California Gardener's June Checklist
Update your hydrangeas, catch up on tomatoes and more ways to enjoy your California garden in June
This is a month when you can sit back and enjoy all you have put into your garden earlier in spring or previous years. Smell the roses and star jasmine. Bite into the first tiny squash, no need to cook it. See if your tomatoes have set any fruit yet. Or you can view June as a catch-up month. There's still time to plant summer flowers and vegetables — even pumpkins and tomatoes, which need a stretch of warm weather. I've also included a couple of problem solvers for easy, fast-growing screens and hedges, in case you'd like to fill some major holes in your landscape.
Catch up on tomato planting. Some Californians planted tomatoes in early March or April; others are still waiting. Funny thing is, and I say this without scientific evidence to back it up, unless you live in a hot inland climate or have pampered your plants with warming devices or little hand-knit sweaters, the early and late planters will probably pick their first tomatoes about the same time in late July or August. Our spring days are plenty warm enough, but the cool nights don't encourage much tomato plant growth or fruit setting.
What's a good variety if you're planting now? It's probably best to avoid the tomatoes that require a long growing season (some of the heirlooms and beefsteak types). When in doubt, you can't go wrong with Early Girl — which has become the go-to, all-around tomato for most of California, especially for late planters. Its fruit ripens quickly, and it has a smallish to medium size; it's very much the typical tasty tomato in looks and flavor.
The Early Girl plant grows quickly and tall and, being an indeterminant type, needs support (stakes, cage, trellis) from the beginning. At this time of year, watch new transplants for signs of wilting on hot days and provide extra moisture until the roots have become established.
What's a good variety if you're planting now? It's probably best to avoid the tomatoes that require a long growing season (some of the heirlooms and beefsteak types). When in doubt, you can't go wrong with Early Girl — which has become the go-to, all-around tomato for most of California, especially for late planters. Its fruit ripens quickly, and it has a smallish to medium size; it's very much the typical tasty tomato in looks and flavor.
The Early Girl plant grows quickly and tall and, being an indeterminant type, needs support (stakes, cage, trellis) from the beginning. At this time of year, watch new transplants for signs of wilting on hot days and provide extra moisture until the roots have become established.
If you've been thinking about a pizza oven. A wood-burning oven, or pizza oven, is one of those features that can transform a garden — like a swimming pool, hot tub or, for that matter, basketball court. Here are a few things to think about if you are considering an outdoor oven.
First, the obvious: Will you use it? Do you like to cook? Entertain outdoors? The oven can be the focal point of your entertaining. But it can be expensive, and all the accoutrements are expensive too: the peels, the $100 thermometers, firewood etc.
Do you have a spot for an oven? It should be near the rest of your outdoor cooking area (grill, table). You don't just start the fire and walk away.
Is there year-round access? You'll need a walkable surface near the oven, such as paving or a nonsoggy lawn.
Can you light the area?
Do you like to play with fire? Building and tending the cooking fire is the most critical step, and it's best if you enjoy it.
What do you want the oven to look like? Typically, a terra-cotta dome is enclosed in insulated housing — which can look like anything you want. The oven shown here was designed by Ruth Chivers to complement a nearby patio and grill center with a contemporary Mediterranean look. The oven comes from Mugnaini of Watsonville, California, which imports from Italy. You can get a lot of ideas from the Mugnaini website. There are simpler gas-heated pizza ovens too, for instance from the high-end manufacturer Kalamazoo.
In case you're wondering, after all my cautions, my family and I enjoy our oven a lot, and we've cooked pizza, roast pork, eggplant Parmesan, Thanksgiving turkey and more. Just don't try to justify an oven's cost, any more than you'd amortize the cost of fly-fishing by the money saved on trout eaten.
First, the obvious: Will you use it? Do you like to cook? Entertain outdoors? The oven can be the focal point of your entertaining. But it can be expensive, and all the accoutrements are expensive too: the peels, the $100 thermometers, firewood etc.
Do you have a spot for an oven? It should be near the rest of your outdoor cooking area (grill, table). You don't just start the fire and walk away.
Is there year-round access? You'll need a walkable surface near the oven, such as paving or a nonsoggy lawn.
Can you light the area?
Do you like to play with fire? Building and tending the cooking fire is the most critical step, and it's best if you enjoy it.
What do you want the oven to look like? Typically, a terra-cotta dome is enclosed in insulated housing — which can look like anything you want. The oven shown here was designed by Ruth Chivers to complement a nearby patio and grill center with a contemporary Mediterranean look. The oven comes from Mugnaini of Watsonville, California, which imports from Italy. You can get a lot of ideas from the Mugnaini website. There are simpler gas-heated pizza ovens too, for instance from the high-end manufacturer Kalamazoo.
In case you're wondering, after all my cautions, my family and I enjoy our oven a lot, and we've cooked pizza, roast pork, eggplant Parmesan, Thanksgiving turkey and more. Just don't try to justify an oven's cost, any more than you'd amortize the cost of fly-fishing by the money saved on trout eaten.
