Saul Wiseman Grants emphasize education and diversity
The Natomas Garden & Arts Club and Garden Valley Elementary School used a 2019 Saul Wiseman Grant to create a butterfly garden at the Sacramento school. Courtesy Sacramento Perennial Plant Club
The Sacramento Perennial Plant Cub is now accepting applications for its annual Saul Wiseman Grants, a unique program in honor of the club’s past president.
Application deadline is Jan. 16, 2023. Find the forms, past winners and full details at https://sacplants.org/grants.
Funds will be awarded in February – just in time for spring planting and gardening activities, say the club members.
“The purpose of the Saul Wiseman Grants is to promote gardening and horticultural activities with an emphasis on education, service, or enhancement to our diverse community,” explains Lili Ann Metzer of the Perennial Plant Club. “Non-profit groups, community groups and schools within the County of Sacramento are encouraged to apply.”
SPPC grant recipients in 2022 are not eligible for 2023 grant awards, she notes. “Priority will be given to grant applications that support diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Projects must have a source of water for irrigation. Applicants may request up to $1,000. Smaller projects are encouraged; partial grants may be awarded.
And grant winners have to follow through. “Recipients will take before and after pictures and provide information about the results of the grants to the SPPC,” Metzer says.
Due to Covid, no grants were given in 2021, but 2022 brought out a full field of grant candidates. The 2022 grant recipients were:
Black Lives Matter Sacramento Community Home and Land Project
Bret Harte Elementary School Garden
Earl Warren School Garden Restoration and Improvement
Growing Healthy Kids at Floyd Farms
La Vista Center Horticulture Club
Root Cellar Community Garden
Questions? Email the club’s grants contact Anita Clevenger at anitac5159@gmail.com.
Details: www.sacplants.org.
--- Debbie Arrington
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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.