Native Plant Tour
One of the many special things about native plants in the garden is that they give you that sense of place. Strolling through this year’s tour locations feels like California. The gardens are unique and beautiful examples of how to create your own natural connection to the land we live on. April 27 from 9:30 to 4pm is your chance to check out the free Gardens Gone Native Tour comprised of 25+ regional home gardens and experience it yourself!
Cultivating a sense of place is not a new gardening concept but California does it well. You know you are living in California when the smells, sounds, sights, touch, and taste activate your senses. Wafts of hummingbird sage, Salvia spathacea, and coyote mint, Monardella villosa, are strong this time of year.
Photo: California Native Plant Society.
Annual Wildflowers
Splashes of color are everywhere with annual wildflowers like blazing orange poppies, Eschscholzia californica, and hot pink elegant clarkia, Clarkia unguiculata. Emerging bumblebees can be heard greedily collecting pollen and nectar from those first blooms.
Many delicious salads of the spring ephemeral rooreh, Claytonia perfoliate, have already been eaten. Native plants in our home garden reflect California’s unique natural landscapes right back into our urban life.
Photo: California Native Plant Society.
Local Plants
When you choose to use local plants, you are choosing to nurture an aesthetic that you can’t buy from a big box store. Gardening has become so homogenous around the country because everyone is planting the top ten favorite plants from around the world in every yard.
We are losing the character that defines our sense of place in Sacramento. We are also losing our natural biodiversity that has co-evolved here.
Celebrating and utilizing native plants brings a noticeable increase of animals and insects. Restoring an ecological balance is very exciting to watch. It’s thrilling to see all the wildlife enjoying a native garden.
The native plant garden tour this year is just around the corner. Enjoy some spring gardening fever wandering through some of the best examples in our region. All of the garden hosts will be available to share their success and challenges. It’s your chance to peak into people’s backyards and poke around some bushes!
Folsom Garden
Photo: California Native Plant Society.
Event: 11th Annual Gardens Gone Native Plant Tour, presented by SacValley CNPS
Date: April 27, 2024
Time: 9:30 – 4 PM
The Gardens Gone Native tour is a free garden tour featuring thirty plus California native plant home and school gardens in the Sacramento region. Gardens are comprised predominantly of California native plants in the urban landscape.
These gardens feature a variety of ways in which native plants can flourish in the home garden. Some are professionally designed while others are more functional and are a mix use of natives, food production, and living spaces.
You will find delightful and sustainable gardens that harness water, create habitats, and add a sense of place.
Attendees will have the opportunity to ask garden hosts about their choices and challenges. After registration you will receive the map and tour brochure information the week before the tour begins.
Registration: https://www.sacvalleycnps.org/gardens-gone-native-tour/
Video: 2023 tour https://www.cbsnews.com/gooddaysacramento/video/gardens-gone-native-plant-tour/#x
See also the story: Water Conservation Demonstration Garden Needs Volunteers
And also: ‘Sunday in The Gardens’, Folsom Garden Club, Spring Garden
