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Elizabeth Weintraub
Are You Wondering What Grows in Sacramento Gardens in May?
Shasta Daisy grows in Sacramento gardens
Wondering what grows in Sacramento gardens this spring? Unlike other parts of the country — like where my family lives in Minneapolis — we can start planting in late April or early May without much concern. When I was a kid growing up in Minnesota, the logic was do not plant anything before Memorial Day. It was a matter of do you feel lucky? Well do ya, punk? Because if not, the likelihood was soon as you slip that tender tomato plant into the garden, it will snow like crazy and your plants will croak.
That is very unlikely to happen in Sacramento. We might complain about the super hot summers, meaning I complain about the heat, a lot, but still, it beats freezing off my tush in Minnesota. There are days I think, perhaps when I retire I will spend long lazy days in the garden, but that’s not happening while I’m still selling Sacramento real estate. Real estate pretty much rules my life: I put in 12-hour days, 7 days a week. You can’t be a top producer Sacramento Realtor without putting in the hours.
My husband puts in 8 hours a day, 5 days a week at his job, and even he has difficulty finding time to garden. Although, our front yard looks pretty decent, but we didn’t do it. Nope, I simply keep telling our gardeners to make it look like somebody gives a crap. But don’t get too close to our front door because spiders and creepy bugs have taken over the front porch. I generally go in the back door so I don’t have to see it. My husband comes in the front, but he doesn’t care.
Now that you know what avid gardeners we are and how dedicated we are to the process, let me show you some of our recent plantings this year. Below are lots of new plants that I’ve found which grows in Sacramento gardens and are often native to our dry Mediterranean-like climate.
Do you like the Shasta Daisy above? Staring intently into the center of the flower tends to transform the image into a kaleidoscope of sorts. It’s about alpha brain waves, making me feel like my brain is spinning out of control. Like dropping acid or watching the Twilight Zone.
Bougainvillea grows in Sacramento gardens.
This bougainvillea reminds me of living in Newport Beach in southern California. When I first moved to Orange County in 1976, I had a lot of bougainvillea growing over the fence in my yard. It seemed so exotic to me. Some people are astonished to learn that there are small tiny flowers inside the petals of a bougainvillea. From a distance, all you see is the vibrant petal colors. We keep ours in a large pot up against a white sunny wall.
Pink striped double dianthus grows in Sacramento gardens.
There are over 300 varieties of this type of carnation. And they are perennials. This means they come back year after year. I find this type of carnation grows in Sacramento gardens very well, but since weeds form too quickly in beds, I put them in pots. They winter over and bloom again in the spring.
Purple Verbena Bonariensis grows in Sacramento gardens
These purple verbena are supposed to grow about four feet, but not in our Sacramento gardens. Heck no, these tall stems grow 8 to 10 feet high. I do not know why. They tolerate a lot of heat and do not need much water. They are a perfect plant for me to neglect. Further, they come back every year and produce a million tiny purple flowers.
Here we have a view of where the flower pots live on our back deck. I positioned them to receive a bit of overflow from the sprinklers so I don’t have to ever water them. Because if they need to rely on me for watering, they will surely die an agonizing and pitiful death. Pretty much the same could be said for my husband’s attentiveness to watering, but I won’t say it because he wouldn’t like it. Sweetie, just skip over this part.
I tried to get a good photograph of the cactus in the frog planter, but it wasn’t turning out. So I put myself into the picture.
You can see how much wind we had yesterday in Sacramento. No need for a garden windsock when you’ve got my hair to tell the whole story. For a lot of people who live in Sacramento, we survive spring winds, especially days like this, by taking Flonase or other medication. I never had allergies when I lived in southern California or other places around the country. Just in Sacramento, and only over the past 10 years or so.
Lettuce grows in Sacramento gardens
This pot has a stem in the center that holds water. The idea is the lettuce will receive a continual source of hydration to keep it growing in the hot sun. This way we can pick it when we get hungry. The only trouble with this idea, the way I see it, is I can pluck and consume almost the entire pot in one salad. Perhaps I will need to be patient and see how much bigger the lettuce grows.
