In the chilly (32 degrees) dark of 5 am this morning, as I gave my dogs their morning biscuits, I admired the form of the ‘Big Dipper’ almost directly overhead. I stood, bundled up, in the center of my starlit back garden - just admiring. Five am at the height of summer, I can be getting my coffee and heading out to begin playing in the garden, but in mid-December, as we near the richly-storied winter solstice - the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere - crisp early mornings make for a great star-gazing; the entire garden is a virtual planetarium. Photo: The Moon and Jupiter in close proximity in the winter night sky. In the Northern Hemisphere, several well-known constellations are associated with winter. While many people of think of the ‘Big Dipper’ as a constellation, it is in fact more accurately an asterism - or part of a constellation or larger group of stars. The ‘Big Dipper’ is a commonly recognizable asterism of the larger constellation known as Ursa Major.

As gardeners, perhaps, we are even more aware than many of the shifts in light and its relative availability throughout the seasons and the year. Cultures across the globe have long celebrated the winter solstice and held it dear as the day on which the dark has reached its peak. As of the winter solstice, with every subsequent day, we are headed back toward the life-renewing light - the full intensity of the Sun’s energy.

Many gardeners time their planting and harvest - both the time at which they plant and harvest as well as what they are planting and harvesting - based on the phases of the moon. They do this in order to take full advantage of the powerful influence of the Moon’s on Earth as seen through tidal shifts, etc. In particular, the gardening/agricultural philosophy known as Biodynamics uses the phases of the moon as one of the critical markers for gardening tasks. According to Biodynamics.com, biodynamics, based on the teachings of Rudolph Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, is “a type of organic farming that incorporates an understanding of “dynamic” forces in nature not yet fully understood by science. By working creatively with these subtle energies, farmers are able to significantly enhance the health of their farms and the quality and flavor of food. It is ….. A recognition that the whole earth is a single, self-regulating, multi-dimensional ecosystem. Biodynamic farmers seek to fashion their farms likewise as self-regulating, bio-diverse ecosystems in order to bring health to the land and to their local communities.”

In thinking about the solstice and winter night sky in relation to my garden, I wondered about what the solstice actually was. To find out, I turned to friend and colleague Dave Schlom. Dave is a full-time science educator, and longtime host of Northstate Public Radio’s weekly program on planetary (including Earth) science, The Blue Dot Report. This week on In a North State Garden, Dave talks about what a solstice is and how it impacts us.

Let’s start with planet Earth and how it is positioned in space. The equator is what we call the great imaginary line (line of latitude) around Earth’s circumference. The equator lies half-way between the North Pole and the South Pole. Earth’s rotational axis is tilted 23.5° relative to the Sun. The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn are lines of latitude 23.5° north and south, respectively, of the equator (Figure 3). The Sun is always directly above a point between these latitudes. In our winter, the Sun is south of the equator and in our summer it is north. What we in the Northern Hemisphere call the winter solstice, is the day that the Sun is 23.5° south of the equator, or directly above the Tropic of Capricorn. During the summer solstice, the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer, or 23.5° north of the equator. “That is why what we call the winter and summer solstices are perhaps more accurately referred to as the southern and northern solstices respectively,” explains Dave. Photo: NASA’s diagram of Earth’s position relative to the Sun at the time of a Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice.

“In Latin,” he goes on, the word “’solstice” means ’sun stop’ because as ancient Roman people were tracking the arc of the Sun each day, it was at each ’solstice’ that the Sun seemed to stop in its tracks and begin to move back in the other direction - causing daylight hours to either get longer as after the winter solstice, or shorter, as after the summer solstice. The vernal and autumnal equinoxes occur at those moments twice a year when the Sun is directly over the equator, making for equal hours of daylight and dark. http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/imagee.htm

Why is it cold in winter and warm in summer in our part of the world? The seasons change due to Earth’s rotational axis being tilted 23.5° relative to the Sun. So, for half of the year (our winter), the Northern Hemisphere is pointed slightly away from the Sun. This angle makes sunlight hit the ground in the North State at a lower angle in winter than in summer. So energy coming from the Sun is spread out - and thereby made less intense - over a larger area on the ground.

Interestingly, notes Dave, while the winter solstice might mark an official beginning of winter, it is only rarely the coldest day of the year. Because the Northern Hemisphere is moving only slowly more tilted away from the Sun’s rays from the summer solstice to the winter solstice, the mass of the Earth receives warmth from the sun each day and only slowly does it begin to lose more each night than it gains each day. Therefore, it takes a while after the winter solstice for the Earth to cool down as far as it is going to in any given winter.

