Event near Davis is free but requires registration
June grass, yarrow and Ithuriel's spear grow in the valley grassland area of Patricia Carpenter's property. Photo courtesy Beth Savidge
Many California natives rest or go dormant in the summer, so May is an excellent time to view native plants still in their spring flush.
This Sunday offers an ideal opportunity, as California Native Plant Society Ambassador Patricia Carpenter opens her garden west of Davis for her Late Spring Seasonal Native Garden Ramble.
Carpenter's 1-acre property, with more than 400 species and cultivars of natives, will be available for self-guided tours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, May 21, starting at any time within those hours. The event is free but registration is required. The link to register can be found here. A map and plant list can be found on Carpenter's CNPS profile page.
In addition to viewing late-spring color, visitors will be able to see the many geophytes blooming in the garden. Seasonal maintenance, pruning, seed collecting, and plant propagation also will be in progress.
An optional short orientation and Q&A gathering with Carpenter will be held at 11 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. To participate, meet near the check-in table.
Visitors should bring a sun hat or personal umbrella and a filled water bottle. Toting a lunch or snack is allowed, but no dogs, please.
For more information, email both Patricia Carpenter <pcarpenter.flower@gmail.com> and Maya Argaman <margaman@cnps.org>.
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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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