Native plants, Arboretum All-Stars and more will be offered
Shoppers and a student volunteer check over the supply of plants at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery during the May plant sale. The nursery has three sales planned this fall. Kathy Morrison
Fall is for planting, Sacramento-region gardeners know. The air temperatures come down but the soil is still warm, giving young plants the best chance to establish good root systems before winter.
The region's fall plant sales are always a big deal, but they're easy to miss once the season gets busy. Here are the late-summer and early-fall dates we know, followed by one expected sale whose date has yet to be announced.
-- American Begonia Society 75th Anniversary Show and Sale, "Diamonds in the Shade." The first fall sale involving the garden clubs that use Sacramento's Shepard Garden & Art Center as their headquarters. 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10. Shepard Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento. https://www.sgaac.org/calendar/2023/9 or https://www.begonias.org/
-- California Native Plant Society. Sacramento Valley Chapter. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, for the in-person sale at the SacValley Nursery at Soil Born Farms in Rancho Cordova. This will be followed by an online sale Sept. 23-25, with plant pickup on Oct. 1. Fabulous source for California native plants. Information: https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/plant-sales/
-- Delta Gesneriad and African Violet Society Show and Sale. A judged show and sale, typically featuring rare and hard-to-find varieties, 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, at the Shepard Garden and Art Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento. Details here.
-- UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery. This series of Saturday sales is hugely popular for its plant selection, which includes natives and the Arboretum All-Stars, aka plants that do well in our region. Join the Friends of the Arboretum to get 10% off all purchases and gain access to members-only sale hours. The sales on Sept. 30 and Oct. 21 will be "split sales," with members only admitted 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., then open to the public from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The fall clearance sale will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 4 and will be open to everyone. https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/plant-sales
-- Shepard Center Fall Sale. The event features all the clubs and groups that use the center. Plants, jewelry, art, food and more. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8. Shepard Garden and Art Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento. https://www.sgaac.org/calendar/
To be announced:
-- American River College Horticulture Department. The department holds a sale each semester of student-propagated plants. Typically bargain prices on annuals and vegetables, but the sales also include natives, shrubs and even trees.
Note: Any Sacramento-area groups or clubs with plant sales planned, or other events for that matter, can email us at Sacramento Digs Gardening: sacdigsgardening@gmail.com, to be added to our calendar.
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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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