So while the winter solstice does not mark the end of cold, but is closer to the beginning of the cold stretch for our North State gardens, this cold can be beneficial - killing unwanted fungi, pathogens and others pests. (Protect and cover your citrus and other tender plants so that the cold does not kill them.) The winter solstice does however mark the shortest day of the year - and while the cold temperatures and short daylight hours might slow your garden and you down some - things are only getting brighter from here.

Happy Winter in your North State Garden!

For more information on the solstice and stars in the winter night sky, Gateway Science Museum in Chico will be hosting related Education Station activities on Saturday and Sunday, December 17th and 18th, and on the Winter Solstice, December 21st from 1 - 3 pm each day. Docents will model the concept of a solstice, show you projections of constellations in the winter night sky, and give you pin-hole constellations cards to make and take home. Additionally, on the 21st, stories behind the winter constellations will be read in the Newberry Gallery from 1 - 3 pm.

Also, fellow gardener and star watcher, Karen McGrath wrote in to me with the interesting fact that although the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, the earliest sunsets do not occur on this day! There is an interesting discussion about why at http://earthsky.org/tonight/earliest-sunset-today-but-not-shortest-day, which is a nice additional resource on these types of discussions.

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To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California and made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

I was lucky in having been born the daughter of a dedicated gardener mother (aided always by my father) and the grand daughter of two avid gardening grandfathers. Growing up at 8,000 feet on the front range of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, my sisters and I were in and out of the garden all day - a good part of the year. My mother’s quarter acre log-rail-fenced vegetable garden, under towering ponderosa pines, featured all the bounty I could have imagined: sharp spring radishes and tender spring peas, sweet summer carrots, lettuces, chard, spinach and even some tomatoes. Leeks, potatoes, onions. Apples, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries. Herbs year-round and seasonal sweeps of ornamental flowers: peonies, oriental poppies, shasta daisies - accenting each row and section of the garden. As a child I learned the garden through being shown and being asked to do things my mother needed done - as they needed doing. Photo: The Shasta College Community Teaching Garden, Redding. All photos in this week’s essay are by Susanna Sibilsky and Melita Bena. (more…)

Pam Geisel is the Statewide Master Gardener Coordinator for the University of California, and for the last few years she has lived and gardened in Hamilton City, a small scenic town in Glenn County. Being a North Stater herself now, she leads the charge in wanting to see more Master Gardener events and opportunities in the counties of the North State. She is very excited about the many Master Gardener programs now available in many North State counties - including Shasta, Butte and Glenn. While Shasta College has been a host of the UC Master Gardener program since 2003, Butte and Glenn counties have only more recently developed their programs. Trinity and Tehama counties are served by the Shasta County program, but Trinity County Cooperative Extension is hoping in 2012 to start their own program in Weaverville under the direction of UC Copperative Extension representative Carol Fall.

“The Master Gardener program has hosted many conferences around the state, and it was time to host one in the North State,” Pam says in our recorded interview this weekend on In a North State Garden. “While many of our educational conferences are for Master Gardeners only, we really wanted this one - with it’s wide topic range and wonderful panel of speakers - to be open to the public as well. We’re really excited to be hosting it! So many gardeners - new and experienced are hungry for this kind of information!” Listen to the full interview this Saturday Sept 3rd at 7:34 am and Sunday Sept 4th at 8:34 a.m. on Northstate Public Radio (KCHO 91.7 fm Chico/KFPR 88.9 fm Redding).

The details for the California Smart Landscaping Conference details are below and are taken from the conference website: http://ucanr.org/sites/casmartlandscape/, where you are also able to register on-line.

Event Details: California Smart Landscaping Conference
Date: October 21, 2011
Time: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sponsor: Statewide Master Gardener Program
Location: Masonic Family Center 1110 West East Avenue Chico, CA 95926

The University of California’s Statewide Master Gardener Program is excited to host the California Smart Landscaping Conference. Join us and learn how you can make some easy changes to your home landscape to become a smart and sustainable gardener. UC horticulture specialists, master gardeners and local landscape experts will be sharing their knowledge about attracting bees to your garden, water conservation, lawn alternatives, composting and much more! The keynote speaker is Rosalind Creasy, the esteemed author of Edible Landscaping. Rosalind’s presentation will focus on edible plants and maximizing your garden’s potential. The conference is for both gardening enthusiasts and for master gardener volunteers. Therefore, please share the details about the conference to both fellow and non-master gardeners.