Cucumber grows in Sacramento gardens
At least that’s my guess as to what this is: a cucumber. I didn’t plant it, obviously. This is my husband’s work. And look at how he has positioned the drip line extension to approach the stem of this plant in just the right spot! See? That’s extra care right there! And this is also the time when I suspect my husband will text me to say, ha, ha, ha, that is not a cucumber. It is a squash. If that happens, so be it. I am not ashamed to not know what I did not plant.
Tomatoes grow in Sacramento gardens
There is a reason Sacramento has a nickname of Sac-o-tomato. This tomato plant has flowers already. It used to live in my flower garden until I asked my husband to transplant it elsewhere, over by the jasmine.
Problem with this particular garden bed is it is covered in wild onions and weeds. You can see a few of them struggling to survive next to the plant. If I’m really fortunate over Memorial Day weekend, we might set aside a bit of time to weed. Somehow, though, I don’t think that’s gonna happen, just given our propensity for predilection, there is always something else that needs our attention.
Cats, Vinyl Chairs and a Good Sacramento Upholstery Company
We were not thinking about a good Sacramento upholstery company when we ordered our new kitchen table and chairs from Johnston Casuals. In fact, we were excited the day our new kitchen furniture arrived from the East Coast. It’s really difficult to find modern kitchen furniture that fits into older Land Park homes, especially in a defined spot for a breakfast nook. And especially when a person has certain preferences, which lean toward modern, simple lines.
For example, I wanted a bench, a large space I could sprawl out upon, like our ragdoll kitten Ziggy in the “after” picture above. Hey, this is my spot after I get out of bed and finish with email. It should have a back but not be too tall so it overwhelms the space. The table couldn’t be much longer than 50 inches, and we needed to fit three chairs. Which works out to be one for my husband, one for each cat, except the cat who shares my bench.
Our original bench and chairs were custom made in pristine Mango vinyl. 
Durable, I figured, and hard to ruin. Yeah, I like mangoes. Little did I realize that our ocicat, Tessa, would find a way to claw up the bench. She made her Banksy artwork prominent. Doesn’t she look innocent on the old vinyl bench? But not only did the cats manage to poke claw holes in some spots, but the vinyl was ruined after only 4 years of usage. I only know this because I had to take all of the seats off the aluminum frames, and the date of 2014 is stamped on the bottom.
Part of it was due to sun filtering through the south windows, which is unusual since this furniture can be used outdoors as well. Part of it was due to wear, butts sliding off and on. The finish had edges peeling off.
In short, our kitchen looked like a second hand junk yard. Not an attractive antique store. No, a junk yard, where people throw away old stinky mattresses. Just waiting for my husband to clasp hands over his heart, avert eyes to the ceiling and loudly proclaim, Elizabeth, I’m coming.
So I looked online to find a new kitchen set. There were zero. OK, so maybe we could keep the table and just buy 3 new chairs and a bench. After spending exhaustive amounts of time trying to locate replacement furniture, I decided it must be cheaper to find a good Sacramento upholstery company.
Much research later, I settled on Homely Upholstery. They are located in a residential housing development near Twin Rivers school in Natomas. Just a few blocks away from the Willow Creek home in Natomas I sold 3 times that faced the freeway.
I asked David, the son, if Homely was his family’s last name. No, it was not. They chose that name because it had to do with “home.” It could be some sort of translation into English because he also admitted they had later realized that Homely had another connotation. Evidently discovered after forming the company.
We bought him the bench and chairs on Sunday, picked out the same color but a more durable fabric, this one called Tangerine. For around $700, he removed the mango vinyl and replaced it, along with a bit of extra padding and ribbing on the edges. Two weeks later we picked up our newly upholstered furniture. I highly recommend Homely Upholstery if you’re looking for a good Sacramento upholstery company. Much less expensive than buying new chairs and a bench, too. So far, no claw holes.
Now I have a new company to refer my clients to. Although I haven’t come across a need for a good Sacramento upholstery company before now, it’s good to know where to find one when the need arises for someone else.
