Patricia Carpenter welcomes visitors to her garden Sunday, Aug. 4
Spiders are especially evident in July gardens. This western spotted orbweaver was photographed at Patricia Carpenter's native plant garden. Courtesy Beth Savidge via Patricia Carpenter
Tour a native garden in summer? Why?
"I am sure there are some out there who think I am crazy having a summer ramble-- it's hot," says Patricia Carpenter, the CNPS Ambassador who seasonally welcomes visitors to her garden near Davis. But she has her reasons, grounded in education.
"I really think it is important to see native gardens in summer and contrast them with non-native gardens."
She adds, "The desert area is the highlight of our summer native garden!"
Carpenter's Summer Seasonal Native Garden Ramble happens Sunday, Aug. 4, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Admission is free for the self-guided tour but registration is required here. Visitors may start the tour any time during those hours.
The Carpenter native garden covers an acre west of Davis along a slough, west of Pierce Ranch Road south of Russell Boulevard. Carpenter started the garden in 2005, and it now features about 400 species and cultivars of California native plants.
Highlights of high summer at the site include viewing summer blooms, seeing how plants adapt to heat and drought, observing seasonal maintenance and seed collecting, and examining irrigation strategies.
Carpenter will offer an optional short orientation and Q&A session at 8 a.m. and again at 9:30 a.m. Those interested should meet at the check-in table.
Visitors should wear sturdy shoes, and are welcome to bring lunch or a snack (and bring water). No dogs allowed. The site has a composting toilet.
To view Carpenter's California Native Plant Society Ambassador profile, as well as see a map and read more about her garden, go here. Her non-native garden also will be open to visitors that day, offering the contrast that she mentioned.
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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.
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