The Open House at Bay Laurel Nursery begins even sooner, on March 24, and continues for the next seven Saturdays.

The John E. Stowell Dahlia Society, a participating society of the American Dahlia Society, will conduct its tuber sale at two locations. One sale will be from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the De Anza College Flea Market, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd. in Cupertino. The other will be at the Master Gardeners' Spring Garden Market from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. How convenient. More information about the tuber sale may be found at www.dahlia.org, the John E. Stowell Dahlia Society's website.

The Master Gardeners' annual Spring Garden Market will be at Prusch Farm Park, located at 647 S. King Road in San Jose. Some of the horticulturally oriented vendors represent various plant societies, such as those concerned with California native species, unusual perennials, rare fruit, iris and, of course, dahlias. Other vendors feature specialty tools and artwork. Seedlings of unusual vegetables, flowers and herbs grown by the Master Gardeners will also be available. This includes more than 100 varieties of tomatoes and more than 50 varieties of chile peppers, many of which are not yet available anywhere else. More information may be obtained by telephoning 408.299.2638 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Incidentally, Los Altos Nursery, located at 245 Hawthorne Ave. in Los Altos, has been open for a few weeks after closing for the winter. This is certainly not an imminent event, but some of us forget about this remarkable retail establishment during the winter unless reminded. Los Altos Nursery is where my father acquired his "Purity" camellia before I was in kindergarten and is the first nursery I can remember visiting. It is still one of my favorite traditional nurseries because of the impeccable quality of the plant material and garden statuary, some of which is carved granite. (Not that I would ever put statuary in my garden.)

I promise to discuss more gardening and fewer events later, but I should also discuss a recurring topic of my incoming email: anthracnose. The variable weather last spring was ideal for the proliferation of this pathogen, a fungus that thrives in warm and humid weather. During rainy weather, the air is normally too cool for such proliferation, just as during warm weather, the air is normally too dry. However, last spring, the weather alternated between short durations of rainy and warm weather. Each time rain ended and the weather warmed, the air was both humid and warm, which is why sycamore and ash trees were so severely infected.

Rain ended abruptly this year and was followed by warm but dry weather. It will likely rain before summer, but the transitions between rainy and warm weather will not be frequent enough to create the ideal conditions for anthracnose to proliferate as voraciously as it did last year. Anthracnose is always present but is certainly worse during some years than others. I am not worried about it this year.

Flower of the Week:
Cape mallow

Cape mallow, Anisodontea X hypomandarum, blooms more freely during warm weather, so has been more than happy to bloom early this spring. Winters are so mild here that sporadic bloom may continue through winter. The purplish pink flowers with darker centers and veins are only about an inch wide, but can be profuse. The deeply lobed leaves aren't much wider than the flowers. Foliage is finely textured and not dense. Young plants grow quickly to about 4 feet tall and become as wide later. Cape mallow is often grown as a "standard" on a single straight trunk, but requires a stake for support in this form. It prefers regular irrigation and good drainage. Foliage may yellow and become sparse without sufficient irrigation.

Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at 408.358.2574 or at LGHORTICULTURE@aol.com.