What's that flower? If you've never seen Matilija poppy before, it's bound to catch your eye in June, as the bloom season for California native plants winds down. Native to Southern California, it's a strapping shrub with bright white, yellow-centered flowers, up to 9 inches wide. It's often called fried egg plant, for obvious reasons. Definitely not dainty and definitely not for formal gardens, this is a good choice for wilder, drier parts of a big garden, particularly hillsides. Beware, though: In favorable spots it can spread widely by underground suckers, which is great for erosion control but not so good if you're trying to maintain better-behaved plants nearby.
Botanical name: Romneya coulteri
USDA zones: 8 to 10
Water requirement: Very light
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 6 to 8 feet tall; spreads far and wide in the right conditions
Growing tips: Once it's established, don't water it in summer. Cut back the stems to the ground in winter.
Botanical name: Romneya coulteri
USDA zones: 8 to 10
Water requirement: Very light
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 6 to 8 feet tall; spreads far and wide in the right conditions
Growing tips: Once it's established, don't water it in summer. Cut back the stems to the ground in winter.
Play defense against the beautiful grasses. The graceful, waving flower heads shown here say a lot about the beauty of the many grasses and grasslike plants available now. But the flowers also suggest their potential for trouble. Many grasses can spread by seeds and become obnoxious invasive pests. (For an extreme example, a species of Pennisetum is taking over the barren lava fields of the the Big Island of Hawaii.)
Don't let me talk you out of planting grasses as a lawn alternative, border, accent plant or container plant. Just do your homework first. Check with your local nursery for appropriate grasses for your area. An authoritative book is The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn, by grass expert John Greenlee, formerly of Southern California and now based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The plant shown here is Carex divulsa, often called Berkeley sedge although it is native to Europe. It is popular, pretty and easy to grow, but potentially can spread far by its seeds. Cut off the flower heads as soon as they start to dry, before the seeds scatter.
Botanical name: Carex divulsa, sometimes sold as Carex tumilicola
USDA zones: 4 to 9
Water requirement: Moderate. Can grow in wet or dry soils.
Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade
Mature size: 1 foot to 2 feet tall and wide
Growing tips: Cut off drying flowers to keep the seeds from scattering. If plants become too large or straggly, cut them back to within a few inches of the ground before spring growth starts.
Don't let me talk you out of planting grasses as a lawn alternative, border, accent plant or container plant. Just do your homework first. Check with your local nursery for appropriate grasses for your area. An authoritative book is The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn, by grass expert John Greenlee, formerly of Southern California and now based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The plant shown here is Carex divulsa, often called Berkeley sedge although it is native to Europe. It is popular, pretty and easy to grow, but potentially can spread far by its seeds. Cut off the flower heads as soon as they start to dry, before the seeds scatter.
Botanical name: Carex divulsa, sometimes sold as Carex tumilicola
USDA zones: 4 to 9
Water requirement: Moderate. Can grow in wet or dry soils.
Light requirement: Full sun or partial shade
Mature size: 1 foot to 2 feet tall and wide
Growing tips: Cut off drying flowers to keep the seeds from scattering. If plants become too large or straggly, cut them back to within a few inches of the ground before spring growth starts.
Here’s a screen or hedge for near-impossible situations. Hopbush, or Dodonaea, is one of the few plants that can thrive in dry, shady spots. (Most other shade plants seem to like moist conditions, don’t you think?) It also grows quickly. In other words, it fits the perfect profile for a screen or hedge plant, in shade or sun, or in a combination of exposures. Its evergreen foliage is bronzy purple in the sun, greener when grown in the shade.
Botanical name: Dodonaea viscosa
Common names: Florida hopbush, hop bush, hopseed bush
USDA zones: 8 to 11
Water requirement: Light to moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade, even almost full shade
Mature size: 10 to 15 feet tall and wide
Growing tips: Prune to control the size and shape. Trim back the branch tips for bushier growth. Remove the lower branches to train it into a single-trunked tree.
Botanical name: Dodonaea viscosa
Common names: Florida hopbush, hop bush, hopseed bush
USDA zones: 8 to 11
Water requirement: Light to moderate
Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade, even almost full shade
Mature size: 10 to 15 feet tall and wide
Growing tips: Prune to control the size and shape. Trim back the branch tips for bushier growth. Remove the lower branches to train it into a single-trunked tree.
Here's another overlooked, really useful shrub. Bush germander will never be a star but makes a great background plant — especially for showier plants such as the 'Mutabilis' rose shown here. Germander is an evergreen shrub with silver-gray foliage that seems to go with everything. Its small blue flowers bloom for a long season — this photo was taken in early November. (The variety 'Azureum' has deeper blue flowers.) Plant bush germander in the back of a border or along the edge of your property, in a dry and sunny spot.
