Plant Care

Whip graft tied with string. Photo: Piqsels Grafting involves joining two genetically distinct plants to unite and continue growth as a single, compound plant.

Chinese pistache, Wikimedia Commons Leaves are so ubiquitous that it's easy to overlook all the benefits they provide and the transition many experience. There's science behind a crimson burning bush (Euonymus), brilliant golden Ginkgo, or neon-orange Japanese maple (Acer palmatum).

Visit Falkirk Demonstration Garden in San Rafael to see a wonderful display of succulents that thrive in Marin. Succulents, those gorgeous plants with thick, fleshy stems and leaves that collect and store water, can be grown in the ground or in containers.

Pittosporum tobira, mock orange. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Shrubs are extremely versatile and hard-working, often forming the framework of a landscape. Some are low-growing and others are as tall and large as trees. They make excellent privacy hedges, foundations, and evergreen backdrops.

Look for our friendly UC Master Gardeners of Merced County and their info booth at the Merced Farmers' Market on the first and third Saturdays of each month. Info booth located at the 16th Street parking lot between M & K Streets Please stop by with your questions, Take home a vegetable seedling and garden…

Collards are a cool season vegetable grown for their leaves. They do not form a head like cabbage. Direct seed or transplant February–April (maybe May) or September-October (maybe August). If growing from seed for transplanting, expect six weeks for the plants to be ready.

Direct seed May–June (possibly April and July). Plant every 2–3 weeks for successive harvest (or when the most recent seedlings have 3–4 leaves). Sweet corn is ready for harvest about 17 to 24 days after the first silk strands appear, more quickly in hot weather, more slowly in cool weather.

Information on Gardens and Landscaping, Plants and Seeds, Orchards and Trees and Research; plus planting guides for the north valley and foothills.

There are many online and print resources for pruning - however most of these don't address times to prune or methods of pruning for Marin's Mediterranean climate, nor focus on plants that Marin gardeners typically grow.

Planting in containers opens up a whole new range of possibilities whether growing plants indoors or out, ornamental, or edible, from tiny succulents or large shrubs.