Native (Bee) Pollinators
Take a quiz on your knowledge of native bee pollinators, learn about the three types of pollinator nesting, and see examples of what types of plants pollinators prefer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOGDSNJJoh8&t=6s
Planting for Pollinators
Learn about the local native bee pollinators and hummingbirds you might see in your backyard, and what kind of plants they prefer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naL3BM5aP-s&t=5s
Butterflies in Your Garden
Find out how to have more butterflies in your garden, by learning which plants are required for butterflies to complete their lifecycle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHXSdtxicII&t=6s
Follow Along
Download the handouts from any of our classes by visiting our Classes and Workshops web page at https://ucanr.edu/sites/stancountymg/Classes/
This post was originally published on June 24, 2021.
/h3>/h3>/h3>/h3>- Author: Anne E Schellman
Despite COVID-19, the Sensory and Pollinator Garden committee volunteers have been hard at work, drawing up their “wish list” of desired plants, path materials, benches, and other structures. Our goal today is to raise $3,000 more for the gardens.
We envision accessible gardens not only for employees of the Ag Center, but for anyone to visit and explore. Bring a picnic lunch, snap photos of plants (and their name tags) and get inspired by plant arrangements.
Donate Now
Please make your gift for #BigDigDay https://ucanr.edu/sites/BigDig/ now to help us fund the Sensory and Pollinator Gardens! Navigate to Stanislaus County, and then using the drop-down menu, select “Master Gardener Fund.” Your donation will go directly to help fund the garden. You can also send a check made out to UC Regents to 3800 Cornucopia Way Ste A, Modesto, CA 95358.
We have just learned that thanks to matching gifts from UC ANR, $100 will go to the first 40 groups that raise $500 or more total, a $250 prize to the first 4 groups with the most NEW donors, and a $500 prize will go to the first 10 groups that secure a single $500 gift or sponsor. Please donate as soon as you can to help us match our funds, and thank you for considering our project!
/h3>- Author: Anne E Schellman
Demonstration Gardens
We plan to create a series of gardens the community can visit for inspiration on the following topics:
- Water-wise plants
- California native plants
- Plants for pollinators (hummingbirds, bees, butterflies)
- Vegetable gardens
- Fruit tree orchard
Outdoor Classroom
Giving Tuesday
We won't be able to create this garden without your help. We hope you will consider giving to our project. Please save the date of December 1, 2020. Announcements and a video coming soon about our Learning Landscape.
Giving Tuesday - SAVE THE DATE! Dec 1, 2020
We won't be able to create this garden without your help. Please consider giving to our project. Save the date of December 1, 2020. Announcements and a video coming soon about our Learning Landscape.
Where will the landscape be located at the Ag Center? Our video will tell you all about the different aspects of the project.
Planting for Pollinators will focus on native and compatible non-native plants that thrive in our area, and which pollinators have been documented visiting these plants.
It can sometimes be hard to spot these pollinators, so our speaker will tell us what time of year to look for them, and which plants to use to attract them.
Our speaker has many years of experience planting native plants and observing the pollinators that visit. She will combine her observations with research on what insects to expect on specific plants.
Watch our YouTube Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naL3BM5aP-s&t=5s
About the speaker:
Ellen is a professional Horticulturist specializing in beautiful, heat tolerant, reduced-irrigation plantings that thrive in landscapes in the Central Valley of California. Most recently she has been exploring her passion for Pollinator Gardening and how it can contribute to biological diversity in urban and suburban California landscapes.
- Author: Terry Lynn Pellegrini
Insects. I never knew there would be so many insects. Nor did I realize how many failures I would have, how much trial and error are involved, and just how many weeds would rear their prickly heads. My idealized image popped like a child's balloon, leaving me with the reality all gardeners face. Gardening is not for the timid.
As a gardener one must accept that there will be insects. Everywhere. Both beneficial and destructive. It takes time to learn how which is which, how to control the destructive ones and to cultivate the beneficial ones. While you may never become bosom buddies with the wolf spiders jumping around your petunias, you can at least learn to appreciate what they do for you in your garden. We must get over the “ick” factor and become appreciative of all the little miracles insects make happen. Pollination, breaking down decaying matter and wastes, and providing food for many other species. Yes, some will eat your plants, destroy your tomatoes, and burrow into your fruit. However, these tiny destruction machines are fewer and farther between than the good guys.
plant to save my life. I have tried by seed and by transplant, in pots, in the ground, and in raised beds. That darn dill looks great for a week or two then shrivels and dies. When I step back and look at my garden, I realize that I can raise other plants many others seem to have a hard time sustaining. Where I have one failure, I have ten successes. That is what I focus on.
Finally, gardening is hard work. We must prepare the beds, sow the seeds, or plant our nursery transplants into the soil. Gardeners weed down on their knees, hands pulling and tugging. They hoe, dig, trim, water, and harvest. We toil, strain, and swear – sometimes a lot. Yet we do this happily despite the sweat, grimy fingernails, dirty knees, and sore backs. For we are happiest out in our gardens – in the fresh air, sunshine, and gentle breezes. This is our paradise, our pride and joy. Whether it is a patio brimming with bright colored pots filled with flowers and a tomato or two, or a sprawling two-acre homestead, the garden fills us with joy. Our garden is where we share a piece of our souls with the World. No, gardening is not for the timid. But we gardeners would not want it any other way.