The Real Dirt

Gardening becomes increasingly difficult as we age, yet the garden beckons as strongly as ever, notes Butte County Master Gardener Kay Perkins.

No doubt you have seen many species of oaks living in wild areas of Northern California. But native oaks can also be attractive and beneficial additions to the home landscape. There are fifteen species of oaks native to California.

There is a bit of ancient Rome and a taste of old Egypt at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at the Patrick Ranch. Butte County MGs are practicing espaliering, the early horticultural art of training and pruning a tree or shrub to grow flat against a support.

If you've been wanting to grow your own blueberries, fall is a good time to plant a blueberry bush (or two, or three) in our climate.

Butte County has a Mediterranean climate where drought conditions occur naturally from May to October. A wide variety of succulent plants have become popular across the country in recent years, and our local gardeners are no exception.