Cost is $35 for the public and $25 for UC master gardeners (lunch included).

Register Today! Space is limited and the deadline to register is Friday, September 30, 2011.

The day will kick off with introductory remarks and thoughts on Sustainable and Smart Landscaping Practices by Pam Geisel - a bubbly and energetic speaker if ever there was one - from 8:50 - 9:45.

Attendees will then break-up into smaller groups for four, one-hour long breakout sessions, with lunch being served between the second and third sessions. The four break-out sessions include:

1A. Welcome Bees to your Garden - Shannon Mueller
2A. Irrigation Basics & New Approaches for Water Conservation - Loren Oki
3A. Backyard Vegetable Gardening - Sean Kriletich

1B. Natives Belong in your Garden - Jennifer Jewell
2B. Low Water Lawn Alternatives - Sandy Metzger
3B. Small Space Backyard Orchard - Chuck Ingels

Lunch

1C. Wise Water Use in your Sustainable Landscape and Vegetable Garden - Janet Hartin
2C. Right Plant, Right Place - James Sigala
3C. Composts & Compost Teas – Practical Practices - Kevin Marini

1D. All-Star Plants for Water Conservation - Ellen Zagory
2D. Beneficial Wildlife for your Garden - Scott Oneto
3D. Gardening for Less to the Landfill & Alternative Turf Varieties - Chuck Ingels

For biographies of each speaker and a description of their talk, please go to Speaker and Class details.

International garden writer, photographer, foodie and edible landscape design expert Rosalind Creasy will be the KEYNOTE SPEAKER, wrapping up the day’s offerings from 2:45 to 4:00 pm. Rosalind has a passion for beautiful vegetables and ecologically sensitive gardening. She began her career in horticulture in the 1970s as a landscape designer and restaurant consultant. By 1982 she had published her first book, “The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping,” which won the Garden Writers Association’s Quill and Trowel award, was chosen as a Book of the Month selection, and hailed by The Wall Street Journal as the best garden book of 1982. Considered a classic, it coined the term “Edible Landscaping,” now a part of the American vocabulary.

Rosalind shares her knowledge of gardening and cooking by writing, lecturing nationwide, appearing on television and radio shows, and working as a consultant to restaurants, growers, and seed companies. Rosalind’s recent publications include the ten book Edible Gardening series filled with beautiful photographs and recipes. The series was awarded a Quill and Trowel Award from the Garden Writers in 2001. Her latest book is a complete update of The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, now called Edible Landscaping (2010). Recently, Rosalind was awarded a 2011 American Horticulture Society Book Award for Edible Landscaping. She resides in Northern California.

Rosalind’s Presentation: Edible Landscapes, Maximizing your Garden’s Potential
One of today’s gardening buzzwords is sustainable. You’d be hard put to find a more sustainable landscape style than an organically grown edible garden. Rosalind Creasy, pioneer in the field of edible landscaping, award-winning professional photographer, and author of the Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, will give a mouth-watering slide presentation. Among the topics she will cover are an A to Z of her recommended beautiful edible plants for home gardens, an overview of the wide variety of edible landscapes, as well as the principles of landscape design particular to edibles.

View the conference website for registration, speaker & class details: http://ucanr.org/sites/casmartlandscape/

More of my environmental writing can be found in the Chico News & Review, and Pacific Horticulture. Follow Jewellgarden.com/In a North State Garden on Facebook.

To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events in the North State region? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. It is made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

I have two side by side tomato beds and at this point in the season the enormous leaning, reaching plants are woven together –grown well beyond their tall slender bamboo stakes cut for me by a friend. The plants themselves make passage between the two beds difficult enough, but even if I wanted access to gather the beckoning red, ripe fruit, it’s not the fuzzy aromatic foliage that stops me – it’s the spiders. Photo: Tomato beds and bamboo stakes festooned with orb weaver webs. (more…)

Put the growing needs of melons and the gardening conditions of much of the North State together, and what you get is an uncommonly happy marriage. This week on In a North State Garden (Northstate Public Radio 91.7 fm Chico/88.9 fm Redding at 7:34 am Saturday and 8:34 am Sunday), I talk to Kaye and Roger Diefendorf of Morning Glory Organics about growing melons. Located in Butte Valley near Oroville, Morning Glory Organics grows a selection of specialty and heirloom melons. (more…)

Gardening (and writing) in the heat of mid-August, it is sometimes difficult to pull my view up from the moment in order to plan for the future, but August is a good time to be planning and planting for the winter garden. It’s a good time to have soil prepared and to direct seed beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, lettuce, white onion, white potatoes and turnips. Photo: The summer garden may be like a small jungle and you may be harvesting tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and cucumbers like a mad person - don’t forget to plan and plant ahead for fall and winter crops.

