NURSERIES | SUPPLIES | CLUBS & SOCIETIES | GARDENS & ARBORETA PESTS & DISEASES | EXPERTS | TREES | ANGELA'S PICKS
What to Plant This Month- September
There's a change in the air. Nights and mornings are turning crisp; afternoons, still warm.Trees are beginning to show the first hint of fall color. These changes hail the beginning of the FALL PLANTING SEASON.
ANNUALS: Plant cool-season annuals toward the middle or end of the month. Look for pansies, primrose, Iceland poppies, ornamental kale, forget-me-nots, snapdragon, sweet peas, stock and more.
BULBS: Plant tulips, daffodils, Dutch iris, crocus, hyacinth, freesia, scilla, watsonia, sparaxis, tritonia, ranunculus, ixia, leucojum and more. NOTE: Only tulips and hyacinths benefit from 6-8 weeks of chilling in the refrigerator.
VEGETABLES: It's time to plant: carrots, green onions, peas, radish and spinach, lettuce and more. See the Vegetable Planting Calendar for more info. To chart the best time for planting in your area, download and print the UC VRIC's Fall Planting Schedule, counts backward from your garden's average first frost date to determine when to plant each variety. (download requires free Adobe® Reader®). According to UC VRIC, Sacramento's average first frost date is November 14.
NATIVE PLANTS: Fall is the ideal time for planting native plants! For a great selection, visit the California Native Plant Society, Sacramento Valley Chapter's 2003 FALL PLANT SALE Saturday, September 27, 2003, 9 am to 3 pm, Shepard Garden & Art Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento, CA. Most nurseries, including Bushnell Gardens Nursery and Capital Nursery, carry a regular supply of natives. For native bulbs, try Far West Bulb Farm. Cornflower Farms, a wholesale native plant grower, is open to the public the 2nd Saturday (click to download schedule) of most months. Upcoming dates include: Sept. 13, October 11 and November 8.
WILDFLOWER SEEDS: It's also a great time for planting wildflowers. Try Peaceful Valley Farm Supply's Central Valley Wildflower Mix containing: California Poppy, Deerhorn Clarkia, California Blue Bell, Sweet Alyssum, Plains Coreopsis, Sulphur Cosmos, African Daisy, Blanketflower, Showy Blue Gilia, Gazania, Showy Evening Primrose, Mountain Garland, Chinese Houses, Globe Gilia, Scarlet Flax, Arroyo Lupine, Five Spot, Black-eyed Susan, Goldfields, Tidy Tips, Yellow Lupine, Moss Verbena, and New Mexico Evening Primrose. Native California wildflower purists? Try the California Native Wildflower mix , containing: Tidy Tips, California Poppy, Godetia, Five Spot, Sky Lupine, Chinese Houses, California Blue Bell, Mountain Garland, Globe Gilia, Showy Blue Gilia, Bird’s Eyes, Goldfields, Yellow Lupine, Arroyo Lupine, Baby Blue Eyes, Beach Evening Primrose, Blue-Eyed Grass and Mountain Phlox.
TREES: Fall tree-planting season is upon us! It's an especially good time for selecting fall-color trees because you'll be able to see what you're going to get in the way of color intensity and spectrum. Wide variation from tree to tree, even those of the same species and cultivar, is to be expected. Visit the Sacramento Tree Foundation's website for the lowdown on Sacramento area trees. Also see my picks and the City of Sacramento's Tree Planting Guide. If you're a SMUD customer, you may qualify for free shade trees! Click here to see what trees are being offered the Sacramento Shade Program and how to get them.