→ View All
Spring Gardening Tips for a Flourishing Garden
As the vibrant colors of spring burst forth and the air fills with the sweet scent of blossoms, it's the perfect time to roll up your sleeves and tend to your garden. Whether you're a seasoned gar...
Chest of Hope
Listed under: Community Service & Support Crime & Justice
Order plants online, then pick up at Rancho Cordova nursery
A monarch butterfly pauses on the blossom of a salvia clevelandii at the Cosumnes Preserve. Photo courtesy Robin Rogerson via Sac Valley CNPS
In time for fall planting, the Sacramento Valley chapter of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) is hosting its online fall plant sale at its nursery, starting at noon Wednesday through Sunday, Sept. 14-18.
Orders are available for pickup on two Sundays, Sept. 25 and Oct. 4. The demonstration gardens also will be open for viewing; see website for availability.
Also known as Elderberry Farms, Sac Valley CNPS Nursery and Gardens are located at Soil Born Farms’ American River Ranch, 2140 Chase Drive, Rancho Cordova.
Fall is the best time to transplant most native plants, especially shrubs, trees and perennials. It allows them months (hopefully with rain) to put down roots and get established before the stress of summer heat next year.
“Native plants are not only beautiful and climate adaptable, but they also feed and shelter birds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators,” says Chris Lewis, the nursery’s longtime director.
Gardeners gravitate towards native plants, too; they naturally use less water. Survival of our dry summer weather is stamped into these plants’ DNA. Many varieties need little if any summer irrigation.
Not only do native plants save water compared to traditional lawn-based landscape, they support local wildlife. Providing flowers and often seeds or berries, native plants offer food for pollinators and birds; that’s something turf never does.
Among the native favorites offered by the nursery: Monkeyflower, buckwheat, lupine, penstemon, salvias, asters, redberry, mountain mahogany and, of course, elderberry.
For full details and plant list: https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/plant-sales/.
Comments
An article about gardening.
Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Taste Spring! E-cookbook
Find our spring recipes here!
Local News
Thanks to our sponsor!
Sites We Like
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.
Taste Summer! E-cookbook
Find our summer recipes here!
Taste Fall! E-cookbook
Find our fall recipes here!
Taste Winter! E-cookbook
Find our winter recipes here!
You are subscribed!
Look for our confirmation message in your email inbox.
And look for our newsletter every Monday morning. See you then!
You're already subscribed
It looks like you're already subscribed to the newsletter. Not seeing it in the email inbox of the address you submitted? Be sure to check your spam folder or promotions folder (Gmail) in case your email provider diverted it there.
There was a problem with the submitted email address.
We can't subscribe you with the submitted email address. Please try another.
Subscribe