Gardening

Last summer, I noticed the telltale signs of mites on my eggplant and squash. Can mites be eradicated using non-pesticidal means? If not, what are the best anti-mite products available?

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Arboretum Durable Delights, 30 can't-fail, easy-care plants well-adapted to our region.

Sacramento Bee readers share their gardening adventures.

Special events continuing through May 19 - The Folsom History Museum presents an exhibit on textile- making from the 18th century to present

Gardening can be an intoxicating hobby, especially if the botany is booze-related.

Drought drives up water prices – and thousands of Sacramento homeowners only recently converted to metered water. With that in mind, many gardeners are making the switch to more unthirsty plants.

Looking for water-efficient plants? Start with the UC Davis Arboretum All-Stars, 100 easy-care, low-water plants recommended for use in the Sacramento Valley. In addition, the arboretum's 75 Community Favorites are just that – great easy-care plants recommended by area volunteers. Low water use is a priority among these Favorites, too.

MASTER GARDENER WORKSHOP - Citrus, building good soil, vermicomposting and worm bins will be in the spotlight during this workshop with dozens of master gardeners. They'll help solve other garden dilemmas, too.

Several recent books offer a wealth of information for both beginners and more experienced food gardeners

Gardening brings us together both physically and virtually. Like cooking, it's a universal topic and easy to get started. But no matter how much you know, there's more to learn.

Special events - Help Sunburst Projects send a child affected by HIV/AIDS to summer camp at this perennials sale

They taste better and often are better for you. Gardeners and cooks agree: There's nothing like homegrown vegetables.

FIFTH ANNUAL SACRAMENTO VALLEY CYMBIDIUM SOCIETY SHOW AND SALE - This colorful show features scores of cymbidiums at their best. These easy-care orchids thrive outdoors in Sacramento.

Master gardeners host a talk about pruning ornamental grasses, dormant fruit trees and summer vegetable seeds. 9 a.m.-noon. Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd., Fair Oaks. Free. (916) 875-6913.

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.

Want to take the plunge into starting seeds? Here are tips from experts Gail Pothour, Bill Bird and Jenn Hammer:

George Washington would approve. These cherry trees already have been "chopped" down to size.

They're tiny things, some no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. Yet they contain all the promise of a summer's day: a tasty tomato, a fragrant basil leaf, a crunchy sweet red bell pepper, a melon dripping with honey-scented nectar.

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.

You already have the newspaper, so when you're finished reading it, why not recycle it for your garden? And The Bee uses mostly nontoxic, soy-based inks, so you can transplant the whole pot into the garden if you choose. (Avoid using the full-color advertising inserts.)

Today - Sunday The Sacramento Weavers' and Spinners' Guild presents "Weavers Gone Wild," an open house with spinning and weaving demonstrations, item exhibits and sales. The Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild's 28th annual show will feature more than 200 quilts, fiber and wearable art, a vendor mall and a daily fashion show

ROSE PRUNING WORKSHOP - Presented by the Mother Lode Rose Society, master rosarians Muriel Humenick and Beverly Rose Hopper demonstrate their techniques for getting the most out of any rosebush.

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.

Today: Audacious Aussies and Curious Kiwis," featuring the plants from Australia and New Zealand during a tour of the UC Davis Arboretum.

My peonies always droop. Once they start to bloom, the weight makes them fall to the ground and they never really get to bloom out. What would be a good fix to help them hold their heads up high?

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.

Pests rely on our inattention. If they're out of sight, they're out of mind. During winter months, beetles, borers and their brethren burrow deep in our gardens, waiting for warmth and opportunity. Likewise, voles and other crafty critters seek their openings to invade our space.

Sunday-Sacramento Chapter of California Rare Fruit Growers presents a free scion exchange (grafting branches).

The intricacies of plant patenting came home for me last year with a shipment of strawberry plants.

The Exploration Center kicks off its series of monthly gardening workshops with three in one day, all devoted to fruits and flowers.

Today - Learn about local birds during a free slide show and tour of the UC Davis Arboretum. 1 p.m. 146 Environmental Horticulture, UC Davis. (530) 752-4880.

Special events - Gold River's Boy Scout Troop 281 will help you recycle your Christmas tree. Pickups will be accepted from the Gold River, Anatolia, Sunridge Park, Kavala Ranch and Stone Creek areas.

I leave my tuberous begonias in their pots, but turn the pots on their sides in winter so they stay dry. When they get started in the spring, I upright them and let them grow.

In conjunction with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the Sacramento Tree Foundation presents these free pruning clinics.

This easy-care perennial is a real charmer with loads of flower spikes throughout the summer. It's deer- and snail-resistant, and grows in almost any soil including clay.

The Sacramento Bee hosts a network of high-quality news providers and bloggers in the Sacramento region. Here is a sampling of the best of the current Home & Garden blogs. Check out the full postings: sacramentoconnect.com.

For decades, our large yard had what we referred to as "native California grass." That is, it was green and had blades and was some kind of grass, even if clearly not sod-perfect.

In many of the seed catalogs arriving soon in mailboxes, the headliners will be grafted vegetables, in which one or more different varieties grow from a single rootstock. Tomatoes seem to be the grafted transplants most frequently offered, providing greater disease tolerance, bigger harvests, increased vigor and better taste.

When local gardeners look back at 2012, one event will stand out. On Leap Day, Green Acres Nursery & Supply rolled out a game-changer.

Special events - Gold River's Boy Scout Troop 281 will help you recycle your Christmas tree

Will you suggest a few herbs or flowers I can grow on a small apartment balcony that gets no direct sunlight? It is a bright patio that needs some plant life.

Don't let fire ruin your holidays. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, American homes will suffer an estimated 128,700 fires during this holiday season. Based on averages from past years, those fires will result in an estimated 1,650 injuries, 415 deaths and almost $25.5 million in property damage.

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.

To many local gardeners, it felt like the death of a longtime family friend. But the demise of Capital Nursery also served as a wake-up call.

As she bustles through holiday decorations and positions poinsettias, Earlene Eisley-Freeman feels the spirit of Christmas past fill her family business.

I have a 10-year-old brown turkey fig tree. For the last four years, I have been bothered by leaves showing brown spots, including on the stems. The spots get larger, starting just before harvest time.

Special events: Smyers Glassblowers Studio Open House and Sale. Glassblowers will explain their techniques as they work.

Get your trees in tip-top shape with this free workshop, offered by the Sacramento Tree Foundation.

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.