by angela@diggingbliss | Sep 26, 2008 | Uncategorized
My son’s high school is having a garden tour this Sunday! Come check out the gardens, art, chat with Master Gardeners, enjoy refreshments, and melodious live performances by the current crop of Rio’s award-winning band members.
Outdoor Living Tour 2008
The annual Rio Americano Garden Tour will be held Sunday, September 28th from 11:00am to 4:00 pm. Unique gardens with exquisite design and imaginative detail in the neighborhoods surrounding the Rio Americano attendance area. Master Gardeners will be available at the gardens to answer questions and provide tips along with outdoor- related vendors. In addition, entertainment will be provided by Rio’s award winning bands. The proceeds will benefit the Rio Americano PTSA Landscape Projects and the General PTSA Fund.
Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.
For further info please contact Debbie Munter, dmunter@surewest.net or Dania Lukey dlukey@surewest.net
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 26, 2008 | Uncategorized
I wanted to let folks know that John Greenlee is going to be speaking in Sacramento in October! Here’s the skinny from the Sacramento Association of Professional Landscape Designers (Sac APLD)–
APLD SACRAMENTO SPEAKER SERIES PROUDLY PRESENTS… THE NATION’S LEADING AUTHORITY ON GRASSES…
JOHN GREENLEE
THE CALIFORNIA LAWN REVOLUTION (& OTHER TRENDS IN ORNAMENTAL GRASSES)
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25TH
@ SIERRA 2 – 24TH ST. THEATER
2791 24 th Street, Sacramento 95818
9-10AM Private Reception & Champagne Brunch in the Garden Room
Limited to the first 50 APLD Members and their guests. You must prepay for the seminar by Wed. Oct. 22 to secure your place at the reception. The reception is a free member benefit to current APLD members & New 2009 Members. Guests are $10 per person
10AM – NOON John Greenlee Seminar
Seminar cost is $20 prepaid or $25 at the door
NOON – 1PM The John Greenlee Collection of grasses will be sold in the Garden Courtyard
John Greenlee is the author of The Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses and Meadows by Design. He is the founder of the largest ornamental grass nursery in the West and his Collection of Grasses has been sold nationally by Proven Winners and now, Smith & Hawken.
His designs have been featured in numerous publications including Sunset and Garden Design. His design clients include Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, Getty center, Hess Winery, Eric Clapton & Steven Spielberg.
John’s passion to reinvent America’s lawn culture will inspire and educate you to do the same. Don’t miss Sacramento’s landscape event of the year!
Sierra 2 is located in Curtis Park near 24th & Broadway with easy freeway access and ample free parking.
Contact Gary Kernick at (916) 488-3374 for more information
Mail payment to SacAPLD
3755 Esperanza Dr.
Sacramento, CA 95864
Press Release: The California Lawn Revolution
The traditional suburban lawn that many of us take for granted as a must have landscape element is under attack. As it turns out, that ever present patch of green is actually not so “green”. The average lawn requires mass quantities of water and chemicals. Turf grass is extremely thirsty, and improper irrigation practices often fill our gutters with wasteful rivers of precious water. That water usually contains chemicals from lawn fertilization and pesticide applications. The chemicals travel from the gutter to the creeks and rivers reeking ecological havoc along the way. And let’s hear it for the mow and blow guys…anyone? Lawn care not only creates obnoxious noise pollution, but plenty of noxious fumes as well.
But there is hope… a Revolution has begun. Leading the fight is the nation’s leading authority on grasses, John Greenlee. Greenlee wrote the book on grasses – literally. He is the author of the bestselling The Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses and the soon to be released Meadows by Design. His impressive client list includes Steven Spielberg, Eric Clapton, The Hess Winery, The Getty Center and Disneyland.
Greenlee is passionate about changing America’s obsession with the traditional lawn. His goal is to reinvent lawn culture using a combination of ornamental grasses and perennial plantings. Ornamental grasses eliminate the environmentally negative aspects of turf grasses and do so with style. Sublime textures, stunning forms, and shimmering seed heads, create breathtaking effects that the ordinary lawn simply cannot match. A single grass variety can be planted to offer a sleek contemporary tableau or multiple varieties peppered with flowering perennials invite you to a dreamy meadow like garden.
