Free event Sunday includes plant sale, botanist's visit
Island bush poppy, left, and red California poppy are among the colorful blooms this time of year at Patricia Carpenter's native plant garden. Photos by Beth Savidge, courtesy Patricia Carpenter
Yes, it's still spring. Some of the native wildflowers may have faded for the year, but there is still plenty to see -- and plenty of color -- among the California natives.
An excellent site to witness this is Patricia Carpenter's property just west of Davis. Carpenter is a California Native Plant Society Garden Ambassador, and this Sunday, May 19, she opens her 1-acre native plant garden to visitors free of charge for the Late Spring Ramble. The garden includes approximately 400 species and cultivars of California native plants.
Registration is required to attend, and can be accomplished here. Directions to the site and maps for the ramble will be available after registration.
The garden will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and registered visitors are welcome to take the self-guided tour any time during that period.
Carpenter herself will give an optional short orientation and also answer questions at 10 a.m. and noon; meet near the check-in table.
Botanist Glen Holstein, a wildflower expert, will also be at the ramble to chat with visitors. His favorite topics include conservation of native plants and the new Yolo-Colusa chapter of CNPS.
Miridae Mobile Nursery will be on site for sales of native plants. A link to the current inventory can be found here.
And Carpenter notes that she has been collecting native seeds to share with visitors.
Folks attending the ramble are advised to wear sturdy shoes, and bring a hat and some water. Visitors are also welcome to bring a snack or lunch to enjoy at the garden. No dogs, please.
To read more about Carpenter and her garden, visit her CNPS page here.
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Garden Checklist for week of Sept. 8
Temperatures are headed down to normal. The rest of the month kicks off fall planting season:
* Harvest tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.
* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.
* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.
* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.
* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.
* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.
* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.
* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.
* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.
* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.
* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with “eyes” about an inch below the soil surface.