Flower Garden
- Start seeds of annuals (and plants grown as annuals) indoors: Ageratums, annual asters, celosia (cockscomb), Chinese lanterns, annual chrysanthemums, tuberous begonias, cornflower (bacchelor’s buttons), cosmos, annual dahlias, gazania, globe amaranth, annual hollyhock, marigolds, nasturtiums, flowering tobacco, petunias, annual phlox, portulaca, annual salvias, annual scabiosa, snapdragons, statice, stock, strawflower, sweet allysum, verbena, & zinnias.
- Plant sweet peas. For wonderful fragrance plant sweet peas from the middle to the end of the month. Soak seeds overnight in luke warm water to promote germination. Provide a trellis or other support for the plants to grow up.
- Begin planting Dahlia and Iris as well as other summer flowering corms bulbs and tubers. Dahlias and Iris are some of the earliest to arrive at garden centers.
- Divide perennials that flower in summer or fall now. You can tell perennials need dividing when the center becomes less vigorous or die out.
- Prune summer and fall flowering clematis. These clematis produce flowering buds on new wood and can be pruned now to the strongest canes. Spring flowering clematis should be pruned right after they flower.
- Clean up perennials and cut back ornamental grasses to a few inches above the ground to make way for new growth.
- Fertilize and prune roses. The rosarian’s organic fertilizer of choice is alfalfa. It can be found at your garden center as alfalfa meal or in bulk at a feed store. You don’t have to pay extra for vitamins added though. Prune away any cold injury to canes. Prune back to a healthy outward facing bud. Complete all your pruning activities before the buds break.
Pest Alert | General Landscaping | Vegetables, Herbs & Fruit
Flower Garden | Indoor Garden
