Monthly Garden "To Dos"

• Southern Magnolia, Golden Chain Tree, Mimosa, Smoketree, Rosebay Rhododendron, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Sweet Azalea, Gardenia, Rose, Summer Spirea, Florist Hydrangea, Yucca, Gumpo and Satsuki Azaleas, Hypericum, Trumpet Creeper, Phlox, Butterfly Weed, Daylily, Balloon Flower, Stokesia, Coreopsis , Poppy, Canna, Red Hot Poker, Rose-of-Sharon and summer annuals.

• Fertilize or sidedress your vegetables as needed.

Planting

• Start plants of brussel sprouts and collards for transplanting into the garden in mid-July.
• Plant the following vegetables in your garden in June: beans, lima beans, southern peas, peppers, sweet potato, pumpkin and tomato.

Pruning

• Late June is the time to prune white pine. Trim new growth only.
• Prune narrowleaf evergreens like juniper and arborvitae late this month.
• Prune the bigleaf or florist hydrangea when the flowers fade.
• Trim hedges as needed.
• Remove water sprouts on any fruit trees and crabapple trees.
• Cut off faded flowers of phlox, shasta daisy and daylily to encourage a second flowering.
• Trim dried up foliage from your spring flowering bulbs.
• Prune off dieback of hybrid rhododendron.
• Pinch your chrysanthemums to encourage branching.

Spraying

• Spray the following landscape shrubs for the following insect pests: arborvitae-bagworm, boxwood-leaf miner, crape myrtle-aphid, hemlock-spider mites and pyracantha-lace bug.
• Spray for Japanese beetles as needed.
• Spray the following vegetables if insects are observed: cucumber (cucumber beetle), squash (squash borer and aphids) , tomato and eggplant (flea beetle), broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower (worms).
• Spray red-tip photinia for leaf spot, if observed.
• Keep spraying your fruit trees and bunch grapes with a pest control program.
• Check your asparagus plants for the asparagus beetle. Spray with the recommended insecticide if beetles are observed.
• Continue with rose spray program.
• Watch for dark brown spots on your tomato leaves. If observed, spray with a fungicide for early blight.
• Spray herbicides on the following woody weeds: poison ivy, honeysuckle and kudzu.
• Use pesticides sparingly. Spray only when needed.

• Continue fertilizing warm season grasses like Bermuda grass, centipede grass and zoysia this month. Do not fertilize tall fescue now.
• Start any warm season grasses like zoysia, Bermuda grass and centipede grass in June.

Propagation

• Late June is the ideal time to take semi-hardwood cuttings. Azaleas, cotoneaster, camellia, holly pieris, red-tip photinia and rhododendron cuttings should be taken in June or July.

Specific Chores