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| Jun 12 2010 | 9:00
AM to 3:00 PM | "June Gloom? No, June Bloom!"
Brighten
your June garden with beautiful plants from the UCI Arboretum.
The UCI Arboretum hosts its annual June Bloom
plant sale on Saturday, June 12 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
With warm weather here to stay, heat loving perennials,
tropical plants, and succulents come into full bloom. Beautiful perennials such as Cape Skyflower (Plectranthus ciliatus)
vie with summer blooming bulbs such as pineapple lily (Eucomis species) and summer succulents such as Sedum spurium variegata.
Expert advice on selection and care is available from our volunteer staff.
Admission and parking are free for
the event.
The UC Irvine Arboretum is located just south of the corner of Campus Drive and Jamboree Road on the
UC Irvine North Campus. For more information please call (949) 824-5833.
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| Jul 10 2010 | 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM | Saturday Plant Sale
The UCI Arboretum hosts its next Saturday plant sale
on Saturday, July 10 from 9 a.m. to noon.
The Arboretum offers a unique selection of succulents, perennials, and
California native plants for your garden. Typical warm weather selections include Cape Skyflower (Plectranthus saccatus),
colorful varieties of Heuchera, tropicals like variegated ginger, and succulents that include Aloes, Sedums, Crassulas and
Echeverias.
Admission and parking are free for this event
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| Aug 7 2010 | 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM | Saturday Plant Sale
The UCI Arboretum hosts its next Saturday, August 7
from 9 a.m. to noon.
Summer is in full swing, so choose from an assortment of heat loving and unthirsty plants
for your garden. We have a wide selection of succulents, and California natives that are drought tolerant once established.
We also sell an assortment of perennials with low water requirements.
Admission and parking are free for this
event
The UC Irvine Arboretum is located just south of the corner of Campus Drive and Jamboree Road on the UC
Irvine North Campus. For more information please e-mail ldlyons@uci.edu or call (949) 824-5833.
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| Oct 16 2010 | 10:00 AM to 3:00
PM | "The Art of Flowers" Fall Art and Flower Festival
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April
Gardening Tips And To Do List
Use this list to help you figure out what gardening tasks you want to accomplish this month,
then
fill them into your calendar above to help keep you on schedule.
Planning
When purchasing bedding annuals
this spring, choose properly grown plants with good color. Buy plants
with well-developed root systems that are vigorous,
but not too large for their pots, and lots if unopened
buds. Plants that bloom in the pack are often root bound and can
be set back for several weeks after
being transplanted. Plants not yet in bloom will actually bloom sooner, be better
established and grow
faster. For a step-by -step tutorial about How To Buy Quality Bedding Plants and Annual Color, go
to our
website: www.weekendgardener.net/how-to/buy-quality-beddingplants.htm
Plan to attract hummingbirds to your
garden this year by planting red or orange flowers. Monarda
(beebalm) is a good perennial to provide nectar for these
small birds.
For hot-weather color, select one of the following: Gloriosa Daisy, Madagascar Periwinkle, Ornamental
Peppers, Mexican Zinnia or Amaranthus 'Joseph's Coat.' Plant only after all danger of frost is past and
plan for color
until winter arrives.
Make a plot layout of your flower borders. This is an essential, but often neglected task. With
an accurate
plot plan, you will know where to locate the spring flowering bulbs you plant next fall. Also, it will make
your spring and summer gardening easier. You will be able to correctly identify the plants in your border
and plan
for continuous blooming by setting young annuals between bulbs and early flowering perennials
after their blooms have
faded.
Planting
Begin to plant seedlings of warm-season vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. You
can
also start your pumpkin seeds now
Sow beets, beans, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, sweet corn and radishes
Plant herbs such as thyme, sage, parsley, chives and basil
Sod or sow new lawns, and overseed damaged older lawns
Start planting out warm season annuals such as impatiens, marigolds, petunias, sunflowers, zinnia,
lobelia, allysum
Finish planting summer-flowering bulbs like tuberose, gladiolus, dahlias, and callas
Plant chervil, coriander, dill,
rosemary, and summer savory outside after the last spring frost date for your
area. Your Extension agent should be able
to give you the date.
