Gardening is generally a slow process. We progress on a seasonal schedule, as we monitor the emergence of seedlings, the opening of buds, the ripening of fruits. We might even sit and contemplate the birds and bees, or just the leaves moving in the breeze.

Learning about gardening also is a slow-paced process: we notice when plants bloom, early, late or mid-season, and examine how our pruning affects the development of our plants. We might take notes to help us recall what we have seen and done in the garden.

On rare occasions, we can advance our gardening knowledge at a more intense pace. One such occasion is the annual San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, Wednesday, March 21^st through Sunday, March 25^th, in the San Mateo Event Center. This year’s theme is “Gardens for a Green Earth.”

The Show invites interested gardeners to immerse themselves in a rich array of learning opportunities for a full day, or even several days, to see the latest plant introductions and the newest garden tools, hear informative talks, and study trends in garden design.

Many need a couple days to benefit from this multi-faceted event. Here are the Show’s primary components:

• The Display Gardens are always the Show’s featured attraction. This year, twenty design teams will demonstrate their innovative approaches to garden design with full-scale garden settings. These displays will include imaginative creations, often with stunning presentations of trees, boulders, water features, and outdoor furnishings. The plants are always the centers of attention.

• Gardening Seminars will fill a continuing schedule in three venues within the San Mateo Event Center. Well-known garden experts will share up-to-date ideas within their fields of particular interest. Consider scheduling your visit to include your choice of 80 presentations. A hot topic this year is small-space gardening, with talks and displays for those who garden on balconies, in tiny side yards, or on small decks, or who just prefer small-space gardening.

• The Marketplace is a unique setting to see and acquire plants, tools and decorative accessories for your garden. 200 vendors will offer a wide array of garden-related items, and gourmet food items as well. “Window-shopping” is welcome, but the event invites you to stock up on your garden desiderata. There’s a free package check, too, so you need not haul your purchases around all day.

The Show’s website, http://sfgardenshow.com, is an excellent resource to learn more about the Show, plan your day, buy tickets ($20), study the seminar schedule, find driving directions and even reserve lodgings for multiday sessions. The Show’s phone number is 415-684-7278.

Immerse yourself in gardening at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show and gather inspirations to enjoy your garden during all the following year.

We have had some rain! More showers could start Saturday, and continue for at least three days. Our plants are thriving with this overdue moisture, which might reach normal seasonal levels.

On Tuesday, March 20^th, the 2012 Vernal Equinox marked the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Equinoxes occur when the sun shines directly on the equator and day and night lengths are nearly equal. True spring weather should follow—but the weather offers no certainties.

San Francisco Flower and Garden Show

Saturday, 10:00 to 7:00 and Sunday, 10:00 to 6:00. Again, this is the largest garden-related annual event in the western U.S., and an unparalleled opportunity to learn about gardening, attend seminars by experts, buy plants, garden tools and accessories, and examine extraordinary display gardens by some of northern California’s most creative designers.

The San Mateo Event Center is a short road trip from Monterey, and admission is just $20. For details, visit http://sfgardenshow.com/.

California Naturalist Program

The California Naturalist Program launches on April 7^th, a new certification program of the University of California, Santa Cruz Arboretum to promote stewardship of California’s natural communities. Expert specialists will generate understanding and appreciation of our interdependence with nature and the need to conserve the natural environment.

The program will meet twice weekly for ten weeks from April 7^th to June 16^th, on Thursday evenings at the Arboretum and on weekend field trips to natural areas. The $300 fee equals $15 for each of the twenty sessions, a bargain if your schedule permits and loving nature is among your priorities.

Contacts: Arboretum (831) 427-2998, Arboretum Director Brett Hall (brett@ucsc.edu), or the program’s web page (arboretum.ucsc.edu/education/UCCNP/).

California Native Plant Week

The Second Annual California Native Plant Week happens April 15^th through April 22^nd. The California Native Plant Society inspired this occasion, and California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 173 made it official in August 2010. ACR 173 proclaims the third week of April as a period to recognize the many benefits of native plant gardening and landscaping: including reducing residential water use from 60 to 90% over conventional gardening.

Pacific Grove Museum’s 49^th Annual Wildflower Show

With the Monterey Bay Chapter, California Native Plant Society. 100:00 a.m., Friday, April 16^th through 5:00 p.m., Sunday, April 18^th. “… the largest [show] in the Northern and Western Hemispheres featuring over 600 species and varieties of Central Coast wildflowers.” $3 requested donation.

UCSC Arboretum’s Spring Plant Sale

With the Santa Cruz Chapter, California Native Plant Society. Opens to CNPS and Arboretum members from 10:00–12:00 on Saturday, April 21^st and continues from 12:00 to 4:00 for everyone. No surprise: you can join the CNPS or the Arboretum on sale day and enjoy your membership all year.

Visit my very new website, ongardening.com, for descriptions of plants offered at the Arboretum/CNPS Plant Sale and more.

More

The CNPS will have several thousand colorful native and drought tolerant plants for sale, and will feature a selection of Ribes, the genus of currants and gooseberries, which is one of the best of California’s spring bloomers for gardens.

The Arboretum will offer selected specimens of plants from Australia and South Africa, as well as California natives, all of which well suited to grow nicely in the Monterey Bay area. Featured plants include Grevillea ‘Mason’s Hybrid’, Erica speciosa, Boronia heterophylla, Leucospermum ‘Spider’, and Berberis pinnata ssp insularis ‘Shnilemoon’, any of which could a great addition to your garden.