The Regional Water Authority (RWA) is pleased to announce the River-Friendly Landscaping, Green Gardener Training Program. The Green Gardener Training Program is a 10-week series providing high quality training to professionals on how to “garden green.” Attendees will learn landscape principles that can assist in reducing urban runoff, conserving water, and reducing solid waste, including: Conserving water, protecting the soil and reducing the use of pesticides. Many classes will include both indoor and outdoor hands-on components. Creating a healthier garden for your client and a healthier work environment for yourself and your employees. Offering a list of River-Friendly Landscaping

On Wednesday night around 40 urban agriculture advocates, gardeners and Sacramento residents gathered at the Sacramento chapter of the American Institute of Architects to discuss a subject that has been on many Sacramentans' minds lately. This month's topic for the 4th Wednesday Urban Design Alliance (UDA) Design Dialogue was "Design Challenges in Urban Agriculture." Those who attended were divided into groups for an interactive workshop that involved designing a faux-garden despite a list of challenges given to them. While mulling over the different scenarios and solutions, participants snacked on fresh fruits provided by Soil Born farm, appropriate fare given the night's theme. Bill Ma

Each morning, Amy Parker and her husband Michael Palmer step from their front porch into a sanctuary nestled among flowers and rocks shaded by trees, luring butterflies and bees to stop and pollinate.   The Sacramentans recently transformed the front yard of their 10-year-old home into an inviting rock garden. Before it became a garden, the space was a lawn with fruit trees. Now it is abundant with colorful plants that require short watering sessions throughout the week.   Currently, city code allows Sacramento residents to water their yards three times per week during the summer. The Sacramento City Council passed additional changes to the outdoor water conservation ordinance, which t

This is the second growing season that Sacramento residents have been able to grow vegetables, fruit trees and other food plants in their front yard thanks to a revised city ordinance. After a three-year effort by food activists, the city's Front Yard Ordinance was reworded in 2007 to specifically allow veggie gardens in that soil near the sidewalk. That change has enabled more and more Sacramento homeowners to grow their own food in an edible landscape, mingling [with] or replacing decorative foliage. Blueberries with your zinnias, perhaps, or tomatoes with your chrysanthemums, or lettuce where that brown scrubgrass used to be. The original FYO was written into zoning code in 1941 and ac

The Sacramento Parks and Recreation department has responded to local calls for more community gardens by slating two new sites to be publicly cultivated , bringing the total number of city community gardens to seven. One of the fresh gardening plots is on the downtown grid - E and 8th in Zapata Park - and is planned to be opened to the public by the end of the year. The other is in North Oak Park and will be sprouting next spring. Locally grown produce is a burgeoning attraction for Sacramentans and Community Garden Coordinator Bill Maynard has taken note. "We've seen a dramatic increase in interest recently," he said. "In a 2008 Master Plan Development survey, more than 10 percent of su

Whether you've got drip-irrigated corn in the front yard or just some potted mint on top of the fridge, the Common Table agriculture festival has something for you. Slow Food Sacramento, the local chapter of the worldwide food community Slow Food, is offering city residents the chance to spend this Saturday getting green at their first AgFest workshop series, called the Common Table. Saturday's AgFest is taking place on the Sacramento's first Urban Ag Day. The Sacramento City Council recently adopted a resolution to make July 11 an annual citywide celebration of local gardening. Starting at 8:30 AM, AgFest activities include lectures on how to grow and manage food crops at home, tours o

Artist, Jennifer J. O'Neill-Pickering is speaking the language of flowers at Capitol Public Radio through watercolors. Have you ever wondered what the veiled meaning is that is associated with a specific flower? Then, you might want to go view the twenty-three watercolor paintings by artist, Jennifer J. O'Neill-Pickering, on display at Capital Public Radio through June 26th. Different cultures and different periods of time have assigned various meanings to flowers and some of these are still with us today. During Victorian England, these meanings developed into a language called Floriography. People then selected different flower bouquets to convey various thoughts and feelings to their f

Leaving the house can be somewhat of a chore. Some days it's nice to be secluded in my apartment, reading or watching television. However, once I step foot outside of the apartment, I immediately feel a warm pleasantness come over me. Rick's garden sprawls across the small front yard. The garden is an explosion of all kinds of different plants, colors and textures. With every new day of spring and summer, there is always something new and interesting blooming, making for a pleasant surprise. There are traditional beauties like roses and irises, but also plants to satisfy unusual tastes such as Mullens, which grow over six feet and are covered in pods and look as if they arrived from anoth

The City of Sacramento Department of Neighborhood Services announces: Are you ready to start your garden? Is your yard in need of a make over? Then good news: Neighborhood Services is sponsoring free green gardening classes! They'll take place in April and May and will cover a range of topics, from improving soil to selecting drought-tolerant plants, as well as City landscaping regulations. Call Neighborhood Services at 808-6789 if you have any questions. City of Sacramento, Neighborhood Services Department is proud to present FREE Green Gardening Classes SAVE THE DATES! Saturday, April 18, 2009 9 a.m. - Noon Ethel McLeod Hart Senior Center 915 27th Street Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Please join High Hand Nursery, Horton's Iris Farm and Yarda's Ditch Water Iris Farm Saturday, April 18th 10am-5pm and Sunday, April 19th 10am-4pm for our Loomis Iris Tour. Each venue will be a place to stroll and see exceptional blooming iris's. More importantly, each plant will be for sale during the Iris Tour. For more information please go online to HIGH HAND or call (916) 660-0128.   Michele Parry is an employee of High Hand.

For those of you who don't know who Hinkley is, he is a plant collector, propagator, lecturer and author; in the gardening world, he's the equivalent of a rock star. He seemingly has crossed from the plant world into popular consciousness, including a gush from Martha Stewart. "He is strong, he is fun to be with -- yes -- I love him" (he writes for her magazine and appears on her television show). His garden is discussed in House and Garden, and he was profiled in The New York Times magazine a couple years ago. Though hobnobbing with celebrities and hiking in the hills of Nepal may sound glamorous, Hinkley finds his deepest satisfaction in being the first to recognize and retrieve a previ

Bill Maynard’s blue eyes sparkle with enthusiasm when he’s asked anything about gardening. It’s not surprising considering that he’s devoted his life to helping other gardeners get the most benefit and enjoyment out of their gardens.   This month, he is presenting a workshop to teach local gardeners how to set up, and reap the bounty from, a “Crop Swap” with their neighbors. The Crop Swap idea is a simple one—get together with a group of neighbors once a week to trade produce from your backyard gardens. In the process, you’ll get to know your neighbors, enjoy a variety of freshly grown foods and have a chance to swap information, recipes and gardening know-how.   The Crop Swap workshop w