Native Plant Demonstration Garden
Historic City Cemetery, 1000 Broadway, Sacramento CA

 

GOAL OF THE DEMO-GARDEN

The main goal of this garden is to enlighten visitors to the beauty of California native plants and to inspire them to incorporate native plants into their own home gardens. Other goals of the garden is to shown how native plants can attract wildlife and beneficial insects and to educate visitors about the many medicinal, cultural and edible aspects of native plants used by the local Native Americans. Since the garden is located in a cemetery you will find some non-native plants in the demo-garden area that have been planted and are maintained by family members. However, the majority of the plants in this area are California natives. We have one of the areas largest collections of California native lilacs (ceanothus), also known as “mountain lilacs” and California sages (salvias) in the Sacramento area. The native ceanothus and salvias have beautiful spring time blossoms, are very fragrant and are considered a must for any California native garden.

By doing so, we are also contributing to the beautification of a
community resource, the formerly neglected Old City Cemetery.

 

Native Plant Demonstration Garden Plant List

View the Sunny native garden plan (pdf)

View the Shady native garden plan (pdf)

 

The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) Demonstration Garden
is located in the southeast corner of the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery,
along Riverside Boulevard.
[map link!].


Ongoing events: Summer Sundays, 9am-11am.
Wear hat, long shirt, boots & bring water, gardening tools, gloves, and knee pads if you have them. If interested in volunteering during the week contact Sabrina (916)929-7896 or soj@surewest.net.


What’s blooming at the garden? 

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Notes from the Demo-Garden (spring 2009):

Spring at the Chapter’s native plant demo-garden has been glorious this year.  The garden has been ablaze with the brilliant yellows of our Sunset fremontias, gorgeous blues of our Ray Hartman ceanothus, and vibrant pinks of our western redbuds. The fremontia’s are winding down and the Ray Hartman’s and redbuds are now setting seed. But as I write, the second act of Spring is in full swing. Current blooms include: our yellow sulfur buckwheats, golden lupines and bush monkey flowers, blue flax and penstemons,  purple wooly blue curls, and the stunningly beautiful creamy-white blossomed California bush anemone.

Many of our native salvias/sages have now started to blossom. In fact at the May meeting, several of the young black-sage cuttings we brought for adoption had cute tiny little blossoms.  I am also happy to report that all of the baby black-sages and creeping-sages found homes at the May meeting!  Only one of the goldenrods and 3 of the ‘puniest’ baby Douglas iris were not adopted.  In addition, thanks to Peggy Berry’s suggestion (that we put out a donation plate) and the generosity of ‘adopting parents’, the garden received $20 in donations for the babies! Be sure and make it to the September meeting so you can adopt demo-garden babies that make through the summer.
 
As many of you know, Mitchell Alford’s health has declined and she is unable to come out regularly on Saturdays to help supervise and give assignments to the Sheriff’s work party crews (after they muster in the morning) and to meet with volunteers that would like to come by on Saturdays at 10am.  So I’m currently looking for folks that can fill her shoes to cover Saturdays at the garden. Please give me a call/email if you might be able to come out even 1 or 2 Saturdays this summer to meet/direct volunteers; and -if you’re up for it- to help supervise the Saturday work crews.

For those of you that can’t make it out to the garden on the weekends, let me know if you are able to swing by during the weekdays. We have several dedicated week-day weeding volunteers who swing by for 30 minutes or an hour to enjoy the garden and weed a plot or two. If this is something you think you might be able to help us with this summer, let me know and I’ll explain how we log your hours and dispose of the weeds that are pulled during the week.

Please join Demo-Garden volunteers Brigette and Alicia this summer

volunteers

During the upcoming Sundays, volunteers will help us with deadheading, pruning, and general maintenance. We will also be pruning the creeping sage (Salvia Sonomensis), so will be potting up about 25 cuttings for eventual give away at the September meeting, so could use help with this. We also have about 1,000+ baby St. Catherines lace volunteers, that we will be potting up regularly this summer for adoption/give-away at various summer events sponsored by the chapter and/or the Old City Cemetery Committee.

As always, I hope to see you in the garden.

Sabrina
SacValley CNPS Chair,
Native Plant Demo-Garden @ Historic City Cemetery
1000 Broadway, Sacramento CA


Yellow berry toyon or Davis Gold
(Heteromeles arbutifolia)
California fuchsia (Epilobium canum)
Toyon, Christmas Berry (Heteromeles arbutifolia) Wooly Blue Curls (Trichostema lanatum)

Mitchell Alford teaching proper ceanothus pruning technique (10-28-07)

All photographs by: Angela Pratt (Angela Pratt (prattstockphotography.com)


Read more about a few plants you might like to use on the Plant Profiles page:

                                         

Ribes                           Rhus                      Ceanothus               C. Ray Hartman

 

Please Join Us at the Garden

2004 SACVALLEY CNPS BOARD AT THE GARDEN (left to right). Sitting: Cassandra Nguyen-Musto (recently resigned), Bonnie Ross, Amy Boyer, Chris Wilkinson, Glenn Holstein, Peggy Berry. Standing: Mary Maret, Frank Wallace, Eva Butler, Sabrina Okamura-Johnson, Heidi West, John Hunter, Mary Schiedt, Chris Lewis, Bill Patterson.

