Missy Gable, Director of the UC Master Gardener Program and horticulturalist, is hosting a monthly Q&A Facebook Live series to answer gardening questions and give seasonal gardening tips. Join us on Facebook Live for the very first episode scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 27 at 11 AM PST. 

Link: www.facebook.com/UCMasterGardeners/ 

Facebook Live is an authentic and interactive way to interact with our audience in real time. It also allows the ability to build value, trust and raise brand awareness of the UC Master Gardener Program. Share the Facebook Live opportunity on your personal and local program pages and tune in to the UC Master Gardener Program Facebook Live broadcast! Let us know in the comments section what topics or questions you would like answered on Thursday or on future Facebook Live topics.

June 18 - 24, 2018 is National Pollinator Week! National Pollinator Week is a time to recognize and celebrate the importance of pollinators. Worldwide, approximately 1,000 plants grown for food, beverages, fibers, spices, and medicines need to be pollinated by animals in order to produce the goods on which we depend. Support pollinators in your home or a community garden with these 13 ways to make your landscape more pollinator friendly. Visit pollinator.org for more information. 

1. A variety of plants will be ideal for providing diverse sources of nectar and pollen. Choose at least 20 different plant types, or fewer if the types of plants are highly attractive to pollinators. Don't forget that night-blooming flowers will support moths and bats.
   
   
2. Help pollinators find and use your garden by planting in clumps, rather than just single plants. Think about "landing zones."
   
   
3. Include plants native to your region. Natives are adapted to your local climate, soil and native pollinators. If you want to see some locals, plant some natives!
   
   
   

   Photo Credit: Susan Pransky, San Diego County
4. Overlap flowering times between seasons and use a wide variety of plants that bloom from early spring into late fall.Pollinators are in a constant search for new resources. Choosing plants with overlapping flowering times from February to October will allow bees and pollinators to continually forage in your garden.
   
   
5. Consider plant climate zones. Plant for success! A plant's native climate range is important in determining if it will be attractive to bees visiting your garden (and if your plant will grow well in your garden or not!)
   

   Photo Credit: Carol Jesse, Alameda County
6. Design a garden that has structure. The arrangement of plants in your garden will influence your ability to observe and enjoy pollinators. Plant the tallest plants in the back with the smaller ones in the front.
   
   
7. Plant in the sun. Bees prefer to visit flowers in the sun, so avoid planting your pollinator-attracting plants in the shadier parts of your garden.
   

   Photo Credit: Kalaivani Sundarararjan, Orange County
8. Reduce or eliminate pesticide use in your landscape, or incorporate plants that attract beneficial insects for pest control. If you use pesticides, use them sparingly and responsibly. Pesticides can kill bad insects as well as beneficial insects like bees, ladybugs and other predators of garden pests.
   
   
9. Don't' forget about nesting bees! Not all bees have a hive. Make sure to leave some areas for bees to build their nests (either in bare ground or in prefabricated cavities in wood). It's ok to leave part of your garden un-mulched for ground-nesting insects to discover.
   
   
10. Leave dead tree trunks and branches in your landscape for wood-nesting bees and beetles. By leaving dead trees, or at least an occasional dead limb, you provide essential nesting sites for native bees, but make sure these are not a safety hazard for people walking below. You can also build a bee condo by drilling holes of varying diameter about 3 to 5 inches deep in a piece of scrap lumber mounted to a post or under eaves.
    

    Photo Credit: Catherine Iwaki, San Luis Obispo County
11. Provide clean water for pollinators with a shallow dish, bowl, or birdbath with half-submerged stones for perches.
    
    
12. Create a damp salt lick for butterflies and bees. Use a dripping hose, drip irrigation line, or place your birdbath on bare soil to create a damp area. Mix a small bit of salt or wood ashes into the mud.
    
    
13. Provide a hummingbird feeder and add to nectar resources. To make artificial nectar, use four parts water to one part table sugar. Never use artificial sweeteners, honey, or fruit juices. Place something red on the feeder. Clean your feeder with hot soapy water at least twice a week to keep it free of mold.
    

    Photo Credit: Hank Morales, Santa Clara County
     

Tips for how to make a pollinator garden originally published on the UC ANR Pollen Nation website. 

Words like 'invasive plants' or 'weeds' often have a negative connotation for a good reason. Both words describe plants growing where they are not wanted or welcome. Plants that have a propensity to spread quickly result in habitat loss for native plants, insects, birds, and other animals. This is incredibly destructive to our natural environment and the landscape that Californians love to call our own. 

Highway iceplant (Carpobrotus edulis) often forms deep mats covering large areas. Shallow, fibrous roots are produced at every node that is in contact with the soil. Highway iceplant has been widely planted for soil stabilization and landscaping, and is well known by most Californians for its succulent three-sided leaves via CAL-IPC.org

Fast spreading invasive plants can quickly and dramatically change a plant community from a diverse one to a monoculture. When these plant communities shift, wildlife loses food, water and shelter resources and are forced to move out or perish.

Unfortunately, this description is not an over-dramatization. As Californians, we must communicate frankly about the impact of invasive plants in our environment. This is an important issue that can easily grow out of control. One of the biggest challenges with invasive plants is that they oftentimes have desirable features, like beautiful flowers or a spreading habit that quickly covers a barren patch in a home landscape.

Mexican Feather Grass (Nasella or Stipa tenuissima) is popular in home landscapes because of its drought tolerance but it is invasive and produces tens of thousands of seeds.

Well-intentioned people have sold, purchased, propagated, and harvested plants that are known to be invasive. When done so knowingly, the gardener may use the excuse that they will watch the plant and not let it get out of control. Unfortunately, there is no way to monitor a plant that is distributed by wind, birds and other sources. It may be possible to monitor that your plant doesn't ‘escape' to the neighbor's garden but what about the seeds that blew off in the wind and established on a hillside two miles away?

Big Periwinkle (Vinca major)is rapidly spreading in most coastal counties, foothill woodlands, the Central Valley, and even desert areas. Big periwinkle has escaped from garden plantings, and lowers species diversity and disrupts native plant communities via www.cal-ipc.org.

Paying attention to signage and programs that identify invasive plants is an important part of caring for our environment. When questions about weeds and invasive plants arise, the UC Master Gardener Program is available locally to support good decisions and help us all be stewards of a healthy California.

Trained and certified volunteers utilize the vast network of information and expertise of the University of California to support gardeners and concerned citizens. You can reach your local county program online at mg.ucanr.edu/FindUs/.

It's Invasive Species Action Week – let's work together to be better, do better, and grow better. 

California Invasive Plant Resources: 

• Cal-IPC 
• Plant-Right
• California Department Fish and Wildlife
• Weed Research & Information Center (UC ANR)
• UC Integrated Pest Managment 

Spend your lunch learning about invasive species. Brought to you by UC Agriculture and Natural Resource and the California Invasive Plant Council, come hear from the experts about emerging tree pests, aquatic invasive species, and invasive weeds and fire.

Invasive Species Lunchtime Talks: 

• Shot hole borers and other threats to California's trees (June 5, 12:10 - 1pm)
• Quagga mussels, nutria and other threats to California's water bodies (June 6, 12:10 - 1pm)
• Invasive plants and fire in California (June 7, 12:10 - 1pm)

Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device:
Please click this URL to join. https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/401190822
Or join by phone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 (646) 558-8656 or +1 (669)900-6833
Webinar ID: 401 190 822