See and smell spring beauties – and take some home, too
Revel in roses Saturday at the 76th Sacramento Rose Show. View the "rose royalty" -- the blooms that earned top honors in the show. Also, beautiful cut roses like the ones here will be for sale, $1 per stem, $10 for a dozen including a vase. Debbie Arrington
It’s time to celebrate spring – and smell the roses. (One contest depends on a lot of noses.)
On Saturday, April 27, the Sacramento Rose Society will host its 76th annual Sacramento Rose Show at Shepard Garden and Arts Center in McKinley Park. The show’s theme: “A Spring Walk in the Rose Garden.” Show hours are 1 to 4:30 p.m. Admission and parking are free.
Our roller-coaster spring weather has been challenging for rose growers (roses don’t like weather whiplash). But recent warm days should assure plenty of entries. See hundreds of blooms at their peak of beauty. You may even discover a new favorite rose variety.
Back this year is a flower fan favorite: The contest for “Most Fragrant Rose.” The public picks the winner among entries known to be particularly fragrant.
Society members will be on hand to answer questions about roses and rose horticulture. Got a mystery rose you’d like to know more about? Bring a sample or a photo.
Take some gorgeous flowers home, too; cut roses will be available for a suggested donation ($1 per stem, $10 for a dozen including a vase, while supply lasts).
Want to enter a rose in the show? Free entries are open to the public. The “Novice” category (for exhibitors who have never won a trophy in an accredited rose show) has slots for best hybrid tea or grandiflora (typically big single blooms) as well as seven other categories. Cut the rose with a long stem (preferably 12 inches or more) and plenty of foliage. Vases are provided. But arrive early. Entry deadline is 10 a.m.
In addition to exhibition roses, rose arrangements will be competing for top honors in the artistic division. Designs will be rosy interpretations of that “Spring Walk” theme, thanks to the Sacramento Floral Design Guild.
Shepard Center is located at 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento, in McKinley Park.
Details: www.sacramentorosesociety.org.
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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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