The 2018 Taste of Land Park and Best Sunday Open Houses
While my husband and I walked over to the 2018 Taste of Land Park event happening on 10th Avenue last Sunday, the team held our best Sunday open houses of all year. We had so much traffic through last Sunday as compared to the rest of the year so far. From the city of Davis to Land Park and into Natomas, buyers came out of the woodwork. Where have they been for so long? Very excited to see buyers showing an interest in Sacramento real estate.
Regardless, Sunday provided beautiful weather to attend the 2018 Taste of Land Park. Believe it or not, we have lived in Land Park for 16 years and have never got around to going to this event. Probably because the hours are a little odd, from 4 PM to 7 PM. It’s too early for dinner and too late for lunch. On top of which, I can’t believe they got all of the neighbors in that stretch of 10th Avenue to cooperate with the event.
There was a band playing in one yard, playing hits from their high school years, from the looks and sounds of it. I really don’t mean to say anything bad about the band, but let’s just say Tom Petty was a favorite. And Tom Petty is one of my favorites. So, see I’m not saying anything bad about the band. We even caught the tribute to Tom Petty at The Fillmore right after his death, all quite by accident. That trip to The Fillmore was focused on a meet up with the Afghan Whigs.
Plus, we were grateful there was a band to perform at all. Seemed like many volunteers at the Taste of Land Park, which is wonderful.
We followed the map given to us but when we got to the event, a security guard told we could not enter from the west of 10th Avenue. Nope, we had to walk around the block. Which was like another 5 blocks. But at least when we got to the other side, they didn’t card us. They handed us our glass and plate combo and off we went, in search of food. The first thing my husband found was dessert from the Freeport Bakery, so he loaded up on that.
There wasn’t a lot of actual meal selections or food. It seems the wineries outnumbered the tables of food. One of our favorite pizza places served not pizza but toasted bread. That was a bit of a disappointment. The salads by Raley’s were a big hit. One of the Mexican restaurants offered mostly chips with a salsa on top, although I think Dali’s supplied those delicious chicken enchiladas. The porchetta was tasty, too.
I discovered M2 wines, which I really enjoyed. Rich, full-bodied reds, very chewy and a bit jammy. Many of the wineries at the 2018 Taste of Land Park supplied interesting tastings. After eating our way heading west on 10th Avenue, we turned around and ate our way heading east and then gave up. It cost us $80 to attend this event, and I can’t bring myself to say we got $80 worth of food and wine, but it’s OK to support the Land Park Community Association. Which meant we just made a nice donation to the LPA. And that’s fine.
It also meant we got back to my home office in time for me to send updates in real time to my sellers about their successful open houses for the day.
Now my husband says we wore off all the calories by walking, but I think a few globbed on and did not let go. My heart app says I walked 7,544 steps, almost 2.7 miles. That’s better than my daily average of 200 steps. Looking on the bright side of stuff!
Sacramento Home Selling: When is Escrow Over and Closed?
Knowing when is escrow over and closed, well, it’s one of the highlights of selling a home. It’s that time when you realize a heavy load has been lifted off your shoulders. Often a burden you didn’t even know you had carried until it’s gone. In the case of my sellers in south Sacramento who lived in a hard-to-sell neighborhood, it took us more than 6 months to close that house. Then, last month, we had 2 strong offers, hours apart. Multiple offers for that house.
Right before signing the paperwork, I asked the sellers to leave all the remotes / keys / manuals in a kitchen drawer. As long as they left that stuff before closing, we are good. Because after the deadline for possession at closing — which by contract default is 6 PM — the seller is supposed to be gone. It doesn’t mean the seller can go over to the house that night or the following day to leave keys. That would be considered trespassing.
But people don’t know that. Even agents don’t know when is escrow over and closed. I’m not kidding. The buyer’s agent emailed me the day after closing to ask if it was OK if he gave the key from the lockbox to the buyer. I let him know he could have given the key to the buyer on the day it closed. He should know that. Don’t know why he did not.
However, I was not prepared for my elderly seller to ask when is escrow over and closed. Three days after it closed. Because I called her on the day it closed. I let her know it had closed and recorded and it was over. Reminded her again to make sure the keys are in the house. Suggested she cancel the utilities and her homeowner’s insurance. Thanked her for choosing me to be her Sacramento Realtor.
