There's a lot to celebrate in April, especially baseball, the Masters Golf Tournament, the native redbuds that line the roadsides, and colorful flowers blooming throughout our beautiful county. April is also National Garden Month. While master gardeners consider almost every month a special garden month, April heralds the arrival of our spring activities.
One of the fun upcoming events is the Union Home, Garden and Lifestyle Show on Saturday and Sunday at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. April 19th and 20th. Master gardeners will be there to answer your home gardening questions, offer advice on gardening in the Sierra foothills, and provide activities for children. Look for our colorful booth at the show, which runs from 10am to 4pm (check our home and garden guide for exact locations).
April is also the time when all kinds of species breed and increase in number. It's garden planning time, and propagation is an important part of that planning. Simply put, reproduction in the plant world refers to the process of producing new plants by sexual or asexual means. Sexual reproduction occurs when the genetic material from the seeds of her two pollinated flowers produces new individual plants. Asexual reproduction, or vegetative propagation means, occurs by producing new plants from stem, leaf, or root cuttings of the parent plant. Stratification, division, and grafting are also methods of vegetative or asexual propagation.
Propagating plants at home has its advantages. One of his goals is to expand the garden's horizons and increase the variety of things in it, and the other is to save money. Home propagation allows gardeners to grow local varieties that are difficult to find in nurseries. And it's fun!
A common propagation method is seed starting, which results in more plants with high genetic diversity. Annual wildflowers are best grown from seed. The easiest method of seed propagation is to sow seeds directly after the soil has warmed. Starting seeds indoors is a way for gardeners to start plants earlier and allow new seedlings to be transplanted into soil later in spring.
To propagate a plant by cuttings, take a portion of the plant or stem and introduce it into a growing medium. Coniferous cuttings are taken in early spring from perennials, deciduous shrubs, and some trees. With this method, cut 2 to 6 inches of stem from a young flexible shoot that includes the tip or apical bud. Cuts should be made below the nodes or in small places on the stem where leaves will form. Remove flowers and flower buds to direct all of the plant's energy to root formation. Then remove any lower leaves that could touch the rooting medium.
Rooting hormones encourage root formation, so dip the cut end of the cutting in rooting hormone and place it in a rooting medium such as sand, vermiculite, an earth and water mixture, or a peat mixture. , vermiculite, perlite. Do not let cuttings dry out. However, if you keep the cuttings moist, roots should appear within 2-5 weeks. Once roots have appeared, either transplant it into a pot filled with potting soil or plant it in the ground. Some plants, such as succulents, rex begonias, and African violets, can be propagated from leaf cuttings. Plants are essentially cloned by rooting cuttings in a growing medium.
Examples of softwood cuttings include perennials such as penstemon, pelargonium, and verbena. Flowering deciduous shrubs suitable for conifer cuttings include fuchsias, hydrangeas, and forsythia. Propagation of broad-leaved plants with deciduous plants is carried out during the dormant period and is best done in autumn (after the plants have lost their leaves).
If you would like to learn more about conifer propagation, please join Master Gardeners. Coniferous breeding The workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 27, in the Demonstration Garden on the NID business property, 1036 W. Main Street in Grass Valley. Workshop will be held on May 4th gopher and mole. This workshop will also take place in the Demonstration Garden from 10 a.m. to noon.
Mark popular events on your calendar spring plant sale It will be held in the Demonstration Garden on Saturday, May 11th from 9am to noon! Bring your trolleys, boxes and bins – shop early for the best selection! Plant list will be posted on our website soon. For more information about all of MGNC's activities, or to donate to our cause, please visit our site at https://ncmg.ucanr.edu/. Enjoy observing and celebrating April.
