It's June, the weather is fabulous: flowers are bursting from buds, fragrances float gently through the breeze. Hmm, that could be shortened to "Sun, buds bursting, breezes floating fragrances...birds sing!"

Planting
Continue to tuck in or fill out your garden beds with all the wonderful annual and perennial color that is arriving at the garden center. Celosia, dahlia, marigold, petunia, portulaca, salvia, scabiosa, verbena, zinnia, rudbeckia, gloriosa daisy, heliotrope, coreopsis, delphinium, digitalis--the list goes on and on! Can you name a few more?

Subtropicals abound. Now is an excellent time to plant hibiscus, gardenia, tibouchina (princess flower), and/or bougainvillea, shrub or vine.

Vegetables--have you been growing yours from seeds? Now is a good time to plant these little plants: cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes. You can begin these vegetables from seeds now: summer and winter squashes, pumpkins (for parents with kids that love Halloween pumpkin carving and decorating), and corn (remember to plant at least a couple of rows of corn).

For that kitchen garden, now is a good time to plant your culinary herbs such as basil, chives, lemongrass, marjoram, oregano, parsley, sage and tarragon. Rosemary should be a permanent member of your garden!

Maintenance
Now is a good time to fertilize your flowers, roses, vegetables and warm season lawns. We recommend Ironite Iron Sulfate.

For those growing native plants or other drought tolerant types, now is NOT the time to fertilize or to plant new natives. Your natives are preparing to go dormant for the summer.

Many have asked us what is causing yellowing in the leaves of their citrus, camellias, and gardenias. Iron deficiency. Do the leaves near the top of the plant have green veins but yellow in between the veins? Time for either a foliar spray or a soil drench. Try some We suggest Gro-Power Flower & Bloom 3-12-12 for your flowers and Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato, Vegetable and Herb Fertilizer for your vegetables. to return those leaves to green!

Rose lovers, you may be starting to experience powdery mildew, rust, and of course, the "beloved" rose slug. And oh, did I mention aphids? There is a multitude of products: earth-friendly types and others that are synthetic chemicals. Please ask one of us for suggestions on the best pest-fighting product for your rose garden.

Other Basics--step up your watering as we enter into these warmer months. Weed and then, what's the final set of three words?

Mulch, Mulch, Mulch.*

* We will always tell you to mulch. This does not mean mound up the mulch to 5 feet. It means continue to replenish the mulch and maintain a 2-4 inch blanket over your soil. So when you hear us singing the MULCH song, you know just what we mean!

First and foremost, in addition to the beauty, the flower of any salvia attracts hummingbirds, bees and butterflies into your garden. Salvia flower colors span an enormous range from shades of blue to purple, shades of red to orange, shades of pink to white, buff to tan, and many combinations of these.

Salvia foliage is as diverse as the flower color spectrum in color, shape, size and texture. Small needle-like leaves, oval leaves, large arrowhead-shaped leaves are just a few of the foliage shapes. Colors range from bright glossy green to gray green to red and to silvery white. Foliage texture can be smooth or rough and hairy. And to add to the many foliage attributes, many of the salvias are highly aromatic or fragrant. This is due to the oily-like glands on the foliage and the stems. These structures, not really visible to the naked eye, help salvias conserve water and make them more drought tolerant.

Did you also know that Sage = Salvia? That's right. Many of us are quite familiar with sage as an herb for cooking. The sage for cooking is Salvia officinalis — easily grown in your flower gardens, or if you prefer, in an herb garden. In medieval times, sage was used as a medicinal remedy and was cultivated specifically for that purpose. The leaves were used as an antispasmotic, as an astringent, for cold symptoms and for digestive upsets. Of course, we recommend that you simply grow Salvia officinalis for garden beauty and cooking!

There are salvias that are annuals (live just one season/year) and are best used planted en masse; most of the salvias are perennials whose growth habit and woody stems more resemble a medium size shrub. The basic flower structure is the same for all salvias, although their size, shape and color will vary. Also, the way the flowers are borne on the stems (inflorescence) adds variety to your salvia choice.

Plant your salvias in full sun. Mix Kellogg Amend about 50:50 into your native soil. Water the new planting regularly while getting established. Afterwards, follow the watering needs for your salvia(s) of choice. There can be watering variation depending upon the species that you have chosen. If you aren’t sure, just ask one of us; we would love to help. 

We have many different salvias available, and now is the best time for you to be planting this wonderful flowering plant.

Do your last thinning on deciduous fruit trees after June drop, nature's way of getting rid of an overload of fruit. It may occur any time between early May and July but is most likely to happen in June. One day you visit your apple, peach or apricot tree and find a circle of immature fruit lying on the ground under the branches. You may worry if you are new to fruit trees, but don't panic! It's a natural part of the cycle. These trees often set more than double the amount of fruit they could possibly ripen properly, so they simply drop off part of it.

