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While gardens might seem to sleep during the winter, there’s no sleeping on the job for serious gardeners. This is the time to prune, plan and prepare the garden so it will emerge, ready to flourish, in the springtime.
Fruit trees are a good example, and Elizabeth Ruiz, a master pruner, will show you how to prune fruit trees for a productive harvest, good health and aesthetics.
Her free seminar will take place at 10 a.m. Jan. 19 at Sloat Garden Center at 700 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Kentfield. Call 415-454-0262 to sign up for the class.
“I can confidently say that she is, hands down, our most-attended speaker ever,” says Jen Strobel, Sloat Garden Center’s design department manager and event planner. “She does incredible work and makes sure she gets the essence of the tree.”
However, for those who’d rather watch her share her tips online, Strobel interviews Ruiz in a Sloat Garden Center video on YouTube. Go to tinyurl.com/syfcmcm4.
Pruning roses
Rose growers know that when winter rolls around, the secateurs, warm jackets and gauntlet gloves come out with it.
Pruning roses correctly now will result in a bounty of beautiful blooms in spring and healthy and well-shaped plants that will bloom through autumn.
Master Gardener Rod Kerr, a rosarian for more than 30 years, will share his best tips on how to select, grow and prune roses growing in Marin and demonstrate rose pruning basics.
The free class takes place from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 8 in the Creekside Room at the Mill Valley Public Library at 375 Throckmorton Ave. in Mill Valley.
Registration is required. Call 415-389-4292 or go to millvalleylibrary.org.
If you’d rather watch a YouTube video to learn how to prune your roses, Sloat Garden Center has one that features San Francisco rosarian Rose Gilardi, who’s been a frequent speaker at the Marin Rose Society. Go to tinyurl.com/2zd55v49.
Learn and relax
While there are winter garden tasks to be done, gardening in the winter doesn’t need to be cold and lonesome. In fact, learning about gardening with like-minded people at Kentfield’s Sloat Garden Center can be quite nice.
The nursery will offer free garden education and wellness events from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 18 at 700 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Kentfield (415-454-0262).
“We’re super excited about this,” Strobel says. “It’s the first in-person event we’ve had since COVID. We thought about this wellness portion and thought, ‘Why not’?”
Enjoy fresh coffee and music by a Fairfax-based “botanical DJ”; get a relaxing chair massage; and chat with the experts from Our Water Our World about less-toxic garden solutions as well as ones from the Xerces Society about butterflies and native pollinator plants.
Children can have some fun making a bird feeder and seed starter pot they can take home with them.
For anyone with questions about the trees in their gardens, ask a tree expert from Bartlett Tree Experts during the “Ask the Arborist” session from 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 18.
“There will be a lot of information available,” Strobel says. “You can bring in 1 cup of your garden soil for free testing, they are offering a free property inspection if you need any tree work done and if you want them to diagnose any tree disease or insect, bring in (a specimen of the problem) in a plastic bag.”
Additional “Ask the Arborist” chats will take place from 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 18 at Sloat Garden Center at 2000 Novato Blvd. in Novato (415-897-2169) and from 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 25 at Sloat Garden Center at 657 East Blithedale Ave. in Mill Valley. (415-388-0102).
Improve your kitchen skills
Do you know your way around the kitchen?
If not, Williams Sonoma wants to help make you a better home cook this year with its Williams Sonoma Test Kitchen Skills Series, held on Sundays every month.
Each class in the series will teach a new culinary technique to give inexperienced cooks, or cooks who want to level up, new skills.
In January, the series will focus on “global flavors,” featuring the company’s Asian pantry collection to create Chinese dishes.
• Dumplings and dan dan noodles will be taught at 11 a.m. Sunday.
• General Tso’s chicken with brown rice will be taught at 11 a.m. Jan. 19.
• A weeknight stir-fry will be taught at 11 a.m. Jan. 26.
Classes will be held at Williams Sonoma at the Village at Corte Madera at 1712 Redwood Highway in Corte Madera. Classes are free, but reservations are required. Register at tinyurl.com/422n8kzr. Call 415-924-6799.
Show off
If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin home, I’d love to know about it.
Please send an email describing either one (or both), what you love most about it and a photograph or two. I will post the very best ones in upcoming columns. Your name will be published and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident.
Don’t-miss event
Shop for vintage and antique items at a showroom pop-up sale at Golden Gate Estate Sales from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at 95 Joseph Court in San Rafael. Items can be seen online at estatesales.com. Call 415-524-3450.
PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design and entertaining topics every Saturday. She may be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at [email protected].
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