Please join the SacValley CNPS Board in welcoming Mitchell Alford as our new Demonstration Garden Chairperson. Though relatively new to our Chapter, Ms. Alford is a long time CNPS member with a horticulture & California field botany background (AKA Ms. Phytophinder...). Mitchell and the Demo-Garden Committee need help on the following days:

Volunteer at the Demonstration Garden

Volunteering in native plant demo-garden is educational, fun and rewarding. The rewards include making new friends and getting to take home free native plants for your own home gardening projects. Our regular “garden parties” occurs most Sundays at the garden from 9am to 11am during the summer and from 10am to noon during the winter. Rain/bad weather and major holiday weekends cancels our garden workdays. We also have a number of volunteers who come out during the weekdays Please consider joining us if you would like to volunteer in the Native Plant Demo-garden please call/RSVP Sabrina Okamura-Johnson (916-929-7896; or CNPSgarden@surewest.net). Volunteers should bring gardening gloves, tools and knee pads if you have them and be prepared to have fun learning about native plants while digging in the dirt!

If you can’t make it to our Sunday “garden parties”, please consider volunteering during the week. We have several week-day volunteers who swing by for 30 minutes or several hours to enjoy the garden and weed a plot or two. If this is something you think you might be able to help us with, contact Sabrina for a tour of the garden and additional info about volunteering during the week.

 

 

 

Getting to the Garden  The Demonstration Garden is located in the Old City Cemetery on 1000 Broadway, Sacramento [map link!]. The main entrance is on 10th and Broadway. To reach our garden, enter the main entrance and head east (directly toward Target on the small interior road. Follow this road as it turns to the south (toward Los Angeles, home of the evil Lakers) along Riverside Blvd. The Demonstration Garden is at the end of this road as it begins to turn west. You will see our sign at this corner. [here is a cemetery map to help you]

Springtime in the Garden -

                   
Cleveland Sage                                  Fremontia                                    Monkeyflower
Salvia cleveland                            "California Sunset"                         Diplicus aurantiacus
Fremontia californicum

The Garden and Its Progression  

In January of 1997, the Sacramento Valley Chapter of CNPS was given the opportunity to construct a native plant demonstration garden. It is located in a large section of Sacramento's historic Old City Cemetery along the east side. The garden's purpose is to interest and educate the community about growing native plants in an urban setting. The garden is very visible from Riverside Boulevard and entry is through the main gate along Broadway.


Native Plant Close-ups From the Garden:
                  
Fuschia-flowering gooseberry                   Sulphur buckwheat                           Western columbine
Ribes speciosum                          Eriogonum umbellatum                          Aquilegia formosa

Donations. The Demo-Garden is always in need of donations of garden supplies, tools and equipment, which are always welcome and helps keep our overhead costs down. Our current wish list includes: new or gently used: gloves, pruners, trowels, hand weeders, hand cultivators, shovels, spades, grass shears, rakes, hula-hoes, knee pads, kneeler seats, and a garden cart or wheel barrel. In addition, we are also in need of a digital camera and photo cards, EZ-up Canopies and folding tables for outdoor events. Please contact Sabrina about making donation arrangements.


Interested in Gardening With Native Plants?  If you're interested in gardening with native plants please read the following Chapter publications:

Why Grow Native California Plants? by Louise Lacey (24k PDF)

Native Plants Suitable for Sacramento Area, Sources and Nurseries (20k PDF)

Gardening with California Natives by Lori Hubbart (12k PDF)

Did you see these native plant gardening articles in the Hibiscus?

Native Garden for Bees [April 2005 Hibiscus, pg 5]

All Native Privacy Screen [Jan. 2005 Hibiscus, pg 5]

Native Garden for Hummingbirds [Nov. 2004 Hibiscus , pg 3]

Give Grass a Chance [June 2004 Hibiscus, pg 5]

Also check out the following local and native plant gardening websites:

Growing Native     Las Pilitas Nursery    Cornflower Farms     Hartland Nursery    Sacramento Gardening

Sacramento Area Community Garden Coalition     California Native Bulbs 

Want to Cook with California Natives? Check out these newsletter articles:

Sierra Currant (Ribes nevadense) Jelly or Jam [Mar 2004 Stockton issue pg 2]

Madrone Pudding [Nov. 2004 Hibiscus pg 6]

  

Garden Links:

   

 

 

   


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