It’s also a good time to be thinking about bulbs. If you are interested in planting more bulbs this fall, now is a good time to place orders from seed and/or bulb sources or growers in your area or at your local farmers market. Ordering now will help to ensure you get the best selections even though you won’t want to plant most bulbs out until October or November. This is true of ornamental bulbs like narcissus and alliums as well as for edible bulbs like GARLIC. (more…)

August - from the latin Augustus is a word variously meaning Magestic, Venerable, inspiring Admiration, and Stately. A name derived from the roman ruler of the same – it seems well-chosen for August the eighth month of our calendar year. A month in the North State garden that is synonymous with plenty, August is perhaps the pinnacle of heat, fragrance and taste in much that our gardens offer to us each summer. From flowers to fruit, to dry heat – we are lucky. Photo: Garden Fresh Flowers from Joan Walters of Forest Ranch. You can find her bouquets at the Chico Saturday Market. Your local farmers market is full of just such abundant beauty this time of year.

The old Forecaster from Anewscafe.com notes that in the last week of July alone, our daylight hours diminish by 11 minutes and while they have been shortening since the summer solstice, it is in August that I really begin to notice. 5:30 am is a softer light by far than July, and my bats don’t tuck themselves in for the day until almost 6 am; dusk is marked by flying squadrons of dragonflies and the vibrations of heat happy insects. For now, the seasonal shift isn’t difficult - the nicest bits of summer are still ours.

Much of this month’s gardening tasks involve simple maintenance and forward planning. Continue to water well those plants that need it, such as annual or seasonal crops in the vegetable garden, but cut back water on those plants whose primary growing season is now past. John Whittlesey owner of Canyon Creek Nursery and Design out of Oroville, notes that “Ornamental plants, lawn, trees, shrubs, perennials (including weeds) have completed much of their seasonal growth by this point in the season. The water they’re taking up now is to sustain the plant not to increase its size. So if you’re watering with an irrigation controller, reduce the run times across the board 10% and continue reducing the run times at least 10 % each month through the fall. Be careful not to overwater drought tolerant plants. Most English lavenders are killed in late summer when watered excessively during a hot spell. And of course, mulching reduces water use considerably.”

Pam Geisel, Statewide Coordinator for the Master Gardener program and who lives and gardens in Hamilton City recommends August as a good time to do quite a lot of pruning in the home orchard. Apricots, cherries and olives should be pruned now while the weather is still very dry to avoid disease problems. August is also a good time to plant or direct seed many of your winter vegetables including: broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, dill, endive, fennel, green onion, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustards, peas, spinach, chard, and turnips. If you wait too long to plant, they will bolt before harvest and you will have wasted your garden space. Protect young seedlings on hot days with a light shade cloth.” I have been working cutting back my spent lavender, sage and rose blooms as well as my bolted greens from the last spring planting and saving seed where I can.

Last year at this same time, Laurel Kessler of Shambani Organics reminded me about the Plant a Row for the Hungry project of Garden Writers Association: www.gardenwriters.org or 877-492-2727. If you have a lot of extra produce coming from your garden just now, consider calling one of the food banks or food providers below to see if they are in need of fresh produce.

Garden Writers Association Plant A Row for the Hungry (http://www.gardenwriters.org/gwa.php?p=index.html)

If you know of a food bank or food provider that might accept excess food for the benefit of our community, let me know and I will get it added: Jennifer@JEwellgarden.com.

Chico
Butte County Gleaners, Inc.

