UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County

08/31/2026

ICYMI Flora Friday!
Blue Grama Grass - Bouteloua gracilis

08/31/2026

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!
2026 Children's Jamboree & Marketplace

This fun, free event for children and adults at Nokhnoma Teaching and Demonstration Garden* in Santa Rosa will include:

🍁Youth Activities
Children will be able to make and take home these items and more:
- Corn husk dolls
- Garden art rocks
- Gratitude banners
- Seed pots
- Sun catchers

🍁Marketplace
Shop an assortment of succulents, succulent-topped pumpkins, gardening books, and handcrafted items that will include wreaths, ornaments, beaded light catchers, and more. Cash, checks and credit cards accepted.

🍁Information Tables
Sonoma County Master Gardeners will share home gardening information, answer your home gardening-related questions and provide details about our programs and projects.

🍁Partner Organizations
Sonoma County 4-H, Sonoma County Bee Association, Children's Museum of Sonoma County, Master Food Preservers, Zero Waste, and others will be at the Jamboree!

How to Register
Scan the QR code in the graphic or go to https://zurl.co/VE4uj

General Information
* ADA-compliant porta potty will be on site.
* ADA parking will be available.
* Water will be available for filling water bottles.
* Wear comfortable, closed-toe shoes suitable for walking on unpaved, uneven paths.
* Bring a hat if desired.
* No animals allowed, except trained service dogs.
* Food and beverages won't be provided, so bring your own snacks or picnic lunch.

*Formerly Los Guilicos Demonstration and Teaching Garden

08/30/2026

SUNDAYS WITH SUE: There’s nothing like the sweet sound of chitty chatty clucking chickens when working in the garden. As I busily remove finished vegetable plants, harvest from others that keep producing, try to psychoanalyze tomatoes that refuse to ripen, and plant seeds for the Fall, our three young New Hampshire Reds follow me along the other side of the fence.

I marvel at how distinctive and particular the chatter is to each individual chicken, and am totally entertained by the personalities they display. If this sounds like a lot of preoccupation with these little head-bobbing creatures, I would say the distraction makes pulling out prickly cucumber plants a bunch more pleasant!

The chickens are wild about greens as they will devour bean, chard, kale, and parsley leaves as I pull them out of the garden. If the chard has a few leaf miners or black beetles that’s icing on the proverbial cake! Sometimes I have to remind myself that essential proteins and calcium necessary for egg laying need to come from a formulated laying mix, with greens being their treats, according to experts at UC Davis.

At first, the girls were confused about where egg-laying should happen, while we were confused as to why they were not laying yet. A search yielded an unreachable pile of ten eggs way under the structure of the roost! Thankfully, they have since discovered the roosting box to lay their eggs!

If we were not able to distinguish between the appearances of the three red chickens, their individual personalities would aid in that endeavor. Always greeting me at the gate and following me around is Curry Oakleaf (because of the popular responses from family members, each chicken has a couple of names), the most sociable and needy chicken of the bunch. Curry, who has the darkest red color, was the first to submit to being petted and seems to like being carried around. Her “voice” is a little chirp, chirp, barely heard sing songy chatter.

Betty Merriweather has many blond feathers intermixed with red, and walks around like a prim and proper matron way beyond her years. She will grant a petting but then ruffles her feathers afterwards to make sure all are back in place. Her clucking is the stereotypical, perfectly delivered, three clucks with the third being a higher pitch. My beloved grandmother was named Betty and she never went anywhere without her appearance being up to par. Maybe Betty, the chicken, tries to remind me that my garden clothes are way below what might be considered “par”!!

Then there’s Pumpkin Spice, who is often not interested in being sociable. In fact, she can be described as indifferent, grouchy, and inhospitable to those humans she does not know. Early on in age, Pumpkin threw herself against the side of the coop where I was sweeping, and pecked the shoes of a grandchild she had not met! Clearly, Pumpkin, who has a black ring of feathers around her neck, is the self-appointed protector of the tribe. She does not bother with any signature vocalization (is that a grumble, I hear??). Only recently, has she submitted to my pets.

I’m waiting for cooler weather in the high seventies to germinate lettuce, chard, pea, and kale seeds I planted in a trough. The scalloped squash plant seems in no hurry to stop, easing its way along paths. I do wonder if some tomatoes are just going to stay green. Meanwhile, my nosy, constant companions will continue to entertain me with their sweet, funny, little quirks and sounds - surely another one of our garden’s blessings. Please feel free to share your chicken stories. Have a great week!