Yet, three days later she called to ask: when is escrow over and closed? When I asked why she did not realize it is over, she said, “It still shows online as pending.” I’ve had a relationship with this seller for 6 months. Did she think I was making it up when I informed her last Thursday that escrow is over and closed? Or, more accurately, is the public so addicted to the internet that they believe every single website that displays homes for sale in Sacramento publishes real time information?
Even our company doesn’t put a sold home into closed status until it receives all of the paperwork from escrow and sends it to the branch office. First, escrow sends the closing docs to corporate, and not necessarily on the same day it closes. Then, corporate sends the paperwork to the branch office. It can be 3 or 4 days later before MLS gets changed.
Closing escrow is confusing. There is the day you sign, which we call closing, but it’s not closing. On the East Coast, signing documents is closing. On the West Coast it is not. We’re more particular. In California, closing is the day the grant deed records at the County Recorder’s office and your agent calls you upon receipt of confirmation from the title company.
What this has made me realize is to be even more sensitive to the needs of elderly clients. Sometimes, an agent might have to explain a situation in a few different ways for it to sink in. Realtors can never forget that although we might sell a couple of homes a week, our sellers sell very few houses in a lifetime.
Sac Beer Week Celebrated at Selland’s Market Cafe on Broadway
Pastrami is not a thing I long for, do not dream about, never buy at the grocery store, but it was our intended purpose yesterday to visit Selland’s Market Cafe on Broadway in Land Park and consume pastrami. Man, I remember when Selland first put out reports that it would build another Kitchen in that location on 10th and Broadway. We were so excited. That’s one of our favorite restaurants, and the only reason we don’t go there more often is it’s a hassle to get a reservation and a longer ways to drive.
When we heard it was coming to Land Park, we were besides ourselves with giddiness. Yes, we could crawl home if we had to. We could finally throw caution to the wind and enjoy those wine flights without one of us having to be the designated driver. But then, none of that came to pass. Selland’s Market Cafe was deemed a better fit for the demographics of our neighborhood. Home of the dinner for two with a bottle of wine for $25.
Generally, the lines are long and the parking lot is insufferable. You can’t even pull out on 9th. You’ve got to head the wrong way into Midtown. So perhaps this is more a Midtown restaurant than a Land Park dining spot. But with the prices of homes in Land Park lately, who can afford to eat out anyway?
My husband heard it was a celebration of pastrami and a pale ale yesterday. He chose the Nice to Meet You pale ale, while I selected the more aptly named pale ale for my age, Memory Upgrade, and we’re not talking about computers. The pastrami is house made, and so utterly tender it fell apart in pieces. My entire sandwich pretty much disintegrated. Plus, I had no fork just two steak knives, for some reason.
Sauerkraut and pickles fell onto my plate, along with the sauce. I just used my fingers to clean it up, and then handed my plate to my husband who finished off the little pieces. No photo because I was too busy eating.
And staring at those modern houses that were recently built on Yale Street, which face the freeway. Cool design. Awful location. The last 3 that sold this year closed between $620K and $629K. As a top Sacramento Realtor I had to ask the question of who would buy a home facing the freeway like that? But I know the answer. Today’s Millennials, LOL. Interestingly enough, all 3 buyers for those homes were represented by out-of-area agents. Perhaps they came from the Bay Area where freeway noise is considered a good location.
Yet, I have this perfectly good Land Park listing at 709 7th Avenue, a few houses away from the freeway wall on Santa Buena. Yes, come see this two bedroom, two bath with a bonus room at $399K. Which is open today, May 20th, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. Come on by. Hey, you can’t hear a sound inside this adobe built home.
Tip: a good time of day to stop at Selland’s Market Cafe is after the lunch rush and before the dinner crowd arrives. We were there around 2:00 PM. I also recommend the Memory Upgrade pale ale. It’s from San Francisco, a hazy pale ale from Barebottle Brewing Company. Creamy. Just the right bite of citrus.
