Anticipation for the summer gardening season peaks. Seeds are sown, edibles started and watering schedules corrected. Gardeners across the U.S. are now enjoying their spring up efforts and ensuring that their gardens thrive and perform during summer’s long days and hot nights.
Start an outside job this season, admire flowering natives and keep your eyes and ears peeled for buzzing bees and hummingbirds — there’s still time to plant edibles for a summer filled with fresh, local produce. Here’s what to do in June from U.S. area.
Locate your June backyard checklist:
California | Central Plains | Great Lakes | Mid-Atlantic | Northeast
Pacific Northwest | Rocky Mountains | Southeast | Southwest | Texas
Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC
Northwest. “Buy June-blooming plants now, so it is possible to select the specific colours and types that you prefer,” writes landscape designer Genevieve Schmidt. “Visiting plants in the nursery is among the simplest means of viewing the subtle differences between each plant. That’s why it is a fantastic idea to get plants at the nursery every month, so it is possible to evaluate which areas of your backyard need more interest in every time and coordinate the ideal display.”
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California. “If you have never noticed Matilija poppy earlier, it is bound to catch your eye in June, since the blossom season for California native plants winds down,” writes garden editor Bill Marken. “Native to Southern California, it is a strapping tree with glowing white, yellow-centered blossoms, around 9 inches wide. It’s often called fried egg plant. Definitely not tasty and definitely not for formal gardens, this is a fantastic choice for wilder, dryer parts of a big garden, particularly hillsides. Beware, though: In favorable spots it can spread broadly by underground suckers, which is great for erosion control but not so great if you are attempting to maintain better-behaved plants”
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Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting
Southwest. “Plants fight most in June, once the temperatures are hot and the humidity is very low,” states Arizona horticulturalist Noelle Johnson. “Relief will come with the summer rains and higher humidity in July. In the meantime it is crucial to make sure that your plants are getting enough water.”
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Jocelyn H. Chilvers
Rocky Mountains. “Growing flavorful foods and seasonings for your table is just one of the most rewarding facets of gardening,” says Colorado landscape designer Jocelyn Chilvers. “If one of your goals this month is to receive on the grow-your-own bandwagon, then remember to prioritize your planting schedule to accommodate the time-sensitive needs of your favourite plants; many rely on a particular number of days from planting until they are mature enough to harvest.”
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Urban Hedgerow
Texas. “Summer is the best time to plan a few imaginative garden projects,” writes landscape designer Jenny Peterson. “Add a compost bin, construct a simple deck, put in a water feature or create an insect habitat.”
“Insect habitats are a creative way of displaying dead wood, leaves, tubes, sticks, straw, hay and bark to promote the great men to stick around and do their part to keep our houses wholesome,” says Peterson. “They are also great projects to do with kids, that can learn lessons about recycling, life cycles and backyard health in the process.”
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Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens
Central Plains. “In case you do not have hummingbirds, not worry; moths are here to take up the slack,” says Nebraska garden consultant Benjamin Vogt. “This really is a bumblebee hummingbird moth on Salvia ‘May Night’. Together with their long proboscis, they favor tubular blooms like salvia and penstemon.”
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Barbara Pintozzi
Great Lakes. “While the big series is finished in the shade garden, you will find still blossoms to be found,” writes Illinois garden coach Barbara Pintozzi. ” Goatsbeard (Aruncus spp), Astilbe, masterwort (Astrantia spp) and also the mophead hydrangeas (here Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Bailmer’ Endless Summer and ‘Penny Mac’) brighten up rough corners. Hydrangeas bloom pink in the alkaline soil of the majority of Great Lakes gardens. Adding an acidifying fertilizer can create them bluer.”
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Paintbox Garden
Northeast. “Peonies take center stage when they open this month — they’re so beautiful, lush and fragrant,” writes Vermont landscape consultant Charlotte Albers. “Invite your neighbors to lower bouquets and fill your house with mason jars of blossoms in luscious colors”
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Amy Renea
Mid-Atlantic. “The back screen door of spring is slamming behind us, however, there are still little infants being born (besides these pesky bugs),” says gardening author Amy Renea. “Save the pruning until all little eggs have hatched and the birdies are flying free.”
Ger her Mid-Atlantic June checklist
Gardening with Confidence®
Southeast. “Milkweed is the only host plant for the Monarch butterfly. Asclepias tuberosa is just one species of milkweed that is also a fairly addition to the backyard, but expect (and hope) it to be eaten into a nub,” says North Carolina gardening author Helen Yoest. “The female Monarch will lay her eggs here. Soon you will see tiny caterpillars that will gradually mature since they feed on the milkweed plant. The adults also enjoy the nectar.”
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More: See more regional gardening guides