Gardener Notice
Saturday, July 16, 2022
7:00 a.m. - Workday
8:00 a. m. - Council Meeting
All gardeners are invited and welcome to attend the meeting.
Saturday, July 16, 2022
7:00 a.m. - Workday
8:00 a. m. - Council Meeting
All gardeners are invited and welcome to attend the meeting.
NEWS for YOU
Our Gardener, Anne Duffy provided us some timely and fortuitous information about the milkweed varieties in our local growing zone.
There has been recent discussion regarding the milkweed that we have at the garden and the benefits of the plant for the propagation of the Monarch Butterfly. Thank you Anne!
Here is Anne's message:
Hello, all!
Just wanted to give a little update on our quest for native milkweed to replace the tropical in our garden. A few days ago, I saw that the County of Ventura was going to be having a narrowleaf milkweed giveaway on Friday July 8 in Santa Paula and then the following Friday in Camarillo. I made plans to set that day aside to go to get some free plants for our garden, but when I looked up the group hosting with the County (Santa Monica Mountains Fund), I saw that they were having a milkweed/monarch lecture and another plant giveaway down in Malibu at The Gillette Ranch, so I attended that yesterday.
It was very informative, full of information about what the monarchs are doing and what they recommend as far as tropical and native milkweeds. They are recommending that you keep tropical milkweed in your garden for a year while trying to establish a native milkweed population. Cut it down around Thanksgiving if your native milkweed plants are well established and then by spring remove the tropical milkweed plants, provided you have a healthy supply of native milkweed.
They also recommended planting pollinator plants, which we are already doing. For early flowers, they recommend Ribes (currants/gooseberries) and yarrow. For late summer and early fall plants, they recommend goldenrod, and coyote bush (there are male and female plants). Also, lantana (not native, but the butterflies love it), sunflowers, and sages.
Anyway, I was able to come away with 10 plants! They only recommend planting the variety I had already picked up from Green Thumb and Theodore Payne, which is narrowleaf milkweed. The other 2 native milkweed for our area are swamp and showy, but they said they are more challenging to grow so they only use the narrowleaf for giveaways since it truly seems to grow like a weed.
Kam's narrowleaf milkweed plants that he planted on the north side of the garden last year are actually doing really well and some are blooming or getting ready to. They are all flagged so hopefully people will know to take care with those plants. The other milkweed plants that I bought or got donated were planted in the Children's Garden, along the fence up front between the apple tree and roses, I put three in the back by compost and then I gave several to Suzanne. They are really easy to grow from seed, so I'm trying to grow some at home too and hopefully we may have some more to put in the ground and get a healthy population established!
If anyone wants to go to Santa Paula this Friday or Camarillo next Friday, let me know and I will forward the info! I can do SP but not Camarillo.
Thanks,
Anne
There has been recent discussion regarding the milkweed that we have at the garden and the benefits of the plant for the propagation of the Monarch Butterfly. Thank you Anne!
Here is Anne's message:
Hello, all!
Just wanted to give a little update on our quest for native milkweed to replace the tropical in our garden. A few days ago, I saw that the County of Ventura was going to be having a narrowleaf milkweed giveaway on Friday July 8 in Santa Paula and then the following Friday in Camarillo. I made plans to set that day aside to go to get some free plants for our garden, but when I looked up the group hosting with the County (Santa Monica Mountains Fund), I saw that they were having a milkweed/monarch lecture and another plant giveaway down in Malibu at The Gillette Ranch, so I attended that yesterday.
It was very informative, full of information about what the monarchs are doing and what they recommend as far as tropical and native milkweeds. They are recommending that you keep tropical milkweed in your garden for a year while trying to establish a native milkweed population. Cut it down around Thanksgiving if your native milkweed plants are well established and then by spring remove the tropical milkweed plants, provided you have a healthy supply of native milkweed.
They also recommended planting pollinator plants, which we are already doing. For early flowers, they recommend Ribes (currants/gooseberries) and yarrow. For late summer and early fall plants, they recommend goldenrod, and coyote bush (there are male and female plants). Also, lantana (not native, but the butterflies love it), sunflowers, and sages.
Anyway, I was able to come away with 10 plants! They only recommend planting the variety I had already picked up from Green Thumb and Theodore Payne, which is narrowleaf milkweed. The other 2 native milkweed for our area are swamp and showy, but they said they are more challenging to grow so they only use the narrowleaf for giveaways since it truly seems to grow like a weed.
Kam's narrowleaf milkweed plants that he planted on the north side of the garden last year are actually doing really well and some are blooming or getting ready to. They are all flagged so hopefully people will know to take care with those plants. The other milkweed plants that I bought or got donated were planted in the Children's Garden, along the fence up front between the apple tree and roses, I put three in the back by compost and then I gave several to Suzanne. They are really easy to grow from seed, so I'm trying to grow some at home too and hopefully we may have some more to put in the ground and get a healthy population established!
If anyone wants to go to Santa Paula this Friday or Camarillo next Friday, let me know and I will forward the info! I can do SP but not Camarillo.
Thanks,
Anne
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Our gardeners lovingly work to maintain their garden plots and grow a variety of herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables. Working with the soil and growing crops offers a sense of peace and calm and instills a feeling of community .
Our gardeners lovingly work to maintain their garden plots and grow a variety of herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables. Working with the soil and growing crops offers a sense of peace and calm and instills a feeling of community .
The Community Gardens of Santa Clarita is a non-profit organization. Our mission is to create a community facility where individuals can come together to promote the benefits of locally grown, organic food that is environmentally friendly, sustainable, and cost effective and which delivers economic, health and educational benefits to a wide array of valley residents.
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