Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow? by Mary Crowell
Has anyone noticed how very beautiful the gardens in our neighborhood are this year? I was wondering if the amount of rain we had followed by glorious weather had anything to do with it? June is the month that one notices how well and showy the roses are. It is so hard not to stare at the lush gardens while driving, remembering to keep one’s eyes on the road! Mine (Betty Boop, Irresistible, double Gourmet Popcorn and tiny, tiny Si) bloomed like crazy. Contrary to popular myth, roses are not as fussy as some would lead you to believe. Following are some easy steps for the care of roses: Make sure they have good air circulation and lots of sun by pruning out the inner branches and removing lower leaves at the bottom foot of the plant. If you deadhead (remove the spent blooms) regularly, water on a regular basis, and feed every 4 weeks with a balanced rose food, you will see marvelous blooms all summer long. To prevent powdery mildew and hit a few aphids, it might be necessary to spray every few weeks with a mix of 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp hort oil, 2 tsp of dishwashing soap in a gallon of water. A few spoonfuls of epsom salts at the base of the plant seems to help, along with a product called Pay Dirt that my rosarian friend Lore recommends.
Now is the time to feed camellias, feed and water summer flowering bulbs, and water citrus well, as it is essential for great tasting and juicy fruit. Pinch your mums back to have many more blooms in the fall. Cut grass longer than usual, water deeply but less often, and fertilize every 6 weeks. Or better yet, get rid of the grass and plant a veggie garden in the front lawn. Finish pruning late blooming shrubs such as weigelia, spirea, forsythia, philadelphus and cut back vines such as wisteria, honeysuckle and passion vine. Trim hedges. Lift and divide iris after blooming. Stake tall20plants such as alstroemeria and order fall bulbs. This is also a good time to take cuttings of geraniums, plant herbs and summer perennials, such as coreopsis, scabiosa, feverfew, lantana, verbena and my personal favorite salvia. Last year I planted a new salvia for me, called “hot lips”, a red and white one, very cute and it is doing well. This is also the last month I usually repot and split cymbidiums, usually every 3 years, so that the new root growth is in place before the winter. Sometime I should try to take some of my own advice as I was late repotting my cyms this last year and they didn’t have time to grow roots well, before the winter rains, so I had loose plants with no roots this spring and no spikes. Had to repot them again! Correct watering year round is so very important but especially critical in the summer, especially if it is hot! Don’t over water natives and remember to check container plants for moisture. as they dry out much more quickly than plants in the ground. Use water saving devices such as soaker hoses, drip irrigation, and mulches to cut down on evaporation.
It is not too late to plant June veggies such as beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, melons, parsley, peppers, s quash and tomatoes. Get seedlings rather than seeds at this stage of the game. Plant some herbs in baskets and containers right outside your kitchen door to make for easy access. I have those five chimney flues I’ve mentioned before, planted with tomatoes, basil, lots of other herbs and a “pink lemonade” lemon tree in one of them.
As most of you know, who know me personally, my real passion is epiphytic cacti, epiphyllum if you want to google the plant, the “Oh WOW” flower and I am just beginning to come into season. With about 400 different plants which are currently in bud, I should have a great showing this month and next. I am having open house June 20th, 10:30 am-ish, come on by and check out my flowering cactus plants.
317 San Miguel Way in the San Mateo Village, I live in the back in-law.
Questions?
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or the San Mateo Garden Center.
Mary, John and >^..^< >^..^<>^..^< in San