CNPS Ambassador Patricia Carpenter opens her property to visitors Sunday
Autumn softens all the colors in the landscape. This view looks west from Patricia Carpenter's garden, which is just outside Davis. Photo by Beth Savidge, courtesy Patricia Carpenter
With plants heading into dormancy and the colors softening, autumn is an ideal time to take an observational stroll through nature.
Patricia Carpenter, a California Native Plant Society Garden Ambassador, will open her 1-acre native-plant garden from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5, for her Autumn Ramble. (Remember that Pacific Standard Time starts early Sunday; clocks turn back 1 hour.)
The garden, west of Pierce Ranch Road south of Russell Boulevard, will be open rain or shine for self-guided tours; visitors may start any time during those hours. Admission is free but registration is required here. Maps will be available for use on site.
Carpenter's Verge Experiment, along the bike path that parallels Russell, recently was honored by Pacific Horticulture magazine. It was one of three West Coast gardens described by the publication as "volunteer-powered designs with community at their heart."
“After 35 years controlling weeds along the bike path in front of my property, I decided to start planting," she wrote in her application. "With climate change and the reality of recurring future droughts, I kept wondering just how little water I could use and the verge experiment began.”
The bike path is viewable any time, but Carpenter's property is open to the public just four or five times a year. On Sunday, an optional short orientation and Q&A gathering with Carpenter is scheduled at 10 a.m. and noon; meet at the check-in table. Other special activities for this Ramble:
-- Botanist Glen Holstein will be in attendance. His favorite topics include the new CNPS Yolo-Colusa Chapter and conservation of native plants.
-- Restoration ecologist Julia Michaels from Hedgerow Farms will visit to give away native wildflower seeds and show off some of the cool species growing at Hedgerow. https://hedgerowfarms.com/
-- The Miridae Mobile Nursery will parked next to the property to satisfy visitors' native-plant purchase urges. A link to their current plant list is available here.
Visitors are advised to wear sturdy shoes, and are welcome to bring a lunch or snack to enjoy onsite. No dogs, please. A composting toilet available.
Carpenter's non-native garden will be open to view as well. Read more about her native garden on her CNPS profile page.
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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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