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Dan Vierria

Gardening Columnist

About This Author

As a senior writer for The Sacramento Bee, Dan Vierria covered media, food, restaurants, pop culture/trends and home & garden. Currently, he is a freelance writer, social media page administrator and certified University of California Master Gardener for Sacramento County.

Articles by this author

Sky High

Growing up is more than aging from Hello Kitty to margaritas. In gardens, growing up is vertical gardening. It’s functional and decorative and has been around, in some form, longer than “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

Instead of allowing plant sprawl that gobbles up valuable space, guide plants skyward. Use trellising, staking and training. Hang plants in pots and planters.

Space can be limited in urban neighborhoods. Too much shade from mature trees, small yards, swimming pools, patios and decks shrink growing areas. Apartment decks and balconies are well suited to vertical gardening.

Feline Friend

Always a dog lover, Sacramento resident Gary Cooper didn’t think much about cats until a Maine coon mix planted himself on Cooper’s doorstep 20 years ago.

After several months of leaving food for the young feline and watching him roam the neighborhood and scrap with another cat, Cooper scooped up the stray and brought him inside to join the family, which included five rescue dogs.

Now Cooper calls himself “a crazy cat lady.” He’s rescued seven felines over two decades. “I understand how wonderful they are,” he says.

Found In Translation

Garden art isn’t restricted to statuary, murals and fountains. Art in the garden has a botanical relative, the Japanese maple.

A powerful piece of art draws the eye and stirs the senses. It reaches out, lures you into its space and kindles dopamine. Elegant, spectacular in form, vibrant in color, the Japanese maple is worthy of crowds at the Louvre, the Met, the Crocker.

Favored for grace and beauty, these ornamental trees burst into spring colors, settle into muted summer tones and deliver a knockout punch of fall hues.

Health Bombs

Welcome to the eve of renewal. A new year of nurturing our plant babies dawns once holiday decor is packed and stored. Plant yourself in a favorite chair and contemplate what great gardening deeds might be accomplished with gloved hands and inventive minds.

Few things in life are certain. One is essential. We need to eat. Food insecurity is rising, along with the cost of feeding ourselves and families.

Health care costs are soaring, too. What we eat affects overall health. Swapping donuts and cookies for blueberries, citrus and tomatoes is a nutritional slam dunk.

Harvest Of Hurt

Last April, I awoke to high voltage pain in my left knee. I hobbled to the kitchen in hopes movement and coffee might tame the fire. Not a chance.

Discomfort lasted for months. That thing about not overdoing it bounced around in my brain, yet I couldn’t pinpoint exactly how it happened. Injuries sometimes wait to torment us, lurking before pouncing.

Prepping garden beds the previous day was the probable cause. A couple weeks of weeding, digging and pushing wheelbarrows may have been too much, too early in the year.