Sacramento Valley California Native Plant Society, Contact Us
Copyright 2008
Native Plant Demonstration Garden
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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
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
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What’s blooming at the garden: June 27, 2010
Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) is currently in full creamy white bloom (foreground). Pacific Sunset Fremontia (Fremontodendron “Pacific Sunset”) is going to seed, but continues to have a few lovely yellow blooms (back ground).
St. Catherine’s Lace, Eriogonum giganteum, (in center) is now in full lacey bloom and the bees are loving it! The large creamy-orange blossoms of the Lompoc monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus lompocensis, (bottom) are still blooming.
Gorgeous tubular red flowers of Heart Leaved Penstemon, Keckiella cordifolia, (foreground) are raging right now. In the background are the white blossoms of common buckwheat and toyon. |
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Notes from the Demo-Garden (spring 2010): Earth Day @ the Garden w/KPMG Volunteers, Saturday May 1. KPMG LLP staff has contacted us about volunteering at the garden as part of their Earth Day activities, after the April 15th tax deadline. (KPMG is an audit/tax service firm with offices in Sacramento.) About 20 volunteers from the firm will be coming out on May 1 to work at the garden from 9am to noon. They will primarily be weeding and cleaning up the garden plots along the Veteran’s aisles. We need about 4 people to come out to identify the weeds that need to be removed from the plots. If mulch is provided by the city, the volunteers will also much the plots. If you enjoy getting your hands dirty and meeting new people please consider volunteering as a weeding-team leader for this event. We also need someone to provide refreshments for this event. Irrigation Plan for Veteran’s Aisle. Demo-garden volunteer and landscape architect Amanda Meier’s irrigation plan for the Veteran’s aisles on the west side of the garden has been submitted to City Cemetery staff and the Old City Cemetery Committee for approval. The goal of this plan is to provide 100% irrigation coverage for the grassy Veterans’ Plot/Aisle with little or no irrigation of the native plants in our area. To accomplish this the plan proposes extension of the irrigation line east to the native plant area and new rotors/risers as needed to be set up for 180-degree watering of the Veteran Plots. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s work crew will provide the installation work. Steve Meier, Amanda’s husband was able to work w/Donald Franklin (a Hunter Douglas rep & CNPS member) to get a box of irrigation heads donated to this project. Thanks to Amanda & Steve Meier & Donald Franklin! Plantings in the South Area. South area preparation and new plantings are almost done thanks to the help of the Sheriff’s work crews and our dedicated volunteers. Some of the ’new’ plants added to south area and other spots in the garden include: bush poppy (Dendronmecon rigida), Eaton’s penstemon (Penstemon eatonii), lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia), red larkspur (Delphinium nudicaule), service berry (Amelanchier alnifolia), soap lilly (Chloragalum pomeridianum), sugar bush (Rhus ovata), and the variegated Carmel Creeper (Ceanothus ‘Diamond Heights’). Needs/Wish list. Novice gardeners interested in learning about native plants and willing to help with basic assignments. Knowledgeable horticulturalists able to donate 1-2 hours a month to lead general public tours of the garden. Volunteers to work Saturday mornings with Sheriff crews and folks that want to come out on Saturday. Arborist with access to equipment to prune/top our large Pacific Sunset Fremontias. 1-gallon pots, gloves, hand tools and pruning equipment, shovels, knee pads. Old CNPS bumper stickers (we use these to label our tools). Join us & thanks! Please join us this spring at the open garden, earth day or any of our regular Sunday work days. Your help with our ongoing garden activities, pruning, mulching, weeding, deadheading, plantings and seeding would be much appreciated. A big thank you also goes out to our dedicated volunteers this past year: Bridgette Dinaberg, Renate Sperlich, Kim Courtright, Amanda Meier, Alicia Riese, Dana Nolan, Julie Jones, Josie Denzer, Lourei Jones, Paul Townsend, Andy Phillips, Mitchell Alford, Darya Mishchuk and our week day weeders.
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 -
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: 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.
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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