This October, John Greenlee is bringing his passion and his plants to you. Sacramento’s local source for top notch garden designers, APLD (Association of Professional Landscape Designers) is presenting Greenlee to Sacramento for a seminar followed by the sale of the John Greenlee Collection of Grasses.
The California Lawn Revolution with John Greenlee
Saturday, October 25, 10AM – Noon Seminar & Noon-1PM Plant Sale
Sierra 2 Theater, 2791 24th St. in Curtis Park. Tickets are $25 at the door.
For more information log on to www.apldca.org or call (916) 488-3374
Press Release written by Gary Kernick – Change of Seasons – (916) 488-3374
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 26, 2008 | Uncategorized
(Colorful cover art and interior black & white and semi-transparent illustrations by Susan Poirier)
I’m enjoying my advance copy of the 2009 Sacramento County UC Master Gardeners Gardening Guide and Calendar. This year’s popular theme is “Savoring Home Grown”. Printed on off-white recycled paper with embedded bits of color flecks, each month features harvest-ready vegetables.
For instance, September tells you it’s time to harvest melons, how to determine ripeness and how to store your melons once picked. There’s plenty of space to add your own notes on the calendar pages.
In addition to Harvest This Month, other categories include:
Garden Maintenance
Pest Notes
Be Water Wise
Try Something New
At the back of the calendar, you’ll find two very handy charts-
Vegetables: A Guide for Cultivation in the Sacramento Area Sacramento Vegetable Planting Schedule (Yes!)
And finally…
How to Have a Happy Lawn
Calendars are available at the UC Cooperative Extension Office, 4145 Branch Center Road, Sacramento, 875-6913 and soon at most nursery locations in the Sacramento County area.
Here’s to a delicious new year!
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 25, 2008 | Uncategorized
Hey, fellow foodie gardeners… check this out!
Click on thumbnail for large version (PDF) or visit the website: http://goodlifegarden.ucdavis.edu/events/
When: Saturday, September 27, 2008
Where: Sciences Lecture Hall & Courtyard
Time: 4:30 pm
Includes: Three speakers and a “Taste of the Region”
Cost: $75 per Person
You can buy tickets online.
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 25, 2008 | Uncategorized
Hey, a fellow Carmichaelian won the grand prize!
$6,000 IN PRIZES AWARDED TO BEST BACKYARD GARDENERS
NatureSweet Tomatoes congratulates Bob Peruch of Carmichael for winning the $2,500 grand prize in the small tomato category at the August 23 Homegrown Tomato Challenge. Peruch won the competition with his Gardeners Delight variety of tomatoes. NatureSweet Tomatoes also congratulates Lin Cole of Citrus Heights for winning the other $2,500 grand prize in the large tomato category. Cole won the competition with her unknown variety of tomatoes. This year’s competition was held at the Raley’s located at 25025 Blue Ravine Road in Folsom.
While Peruch and Cole can now claim to be two of America’s best tomato gardeners, they each faced stiff competition by the following runners-up, who all received a $250 store voucher for their premium tomato entries: August Spagnolo (Sweet 100), Kaitlyn Shupe (Small Cherry),Jan Decker (Bonnie Hubby),and Bryan Sattler (Black Krim).
Six finalists were chosen from 280 entries. NatureSweet’s distinguished judges included Pat Rubin, The Sacramento Bee; Robbie Guggenheim, Edible Sacramento; Michael Marks, Your Produce Man; Al Pierleoni, The Sacramento Bee; Judy McClure, Sacramento County Master Gardeners, Chuck Person, Sacramento Kings Assistant Coach; and Michael Schutt, Raley’s.
Finalists were chosen based on a Brix test which determines tomato sweetness — the higher the Brix number, the better the taste. The finalists were then taste-tested by the judge’s panel. All tomato entries – approximately 600 pounds of tomatoes – were donated to the Twin Lakes Food Bank after the Challenge.
Now in its sixth year, the popular Homegrown Tomato Challenge continues to trek across the country as NatureSweet seeks out America’s best homegrown tomatoes.
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 25, 2008 | Uncategorized
I’m cute, about a foot tall, have slightly succulent-looking foliage, and am growing in full sun at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg, California. Sadly, I have no identification. Can anybody tell me my name, preferably in Latin?