Botanical name: Teucrium fruticans
Common name: Bush germander
USDA zones: 8 to 9
Water requirement: Light
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 4 to 6 feet tall and wide or wider
Growing tips: For bushier growth, thin unruly branches and cut back lanky branches in spring.
Botanical name: Teucrium fruticans
Common name: Bush germander
USDA zones: 8 to 9
Water requirement: Light
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 4 to 6 feet tall and wide or wider
Growing tips: For bushier growth, thin unruly branches and cut back lanky branches in spring.
What Else to Do in June in Your California Garden
There's still plenty of time to plant. in fact, in all but the hottest climates, it's a great time to plant warm-weather annual flowers, such as 'Janie Tangerine' marigold, shown here.
Plant summer flowers. For the sunniest spots, set out seedlings of heat-loving annuals such as celosia, cosmos, marigolds and portulaca. For shady spots: bedding begonias, impatiens, lobelia. These are easy from seeds: cosmos, marigolds and zinnias. Good choices for summer perennials include gaillardia, penstemon, salvia and yarrow.
Plant summer vegetables. As soon as possible, start these from seeds sown directly in the ground: beans, carrots, corn, melons, pumpkins and squash. And set out seedlings of cucumber, eggplant, peppers, squash and tomatoes.
Plant herbs. Favorite herbs thrive in heat: basil, chives, rosemary, thyme and oregano. Plant a pot full of them and keep it near the grill.
Finish up major planting. It's best to to plant shrubs, trees, ground covers, lawns and other key landscape elements before the hottest weather. In inland areas it's usually better to wait until early fall.
Try some tropicals. These all grow quickly in summer heat: bananas, hibiscus, palms, gardenias and citrus.
Pay extra attention to watering. Winter and spring were dry, and it's a long wait until the rainy season. Deep soak shrubs and trees, except for established natives and other drought-resistant types. Container plants may need water daily. Newly planted flower and vegetable seedlings should never dry out. Conserve moisture and control weeds with a 1- to 3-inch mulch around shrubs, trees and summer flowers and vegetables.
Care for roses. Remove faded flowers. Feed the soil with a complete fertilizer. Start a summer irrigation schedule. Watch for aphids and spider mites.
Care for perennials. After bloom cut off faded flowers. Pinch the tips of geraniums and chrysanthemums for bushier growth. Divided crowded clumps.
There's still plenty of time to plant. in fact, in all but the hottest climates, it's a great time to plant warm-weather annual flowers, such as 'Janie Tangerine' marigold, shown here.
Plant summer flowers. For the sunniest spots, set out seedlings of heat-loving annuals such as celosia, cosmos, marigolds and portulaca. For shady spots: bedding begonias, impatiens, lobelia. These are easy from seeds: cosmos, marigolds and zinnias. Good choices for summer perennials include gaillardia, penstemon, salvia and yarrow.
Plant summer vegetables. As soon as possible, start these from seeds sown directly in the ground: beans, carrots, corn, melons, pumpkins and squash. And set out seedlings of cucumber, eggplant, peppers, squash and tomatoes.
Plant herbs. Favorite herbs thrive in heat: basil, chives, rosemary, thyme and oregano. Plant a pot full of them and keep it near the grill.
Finish up major planting. It's best to to plant shrubs, trees, ground covers, lawns and other key landscape elements before the hottest weather. In inland areas it's usually better to wait until early fall.
Try some tropicals. These all grow quickly in summer heat: bananas, hibiscus, palms, gardenias and citrus.
Pay extra attention to watering. Winter and spring were dry, and it's a long wait until the rainy season. Deep soak shrubs and trees, except for established natives and other drought-resistant types. Container plants may need water daily. Newly planted flower and vegetable seedlings should never dry out. Conserve moisture and control weeds with a 1- to 3-inch mulch around shrubs, trees and summer flowers and vegetables.
Care for roses. Remove faded flowers. Feed the soil with a complete fertilizer. Start a summer irrigation schedule. Watch for aphids and spider mites.
Care for perennials. After bloom cut off faded flowers. Pinch the tips of geraniums and chrysanthemums for bushier growth. Divided crowded clumps.
Botanical name: Hydrangea macrophylla, repeat-blooming varieties such as 'Summer Beauty', 'Endless Summer' (shown here), 'Blushing Bride' and others.
USDA zones: 5 to 9 (find your zone)
Water requirement: Moderate and more, especially in hot climates
Light requirement: Partial shade; full sun near the coast
Mature size: 4 to 6 feet tall and more, and equally wide
Growing tips: Repeat bloomers need different pruning than traditional hydrangeas. During the growing season, cut off faded flowers and pinch the tips for bushier growth. Near the end of the winter dormant season, cut out dead wood and prune back to control the shape and size of the plant. (In cold climates hydrangeas die back to the ground each winter.) To change the flower color from pink to blue, apply aluminum sulfate to the soil (to affect the pH) before bloom time.