Garden

Growing Pains

Locking onto a snail with laser-guidance precision, Randy Paragary delivers a lightning strike on the gluttonous gastropod. “He died during the journey,” he says. With apologies to escargot, snails would be wise to steer clear of this backyard vegetable garden.

Paragary, his wife Stacy and executive chef-business partner Kurt Spataro have kept Sacramentans well fed and entertained for decades. While retaining his local dining and entertainment venues, Paragary has evolved his interests in recent years to include Midtown’s new Fort Sutter Hotel and (drumroll, please) his backyard tomatoes and other edibles.

Gardening That is Too Hot To Handle

Summer days in Sacramento, when air becomes insufferably hot and soil bakes to Death Valley beige, can test our gardening superpowers. The challenge of keeping plants happy and alive is compounded by watering mandates, courtesy of below normal rainfall and Sierra snowpack.

People and pets need protection and ample hydration when summer’s blast furnace goes triple digits. So do plants. Our leafy friends are not able to bolt for an air-conditioned kitchen and refreshing drink.

Seeds of Change

Hello neighbor! I am new to this space, but have lived and pushed shovels into Northern California soil my entire life. I imagine you have done some digging, deadheading and maybe even turned a compost pile. As gardeners, we have much in common.

Have you noticed unusually high numbers of joggers, walkers and cyclists in the neighborhood? Sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic has inspired more time outdoors, including gardens where we’re soaking up vitamin D, weeding beds and borders, planting vegetables, and becoming reacquainted with hummingbirds and honeybees.

Essential Gardening

Essential Gardening Local nurseries provide life, beauty and new growth By Cecily Hastings May 2020 Taking to a garden in the midst of a crisis is not a new concept. My mother got her first start with gardening by creating her own “Victory Garden” of...

All You Need Is Love

The renaissance of the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery is a remarkable volunteer success story. In the words of the Cemetery Master Plan, the cemetery was “barren and lifeless” until volunteers transformed a “neglected burial ground to a vibrant historic cemetery that is a horticultural attraction.”

The plan states a vision for the historic cemetery, recognizing three major areas devoted to gardens: Historic Rose Garden, Hamilton Square Perennial Garden and California Native Plant Demonstration Garden.

Give Them an Inch

It’s bad enough that we have to fight weeds or deal with unsuitable plants that we inherited when we bought our properties. It’s worse if you are the one who innocently planted something that has turned into a monster. Plants that are described as “vigorous” may be ready to take over your yard. Some grow too big, too fast. Others have roots that spread aggressively. Still others spread by seed.

I don’t really consider plants “invasive” that are easy to remove. California poppies, sweet peas and other plants that self-seed can be readily pulled out if they pop up in unwanted places.