- Author: Martha White
If I were to ask you about geraniums, you might describe a familiar flowering plant, one that is very reliable, very drought tolerant, easy to propagate from stem cuttings in the spring or fall, dependable for providing red, pink, white, or salmon blooms, and one with a distinctive scent to its leaves. What I have described in the previous sentence is actually a “Pelargonium”, according to the Flower Gardeners Bible, written by Lewis and Nancy Hill, Pages 310-311. When I went shopping for a flowering plant for my new front yard, I researched a plant that is called a “Hardy Geranium” or “Cranesbill”.
The Hardy Geranium is a perennial that blooms in the summer, and can tolerate full sun or light shade. The name Cranesbill refers to the bill-like seed capsules on many types of this plant. Leaves form low mounds up to 2 feet in diameter, with small cup-shaped pink, lavender, blue, white, or purple blossoms that appear over the surface. Its low-growing habit makes it a great choice for a rock garden or the front edge of a flower bed. In my yard, it is planted amidst a cobble-rock creek which divides my property from my neighbor's yard. I chose the Rozanne variety for its blue-lavender blooms, and for the lacy green leaves. I found the plants at Talini's Nursery, on Folsom Blvd. in Sacramento. Annie's Annuals Summer catalog for 2016 describes the Rozanne Geranium as “EASY, robust, and reliable”! The catalog also praises this plant as deer resistant, though that is not a problem for me in my suburban neighborhood!
I have had two other Hardy Geraniums in pots in my back garden for about 10 years, and have found them to be forgiving if the summer heat is oppressive, and yet still survive the occasional Vacaville frosts over the past few years, without any special attention from me. If you have never grown a Hardy Geranium, it is my pleasure to introduce you to this beautiful flowering plant.
- Author: Toni Greer
During a recent visit to the California State Fair, I became enamored with the Farm! People of all ages were wandering around, observing, asking questions (my personal favorite thing to do!) and just in awe of what they were seeing. It wasn't until later that I learned exactly how wonderful this farm is. What I learned from asking many questions was that this garden has farm tours for grades K-6, in spring and fall.
At first glance, once you walk beneath the Farm entrance sign, you see the water efficient gardens, urban farming, a blacksmith, a farmers market, Farmyard Follies (with a llama, mini horse, donkey and more). I also experienced the Science of Seeds, the aquaculture exhibit, the insect pavilion, the master gardeners info booth, the greenhouse, soil center, HUGE veggie garden and orchard.
While the tours primarily focus on their 3rd and 4th grade curriculum, the farm is very educational for all. You experience the “5 Learning Stations” along the journey on the farm.
1. Grow it! 2. See it! 3. Save it! 4. Plant it! 5. Taste it!
The true purpose of the tours are to encourage youth to views the agriculture industry as an important career path as well as to open up the discussion about food and nutrition. Many children have no idea where the green beans which are in the can come from other than their local store shelf.
For me, as much as I love the farm, I melted in the California Forest Center! Educationally it teaches of the need for trees, whether it's the clean air and water, habitats or wood products. Remember, that dining room table and chairs were once living, breathing trees.
I encourage you to go to “California State Fair Farm” to learn more about both the farm and the forest center.
- Author: Lanie Keystone
Considered by the American Horticultural Society as one of the 75 greatest books ever written about gardening, Second Nature (ISBN 13), by Michael Pollan, is a call for each of us to rethink our relationship with nature. The book, written in 1991, gives insight into Pollan's relationship with the earth—and one can see glimmers of his future musings and writings as he takes us on his gardening journey.
Pollan divides his book into four sections corresponding with the four seasons. The author introduces us to his adventures by stating, “This book is the story of my education in the garden. The garden in question is actually two, one more or less imaginary, the other insistently real. When reading the chapters within the four sections, we see what Pollan means by “insistently real”. As an example: Spring: Chapter 2 “Nature Abhors a Garden”; Summer “Weeds Are Us; or , my personal favorite—Winter “Made Wild By Pompous Catalogs”.
