Open Farm Days feature the flowering herb at peak of bloom
Visit Newcastle Lavender during Open Farm Days and enjoy the sights and smells of lavender. Photo courtesy Newcastle Lavender Farms
Love lavender? Then this opportunity is for you. Here’s a chance to immerse yourself in blooming lavender – and take some home, too.
Friday through Sunday, June 16 to 18, Newcastle Lavender Farms will open its fields to the public during Open Farm Days. Admission is $12 per person, including one bundle of fresh-cut lavender. Additional fresh-cut lavender bundles are available for purchase.
From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day, roam the rows of intensely fragrant blossoms. Pose for photos among the flowers. Watch bees at work, gathering pollen.
Lavender season hits its peak of bloom in June and early July. According to a recent report, lavender ranks as California’s favorite flower, based on Google searches. Its fragrance is believed to promote relaxation.
Planted in 2016, this farm grows ‘Grosso’ lavender, a hybrid known for its tall dark blue spikes.
Newcastle Lavender Farms is located at 2450 Paddock Lane, Newcastle, about 30 minutes from downtown Sacramento. Owned and operated by the Stanphill family, the farms are open for photo events and special occasions. The farms produce a wide variety of lavender products, available at Little Bird Mercantile in Auburn as well as directly from Newcastle Lavender.
“Our farm will open for visitors on select days starting in June through the beginning of July during peak bloom season,” the family posted online. “We welcome you to come experience our peaceful setting, wander our fields, enjoy a picnic and shop our farm store. Food and Refreshment Trucks available most days. We offer a variety of lavender products along with our fresh cut and dried lavender bundles and buds.
“We will also offer this year, wreath-making classes taught by our friend and well-known artist, Dori with Everything’s Hunky Dori,” they added. “These classes will be held in our shady meadow and we will provide all the fresh lavender and supplies needed for you to make your own handcrafted wreath to take home. There are morning and evening sessions to choose from. Bring a group or meet some new friends. Refreshments served.”
Additional Open Farm Days are planned Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through July 2, or until the lavender flowers finish their bloom.
For advance tickets, class reservations and directions: www.newcastlelavender.com.
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.
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