Rohnert Park

See amazing small trees at the Bonsai Show

Discover the ancient art of bonsai at the Redwood Empire Bonsai Society’s annual show on August 31 and September 1.

Admission to the event is free. There will be high-quality bonsai exhibits, demonstrations, a large bonsai market, member sales, raffles and silent auctions. There will also be a presentation by Adam Toth, who recently apprenticed in Japan. Saturday, August 31, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, September 1, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rohnert Park Community Center, 5401 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park. For more information, visit rebsbonsai.org.

On-line

Landscape management in defensible areas

You may not be able to stop a wildfire, but taking care of your landscape is one of the best things you can do to protect your property if a fire threatens your neighborhood and to ensure it is sustainable in an era of climate change.

The Resilient Landscape Coalition is hosting a free online workshop with tips on how to make your landscape more fire safe and environmentally friendly. The course covers how to preserve and enhance wildlife habitat, improve soil and increase water retention, and how to maintain your property through proper pruning, mulching, composting, and more. You’ll also learn what to do on Red Flag Warning days and how to reconcile sometimes conflicting guidelines to create an attractive, biodiverse, energy- and water-efficient landscape.

Classes will be held on August 27th from 5:30pm to 7pm on Zoom. Register at tinyurl.com/4aemcxvh

Santa Rosa

Willowside School’s plant sale starts again

The fall planting season is upon us and Willowside School’s student-supported nursery is fully equipped and open for business on August 31st.

Plants include drought-tolerant cistus in purple, white and pink, roses, herbs such as lavender, rosemary and chamomile, golden lantana and many types of salvia, including some new to the nursery in red, purple and pink. For striking color, try asters of all sizes, California natives such as apricot mallow, sulphur buckwheat and the treelike ceanothus ‘Ray Hartman’ and the low manzanita ‘John Dourley’.

Prices are $8 for a 1-gallon container, $12 for a 2- to 3-gallon container, and $16 for a 5-gallon container. Pots 4 inches or smaller are $4.

The nursery supports a hands-on gardening program for children in kindergarten through eighth grade in the Oak Grove Union School District.

The sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Willowside School, 5285 Hall Road, Santa Rosa (on Willowside Road).

Send home and garden news to [email protected].