Sunday, October 4, 2009

Fall Part 1: Masks

Fall is Here!


The Autumn equinox came and went (september 22nd this year) and still Sacramento continued to bake at around 100° temperatures. Then suddenly we had a blissful 70° day and the hint of a breeze - fall is around the corner! While digging through my old files I came across an article from Martha Stewart’s Living magazine that I tore out back in 1997:




The article was on Halloween and gave a quick how-to on creating masks using leaves and petals. My daughter and I were completely smitten with the project - we thought, what a great way to display the fall colors! My daughter and her friend made the masks for Halloween and they came out beautiful. We purchased one of those half-face, unadorned masks as a template and then glued the leaves right on. Honestly, when they were finished they were art pieces. We sprayed them with a clear varnish (get this at a craft store) to protect them and after they had served their purpose as costume pieces we put them in a keep-sake frame. My daughter still has hers, it has held up amazingly well over the past twelve years.



Fall Part 2: Butterflies!


On another rather surprising autumn note, in late September my Passion Vine was the birth place of over 100 vibrant butterflies. I was concerned to see so many of them so I went online to see if there was someone who could tell me more about them. I found a website that identifies butterflies so I emailed a picture of my butterfly colony and the caterpillar. That same day a man named Ken Davenport responded telling me that my butterflies were called Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae). He said that they are from the tropical family and they generally live in Southern California. He also mentioned that they migrate from “permanent populations in the San Joaquin Valley and Bay Area [to Sacramento]” and that are sometimes brought into the area via imported nursery stock. When Ken lived here in Sacramento years ago he never saw a Gulf Fritillary himself. They can be pests to some gardeners, but mainly they are a delight to butterfly enthusiasts. Aside from chewing off every leaf on my passion vine (which doesn’t worry me a bit because it will come back), they haven’t touched anything else so I fit into the delighted category and am feeling fortunate to play host to the butterflies. Watching them is like seeing little fairies dressed up in bright orange dresses flitting around the garden!

Fall, part 3: Speaking Events and pruning

I have also begun to think about the season’s growth in the garden and what will need pruning. It is still early to cut back the ornamental grasses, not until they go dormant or straw-colored will they need a clipping. Fall is the time to plant bulbs so I will have to make some decisions on what I want to see come spring. My tomatoes are still producing fruit as are my eggplants and salad greens. By the way, don’t forget to plant more salad greens for the fall and winter. I found six-packs at Emigh Hardware.


Speaking of Emigh Hardware, I will be giving two presentations there on October 17th at 10:00 a.m. and another at 12:00 noon . This time we will be indoors in their Casual Living building, so there will be plenty of room and a large screen to view the presentation. Along with me will be a representative from Rainbird, bringing drip irrigation components. He will explain how and what to use for a drip system as well as have a table for hands-on working. Emigh prefers to have people RSVP so that they can accommodate for everyone, so if you’re planning on coming, give them a call: (916) 482-1900


On that same day that I will be speaking at Emigh is the UCDavis Arboetum’s plant sale: Saturday, October 17th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity to buy plants that you may not have seen before. They have a lot of natives and drought tolerant species - it’s worth checking out... I’d love to, but I’ll be presenting! On the website you will find a list of what plants will be sold, directions and a map.


Finally a quick note on the bulbs you will start seeing in nurseries about now: Daffodils, Tulips, Narcissus, Crocus and more. Interesting fact:

The Crocus - the Crocus Sativa, are the flowers that produce the tiny yellow/orange stigmas - not the stamen - that are hand-picked and dried to make Saffron. An estimated 75,000 blossoms are needed (225,000 stigmas) to produce one pound of saffron! Saffron has been used by many ancient cultures including the Sumerians, Phoenicians, Minoans, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Persians. The saffron powder is used in medicines, perfumes, flavoring and as a dye.http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph3.htm#saffron



Enjoy the cooler weather and changing colors of October!