Now is the best time to plant trees in Sacramento; get some for free
Blue oaks like the one at left are popular drought-tolerant shade trees. Trees of all kinds help keep neighborhoods cool. Kathy Morrison
Shade: On a scorching summer day, it’s one of the most valuable assets for any home in the Sacramento region – and you can grow your own.
“It’s the difference between a livable summer and one that’s really stifling, not just uncomfortable but could threaten your life,” says Stephanie Robinson, communications and marketing manager for the Sacramento Tree Foundation. “If you lost a big shade tree recently, you really noticed the difference – especially this summer. You don’t realize until it’s gone how valuable shade is.”
Not only your own home is affected, she adds. “Shade trees keep your whole neighborhood cooler. Without trees, all that heat is absorbed by asphalt.”
Tree-lined streets lower the temperature of surrounding homes and improve the neighborhood’s quality of life, Robinson notes. “That’s why it’s one of the main priorities for our mission (at the foundation); plant more shade.”
SacTree volunteers tested their theories of shade tree impact on neighborhoods with a drive around Sacramento neighborhoods on a summer afternoon, Robinson says. “There was a 20-degree difference between the hottest and the shadiest neighborhoods at afternoon peak highs. That can be the difference between life and death for people without air conditioning.”
Now is the time to plan ahead and plant some shade. Fall is the best tree-planting season in the greater Sacramento area. While some trees have reputations as water hogs (specifically coastal redwoods), many other water-wise choices are available.
“If you’re re-doing your landscape, think trees first,” says Robinson. “It’s not just shade, but wildlife habitat. You can build trees into your water budget. It costs less than $3 a month to water a mature tree. A young tree costs only pennies. You can afford to invest in that shade.”
SacTree partners with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to offer up to 10 free shade trees to customers. Since 1990, the program has planted more than 600,000 local trees. Details here: https://www.smud.org/en/Going-Green/Free-Shade-Trees
Participants contact SacTree and set up an appointment with a community forester. That program has expanded to include evergreens as well as trees that shade portions of a customer’s property other than their home.
“Shading landscape saves water because there’s less transpiration,” Robinson says. “There are many benefits of shade trees.”
Among the most popular water-wise shade trees for Sacramento landscapes are native oaks: Valley oak, interior live oak and blue oak.
“People love oaks,” says Robinson. “They’re sturdy, long-lived and (the deciduous varieties) offer a rainbow of fall color.”
Oaks take time to grow. A faster option is a zelkova; native to Japan, these trees can reach 60 feet in a hurry. “It’s a big, beautiful shade tree that grows fast,” Robinson says.
“Chinese pistache are still very popular, and the new cultivars are not as messy,” she adds. “Right now, people are very interested in trees that flower and support pollinators. The favorites are desert willow, vitex and strawberry trees.”
SacTree has many more suggestions in its “Shady 80,” its selection of best trees for Sacramento. This urban forest features dozens of water-wise choices: https://sactree.org/best-trees-for-sacramento/.
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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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