Native Garden Tasks for JUNE in Acadiana: By Dan Weintritt and friends

Created for use by the Louisiana Native Plant Society with the Acadiana Native Plant Project

Made in the style of Dan Gill's Month by Month Gardening in Louisiana, Cool Springs Press, Copyright 1999, 2006

JUNE - To Do

It is time to stop planting containerized plants and make a plan to-over-summer

stragglers or late acquisitions, to keep alive for fall planting. Move container plants into

larger pots, and place containers in more shade, if you haven't already.

Deal with unwanted invasive plants quickly, before they set seed and spread through

the garden! When lifting weeds, try to ensure that you do not shake their seeds back into

the garden. Having a bucket or grocery bag handy really helps with this.

Many tall rosette plants, like some of the Rudbeckias, Gaura, and Rattlesnake Master,

may be starting to flop. If you did not or do not want to stake or cage the plants, cutting

the flowering stems in half will make them stouter, prettier, and may encourage more

blooms for summer. If Texas Star Hibiscus were not pinched in Spring, and are sparse

with few blooms, consider cutting in half now. Losing the few flowerbuds you have now is

a small sacrifice for the abundance to follow, as the plant has months of bloom left.

Tall fall-blooming perennials such as Ironweed, Goldenrod, and Joe-Pye Weed can be

pinched by a third now to create plants that are stockier and less floppy in fall. Pinching

now allow Tall Ironweed to grow back to about a six-foot plant by its bloom time in the

fall. Pinching in July will result in a plant about 4-5' tall when it blooms.

Continue to deadhead and look for ripening seedpods on milkweeds, all asters

(coneflowers, rudbeckias, gaillairdias, etc.), Verbenas, Basketflower, and others. Light

deadheading can elongate flowering times. Removing seed from flowering bulb plants

will especially help them to store more of their energy and return even better next year.

Summer blooming annuals can continue to be directly sown into beds. Planting a few

sunflower seeds each month will ensure continued blooms through fall.

If recent transplants continue to wilt and struggle, consider that hand-watering may not

be enough. Think about installing a soaker hose on a timer where needed to avoid

mortality from summer heat. This may be especially needed for large plants like trees

and shrubs, whose broad root systems are too much to water with just a hose.

Magnolias are especially sensitive to summer droughts.