Sacramento Winter Planting Guide
Winter Planting Guide and Native Planting with FiveSTAR Landscape of Folsom, CA
If you are thinking of planting native plants in your Sacramento garden, there are a few easy steps to follow to make sure you get great results. Local Folsom Landscape Design company FiveSTAR Landscape shares a few tips on how you can better prepare for your landscape.
Native plants are easy to grow in Folsom and Sacramento, which is the whole point of planting them. Giving your plants a good start is the best way to make sure they will be healthy and vibrant for a long time to come.
Choosing a site
Choose a site that gets the right amount of sun and shade for the plant you want to put there. Check out the pH requirements of the soil. You can always add supplements that will help get the pH to the correct level, but there are also factors that will constantly affect the pH of your soil. Pine trees, for instance, will always make the surrounding soil a bit acidic.
Test the soil
You need to find out what the drainage is like. Dig a hole the depth of the container and twice its width. Fill it with water, let it drain, then fill it again. If it drains well, you can go ahead and plant. If the water stands and does not drain, then you need to amend the soil with plenty of organic matter to help it drain better.
You also need to have your soil tested at your local extension office. They will be able to tell you the nutritional composition of the soil. If your soil is very poor, use fertilizer. However, if it is not particularly poor, then do not worry about fertilizer – native plants often prefer soil that is not too rich, anyway.
Dig the hole
The hole for your plant needs to be the depth of the container that the plant is currently in, and twice the width of the container. Take the native soil that you dug out of the hole and mix it well with a high-quality potting soil. You want a ratio of about one part potting soil to two parts native soil.
Plant your plant
If your plant has become root bound, then break up the root ball a bit before putting it in the ground. Place the plant in the hole and fill it in with the soil mix that you set aside. Leave about 1 to 2 inches of the original root ball and soil exposed to allow for settling. Water thoroughly to eliminate any air pockets.
Taking care of your plant
While the roots become established, water once a week during the dry season, and if it has not rained in a week during the rainy season. After a year, you can start watering on the schedule recommended in the plant facts, as the roots will be well established by then.
Best Shrubs for Sacramento Landscaping
Shrubs are a great way to get some privacy in your Sacramento yard while adding a lot of style and beauty to your landscaping design. Be sure to check out the FiveSTAR Landscape Design Portfolio and Landscape Services in Folsom and throughout Sacramento’s mild climate lends itself well to many different kinds of shrubs. Whether you have a very shady area, an overly sunny area, or a space that does not have a lot of extra room, we have the perfect shrubs for you.
Shady shrubs
If you have a super shady area, you need shrubs that thrive without a lot of direct sunlight, such as pygmy date palms, camellias, or gardenias.
Sunny shrubs
For a very sunny area, you need shrubs that can handle the heat and strong sunlight we get here in Sacramento. Excellent options include purple hopseed bushes, Carolina cherry laurels, and palms.
Small shrubs
Sometimes all you have is a small area but you want a lot of decorative bang for your buck. Try evergreen clematis vines or lavender trumpet vines if you have a wall or a fence for the vines to cling to. Or choose thuja emerald green, bamboo, or shrubby yew pine for small areas where you do not want vines.