His honesty grabs the reader and we nod in agreement with his insights. To quote Pollan once again: “Both of these gardens have had a lot to teach me………I would not learn to garden very well before I'd also learned about a few other things: about my proper place in nature….about the troubled borders between nature and culture, and about the experience of place….”
As demonstrated in his bestselling book, The Botany of Desire, Pollan writes with humor, charm and great wisdom. He seems to capture our enchantment and engagement with nature and gardening, and gives license to our need to feel occasionally exasperated with both while always reveling in their beauty, complexity and joy. At 258 pages, it's a perfect summer read.
- Author: Tina Saravia
Sometime ago, I noticed these creeping, matting weeds growing between stepping stones in my garden. I thought they were interesting and decided to give them a chance. I'm glad I did not pull them up and let them grow. They have now grown and multiplied and covered the spaces between stepping stones. They help prevent erosion by covering the ground and holding the soil without any help from me — no fertilizing, no watering — that's sustainability at its best. Occasionally, I pull a few of them here and there if they start growing over the stepping stones.
What are these weeds and how do I go about identifying them? As Master Gardeners, we don't know everything, maybe some MGs do, but I don't. But we have access to a lot of research-based information.
One such source is the University of California's Weed Research Information Center website http://weedid.wisc.edu/ca/weedid.php. It has a step-by-step way of helping with weed identification.
First, it asks for the weed type: broad leaf, grass-like or woody. Then it goes to step 2, which asks for different characteristics of the plant. It really helps to have a good size sample of the weed in front of you. About half an hour later, I have a positive ID of my nice weed. (It also helps to have reading glasses or magnifying glasses for quicker identification - I missed the presence of milky sap and some other minute characteristics.)
I found out that my weed is a creeping spurge or matted sandmat (Euphorbia serpens or Chamaesyce serpens). It is an annual originally from South America. It forms a mat of prostrate stems which root at nodes where the stem comes in contact with the ground. Like all the other plants in the Euphorbia family (e.g., poinsettia), the milky sap is poisonous and at the very least, irritating to the skin. Since it's a groundcover, it's not an issue for me.
So next time you see an unknown plant, don't be too quick getting rid of it. Remember to practice IPM, Integrated Pest Management. Always try to identify it first, then go from there.
- Author: Cheryl A Potts
Either I am getting old and tired or I am coming to my senses, as this year I am putting in a very small vegetable garden. The usual five or six tomato plants have been replaced with two purchased plants and one, yes only one, growing from one tiny seed I sowed directly into the ground as a whim. A few carrots, a few beans, a few peas, a combination of greens for the morning smoothie and afternoon salads, and some herbs. That's it!
This summer I shall be free of begging my neighbors to take some more zucchini. This year I will not scratch my head till it hurts wondering why I planted all that kohlrabi. This year I will not tire of looking up new squash recipes. I will no longer be that woman dragging a bag of corn to the book club meeting. At last I will not despair over having eggplant as I have never even liked egg plant. And this is the year the grandchildren will not run from me when they see me coming, as I will not be bringing them bags of tomatoes, which they claim to hate. (I cannot convince them it is only because they have not tasted a good tomato. The grocery store nor McDonald's carry them.)
I do not can nor freeze my vegetables, as I prefer buying or picking fresh in season. So I have come to realize it is silly for me to have rows upon rows of green beans. I now have just enough to enjoy and not tire of. In the past I have had large patches of radishes. About five radishes per season is really enough for me, so the radish patch is out. I use very little green pepper so eight pepper plants is ridiculous. (Yes, I know they are good for me, full of vitamin C, but...)
Do not think that I do not believe in sharing. I think sharing is very important. It is good to take a few extra goodies to the food bank or homeless shelter. It is nice to show up at an occasion with a platter of outrageously great tasting tomatoes sprinkled with a nice olive oil and crumpled feta cheese instead of the proverbial macaroni salad, but enough is enough. We, well, me, tend to over-plant. Our eyes are bigger than what we need or even want. I have yet to hear a fellow garden claim. "Oh, my goodness! I am out of zucchini!" Have you?
Save water, your back, your money, your time, and your relationships with your neighbors. Plant what you want and what you like, but plant sensibly for your needs, not the economic needs of the seed catalog people.