Now is a good time to start a cactus garden. Cacti may be started from seeds or from cuttings.
The cool weather of April is perfect for pansies. Brighten up your front door with pots of transplanted
pansies or
place them in outdoor beds as soon as the soil can be worked. Purchase large plants that will
give a good show before
hot weather arrives.
Plant dahlia tubers as soon as the danger of frost is passed. Stake at the time of planting to avoid
injury
to tubers.
Plant clematis in locations that receive at least six hours of sunshine a day. Use an organic
mulch or
ground cover to shade roots and keep them cool. Plant in rich, well-drained loam.
Hydrangea is one gift
plant that transplants well into the garden after its flowers fade. When the weather
warms, plant in well-drained soil
in full sun to partial shade. Don't be surprised if the next year's flowers
are a different color than the first year.
Blue or pink hydrangea color is dependent on the pH of the soil.
Alkaline soil produces pink flowers; acidic soil produces
blue flowers. White hydrangeas are not affected
by soil pH.
Many gardeners plant annual and perennial flowers to
attract hummingbirds. Woody plants can also be
added to the yard to provide nectar for our smallest native birds. Some
common trees visited by
hummingbirds are buckeye, horse chestnut, catalpa, apple, crabapple, hawthorn, silk tree, redbud
and
tulip poplar. Shrubs include azalea, beauty bush, coralberry, honeysuckle, lilac, New Jersey tea, Siberian
pea
shrub and red weigela.
Maintenance
Frost tender plants such as citrus, fuchsia, geranium, hibiscus, mandevilla,
and bougainvillea can go
outdoors when all chance of frost is gone
Start feeding potted plants every two to three
weeks with half-strength liquid fertilizer
If plants like citrus, camellias, gardenias, and grapes are chlorotic (have
yellowing between green leaf
veins), spray leaves with a foliar fertilizer containing chelated iron
Mulch soil to
save water, smother weeds, keep soil cooler. Spread 1-3 inches (2.5-7cm) of bark chips,
compost, wood shavings, or other
organic material under shrubs trees, annuals and vegetables. For a
complete tutorial on How To Use Mulch Properly, and
The Wonders of Mulch, see our website:
www.weekendgardener.net/garden-plants/mulch-060806.htm
Thin vegetables that
were sown too thickly, like basil, carrots, green onions, or lettuce
Prune spring-flowering shrubs and trees after bloom
is over
Fertilize everything right now, but do not feed spring-flowering shrubs like azaleas, camellias, and
rhododendrons
until after they have finished flowering. Use an acid based fertilizer. They also should be
pruned after blooming
Now is also the time to divide mint, chive, tarragon, and creeping thyme.
Control lawn weeds now through late May before
they get large. For a good Organic Pre-Emergent and
other Organic Weed Killers see our website: www.weekendgardener.net/organic-weed-killer.htm
The lawn mower blade should always be sharp so as not to tear the grass. If you sharpen the blade at
home, be sure
to balance it, too. Place the center hole of the blade on a screwdriver handle held upright
in the vise. Check to see
if it balances. If not, sharpen the heavier side some more until the blade
balances on the handle. For a step-by-step
tutorial about How To Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades go to our
website: www.weekendgardener.net/lawn-mowers/sharpen-lawnmower-blade-70607.htm
Lawn grasses do best if mowed at the correct height: For mowing heights and specific information about
specific Grass
Types go to our website: www.weekendgardener.net/grass-types/main.htm
To determine if soil is ready to work, squeeze
a handful into a tight ball, then, break the ball apart with
your fingers. If the ball of soil readily crumbles in your
fingers, the soil is ready to be worked. If the soil
stays balled, however, it is still too wet to work. Use this test
in another week to determine if the soil is
ready to be worked. For a step-by -step tutorial how to do this read How
To Care For Soil Structure on our
website: www.weekendgardener.net/soil/structure-030703.htm
Lift, divide, and replant
chrysanthemums as soon as new shoots appear. Each rooted shoot or clump will
develop into a fine plant for late summer
bloom. Pinch out the top when the plants are about 4 inches (10
cm) high to thicken the plant.
