Gardening

GLEN ELLEN – Tucked inside a Sonoma County vineyard off Highway 12 is a magical garden. It bridges time, place and cultural divides as a sanctuary of precious plants.

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Community Favorites, 75 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region and recommended by local gardeners.

We have ants in our raised-bed vegetable garden as well as a few other areas around our home. We use bait traps only when things get out of hand in early spring when they historically show up indoors.

The day lilies were marked down, the pink princesses and crape myrtles, too – 50 percent off, the signs read – and customers were already offering their condolences.

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Community Favorites, 75 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region and recommended by local gardeners.

Sacramento is finding its identity, unearthed in its fertile fields.

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Community Favorites, 75 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region and recommended by local gardeners.

I live in Natomas (with heavy clay soil), so I want to build some raised planter beds with better soil (such as loam) for growing vegetables. However, I also want to feel confident that these veggies are safe and healthy for my family to eat, and grown in clean, uncontaminated soil.

It's a friendly rivalry that stretches from year to year.

With their vibrant fall color, Japanese maples rank among the most beloved autumn trees. But that hot September weather this year pushed back their annual show.

This is one in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Community Favorites, 75 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region and recommended by local gardeners.

I have a mystery rose bush. I've been told that it is an Austrian Copper rose, but I've been unable to find any information regarding this plant. The flowers look more red than copper.

Celebrating the volunteer efforts of Davis' Central Park Gardens, this open house features four demonstration gardens, master gardeners with water-saving and pest-fighting tips, and a plant sale with fall vegetables, annuals and perennials

My mom's pomegranate tree has very low fruit yield. It's been low for several years. Most of the blossoms just fall off.

While coping with a pressure-cooker work environment, Scott Chadd discovered inner peace while tending little trees.

October is National Energy Awareness Month, a good time to give your home an energy-minded checkup before the cold months ahead.

Nature's Gallery Court, Garrod Drive, UC Davis, On this guided tour, check out the autumn drama of ornamental grasses in the arboretum's Storer, Oak Grove, White Flower and All-Star gardens

Longarm Quilters studio tour and outdoor quilt show. Visit six workshops of quilt top finishers with quilts on display at each location.

Also called scorpionweed, this pretty native can be found in many parts of Northern California, particularly in coastal regions. It's botanical name means "cluster," referring to the bunches of bell-shaped lavender flowers. Resembling a scorpion's tail, the fiddlehead stems uncoil with new growth.

The Sacramento Bee hosts a network of high-quality news providers and bloggers in the Sacramento region.

I have two fig trees that produce figs profusely – figs galore! But I can't eat any of them because they never get ripe.

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Community Favorites, 75 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region and recommended by local gardeners.

Does your community garden need some TLC? Could your school garden use a kick-start? Or would you like to volunteer to help?

Davis' Gerhard Bock, author of Bamboo, Succulents and More, gets to work on "fall" projects

Fall festival and art,plant craft sale; 18th annual Elk Grove Pumpkin Festival

Special events today: Kids Growing Strong

Fall is the best time to prepare lawns for the next growing season by mowing, raking, aerating and fertilizing. The game plan changes, though, if drought-stressed grass has been dormant for a long time.

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Community Favorites, 75 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region and recommended by local gardeners.

Richard W. Harris, an influential UC Davis arboriculturist who pioneered methods for maintaining healthy urban forests, died Sept. 16 of Alzheimer's disease, his family said. He was 92.

This plant is popping up all over our yard. What is it?

Fall is the best time to plant many California native perennials. Find them at this huge sale hosted by the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Get free advice on choosing the best natives for your backyard habitat and how to make them thrive.

"It's a terrific time," said Lou Manfredini, Ace Hardware's home expert. "This time of year, you find fabulous deals at nurseries, trying to clean out stock. In California, it's the perfect time to plant trees, shrubs and perennials."

This is one in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Community Favorites, 75 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region and recommended by local gardeners.

Fall marks a season of change, sometimes bittersweet. It's a time of transition, but also renewal.

This is one in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Community Favorites, 75 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region and recommended by local gardeners.

• Natomas' Bill Bird, author of Sacramento Vegetable Gardening, shares his lessons on preserving the backyard tomato harvest.

• 25th ANNUAL DELTA GESNERIAD AND AFRICAN VIOLET SOCIETY SHOW AND SALE

Where do your kids do homework? If your home is like most households, it's the kitchen or dining room table.

My apple tree developed a weird web on one branch only that is full of caterpillar-type worms. The branch has died, but the rest of the tree is fine.

Daisy Mah, an institution in the city of Sacramento's parks department, formally announced what few people wanted to hear – she's going to retire.

Like so many other local residents, Jackie O'Connor of Folsom visited the Governor's Mansion earlier this summer, in essence to say goodbye.

I wonder what has happened to my rose bushes. In the middle of summer, they suddenly developed all these spots on their leaves. Any suggestions?

Hosted by the Sacramento chapter of Soroptimist International, this second annual tour features six diverse gardens that provide food as well as beauty.

This is one in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Community Favorites, 75 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region and recommended by local gardeners.

Joan Coulat, Sacramento's beloved begonia lady, has her hands full this weekend. She's hoping local plant lovers will come to her rescue.

Today: Farm Fresh To You farm tour with a lecture by chief farmer Thaddeus Barsotti

The threat of West Nile virus continues to be a major concern in the greater Sacramento area. This has been a terrible mosquito year in several California counties, too.

Placer County master gardeners at the farmers market will answer gardening questions

Natomas' Bill Bird, author of "Sacramento Vegetable Gardening," exults over a bumper crop of onions – and onion rings fit for a king

To Susann Hadler, a September garden tour seemed like a natural, combining good weather with good causes.