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” Dolly Parton 1946-2026

08/29/2026

🌞🌻Have you ever noticed the sunflowers in your gardens turning their heads, following the sun throughout the day?🌻🌞
Young sunflowers have been observed to tilt their heads from the east to the west throughout the day, following the sun, then resetting back to the east at night. When plants follow the sun throughout the day it is a quality known as heliotropism.
The reason behind the sunflowers turning their heads is quite interesting - it not only has to do with their growth patterns and internal circadian rhythms but it also benefits their relationship with pollinators.
So what about those growth patterns? Sunflower cell development is not equal on all sides throughout the day, and this is what causes the heads to turn, “following the sun”. During the day cell elongation and development happens on the eastern side of the stem, forcing the heads to tilt west during the day, and at night the west side of the stem develops, pushing the heads back east by dawn.
Once the flowers have matured and growth has slowed, the heads often face east absorbing early morning light - which in turn helps pollinators, as the heads facing east warm faster, providing ideal temperatures for pollinators like bees, who prefer warmer flower heads. In studies, sunflower heads facing east in the morning were shown to be visited by pollinators five times more than sunflower heads facing west.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, please see the first comments below where a video is provided that helps illustrate this phenomenon. Three other resources are also linked that helped provide information for this post.

🌻 About this post: The video provided shows pictures and videos of sunflowers in different settings. Captions follow along to recorded audio that teaches us why sunflower heads move throughout the day.

08/27/2026

Island Snapdragon is endemic to the Channel Islands (and Guadalupe Island, Mexico), where it scrambles over rocky slopes as a vine-like evergreen perennial.

Its tubular red flowers are a hummingbird magnet and can bloom nearly year-round in the right spot. It thrives in sun to part shade, tolerates a wide range of soils, and needs very little water once established — a great pick for a low-water, wildlife-friendly garden bed.

08/26/2026

Found a must-have California native plant? Scoop it up now! Supplies of California Native plants can be limited, and when you find "the one," you don't want to let it slip through your fingers. But remember, patience is key when planting.

Why wait? Fall is the golden season for planting natives. Cooler temperatures and the promise of rain give these plants the gentle nudge they need to establish deep, sturdy roots. This sets them up for success, ensuring they thrive and flourish in your garden for seasons to come.

Fall planting has ecological benefits and its practical for gardeners. This approach is in harmony with our natural cycles, supporting the health and biodiversity of our cherished local ecosystems.

So, while your green thumb might be itching to get planting, give your California natives a head start by waiting until fall. Your patience will be rewarded with a resilient, vibrant garden that supports our environment.

Create a "Native Plant Corral", choose an area that is shady near a water hose so you can water them daily till you plant.

08/23/2026

SUNDAYS WITH SUE. It’s veggie sauce time, which, for us, is the epitome of growing a summer garden! Designing and planting a vegetable garden around what goes together to make a wonderful sauce may seem odd, but it’s what we do. Two batches so far this week consisting of tomatoes, squash, peppers, eggplants, onions, and garlic has been harvested, combined together, and roasted in several pans.

Once roasted and consolidated in one pan, a whole bunch of basil is added to simmer a few minutes and voila - a sauce, different each time - is ready to mash, blend, send through a food mill, or leave as is, to eat voraciously or freeze for upcoming months. Spaghetti squash is ready at this time and can be the perfect vessel for this sauce as can pasta and polenta. Blending the mixture into a soup works too.

As you may already know, a diversity of colors, varieties, and sizes is good for all gardens, but reigns supreme when it comes to growing food for a sauce. Accompaniments to the sauce like beans, cucumbers, greens, potatoes, and multiple kinds of fruit and berries can add up to a Foodie’s paradise! Flowers, pumpkins and other winter squash, gourds, and later producing fruit contribute to a mindset that looks forward to each of the seasons and the all important ecosystems that surround, support, and connect them.

If this gives you a yearning for creating a sauce with sustainably grown fresh food (even if you do or do not have a garden), plus all of the accompanying vegetables, herbs, and fruit, the opportunities are endless. Consider local public farms, gardens, farmer’s markets, private farm stands, CSAs, and even a grocery store with a well supplied and tended organic section.

On Thursday afternoon, I visited Petaluma Bounty Farm and its weekly farm-stand which is Open Thursdays from 3 to 6pm. The farm-stand reflects an abundantly diverse supply of organic produce grown in fewer fields with less people (Suzi Grady, Masako Watanabe, and a small staff of dedicated volunteers) but a huge amount of Heart.

Heirloom tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons (Crane melon is one), onions, apples, pears, kale, potatoes, and cucumbers overflowed boxes at the farm stand, along with lettuces, leeks, collards, broccolini and beets! Different types and varieties from what we grow were irresistible- premier produce right out of the field at good prices (I had to have those purple potatoes!!) - a no-brainer!

Whether you grow yourself, visit a local farm, garden, market, or stand (or do both), I hope you eat well and have a good week!

“When you have the best and tastiest ingredients, you can cook very simply and the food will be extraordinary because it tastes like what it is.” Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food

08/22/2026

While they may not be flashy, these year-round residents are full of personality.

Their signature “scratch-hop” foraging style keeps leaf litter moving, helping control insects and cleaning up fallen seeds.
Towhees are ground-feeding birds that thrive in native gardens with dense shrubs for shelter. If you plant buckwheats, sages, or manzanitas, you’ll give them both food and cover. They play an extraordinary role in maintaining a healthy, balanced garden.

Next time you see a California Towhee, take a moment to appreciate this loyal neighbor—they’ll likely be hopping alongside you for years to come! They are comforting to hear while gardening.

08/22/2026