Spring Forward!

Succulent time

Spring doesn’t officially begin until next week but to me that’s a mere formality: the season really arrives tonight when we spring forward an hour for daylight savings.  So I think now’s the perfect time to list the full-to-overlapping roster of spring events, most with a succulent bent, that we can look forward to in the next few weeks. There are sales of succulents from notable propagators like Buck Hemenway and the UCR Botanic Gardens, gourmet food/flea market/crafts, art festival/dog adoptions in NoHo, a succulent potting class for kids, and a local garden tour you may have heard me mention. Some of these events happen on the same day so take note of dates and times. Let’s get moving …

Saturday and Sunday, March 26, 27th: Buck and Yvonne Hemenway’s 11th Annual Garden Tour and Plant Sale. 9am to 4pm; 5890 Grinnell Dr., Riverside CA 92509. This is a great event for succulent lovers as it affords the opportunity to not only purchase rare and unusual succulents, but also the chance to see one of the best local succulent gardens. Buck and Yvonne are on hand to answer questions and offer tips on growing our fave plants and they’re both personable and extremely knowledgeable sources. Don’t miss this one! For their Prickly Palace website click here.

Saturday, March 26th: NoHo Rockin’ Food Truck Fest and Flea Market. 11am to 5pm. 11458 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood CA 91601-2323. A festival, this event includes a number of on-trend food trucks offering an array of gourmet and ethnic delights, a craft and art fair, live entertainment and comedy, and, via MuttMatchLA, the chance to adopt a needy pooch. Mutt Match does important work finding homes for abandoned and abused dogs; their website is here. Sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday; click here for the festival website.

Saturday, Sunday, April 2nd and 3rd: 38th Annual UCR Botanic Gardens Spring Plant Sale. Botanic Garden Friends preview: 9am to noon, Saturday; Public sale hours: Noon to 4pm, Saturday; 9am to 3pm, Sunday. The UCR Botanic Gardens’ plant sales are always great; there’s so much to see, buy and learn. All types of plants are on sale, of course, but the succulent offerings are terrific, especially if you’re a Friend of the garden and hit the preview sale for first dibs. (Not a Friend? Pay the membership fee and they’ll sign you up the day of the event!) Special class for children, Saturday, 2pm: Plant expert (and our friend) Ann Platzer, will hold a succulent planter class, and lucky attendees will take finished products home. For more info, the UCRBG’s website is here.

Saturday, Sunday, April 9th and 1oth: Riverside Flower Show and Garden Tour. Garden tours, both days: 10am to 4pm. Flower show: 1 to 6pm, Saturday, 10am to 4pm, Sunday. This is that garden tour I might have mentioned a few times on this blog; we’re one of 6 home gardens open to ticketed tourists. Paul and I will be on-hand to answer questions and we’re hoping to meet some of you at the Rancho! The flower show and plant sale is held at the Elks Lodge at 6166 Brockton Ave., Riverside CA 92506. For more information (and to see pictures of past tour homes), click here.

We’ll definitely be going to most of these events; hope to see you all there, too!