June Hints and Tips

Talk about blowing hot and cold! This Spring has been so changeable, that it has made planning crops or splitting clumps of perennials very difficult to do successfully.

In spite of last Summer’s drought, rhododendrons and azaleas are performing well in my garden, apart from the victims of salty spray from the road during the snow.

There are still jobs that must be done in hope of kind weather continuing… here are some suggestions:

Ornamental garden

• Gently remove spent flowers from Camellia and rhododendrons to make room for the leaf buds emerging behind. You can also trim back overgrown shoots to make the shrubs more compact;
  

  June roses

  next year’s flower buds will form on the new growth of side shoots that this stimulates.

• Divide bearded irises after flowering; plant with the rhizomes facing south.
• Sow biennials like sweet William, viola and wallflowers
• Divide spring-flowering bulbs.
• Remove spent flower heads of Euphorbia by cutting flowered stems to ground level. Wear gloves for this, the sap causes skin irritation.

Lawns

• Mow regularly but, if it is hot and dry, raise the cutting height.
• Apply a high-nitrogen lawn feed (again not when dry)
• Add clippings to the compost heap in small amounts; mix them with dry material to stop it all going slimy.

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