Wichita gardener’s almanac for Oct. 10

Get your grass planted – Mid-October generally is the deadline for planting fescue seed in the fall. You can try it later, but be even more assiduous about keeping the grass watered, Ward Upham of K-State says. Freezing and thawing of soil later in the season can heave poorly rooted grass plants out of the ground, and they then dry up and die. Fescue also can be sodded later into the season.

Plant – Garlic, pansies, fescue grass, trees, shrubs.

Garden events

Bootanica – Botanica will have its annual Halloween-themed celebration for families, Bootanica, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $8, $6 for members. Costumes are optional.

Daylily meeting – The Wichita Daylily Club will have its last regular meeting of the year at 7 p.m. Monday at Botanica. The program will feature pictures from a daylily convention. The public is invited.

Learn to take cuttings – The Suburban Garden Club will meet at 9:45 a.m. Monday at Botanica. The program will be about taking cuttings from garden plants. Lunch will be at the Pizza Hut for those who want to attend.

Dress like a rose — The Wichita Rose Society will have a dress-like-a-rose party Tuesday evening at Botanica. The meeting is free and open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to wear items that give clues to the name of a rose. There will be a contest to guess the names. Late-season roses are welcome for show and tell. Social time starts at 6:30 p.m., the meeting at 7.

Eco-Festival — Bartlett Arboretum will have its second annual Eco-Festival starting at noon Oct. 18 with talks, concerts, a tiny-house display and food. Admission is $5, or free if you bike to the event. There will be a bike ride from Johnson’s Garden Center on 13th Street starting at 10 a.m. (www.bikereg.com/tour-de-trees).

AARP talk – Maren Turner, the Kansas AARP director, and local volunteer Gerald Schmitt will be at Botanica on Wednesday to talk about what AARP does. The lecture, at 12:15, is included in admission. Lunch is for sale for $8 from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Annie Calovich

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Wichita gardener’s almanac for Oct. 10."