Six Loomis and Granite Bay sites to welcome visitors
Love butterflies? A butterfly garden is among the six gardens on the Mother's Day Garden Tour, presented by the Placer County master gardeners. Kathy Morrison
This Sunday, skip the crowded holiday brunch and take the mom in your life (or yourself) outside – and up out of the soon-to-be-hot Valley. Six fabulous gardens await in Granite Bay and Loomis on the Placer County master gardeners’ 36th Annual Mother's Day Garden Tour.
“We have been trying to get one of these gardens on the tour for three years,” said Kortne Phillips, co-chair of the event, along with Cooki Vonasek. “This may be our best tour yet,” she added.
The tour window is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, rain or (likely) shine. Tickets with maps are $20, available now through the day of the tour at the Green Acres Nursery & Supply sites in Auburn (the former Eisley’s), Rocklin and Roseville; cash or check only. Children under 12 are admitted free.
Here’s how the Placer master gardeners describe the six gardens on the tour:
– The Reimagined Garden: This homeowner has completely transformed her “water hungry” landscape into a “water wise”, easy to care for spacious setting with a diversity of drought tolerant flowering plants that attract the local pollinators. It’s a peaceful, relaxing place to just sit and watch the evening sun set.
– The Estate Garden: Behind the grand gates, explore elegant acres complete with large reflecting ponds filled with koi and water lilies, an incredible collection of plantings and wandering pathways that lead to a breathtaking vista. Caution: some steep stairs and uneven walking surfaces.
– The Butterfly Garden: The uniqueness of this garden is evident right away. Its charm beckons you to see more, and more there is. Creative features greet you at every turn. Look closely and discover butterfly shapes in unexpected ways along with impressive design elements widely placed throughout the garden.
– The Tranquility Garden: The feel of Tuscany welcomes you immediately with towering Italian Cypress, old world stonework and tile, and distinctive decorative urns. Follow the pathway to a fabulous entertaining area secluded among the redwoods with lots of striking surprises.
– The More is Better Garden: When you love plants and just have to have more but nowhere left to plant them, what do you do? This homeowner’s answer was to put them in pots! Now you have a mobile landscape that adds a completely new dimension that is flexible, colorful, and totally unique.
– The Traveler’s Garden: Inspired by their extensive local and international travels, this garden oasis is bursting with an extensive collection of amazing plants, flowers, water features and eclectic art treasures. Every pathway is an experience to be discovered in this vibrant and dramatic party-ready retreat.
For more information on the garden tour, visit the Placer master gardeners’ website, https://pcmg.ucanr.org/
Gardeners around Sacramento have a wealth of garden tour opportunities this weekend. There is of course the East Sac Garden Tour, which Debbie posted about Monday, happening both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Also, the River Valley Garden Club in Rancho Murieta presents its Garden Stroll on Saturday, May 13, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. as part of its 20th anniversary celebration. Seven gardens in Rancho Murieta are on the tour; they will have artists in residence at each. Tickets are $25, available through Friday at the Rancho Murieta Ace Hardware (in the shopping center across from the main entrance to Rancho Murieta) and on the day of the tour at the Rancho Murieta Association Building, 7191 Murieta Parkway.
This event also will feature plant sales and a raffle. Information: (916) 730-7403.
-- Kathy Morrison
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Garden Checklist for week of May 12
Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.
* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
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