If you thinned out fruit on your trees earlier, you enabled the remaining fruit to grow larger and thus will have less fruit dropping now. Nevertheless, you may need to remove even more fruit than naturally drops in order to space your crop evenly down the branches. Inspect other deciduous fruit trees that are less subject to June drop (plums, for instance) and thin out their fruits also.

Clean up any fallen fruit under the tree before it has a chance to rot and spread disease. If it's healthy, chop it and add it to your compost pile (cover it with earth to keep away flies and rodents). Also water your deciduous fruit trees deeply in June and July.

Splish Splash, we're having a blast!

Splashes of color,
a dash of green,
plenty of "spikies,"
and foliage with sheen.
Trailing and lovely,
billowing and white,
large leaf or curly leaf
All a delight!

Yes, we're talking about floral and foliage beauty in patio or deck containers. Anything goes; don't hold back. Don't be afraid to plant with annuals, perennials, grasses, vegetables, herbs or succulents. Your plant choices will seem endless.

Container gardening offers something for everyone. Think of it as a work of art and yourself as the artist. You might want simplicity--a single plant, the same color as the chosen pot. Or you may want to find foliage plants (no flowers, please!) of many different sizes, textures and colors to create an arrangement that reminds one of a modern art painting.

Can you envision this: Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum', a fountain grass, in the center; various coleus in contrasting colors of burgundy and chartreuse surrounding the grass; a couple of begonia 'Escargot' tucked in for color contrast and foliage texture; and finally, black Ipomoea (Potato Vine) and Lysimachia (Creeping Jenny) 'Goldilocks' trailing over the sides!

An impressionist look can also be accomplished by blending flowering annuals and perennials, all close in both color and flower size. Or, try a mixture of complementary colored flowers. Imagine this: In the center of the pot towers Queen Anne's Lace, surrounded by white, pink, and purple nemesia. Draping off the sides of the pot, sweet alyssum in white, pink, and purple. All soft colors, sweet fragrances and delicate blooms!

Try mixing ornamental grasses together. Combine soft green stipa or a rich golden brown carex with short tufts of silvery blue Festuca glauca. What a wonderful color combination. Stipa is a wispy grass and will give you "motion in the garden." Don't be afraid to mix your favorite ornamental grass with complementary perennials or annuals.

Rather go with vegetables and herbs? You will not sacrifice beauty; you will explode with it! Purple sage and 'Bergarrten' culinary sage (Salvia Officinalis), basil (many varieties), chives, lettuce (red leaf would be fun), sweet peppers with tiny bright red orange fruits, and French tarragon (it has a bright yellow flower) all surrounding rosemary. Clipping herbs or lettuce for the evening cookout is just a step onto your patio. This combination might be so beautiful you'll hate to snip off any foliage. But don't worry about that; these herbs and veggies will just keep on growing!

Don't forget our planting advice. We encourage you to select a high quality potting mix such as our Gardner & Bloome Blue Ribbon Blend and to mix in a controlled release fertilizer like Osmocote. Also, remember that moisture retention is frequently a problem with containers, so mix in a soil polymer, such as Zeba, that will hold on to the moisture between watering.

Just a few further tips as you plant your own piece of living art:

1. Consider grouping containers together, varying the heights of plants and containers
2. Make one container the main focal point
3. Create some coherence to each grouping in color scheme and plant forms
4. If the background is "busy" and colorful, choose like colors and lots of foliage
5. If the background is light, rich flower and foliage colors will look fabulous

Summertime is the time for outdoor living! Now is the best time to decorate your outdoor living spaces with floral and foliage works of art. We look forward to watching you create your masterpieces. Hurry in. We'll meet you in the gardens.

Blossom end rot happens not just with tomatoes, but also with peppers, squash and watermelons. There are a number of reasons for blossom end rot, all of which start because the plant has an inability to obtain calcium from the soil or the soil is deficient in calcium.

Blossom end rot is a sunken, dark area on the blossom end of the fruit, at the end opposite the stem. As the fruit develops, the rot area enlarges and can grow mold in the damaged area.

A number of factors can contribute to blossom end rot, in addition to calcium deficiency. These include irregular watering, soil mineral imbalance, root damage, broad temperature swings, or even high soil salt content. To compensate for some of these, deep water regularly instead of lightly watering daily; mulch to keep moisture in the soil; avoid high nitrogen foods that encourage foliage growth but not flower growth; avoid using fresh manure (once the plants are in the garden) because it is high in salt content.

But most important of all is the lack of calcium in the soil. To prevent blossom end rot, feed your vegetables regularly with a vegetable food high in calcium, such as Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato, Vegetable and Herb Fertilizer. On existing plants showing blossom end rot, spray the foliage and fruit with a calcium spray, like Monterey Foli-Cal.