Time to get snippy in the garden to deadhead flowers and trim hedges
The last week of June is good time to deadhead annual and perennial flowers to keep them blooming. Fuchsia baskets are especially in need of deadheading to remove the deep purple berries that form if you let faded fuchsia blooms stay on the plants.
You can cut back some early flowering perennials such as Shasta daisies after they flower the first time and they will reward you with an encore performance. You can also remove the faded blossoms of rhododendrons and snip off the new green shoots as a form of pruning for rhodies already growing too large for their space.
Sharpen those shears because June is also a good month to tidy up hedges with a trim. Pruning a hedge on a cloudy day will make it less vulnerable to sunburn. The newly exposed green growth needs to build up a tan before meeting the strong summer sun.
Q. I want color year round in my garden. Can you tell me what to plant? — T.W., Federal Way
A. Here is a quick way to accomplish year round color in the landscape: Visit the nursery every month of the year, not just in the spring. Add a shrub, perennial and perhaps a groundcover that looks good that month.
Pick at least four trees, if you have room — one that looks good in winter such as the coral bark maple, one for spring such as a flowering cherry , a summer blooming dogwood and a Japanese maple with spectacular fall color.
Add hellebores for winter flowers, plant bulbs in the fall for spring blooms and fill pots with summer annuals. In the fall surround your Japanese maple with sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ and to really fill your home with late summer and autumn flowers, plant dahlias, rudbechkias and sunflowers.
Consider a hedge of shrubs, one for each month of the year. January starts with witch hazel, then forsythia, PJM rhodies, viburnums, azaleas, spiraeas, lilacs, shrub roses, hardy hibiscus or Rose of Sharon and then fall color with the burning bush and winter berries from holly. That should get you started on your way to a personal Eden.
Q. This is my first year growing tomatoes. So far they seem to be growing well. My question is how does one prune off suckers? — Anon, Tacoma
A. Suckers are the sprouts that appear between a main branch (one that has tomato flowers or fruit) and the main stem. They grow in what is called the leaf axil or joint and will never bear fruit. In Western Washington removing these short sprouts will allow for more sun and air circulation to reach the inside part of the tomato plant.
You can still get tomatoes if you don’t remove suckers, but for some of us this is a pleasant task to do on a summer day as the scent of tomato foliage clings to your fingers and you anticipate the taste of homegrown tomatoes.
Q. When does one divide perennials? I have peonies, iris and daylilies that I did not get around to dividing up in the spring when I think I was supposed to do the job. The peonies and iris are done flowering but the daylilies are still in flower. Thanks. — J.B., Olympia
A. Iris can be divided now or later in the summer, as long as they are done flowering. Make sure not to bury the roots of iris too deep but just barely cover with soil.
Peonies hate to be moved or divided, but if you must do the dirty deed, dig peonies in the fall.
As for daylilies, they are so tough you can pop them out of the ground, cut them up and replant just about any time of year, but if may be more practical to wait until they are done blooming later in the summer.
Now get ready to enlarge your garden beds because when it comes to garden math, you will multiply every time you divide.
Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.
Marianne talks year-round color
Marianne Binetti will talk about “4 Seasons of Year Round Color” from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, June 30, at 12606 First Ave S, Burien. The free talk is sponsored by the Saving Water Partnership. Sign up online on the partnership’s website to reserve a seat.