1436 Unit E - Nord Avenue 
Chico CA 95926

Phone: 530-899-3758


Jesus Center
1297 Park Avenue
Chico, CA 95928-6175
(530) 345-2640

Tehama County Gleaners
530-529-2264
20699 Walnut St
Red Bluff, CA 96080

Shasta Trinity Tehama HIV
PO Box 493283, Redding, CA 96049-3283
(530) 223-2118‎

Food Bank 100 Mercy Oaks Dr, Redding - (530) 226-3071

Shasta Senior Nutrition Program
City: Redding
Phone: 530.226.3071
Website: http://www.ssnpweb.org/
Counties served: Shasta

Yuba/Sutter Gleaners Food Bank
City: Yuba City
Phone: 530.673.3834
Counties served: Sutter, Yuba

Name: California Emergency Foodlink
City: Sacramento
Phone: 800.283.9000
Website: http://www.foodlink.org/
Counties served: Sacramento

In the calendar of regional gardening events – we have plenty to enjoy as well. If you are interested in our regional events, be sure to check the On-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events at jewellgarden.com regularly – events are added throughout the month. I do my very best to keep the calendar up to date and accurate, please confirm all events with the event host. If you have an event you would like listed or if you are aware of a mistake on my calendar, please send all pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com! Thanks.

AUGUST

August 1 – Chico: Chico Permaculture Guild General Meeting 7 - 9 pm Quaker Meeting House - 1601 Hemlock Street, Chico. The meeting will start at 7pm and go til we’re tired of it. Our hopes for the meetings are to share ideas and knowledge, plan projects and cultivate community. We would love for you and any friends who would be interested to join us! The Guild meets monthly to schedule member and community events, permaculture training courses as well as collaboration efforts with local groups actively involved in sustainability. We seek to engage people in cultivating a more permanent culture in Chico and the Northern Sacramento Valley. More info: http://grou.ps/chicopermacultureguild

August 3 - 7 – Yuba City: Yuba Sutter Fair this year themed “Dance to the Moosic,” will include all the traditional floriculture and horticulture displays including those by the Sutter-Buttes Garden Club. For more info: http://ysfair.com/

August 4 – Paradise: Saturen Studio Botanical Illustration Classes - Summer Session IV begins 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm every Thursday for 4 weeks, Aug 4 - Aug 25. 10 yrs to Adult. Create scientific illustrations of exotic flowers, leafy foliage, tantalizing fruit, and seeds – even carnivorous species. Draw flora to scale, add texture, shadows, and balance as you transfer visual references to paper. Sharpen your drawing skills and pencils as you learn techniques that create 3-dimensional drawings that appear to pop out of the paper! Terry Ashe Recreation Center in Paradise, California Paradise Recreation and Park District (PRPD) Supplies list available at PRPD office. FEE: $30.00 INSTRUCTOR: Ben Saturen. More info please email: b.saturen@yahoo.com

August 5 - Orland: Friendly Garden Club Regular Monthly Meeting 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM Monthly on the first Friday Carnegie Center, 912 3rd St., Orland CA 95963 more info: please email: FriendlyGardenClub@hushmail.com

August 6 – Fair Oaks: Fair Oaks Horticultural Center/Sacramento Master Gardeners: Harvest Day - Sacramento’s Ultimate Garden Event! 8:30 am - 2 pm. Listen to speakers, watch demonstrations, visit educational booths, tour the gardens, sample fresh tree-fruit, grapes, and vegetables. Visit the plant clinic for advice. For more info go to: http://ucanr.org/sites/sacmg/Fair_Oaks_Horticulture_Center/

August 6 - Chico: Mt Lassen Chapter Cal Native Plant Society - Field Trip: DRAKESBAD TO DEVIL’S KITCHEN LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK 8:30 am; Meet at Chico Park & Ride west parking lot (Hwy CA 99/32) in time to leave by 8:30 am. Call the leader for an alter- nate meeting. Take a lunch, water, sun/wind/insect pro- tection, and money for ridesharing. We will drive Hwy CA 32 to CA 36, 66 miles to the mountain town of Chester in Plumas County. Then travel county roads to the trailhead near the Warner Valley Campground in Lassen Park. The last three miles is on graveled road surface. The 4.2-mile round trip trail to Devil’s Kitchen is gentle and the trail is wide and has a smooth surface. The trail begins near the Drakesbad Guest Ranch at 5,680 ft. and passes thru an area of small warm springs. Half of the distance to Devil’s Kitchen is across flowered meadows, before finally entering a forested setting. Devil’s Kitchen is a thermal area of belching fumaroles, boiling mud pots, steaming rock outcrops in a dazzling array of fiery colors. Being transected by a fast flowing snowmelt stream. It is unique from other thermal areas in the park. Leaders: Gerry Ingco 530-893- 5123, Wes Dempsey 530-342-2293.

