Updated June 2026!
We are a group of gardeners and plant lovers who meet monthly to talk about gardening. We also share plants, seeds and cuttings, and learn from horticultural guest presenters. Most of our meetings are free and open to the public--please join us!
The two members-only meetings are our Installation of club Officers in June, and our Holiday Potluck in December, plus any road trips. Otherwise, the public is very welcome to attend!
Our next meeting will be the installation of our newly-elected club Officers for the '26-'27 club year.
We will meet at the historic Patrick Ranch Museum in Durham (10381 Midway Rd., Durham, CA 95938). The meeting will start at 11:00 a.m. sharp. Bring your own lunch or snacks and beverages. This meeting is a great way to have some extended social time for members, and to welcome and THANK our Officers for volunteering to help our club by filling these important roles.
From a member's garden: a "peanut cactus" in bloom. Known botanically as Echinopsis chamaecereus (formerly Chamaecereus silvestrii and Lobelia silvestrii). These fun, small-growing cacti do extremely well in Chico if given sun with afternoon shade and protection from winter rains and hard freezes. Water them every two weeks spring through early autumn.
PHOTO OF THE MONTH:
June gardening activities
Raise your mower height to cut your lawn. The taller grass shades the grass and helps it save water/deal with heat better
Trim off the dead foliage from spring bulbs. Make sure it is brown, otherwise the bulbs are making food from sunlight for next year's flowers
Speaking of bulbs, now is a fine time to divide crowded spring bulbs now that they are dormant (tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, Spanish bluebells etc)
Fertilize summer annuals and vegetables
Once you've harvested the berries, cut back the canes that bore fruit on your berry plants. They're done bearing and its good to make room for this year's growth which will flower/fruit next year
Cut back chrysanthemums by an inch or three once a month until the 4th of July. This makes them bushy and delays flowering until autumn when we need them most
Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins, basil and annual flowers (marigolds, cosmos, sunflowers, zinnias, etc)
Purchase and plant all of the above as transplants if desired, plus impatiens and wax begonia plants
Tie up vines and stake tall plants like gladiolus etc.
Trim off faded rose flowers by cutting down to a five-leaflet leaf that points outside away from the center of the plant at the height you'd like new flowers to emerge
Weed, weed, weed!
Beautiful downtown Chico, California
Fresh tomatoes from a member's garden.
Butterfly bushes (Buddleia sp.), Rudbeckia, canna lilies and zinnias in a member's summer garden.
Club members at one of several "potting parties" to prepare plants for our fund-raising spring Plant Sale
