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ALSTROEMERIA (left):
These beautiful plants flower off and on throughout the year. They are generally not blooming in the hottest months and the foliage can get sparse. But don’t think they are dead or they are not going to come back. These plants are drought resistant meaning if you stop watering them they will generally live. But the foliage will die back but the roots and tuber of the plant will stay alive and come back when watering. This plant will bloom on an off most of the year with sufficient water and fertilizer. Garden View Crews will often use this plant in annual flower beds and supplement it with annual flowers
COLEUS (right) is a valued plant for light shade. Its colorful leaf is as prized as the flowers on many annuals. It is necessary to cut the flowers off regularly or the plant looses shape and can become unattractive. The pinching also keeps the plant compact.
WISTERIAS (left):
On established plants, this is the time of the first of three annual prunings. A good schedule for these three prunings is June, August and December. Cut any and all unwanted new growth to three buds above last years resting point. The point where the current years growth began and last years ended can be located by noticing the change in the stem/bark color. This pruning should be done to encourage flower bud development and to contain the size of the plant.
CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANTS (right):
Be very cautious irrigating most of our native plants during the summer. Most are adapted to a wet winters and dry summer moisture cycle. Too frequent irrigations now (especially in soils with a clay content) will most likely cause problems.
AZALEAS:
Keep azaleas well irrigated now that the weather is warming up. Azaleas are shallow rooted and will dry out quickly. Avoid cultivating or allowing other plants to grow in competition with the roots.
COLEONEMA - BREATH OF HEAVEN (left):
Trim after its main blooming season: Spring and early summer. It still will bloom sporadically through the warm months but you can keep it compact and increase the quality of blooms in the future by pruning now.
SALVIA LEUCANTHA (right):
This plant has abundant blooms for a long season. Prune sparingly now to limit plant size and renew flower stems. Limit watering now to enough to keep it alive, it may be able to survive nicely on watering only once every two weeks. Remove blossoms as soon as they fade.
HYDRANGEA (left):
Big leaf type hydrangea set their flower buds at the ends of the upright or lateral branches, during late summer to early fall. Big leaf hydrangea should be pruned as soon as the flowers have faded. Pruning hydrangea in the spring or even late fall, after the buds have been set, will remove the flower buds and any chance of getting flowers that season.
You should begin to see new growth coming in from the base of the plant. To keep the plant vigorous, selectively prune out the dead and weaker stems, both old and new. Don’t prune out all the old wood, since this is what will keep flowering as the new growth matures.
PELARGONIUMS - GERANIUMS (right):
Remove faded flowers regularly to encourage new blooms.
CARE FOR CHRYSANTHEMUMS (left):
For the last time, pinch growing tips this month. Continue
regular feeding and generous watering.
PRUNE CORAL TREES:
Thin coral trees (Erythrina) now before strong winds in fall.
Thinning is important for those growing in lawns or where water
is plentiful their growth is faster and wood is softer.
GROUND COVERS (left):
Trim Vinca Major and other ground covers after they've finished blooming.
DIVIDE IRIS (right):
Lift, wash, and separate three to four year old clumps of
bearded iris. Throw away spongy rhizomes, and let cut ends of
healthy rhizomes heal several hours or a day before replanting.
Cut tops off leaves to compensate for root loss. Set rhizome top
just below soil surface; point the end with leaves in the
direction you want growth.
DECIDUOUS FRUIT TREES:
Do your last thinning on deciduous fruit trees after June drop, nature's way of getting rid of an overload of fruit. It may occur any time between early May and July but is most likely to happen in June. One day you visit your deciduous fruit tree and find a circle of immature fruit lying on the ground under the branches. You may worry if you are new to fruit trees, but don't panic! It's a natural part of the cycle. These trees often set more than double the amount of fruit they could possibly ripen properly, so they simply drop off part of it.
If you thinned out fruit on your trees earlier, you enabled the remaining fruit to grow larger and thus will have less fruit dropping now. Nevertheless, you may need to remove even more fruit than naturally drops in order to space your crop evenly down the branches. Inspect other deciduous fruit trees that are less subject to June drop and thin out their fruits also.
Clean up any fallen fruit under the tree before it has a chance to rot and spread disease. If it's healthy, chop it and add it to your compost pile (cover it with earth to keep away flies and rodents). Also water your deciduous fruit trees deeply in June and July.
ROSES:
Given the proper care, combined with a few simple pruning techniques, roses will re-bloom every six weeks until the first frost.
There are two ways to prune roses during the growing season, and both will encourage new blooms to set. Most roses have leaflets (with three to seven leaves) every couple of inches along the stems. In order to produce blooms you need to prune at least to the second five-leafed leaflet. (Pruning just above will eliminate nasty dead stems called coat hangers.)
If you also want to prune for size control, you can go as far down as two leaflets above the previous cut. Pruning beyond the previous cut tells the rose you don't want it to bloom. Remember that hybrid tea and grandiflora rose stems tend to grow at least 18 inches after each pruning before blooming, so if you prune only the minimum amount you will have a very tall (and possibly leggy) rose by the end of summer.
Because roses are constantly growing, they are in constant need of food. It's important to feed roses every 6-8 weeks with a quality rose food. Continue feeding through September, and you will have quality rose blooms into fall.
FEED WARM-SEASON LAWNS:
This month and next, lightly feed Bermuda, Dichondra, St.
Augustine, and Zoysia. Follow directions on product label. Or
use less expensive nitrogen-only fertilizer; over 1,000 square
feet, scatter 1 pound urea, 2 ½ pounds ammonium sulfate.
WATERING:
If you have not increased your watering from the spring months, you must do so now. Trees (non-citrus) and shrubs will need deep soaks once each month in the summer, and regular irrigation in between. Citrus and your flowerbeds need regular weekly watering.
MULCH:
To suppress weeds, enrich soil, and conserve soil moisture,
mulch flowers, fruit trees, shrubs, vegetables-every plant you
can. Spread a 2 to 3 inch layer of sawdust, compost, ground
bark, weed-free straw, or dried grass clippings around plants.
PLANT MIDSUMMER COLOR:
Marigolds, portulaca, annual verbena, and Zinnias are best bets
for fast summer color; they take (even enjoy) heat. Perennials
to plant now for flowers this summer and next include vinca
rosea (Catharantus roseus), coreopsis, blanket flower
(+Gaillardia grandiflora), gazania, sunrose (Helianthemum), sea
lavender (Limonium latifolium), and gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia
hirta).
PLANT VEGETABLES:
Set out seedlings of beans, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers,
squash, and tomatoes. In the garden, sow seeds of beans. beets,
carrots, corn, cucumbers, pumpkins, and summer squash.
WATCH FOR PLANT PESTS:
Ripening ears of corn, geraniums, and petunias are favorites of
corn earworms (same as tobacco budworm and geranium budworm).
Spray with Bacillus Thuringiensis (sold as Biotrol, Dipel, and
Thuricide). Control leaf miners in dahlias with the same
systemic insecticides used for roses.
WATER LAWNS EFFICIENTLY:
Lawns near the coast need less water than those inland.
Depending on weather and where you live give Kentucky bluegrass
lawns 3 ½ to 5 inches of water this month. Spread over 10
waterings; give bermuda lawns 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches of water over
three or four waterings.
DISCLAIMER:
Before you buy or use an insecticide product, first read the label and strictly follow label recommendations. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by Garden View.
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