Always a verdant month with promises of the perfect garden and landscape, this June seems especially fresh and lush. Young leaves and seedlings share June’s stage with the ever-unfolding display of new perennial blooms. Early dawns and lingering twilights lull us into thinking we can stop time and savor these lovely days forever.
Unfortunately, time does pass and June is a busy month for doing as well as enjoying. We must complete our planting projects to guarantee time for later enjoying the fruits of our labors, and also to take advantage of nursery stock that quickly becomes depleted as the month progresses.
One must-do June task is pruning such spring-blooming shrubs as lilacs, forsythia, flowering quince and spirea if you want blossoms next year. Those shrubs form the nucleus for next year’s blossoms early, so if you wait too long to prune, you’ll be aborting fledgling blossoms.
Q. My iris beds are a disaster, with thick intertwined roots and mounds of grass everywhere. Is there any way to salvage this mess, or should I just dig them all up and toss them?
A. Never toss iris! (This from an iris aficionado.) For optimal blooming, iris should be divided every 3-5 years. Since yours are really overgrown and compacted, you face a challenge. Use a shovel to lift entire clumps. Lay them aside while you rejuvenate the soil with good quality compost until the soil is loose and friable. Then the real task begins.
The roots of an iris are those white string-like projections. Discard all those fat old rhizomes and keep only cuttings with roots. Place them in the newly-prepared soil bed by fanning the roots out in a circle. Cover lightly with just a few inches of soil. Water sparingly.
You will have a huge pile to discard, but Iris bloom on new growth, so don’t feel guilty about the discard process. If you divide now, you may get blooms next spring. Otherwise, they’ll appear the following year.
Q. We hear so much about the good soil that results from compost piles that we’d like to start composting, but we are concerned about flies and odors.
A. Good compost smells earthy, a GOOD smell to gardeners. That aroma (notice I didn’t call it an odor) is only apparent when you are turning a pile that has started to work – and then only for a distance of a few feet.
If there is an odor, it means the helpful little bacteria working in your pile are not receiving enough oxygen. Use a spading fork or a rake to loosen the pile.
Your compost pile should have plant matter – i.e., grass, leaves, vegetable peelings and coffee grounds, but never fish, meat, diseased plants, or anything that has been sprayed with chemicals.
Q. We like to sit outdoors in the evening, especially on hot nights, and we’d like some suggestions for attractive, fragrant flowers.
A. Select white flowers. Although they appear insignificant in our bright sunlight, they almost glow during the late evenings. Madonna lilies are striking and their fragrance is quite pronounced at night. Other suggestion are Shasta daisies, candytuft, white astilbe, delphiniums (they need staking), summer phlox, artemisia, sweet woodruff (very fragrant), lamb’s ears and even white petunias. If you pair these with strong colored flowers, you will receive both daylight and starlight pleasure!
Q. Do weigelas grow here? We were intrigued by them when we recently visited Iowa.
A. Yes, they actually do very well if you can give them humusy soil and some protection from afternoon sunlight. There are numerous varieties, but you’ll be safe if you purchase from a local nursery and follow guidelines accompanying the shrub.
Q. My niece gave me a columbine plant for Mother’s Day. Since I live in a condo, I planted the flower in a large container that receives morning sun. How long will the plant last?
A. It will last until the weather turns too hot. Then let it die back and produce seeds that just possibly (if you keep the area slightly moist) will germinate next spring. In the meantime, plant some annuals in the container so you have longer color.
Among all your other tasks this month, remember to buy cool weather vegetable seeds for late summer planting. Fresh young lettuce pairs so well with new, ripe tomatoes.
Then relax, and think of poet James Whitcomb Riley’s musings:
Tell you what I like the best – ‘Long about knee-deep in June, ‘Bout the time strawberries melts On the vine, – some afternoon Like to jes’ git out and rest, And not work at nothin’ else!