August 6 – Redding: Shasta Chapter of California Native Plant Society: Field Trip Panther Springs to South Gate Meadows on Mt. Shasta 9 am Meet at Redding City Hall south parking lot on Parkview Avenue. Hike a moderately difficult 5.2-mile loop trail from Panther Springs to South Gate Meadows on Mt. Shasta at the 7800’ elevation level. The elevation climb is 1000’ and the trail is primitive in places. This walk will feature wildflowers typical of mountain meadows as well as beautiful views of the Sacramento Valley, Castle Crags and surrounding terrain. Bring water, lunch and adequate hiking footwear. No dogs, please. Mt. Shasta area residents should call walk leader David Ledger at 355- 8542 for a local meeting location.

August 6 – Davis: UC Davis Arboretum: Guided Tour: Plants from Down Under for Central Valley Gardens 10 a.m., meet at the east end of the Arboretum at the edge of the parking lot behind Borders California and Western Australia have similar climate and environmental conditions, so many Australian plants are well suited for Central Valley landscapes. Learn about some great garden plants from Down Under during a free guided tour of the UC Davis Arboretum’s Australian Collection on Saturday, August 6 at 10:00 a.m. The tour will meet at the east end of the Arboretum, at the edge of the parking lot behind Borders Books and Music, on D Street in downtown Davis. There is no charge for the tour and free parking is available in the shopping center lot. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

August 6 – Redding: McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens at Turtle Bay: Charlie Rabbit and Friends 11 am. Presented by John & Betty Fitzpatrick. An interactive program in the Children’s Garden (or Greenhouse in rain) for children, their siblings, parents and grandparents. Join Charlie, our adorable jack rabbit puppet, in various gardening activities. Wear your favorite gardening clothes! Free with Park or Garden admission. Meet at West Garden Entrance. Take N. Market Street, turn on Arboretum Drive. Take the right fork. Parking lot and entrance are on the left. More info: 530-242-3178 or www.turtlebay.org/nursery

August 13 – FULL MOON & Perseid meteor shower visible in night sky.

August 13 - Chico: Mt Lassen Chapter Cal Native Plant Society - Field Trip: SQUARE LAKE AND MT. LINN YOLLA BOLLY MIDDLE EEL WILDERNESS MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST 8:30 am; Meet at Chico Park & Ride west parking lot (Hwy CA 99/ 32) in time to leave by 8:30 am. Phone leaders for an alternate meeting place. Wear sturdy shoes. Take a lunch, water, sun/wind/insect protection, and money for ridesharing. We will drive 48 miles to the foothill com- munity of Paskenta and 30 miles on forest roads M2 and M22 to the Ides Cove Trail head (7,000 ft). Last 20 miles is over gravel road. Hike 1 1⁄ 2 miles through Red Fir and White Pine forest along a level trail to tiny Square Lake located in a north-facing glaciated cirque below the sum- mit of Mt Linn (8,092 ft.). Option is a scramble up to the Foxtail Pine forest and Sub-Alpine gardens on Mt Linn. Leaders: John Whittlesey 530-533-2166, Gerry Ingco 530-893-5123.

August 21 - Chico: Mt Lassen Chapter Cal Native Plant Society - Field Trip: LAKE EILER 1000 LAKES WILDERNESS 8:30 am; Meet at Chico Park & Ride west parking lot (Hwy CA 99/32) in time to leave by 8:30 am with lunch, water, hiking gear, sun/insect protection and money for ride sharing. Call leader for alternate meeting. We will travel 115 miles on Hwys CA 89, CA 36 and CA 44 past the north entrance to Lassen National Park to Old Station. Then drive about 8 mi the signed turnoff to the wilderness (33N25); then 5 mi to forest road 33N23 and the short distance to the turnoff to the Tamarack Trailhead. The excellent trail wanders easily through the lodgepole forest for 2 miles to Lake Eiler. On the return we will loop past Barrett Lake and numerous ponds replete with yellow pond lilies. Leaders: Jim Dempsey 530-846-1435, Wes Dempsey 530-342-2293

August 27 – Redding: Shasta Chapter of California Native Plant Society: Plant Weeding Session One- to two-hour work session starting at 9 AM at the Shasta College greenhouses. (Note the earlier time; due to hot summer temperatures!) The greenhouses are located near the back of Shasta College, where the livestock barns are. We will be weeding and getting ready for the Fall Plant Sale, which will be Saturday, September 24, this year. Bring clippers and any other tools you might need. Please call Susan Libonati at 347-4654 for further information.

