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Spring Gardening Tips for a Flourishing Garden
As the vibrant colors of spring burst forth and the air fills with the sweet scent of blossoms, it's the perfect time to roll up your sleeves and tend to your garden. Whether you're a seasoned gar...
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Free workshop covers how to grow, harvest and use this popular herb
Lavender prefers a bright, dry spot with relatively poor soil -- and good drainage. Kathy Morrison
Have California gardeners adopted a Mediterranean mindset? Using Google searches as a measure, a study by horticultural guide Gardening Chores concluded that lavender is California’s favorite flower.
Not only is it California’s top searched-for flower, but No. 1 in 41 states plus the District of Columbia, says the report.
Second among searched-for flowers (coupled with the phrase “how to grow”) in California was sunflower, followed by rose, peony and hydrangea.
Why lavender? It’s more than just a pretty flower, explained horticulture expert Amber Noyes, Gardening Chores executive editor, who is based in San Mateo.
“Lavender provides many benefits to the area in which it is grown and can thrive both outdoors and indoors with proper care,” she said in the report’s announcement. “From its widely acknowledged pleasant fragrance to its beautiful violet flowers, it provides a welcoming space for pollinators, and acts as an excellent repellent of nuisance garden insects, such as mosquitoes and ticks.
“With this in mind, it stands to reason that lavender would be the most popular flower in California. It will be particularly interesting to see whether the most-searched-for flowers are also the most frequently grown by those cultivating their gardens this summer.”
A lot of those “how to grow” searches may have come due to struggling lavender plants. Lavender likes a challenge. It’s usually killed by kindness. Instead of rich soil and lots of irrigation, it wants a bright, dry spot with relatively poor soil. It demands good drainage.
Native to the Mediterranean region and drought-tolerant, the lavender genus includes 47 species and more than 450 varieties. Lavender is a favorite with bees and a must for pollinator gardens.
Besides attracting beneficial insects, the flowers have culinary and medicinal uses. Their fragrance promotes relaxation.
Learn more in a free workshop at 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 14, at the Cameron Park Community Center. Presented by the El Dorado County master gardeners, “All About Lavender” is just that – an information-packed three-hour session about how to grow, harvest and use this versatile herb.
Master gardeners Donna Marshall and Muriel Stephenson will teach the lavender basics and a lot more. The class includes how to propagate lavender, and everyone will leave with their own cuttings to root.
No advance registration is necessary. Cameron Park Community Center is located at 2502 Country Club Drive, Cameron Park.
Questions? Email mgeldorado@ucanr.edu.
Details: https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/
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Garden Checklist for week of May 19
Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s 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.
* 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.
* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy 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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