway system really comes to life when trains are running. Saturday, Sept. 15, see them in action during “Train Day at Maple Rock Gardens.”

Presented by the Sacramento Valley Garden Railway Society, Train Day will feature live steam engines on the little track as well as its radio-controlled Maple Rock Railway special.

According to the railway society, the current aluminum track layout was built by Earl Martin. “The era is 1930s in California’s Gold Country and represents a small narrow gauge railway serving a gold mine, a logging operation, two visually separated small towns and a mountain lodge,” the society said in its Maple Rock snapshot.

Paris, owner of High Hand Nursery and Conservatory, made several improvements along the rail line to make viewing better and more comfortable for guests. That included adding 30 tons of rock and more dwarf landscaping. The railway is adjacent to picnic areas and overlooks Maple Rock’s massive lavender fields, orchards and farm crops.

Guests are invited to picnic on site as well as tour the rest of Maple Rock Gardens and enjoy live music while train watching. Food and drink will be available for purchase.

Wear comfortable shoes and stroll through the terraced property, considered among the finest private gardens in Northern California.

Train Day is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $10; children age 12 and under admitted free. Maple Rock Gardens is located at 100 Clark Tunnel Road, Penryn. Tickets are available online at www.highhand.com .

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gardening Sacramento Maple Rock Gardens. High Hand. Sacramento Valley Garden Railway Society Penryn

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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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