If you haven’t pruned your roses yet,
it’s time to get out there and get the job
done. Remove all spent flower heads and
prune back to just above a leaf that has five
leaflets. Once the pruning is done, fertilize
with a granular rose food and water well.
A new set of buds should develop.
It’s important to keep roses moist; when there is a dry spell,
provide about 2 gallons of water per plant per week. Avoid watering
in the afternoon and keep water off the leaves. Roses can continue
to be fertilized every two week until mid August. In hot humid
weather, black spot, a fungal disease that causes leaf drop, can be
a problem. Spraying with a new systemic fungicide called Infuse®
before the problem develops will keep roses healthy during the
growing season.
Butterflies in your yard
Butterflies are a beautiful part of
summer that everyone enjoys. If you want
to attract and keep as many butterflies in
your yard as possible, follow these steps.
1. Plant some “sacrificial” plants for
caterpillars to munch. Dill, parsley, and
fennel are favorite foods for swallowtail caterpillars. Milkweed
is the only food monarch butterfly caterpillars eat.
2. Provide water. Fill a shallow pan with sand and add water so the
sand is moist. Place the pan in a sunny spot away from tall plants.
3. Offer treats. Butterflies love sweet ripe fruit, so peel an overripe
banana and place it in a sunny place. (You’ll need to replace it with
a fresh one every few days.)
4. Make your landscape butterfly friendly by planting flower and
shrubs that provide nectar. Below is a short list of proven butterfly
attracting plants.
SHRUBS
Bush honeysuckle
Buddleia ‘Windy Hill’
Potentilla
Spirea
The Power of Neem
Neem is a tree that is native to India but is
now grown throughout the tropical part of the
world. The tree has many great qualities—it’s
relatively fast growing, tolerates air pollution and
its dense canopy produces more oxygen that most
trees. It also provides shade and fuel for wood burning stoves
and helps control erosion in areas with monsoon rains.
Neem trees produce a small seed that contains an oil that has
been found to have dozens of applications (and scientists are
discovering more uses for it all the time).
Neem oil is easy on the
environment because it is harmless to people, pets and wildlife,
yet it is toxic to insects, mites and has been successfully used
as a fungicide. Bonide® Bon-Neem™ is made with neem oil,
and this product kills a wide variety of pests on annuals,
vegetables, perennials and all woody plants. One caution: don’t
spray Bon-Neem™ when there are bee populations in the area;
it kills honeybees.
Daylilies
As soon as your daylilies finish this season’s flowering (end
of July, early August), they can be divided if needed. Daylilies
are usually divided to increase the number of plants, but a few of
the more vigorous varieties, such as ‘Stella de Oro’, can become
crowded and need to be divided or they will fail to bloom well. To
divide daylilies, two garden forks are needed. Simple dig out the
clump of daylilies with a garden fork. Gently bounce the clump to
loosen any excess soil. Take the two garden forks and push them
through the clump; the forks should be close together and back to
back. Next, pull the handles of the forks together so that the tines
pull the clump into two pieces. If the clump is large, repeat the
same operation on both pieces, making four clumps. If the size
of these four clumps is suitable, plant them back into the garden.
Trim off the leaves before planting leaving about 5” of foliage on
the root ball. Water in the new plants using a transplant fertilizer/
water mixture. Division should not affect the bloom next season.
Did You Know?
Each daylily flower only lasts one day, hence the name.
Tip
If a plant must be moved during the hottest part of the year
(not recommended), remove about one third of the plant’s top,
keep the transplant moist and give it protection from the sun by
placing an umbrella or lawn chair over the plant to shade it during
the hottest part of the day.
Flowers and gifts from Bachman’s make any day a special one. When you order your flowers or gifts online, you know you’ll be getting a beautiful fresh floral arrangement from a trusted florist known for outstanding floral design, plus quality and service.
If you’re sending flowers or gifts out of town, you can rely on us to choose the best florist from either the FTD or Teleflora nationwide flower network. Florists who can be counted on to deliver the best fresh floral arrangements and gifts, even when doing a same day delivery.
