Taylor Lewis, our cherished friend and colleague, passed away on August 8, 2024, at the age of 48. Widely known for his smile, welcoming attitude and playful disdain for traditional lawns, Taylor left an indelible mark on the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden community, as well as on gardens throughout the Sacramento region.

It’s true that summer is not the best time of the year to install new plants, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t. Watch the latest Ask the Garden Gnomes video below for advice or scroll down to find some quick tips.

By Taylor Lewis, nursery manager

Hello again! Back in January, 2020 while doing some winter cleanup for a client, the question arose of what to do with a huge, happy Salvia ‘Pozo Blue’. Can it be pruned? How far back? Do it in stages to avoid shocking the plant? Just deadhead spent blooms?

While passing the catmint, I can see it’s time for a haircut. They’re looking rather winter haggard wearing a grayish-brown coat from last years fall line. Nepeta x faassenii, better known as a Catmint, is one of my favorites groundcovers. You can cut this cat back anytime of the year, as hard as you want and as often as you want.

If it’s January in the Valley and you’ve got a Salvia leucantha (Mexican bush sage) planted in your yard, there’s a good chance it looks very much like this one. I promise you they appreciate a hard cut in the winter.

Fall is a wonderful time to enjoy Salvia greggii and microphylla. Most of the questions I get asked about Salvia are in regards to pruning.

By Taylor Lewis, nursery manager

Months of color, drought-tolerant, Valley-appropriate, fast-growing, easy-care — these traits are a few reasons that crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica), and their many cultivars, have become one of the most widely used home landscape, commercial, parking lot, median strip, landscape trees in the Sacramento Valley. So, what’s the mystery?

Taylor Lewis, nursery manager of the Arboretum Teaching Nursery, walks us through the process of giving his Chinese fringe flower a haircut.

Taylor Lewis, Nursery Manager at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, was recently added to PlantRight’s Plant List Committee. On the committee Lewis will be assisting the organization in its commitment to stopping the sale of horticultural invasive plants.

The Arboretum Teaching Nursery is here for you at the turn of the year to bring you another edition of “Tried and True and something New.” Find some perennial favorites that are sure to brighten up your garden as the weather warms.