Life and death, side by side in an endless cycle. This juxtaposition was evident at Sunday’s tour of the Historic City Cemetery where native plants live and thrive amid decaying tombstones of the long dead. In the first “Blooms among the Tombs” walk, landscape architect and gardener Cassandra Nguyen Musto led visitors through the California Native Plant Society demonstration garden. Her talk highlighted the society’s restoration work bringing native plants and beauty to graveyard plots. Not only was it a story of bringing new plant life to the cemetery, but it was also the story of the birth-death-rebirth cycle of the cemetery itself. The original city cemetery was located at Alhambra B

  The Ultimate Crash: features Bushnell Gardens Nursery & Bushnell Landscape Creations along with talented Yard Crasher hosts, Ahmed Hassan, Josh Temple and Matt Muenster.  Watch as Bushnell Gardens Nursery and Bushnell Landscape Creations orchestrate the transformation of a neglected local Sacramento  yard into a relaxing Sierra mountain retreat. We've seen sneek peeks and it's definitely categorized as a 'don't miss' program.  Premiering Saturday, July 2 on HGTV at 10:30 pm PST and Sunday, July 3 at 5:00 p.m. PST. For more information go to: Bushnell Gardens Nursery Disclosure: Dave Bushnell is the owner of Bushnell Gardens

There's a lot more green on a tree than just its leaves! At this month's 4WDD ISA-Certified Arborist Scott Gregory will talk about assessing the economic and environmental benefits of the urban forest. In April, Scott successfully defended his master's thesis, "Quantifying Street Tree Function and Distribution: Analysis of Environmental Services, Population Characteristics, and Sidewalk Uplift in the City of Chico, California". His thesis entailed inventory of 34,950 street trees, stumps, and available planting sites within the City of Chico and subsequent data analysis to quantify environmental services provided by the City's street trees. By identifying public and private trees in adva

How can we design ‘greener’ landscapes in Sacramento?  With the growing focus on water conservation, responsible use of resources, and the impacts of the built environment on human health and well-being, the conversation about what makes a site design ‘green’ is being elevated to a higher level. From pre-design and planning through construction and operations, a new rating system, dubbed ‘SITES’, has been developed which sets the bar for what we can do to design more sustainable places.  Developed to be incorporated into future versions of the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, SITES is currently in its pilot project phase.  Please join us on Wed

For the 37th year, homeowners in the “Fabulous Forties” neighborhood in East Sacramento have opened their homes for the Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour. The annual event, which benefits the Sacred Heart Parish School, is a singular opportunity for the public to tour some of the most gorgeous homes in the city and view the efforts of a small army of professional decorators, florists, artists, and garden designers.  Each home has a principal designer who brings together a holiday masterpiece incorporating the history and architectural features of the property and the individual style and taste of the homeowners.  Said Margo Reid Brown, whose lovely home was opened for the tour: “This is such

Do you have a beautiful water-efficient garden? If so, the City of Sacramento, the Regional Water Authority (RWA) and its partner agencies are looking for you! The Regional Water Authority (RWA), City of Sacramento Department of Utilities and other local water providers invite Sacramento-area residents to show off their “Blue Thumb” by staring in its new television and radio advertising campaign promoting water efficiency. “We’ve all heard of ‘Green Thumb,’ which is often used to describe someone who has a natural skill for gardening,” said RWA Water Efficiency Program Manager Linda Higgins. “Our campaign will showcase people who have a ‘Blue Thumb’—a talent for creating a beautiful wat