Fall Sales Are in Time for Planting
Here’s a healthy new trend: plant sales held in the fall, which is the best time for planting most anything in Southern California, especially when we get a lot of rain in winter, predicted for this El Nin~o year.
Just a few years ago, special sales were held only in spring, which is not the best time to plant, since you must keep plants watered as the weather warms.
It’s especially important to plant California natives in the fall, or winter, so they can be nurtured by cool rainy weather, as they are in the wild. Native wildflowers are best planted after the rains begin, in November or December. Trying to start any native in spring invites failure.
Most of these special sales are of exciting and unusual plants, so if you’re disappointed by the offerings at your local nursery, here is a selection of perfectly timed plant sales.
Oct. 4, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., a sale of native plants by the Orange County chapter of the Native Plant Society, held at the UC Irvine Arboretum, south of the corner of Campus Drive and Jamboree Road, Irvine; (714) 824-5833. Free.
Oct. 4-5, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., South Coast Botanic Garden fall plant sale of natives, perennials, ferns and trees, at the gardens, 26300 Crenshaw Blvd., Palos Verdes Peninsula; (310) 544-1948. $5; seniors and students, $3; children, $1.
Oct. 10-11, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., the Descanso Gardens fall plant sale will have irises, camellias, scented geraniums, herbs, perennials, shrubs and even assorted annuals. Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Dr., La Can~ada Flintridge; (818) 949-7980. Free.
Oct. 11, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., a sale of unusual but appropriate perennial plants at the UC Irvine Arboretum, south of the corner of Campus Drive and Jamboree Road, Irvine; (714) 824-5833. $1.
Oct. 18-19, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Quail Gardens fall plant sale, with drought-tolerant plants, natives, subtropical plants, bamboos and herbs, 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas; (760) 426-3036. $2.
Oct. 22-26, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., the Los Angeles Garden Show will have a “plant market,” where many growers will be selling unusual plants, at the Arboretum of Los Angeles County, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia; (626) 447-8207. Advance tickets, $7; day of event, $8.
Oct. 25-26, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., the California Native Plant Society plant sale at the Sepulveda Garden Center, 16633 Magnolia Blvd. (at Hayvenhurst Avenue), Encino; (818) 881-3706. Free.
Oct. 25-26, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., fall sale of native plants at the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants, 10459 Tuxford St., Sun Valley; (818) 768-1802. Free.
Nov. 1-2, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday, the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden plant sale features new cultivars (including a selection of California fuchsias and coral bells) as well as native herbs, perennials, shrubs, wildflower seeds and bulbs, at the garden, 1500 N. College Ave., Claremont; (909) 625-8767. Free.
Nov. 6-9, 1-4:30 p.m., the Fall Plant Festival will have talks each day, followed by a sale of bulbs, flowers, shrubs, herbs and fall foliage plants, at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; (626) 405-2141. $7.50; seniors, $6; students, $4; children, free.
