Sacramento Valley CNPS event spotlights wildlife-friendly landscapes
This colorful garden was part of a previous Gardens Gone Native tour. This year, 30 gardens from Woodland to Rocklin are on the tour Saturday. Photo courtesy SacValley CNPS
This garden tour covers a lot of ground – and inspiration. This Saturday, April 27, visitors can see 30 local wildlife-friendly landscapes that spotlight California native plants.
Hosted by the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, the “Gardens Gone Native” tour stretches throughout the greater Sacramento area. The tour is free, but registration is required to get the addresses, tour brochure and map.
Each of the gardens is at least 50% native plants. Some are well-established; others are relatively new. Every garden does something for local wildlife as well as the people who care for these plants. Many of these native-centric gardens are distinctly Sacramentan.
Since it's a self-guided tour, see as many or as few gardens as you like.
“The Gardens Gone Native tour is a free garden tour featuring 30 California native plant home and school gardens in the Sacramento region,” says SacValley CNPS. “Gardens are comprised predominantly of California native plants in the urban landscape.
“These gardens feature a variety of ways in which native plants can flourish in the home garden,” add the organizers. “Some are professionally designed while others are more functional and are a mix use of natives, food production, and living spaces. You will find delightful and sustainable gardens that harness water, create habitats, and add a sense of place.”
Don’t just drive by; get out and see these gardens up close – and ask questions. This is an opportunity to really learn about natives from gardeners with personal experience. How did they grow their gardens? What’s their secret to native success? What wouldn't they plant again?
“Attendees will have the opportunity to ask garden hosts about their choices and challenges," say the organizers.
Tour hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. See virtual tours of past “Gardens Gone Native” as well as register at https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/gardens-gone-native-tour/.
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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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