A busy time, come gloom or shine
FOR GARDENERS, June is anything but gloomy because they can usually count on cool weather for at least half the month before the heat of summer arrives. But this year, who knows.
Plant with care
It is generally not a good time to plant most landscape elements, but there are exceptions:
Now is a great time to start a pond garden. It may be the only time of the year when you can readily find aquatic plants such as water lilies at nurseries.
You also can plant heat-loving subtropicals, such as bananas, bougainvillea, gingers and hibiscus, though they will need frequent watering at first. They do most of their growing in early summer.
It’s a fine time to plant shade-tolerant shrubs, such as abutilon, aucuba, camellia, fatsia, hydrangea, loropetalum and Pittosporum tobira. Surround these structural plants with smaller, shade-tolerant perennials such as acanthus, Japanese anemone, aspidistra, bacopa, clivia, coral bells, English ivy, foxglove, ferns, hellebore, lamium, liriope and spider plant.
Color, sun or shade
Continue to put in annuals and other bedding plants -- in pots or in the ground -- that will bloom for most of summer. Choices include ageratum, alyssum, amaranths, balsam, calibrachoa, celosia, cleome, bedding dahlia, dusty miller, firetail (chenille plant), gaillardia, gazania, gloriosa daisy, gomphrena, lisianthus, lobelia, marigold, nierembergia, petunia, portulaca, salvia, sutera, verbena, vinca rosea (catharanthus) and zinnia. Try begonias, coleus, mimulus and impatiens in the shade. Lobelia does fine in partial shade.
By the beach
In cool coastal climes, gardeners can easily grow fuchsias and tuberous begonias for summer color. These two plants bloom best with strong light or speckled sun. They thrive in a rich, porous soil or in pots. They seem to do best with frequent fertilizing -- every two weeks with something like fish emulsion or another gentle fertilizer (to avoid burning).
Some fuchsias are for hanging baskets; others are more upright kinds that make little shrubs, such as the readily available, sun-tolerant ‘Gartenmeister Bonstedt.’
Container care
Pay attention to plants in pots. In summer they can quickly dry out and may need watering twice a day if sitting in full sun. If you’re going away, even for a weekend, move container plants into partial shade, so waterings last longer. Always water thoroughly, until you can see excess water coming out of the drainage hole. This process keeps harmful mineral salts from building up.
Summer eats
Tomatoes and other summer vegetables should be growing strong by now. Watch for those big, green tomato hornworms, or they will beat you to the fruit. If entire branches and leaves begin to disappear, or if you see their black, pellet-like droppings, search harder. Also watch for the green, triangular leafhoppers and their spiny black young. They suck plant juices and can be dispatched with a squirt of soap spray.
Vegetables that still can be planted include beans, beet, carrot, chayote, corn, cucumber, endive, melon, New Zealand spinach, onion, squash, sunflower, Swiss chard, tomato and watermelon. If you live inland, try planting leaf lettuce in the shade of corn or other tall crops. And if you want pumpkins for Halloween, plant before midmonth.
June drop
Deciduous fruit trees often thin themselves by shedding excess fruit in June. This is fairly common, so don’t be alarmed. Just follow their lead: Thin fruit so that it won’t touch when mature. Too much fruit stresses trees and breaks branches. There’s usually no need to thin citrus.
Put props under any heavily laden tree branch, including citrus. Use sturdy 2-by-2-inch stakes and make a saddle by nailing short pieces of 1-by-2 at the top.
