Aug 13 2011 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Saturday Plant Sale The UCI Arboretum hosts its next Saturday plant sale on Saturday, August 13 from 9 a.m. to noon. The Arboretum’s nursery produces a variety of unique and unusual perennials, succulents, and blooming bulbs for your garden. These plants hail from the Mediterranean ecosystems of the world and are well suited to Southern California’s climate. Selections in August typically include the beautiful Cape Lilac (Plectranthus ecklonii), the Giant Pineapple lily (Eucomis pole-evansii) and other warm weather plants. Admission and parking are free for this event. Sep 24 2011 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Saturday Plant Sale The UCI Arboretum hosts its next Saturday plant sale on Saturday, September 24 from 9 a.m. to noon. The Arboretum nursery offers a variety of unique yet easy to grow plants for your garden, including succulents, perennials and blooming bulbs. Typical selections for early fall include our stunning Creeping Cape Lilac (Plectranthus ciliates ‘Kirstenbosch,’) the colorful succulent Crassula ‘Campfire’, and many other beautiful plants including various Salvia, Echeveria, Sedum, and Aeonium. Admission and parking are free for this event. The UCI Arboretum is located just south of the corner of Campus Drive and Jamboree Road on the UCI North Campus. For more information please call (949) 824-5833.
Free Horse Manure for Garden / Composting Hello Irvine Garden Club, I live near the Back Bay and John Wayne Airport, and I would like to give away good clean horse manure to folks who can use it to improve their gardens. Do you have an e-mail system whereby you could let club members know of this offer? Because of the way my horses are kept, there is no bedding and no urine in the manure. I have started to give it away, mostly to people who want to spread it on their lawns, or those who want to speed up the processes in their compost piles. But with 5 horses, I could make a lot more gardeners happy than I am currently supplying. The manure is collected twice daily. If I don't have a waiting gardener who has supplied me with a container, I toss the material in a dumpster and it is hauled away to become landfill. For small quantities (less than a full sized garbage can) call me (949) 263-1772 to set up a time for you to come get your container filled. For larger quantities, I need the containers dropped off, I will fill them over a few days, and then they are ready to be picked up. Containers need to be of a size they will fit in your car once filled. I welcome your calls, and look forward to helping improve your soil. Carol	Fanfare!!! Excitement!!! The Mary Lou Heard Memorial Garden Tour will be held this year on Saturday & Sunday, May 1st & 2nd from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. We will be posting information in the coming weeks on our site: www.HeardsGardenTour.com You can go there RIGHT NOW and click on "Garden Tour Photos" to see SNEAK PREVIEW PHOTOS of this year's gardens. Tour Newsletters will be delivered to our sponsoring nurseries and made available for download on April 17. We do send newsletters by snail mail to anyone who provides an address by March 25. (If you provided an address at last year's tour, you have requested the mailing.) However, we do ask that if you are at all able to download the newsletter or to get one from a sponsoring nursery, please plan to do that and let us know to take your name off the snail-mail list. When it comes to supporting our charities, every penny counts! We hope to see you in May! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Sheri Henderson Secretary & Clay Pot Washer The Mary Lou Heard Foundation 8719 Hummingbird Avenue Fountain Valley, CA  92708
Sad news about Laguna Hills Nursery   Owner Gary Matsuoka said they are closing their doors after who knows how long? The nursery has been in the family for decades, the property sold a few years ago, and Gary has had to move the whole enchilada twice. Moving a nursery ain't easy and Gary can't do it again. Not yet anyway. Everything in the store is 30 percent off until further notice. The nursery closes April 30. Laguna Hills Nursery, 25290 Jeronimo Road, Lake Forest. 949-830-5653.