Don't throw out the
little gladiolus cormlets you dug out with the larger corms last fall. Plant them in a row
in the garden this spring,
and in two years, they will reach blooming size.
When iris leaves appear thin and limp, check for borers. These grub-like
insects can ruin an entire
planting if not detected and eradicated early.
April is a good time to clean up plants
and flower beds. Pick out dead leaves and twigs and prune dead
limbs.
Label the clumps of daffodils that are too
crowded, as overcrowding inhibits blooming. Dig up and
separate in July.
Cut flower stalks back to the ground on
daffodils, hyacinths and other spring flowering bulbs as the
flowers fade. Do not cut the foliage until it dies naturally.
The leaves are necessary to produce strong
bulbs capable of reflowering.
Buy a hose-end shut-off valve; these are
available separately or as part of a watering wand. This allows
you to turn off the hose as you move around the yard.
Also, when you are through watering, you can shut
off the water immediately, rather than let the hose run while you hurry
to turn off the main spigot.
Once new growth begins on trees and shrubs, cut back to green wood any twigs affected by
winter kill.
Weed and Pest Control
Keep and eye out for aphids and get them before they take over your plants Use
either a strong stream of
water or use safer soap products. For more Organic Pest Control for Garden Pests visit our
website:
www.weekendgardener.net/organic-pest-control.htm
Keep after the slugs and snails! Read How To Organically
Control Snails and Slugs - go to our website:
www.weekendgardener.net/how-to/snails-slugs.htm |
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Free Horse Manure for Garden / Composting
Hello Irvine
Garden Club,
I live near the Back Bay and John Wayne Airport, and I would like to give away good clean horse manure
to folks who can use it to improve their gardens. Do you have an e-mail system whereby you could let club members know of
this offer?
Because of the way my horses are kept, there is no bedding and no urine in the manure. I have started
to give it away, mostly to people who want to spread it on their lawns, or those who want to speed up the processes in their
compost piles. But with 5 horses, I could make a lot more gardeners happy than I am currently supplying.
The manure
is collected twice daily. If I don't have a waiting gardener who has supplied me with a container, I toss the material in
a dumpster and it is hauled away to become landfill.
For small quantities (less than a full sized garbage can) call
me (949) 263-1772 to set up a time for you to come get your container filled. For larger quantities, I need the containers
dropped off, I will fill them over a few days, and then they are ready to be picked up. Containers need to be of a size they
will fit in your car once filled.
I welcome your calls, and look forward to helping improve your soil.
Carol |
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Fanfare!!! Excitement!!! The Mary Lou Heard Memorial Garden Tour will be held this year on Saturday
& Sunday, May 1st & 2nd from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. We will be posting information in the coming weeks on our site:
You can go there RIGHT NOW and click on "Garden Tour Photos"
to see SNEAK PREVIEW PHOTOS of this year's gardens.
Tour Newsletters
will be delivered to our sponsoring nurseries and made available for download on April 17. We do send newsletters by snail
mail to anyone who provides an address by March 25. (If you provided an address at last year's tour, you have requested
the mailing.) However, we do ask that if you are at all able to download the newsletter or to get one from a sponsoring
nursery, please plan to do that and let us know to take your name off the snail-mail list. When it comes to supporting our
charities, every penny counts!
We hope to see you in May!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Sheri Henderson Secretary & Clay Pot Washer The Mary Lou Heard Foundation 8719 Hummingbird Avenue Fountain
Valley, CA 92708 |
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