Sherwood Demonstration Garden

06/07/2026

🌿🐝🌼🌸🌼🐝🌿

Beautiful flowers are blooming up a storm at
Sherwood Demonstration Garden. Plan a trip
next Friday or Saturday morning. 🐝🐝😊

Photo Credit: Pauline Atkins
Description: Various colorful flowers, yellow, red,
pink, purple, and landscape photos.

06/06/2026

🌿🐝🐝🌿Gardening for Pollinators Class 🦋🦋

Sherwood Demonstration Garden was really buzzing
this morning! UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County presented a class on how to attract Pollinators to our gardens.

A colorful array of diverse flowers was displayed as an enticement to beneficial pollinators. We learned about
good and bad insects, as well as predators. Providing a
a safe environment, with water is important.

Finally, a tour of Sherwood Demonstration Garden displayed examples of what we can do to make our own gardens a successful pollinator friendly environment!

Photo credit: MG Pauline Atkins
Photo descriptions on photos

06/06/2026

Free Class Tomorrow Morning!
UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County

Gardening for Pollinators
Saturday June 6, 2026 from 9 am-12 pm

Sherwood Demonstration Garden
6699 Campus Dr
Placerville, CA 95667
$2 parking fee

Expand your Pollinator-Friendly Garden
Did you know that planting more diverse and flowering plants in your garden can help support your vegetable garden or orchard? Learn how to choose plants to make your garden a haven for the pollinators. We’ll cover the types of plants that attract butterflies, bees, bats and hummingbirds. We’ll discuss the ways you can create areas in your garden that will not only support our native winged creatures, but look beautiful and support the health of the rest of your garden. Better yet, many of these plants are lower water users, and help keep your soil healthy. And we’ll give you tips for creating shelters for your pollinators that are people and garden friendly. Join the Master Gardeners at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden to get some ideas to expand your pollinator-friendly planting for the next growing season.

Registration requested but not required.
https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-master-gardeners-el-dorado-county/event/central-sierra-gardening-pollinators-el-dorado

Photo credit: Debi Valerga
Photo description: Yellow and black Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on a pink zinnia flower.

06/03/2026

06/02/2026

UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County

El Dorado County Fair
June 18-21, 2026
100 Placerville Dr
Placerville, CA

UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County serve the community by decorating the Floriculture Building, intaking all Flower & Plants entries and Fruits & Veggies entries, assist the judges, staff the building during the fair, and clean up after the fair is over. Now is your chance to enter all those beautiful flowers and produce that you have in your garden.

Entry deadline for submissions is Friday, June 12, 4:00 pm at the Fair Office or Online by Sunday, June 14, midnight.

Pick up your free competition handbook in the Fair Office or access it online.
https://edcfair.org/fair/competition-handbook/

Photo description: Green poster with a gold miner pushing a wheel barrel and a ferris wheel with the wording El Dorado County Fair, Good Ol’Fashioned Fun, June 18-21, 2026, El Dorado County

05/31/2026

UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County

Free Class on Gardening for Pollinators
Saturday June 6, 2026 from 9 am-12 pm

Sherwood Demonstration Garden
6699 Campus Dr
Placerville, CA 95667
$2 parking fee

Expand your Pollinator-Friendly Garden

Did you know that planting more diverse and flowering plants in your garden can help support your vegetable garden or orchard? Learn how to choose plants to make your garden a haven for the pollinators. We’ll cover the types of plants that attract butterflies, bees, bats and hummingbirds. We’ll discuss the ways you can create areas in your garden that will not only support our native winged creatures, but look beautiful and support the health of the rest of your garden. Better yet, many of these plants are lower water users, and help keep your soil healthy. And we’ll give you tips for creating shelters for your pollinators that are people and garden friendly. Join the Master Gardeners at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden to get some ideas to expand your pollinator-friendly planting for the next growing season.

Registration requested but not required.
https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-master-gardeners-el-dorado-county/event/central-sierra-gardening-pollinators-el-dorado

Photo credit: Debi Valerga
Photo description: Five honey bees on a white zinnia flower

05/29/2026

One more day to sign up for this free class on culinary herbs given by UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County!

How to Grow and Enjoy Herbs
Saturday May 30, 2026 from 9 am-12 pm
Pacerville Veterans Memorial Hall
130 Placerville Dr
Placerville, CA 95667

No fat, low fat, no salt, watch the sugar; we’re constantly bombarded about how to eat healthier. One of the best ways to introduce healthy, delicious flavor into meals is to use herbs in our cooking. Many are easy to grow and preserve. They also make beautiful landscape plants and many of their flowers are edible. Join UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County Jan Keahey and Ada Brehmer to explore the herbs that grow well in our area, how to propagate and grow, when to harvest. After the discussion, there will be a hands-on propagation demonstration and you will be able to propagate some of these great herbs to take home with you.

Registration is required.
https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-master-gardeners-el-dorado-county/event/central-sierra-herbs-el-dorado-county

Photo description: Assorted green and flowering herb plants in terracotta pots.

05/28/2026

05/25/2026

UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County
Free Class - How to Grow and Enjoy Herbs

Saturday May 30, 2026 from 9 am-12 pm

Pacerville Veterans Memorial Hall
130 Placerville Dr
Placerville, CA 95667

No fat, low fat, no salt, watch the sugar; we’re constantly bombarded about how to eat healthier. One of the best ways to introduce healthy, delicious flavor into meals is to use herbs in our cooking. Many are easy to grow and preserve. They also make beautiful landscape plants and many of their flowers are edible. Join UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County Jan Keahey and Ada Brehmer to explore the herbs that grow well in our area, how to propagate and grow, when to harvest. After the discussion, there will be a hands-on propagation demonstration and you will be able to propagate some of these great herbs to take home with you.

Registration is required.
https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-master-gardeners-el-dorado-county/event/central-sierra-herbs-el-dorado-county

Photo credit: Debi Valerga
Photo description: Basil seedlings growing in black plastic pots

05/20/2026

Today is World Bee Day!

They are 20,000 different bees in the world, about 4000 are native to the United States, with 1600 different species found in California!

Now let’s talk about bumblebees!

They are one of the groups of native bees. “The body of a bumble bee generally has lots of black hair with contrasting bands of yellow, red, or white. Different species have different color patterns. Bumble bees are as large as or larger than honeybees.”

California Bees & Blooms (by G. Frankie et al, Heyday Press, 2014) tells us that ten of the 26 native bumble bee species have been found in residential gardens, but only three are common.

🔹The Yellow-Faced Bumble Bee (Bombus vosnesenkii)

🔹The California Bumble Bee (B. californicus)

🔹The Black-Tailed Bumble Bee (B. melanopygus)

In this photo is a Yellow-Faced Bumblebee who moves relatively slowly among the flowers, compared to other bees. You can recognize them by their fuzzy chunky bodies and yellow bands on their backs and abdomens. You can also identify it by its bright yellow facial hair. The female bumble bees’ hind legs will widen to form pollen baskets (corbicula) that are filled with pollen.

Learn more about bumblebees here: https://ucanr.edu/blog/real-dirt/article/bumble-bees-garden

Photo description: female Yellow-Faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii) at a yellow lupine.