August 27 – Redding: Shasta Chapter of California Native Plant Society: Field Trip Brokeoff Mountain 8 am Meet at Redding City Hall south parking lot on Parkview Avenue. Brokeoff Mountain hike and plant walk. This is a strenuous 7-mile, 6- to 7-hour hike with a 2700’ elevation climb. This is a more difficult hike than to the top of Mt. Lassen, but if you can do that hike, you can make it up Brokeoff. The trail starts in a riparian, flowering streamside filled with willow and alder, and climbs through red fir and mountain hemlock forests, intermixed with meadows and ponds. The top ridge features whitebark pine and many wind- and desiccation-resistant wildflowers. Bring plenty of water, lunch, suncreen and hat. Meet at 8 AM at the Redding City Hall south parking lot on Parkview Avenue, or at 9:30 AM at the trailhead. Call walk leader David Ledger 355-8542 for more information.

August 27 – Redding: McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens at Turtle Bay: Walk With Lisa Endicott, Horticultural Manager 11 am. Bring your notebooks and camera! We’ll make our way through the Gardens with frequent stops for discussions about (what else?) plants! Free with Park or Garden admission. Meet at West Garden Entrance. Take N. Market Street, turn on Arboretum Drive. Take the right fork. Parking lot and entrance are on the left. More info: 530-242-3178 or www.turtlebay.org/nursery

August 27 – Davis: UC Davis Arboretum: Guided Tour: Native American Contemplative Garden 10 a.m., Buehler Alumni & Visitors Center, Old Davis Road, UC Davis. Native Californians traditionally use plants for food, clothing, building materials, medicine, tools and games. Learn about traditional uses of California native plants during a free public tour of the Native American Contemplative Garden at the UC Davis Arboretum on Saturday, August 27. This garden honors the Patwin people who lived at the Arboretum site and the descendents who keep their traditions. The tour will leave at 10:00 a.m. from the Buehler Alumni & Visitors Center, across from the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts on Old Davis Road on the UC Davis campus. There is no charge for the tour, and free parking is available in Visitor Lot 1 and the parking garage south of the Mondavi Center. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

August 29 - Colusa: Garden Club of Colusa County regular member meeting and program 6:30 pm St. Stephan’s Church 5th and Webster Colusa For more information, email John Vafis: jvafis@citlink.net or Cynthia White: jimncyn66@comcast.net.

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events in the North State region? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. It is made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

The calendar might tell us that June marks the beginning of summer, but for me the seat of summer is truly in July. Dry heat has returned and no matter how busy the calendar tells me I am, time does seem to slow – to protract and stretch out luxuriously. From June to July my garden goes from mid-size to full-sized and feels jungle-like and exotic in places – blooms color every corner, winking at me – brazenly. (more…)

My entire winter and early spring garden has gone to seed. The whole lot: arugula, lamb’s lettuce aka mache, beets, cabbages, bok choy, russian red kale, dinosaur kale, you name it. Well, not the carrots - we ate all of the carrots. How we missed those last two beets, I am not sure. But for the most part, winter and early spring crops have gone to seed and seem to be looking at me a bit disdainfully wondering why I have not yet gotten around to removing them and seeding or planting out my early summer and warm weather crops. “Well?” they are demanding. Photo: Arugula in flower, beginning to set seed. (more…)

A friend recently chided me that the tag-line for my program should perhaps be celebrating the art, craft, science and labor of gardening ….the emphasis of course being on the labor aspect when he said it. There is much happening and much labor to be done in the garden this time of year - excuse the pun(s), but these are after all labors of love and there will be many fruits from our labors throughout the seasons to come. May’s fruits include so many of our wonderful ornamentals coming into their own - roses and clematis perhaps crown the month of May in their profusion. Many good rose events are happening around the region this month from both the Shasta and Butte Rose Societies as well as others (see below). The Butte Rose Society, whose members annual Rose Garden Tour is May 14, reminds us that if you are preparing for a special garden event, you can have your roses looking their best by dead-heading and fertilizing 6 weeks prior to the event.

The edible garden is starting to bring forth warmer weather produce. Watering, deadheading, feeding your soil and weeding are now things to try to stay on top of as best you can, the more consistent you are now with these good habits (which does not mean overwatering or overfeeding) the healthier and more productive your garden will be throughout the rest of the season. (more…)