Plant a Tree for Father's Day

A great way to make this Father's Day a memorable one is to plant a tree for dad. In addition to providing a valuable asset to your yard, a tree will grow with your family and create a link between your family and your home.

Selecting the proper tree for your yard will require some forethought. The biggest thing to consider is how big the tree will get. Whichever tree you are considering, you should imagine it at its largest potential. You don't want to plant a tree that will get huge right next to your house, driveway, or where it will shade your entire garden all day. Hazards can be below ground too.

The roots of a tree will grow as large as its canopy, and can interfere with unseen water, septic, and sewer lines. Roots can also uplift sidewalks and penetrate foundations. It's always a good idea to have your water and gas lines "staked" beforehand to ensure they won't become a problem later.

The second question to ask yourself is what you your dad would want out of a tree. Would dad like a tree that is occasionally covered in flowers? Would he rather have a fruiting tree? Would he like a large canopy to block hot summer sun, or should it enhance the privacy of your yard by blocking the neighbors' view?

Other considerations, such as soil type, fertilization, and how close it will be to power lines should factor in as well. It is best to choose a tree that will fit in its surroundings without having to be trimmed.

Planting the tree is fairly simple, but doing it correctly is essential to making sure the tree will survive.

• Dig a hole larger than the container or root ball that the tree came in. Make sure the root flare (where the trunk begins to spread out into roots) will sit above the soil line.
  
• Remove any packing material, including wire, twine, or burlap.
• Cut away any encircling roots to prevent them from strangling the tree.
  
• Loosen up roots so they will be able to grow into the soil.
  
• Backfill dirt and water it in to ensure there aren't air pockets. Gently tamp the soil down to compact it.
  
• It's generally best to use the same soil the tree will be living in.
  
• Fertilizing is usually a bad idea at planting, and can burn the roots of the tree.

The most common mistake people make when planting trees is to plant them too deep. Make sure the root flare, where the trunk begins to spread out into roots, is above the height of the soil around it. A tree planted too deep will struggle to survive and will have very limited growth. If you're not sure how to identify the root flare, ask someone in the garden center.

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1. Continue to plant melons.
2. Plant tropical and subtropical plants.
3. Plant bougainvilleas.
4. Plant perennial morning glories.
5. Purchase fuchsias.
6. Continue to purchase epiphyllums.
7. Plant seeds of heat-loving annuals.
8. Use bedding plants for quick color.
9. Continue to plant summer vegetables.
10. Plant zoysia grass.
11. Plant exotic vegetables.
12. Purchase, plant and transplant succulents--including cacti and euphorbias.
13. Purchase alstroemerias throughout summer while they are in bloom.
14. Plant papayas and bananas.
15. Plant and transplant palms.
16. Continue to pick and deadhead roses.
17. Pinch back chrysanthemums to make them bushy.
18. Divide and repot cymbidiums that have outgrown their containers.
19. Remove berries (seed pods) from fuchsias after flowers fall.
20. Prune epiphyllums.
21. Thin out deciduous fruit trees after June drop.
22. Give marguerites a "butch" haircut.
23. Cut back gamolepis and euryops.
24. Deadhead and pick summer flowers to keep them going.
25. Mow cool-season lawns longer.
26. Mow warm-season grasses shorter.
27. Clip runners off strawberries.
28. Prune climbing roses that bloom once a year in spring, but wait until flowers fade.
29. Divide English primroses after bloom or wait until September.
30. Continue to prune and train espaliers.
31. Continue to remove spent bloom stems from daylilies and to propagate the types that make proliferates.
32. Deadhead alstroemerias often by pulling off the stalks with a sharp tug.
33. Look for yellow leaves and green veins indicating chlorosis in citrus, gardenias, azaleas, and others; treat it with chelated iron.
34. Feed citrus and avocado trees.
35. Feed bamboo with a slow-release fertilizer.
36. Feed water lilies.
37. Fertilize cymbidiums with high nitrogen for growth.
38. Give camellias their second feeding for the year.
39. Feed container-grown annuals and perennials with a complete fertilizer.
40. Side-dress vegetable rows if you didn't do it last month.
41. Give strawberries a shot of 0-10-10 to prolong the harvest.
42. If peppers look yellow despite adequate nitrogen, spray them with Epsom salts.

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Few plants can match the tropical appeal and intense color of canna lilies. Their regal beauty can add a spectacular presence to any garden.

Native to South America and the West Indies, these blooming beauties offer color from May until late fall, with a color range that includes all your favorite reds, oranges, yellows, pinks, corals and salmon. New hybridizing efforts have also produced a number of varieties that also feature attractive striped, variegated, bronze and burgundy foliage.

Canna lilies grow from 2-6' tall, depending on the variety, and are amazingly trouble-free when it comes to insects and disease. They are incredibly versatile and can be successfully mixed in borders, massed in garden beds by themselves or tucked between other small-to-medium shrubs. They also tolerate wet soils better than most plants. For those of you with limited space, they make a great addition to a container garden.

Canna lilies do go dormant each season and simply need to be pruned back to the ground once the foliage starts to fade. They do best in moist soils and show their colors more intensely when fed every two months during the growing season. Whether you choose them for their vibrant blooms or bold patterned leaves, make room for some easy-to-please cannas in your garden this year.

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Whether or not water restrictions are in effect, it's a good idea to think about how you can lower your water usage at home. Luckily, you won't have to consider keeping your showers to once a week, because most water usage, and potential for reduction, is outside your home. Here are some ideas to lower your water consumption without surrendering your yard to the desert.

• Adjust your watering schedule.
Doing a monthly adjustment on your water timer can save hundreds or even thousands of gallons of water a month. You don't have to stop watering your lawn, but watering it for longer periods less often will allow the water to soak to the roots and prevent evaporation. Adding an automatic or manual rain delay will also keep you from watering during or after good rain, when your lawn doesn't need it.

• Decrease the footprint of your lawn.
Eliminating underutilized sections of your lawn will save you time, money, and tons of water. You won't have to water, mow, dethatch, or seed lawn that no longer exists. Take an honest look at your yard, and think of what else you could grow around the edges. Bushes, trees, succulents, and vegetable gardens work great around the edges of your yard, providing, shade, color, and privacy, all while helping you save water.

• Dethatch your lawn.
Dethatching removes old, dead growth, making it easier for the water to penetrate the soil, and leaves room for new growth to thrive.

• Raise your mower blades.
Letting your grass grow longer will help keep moisture in, and the sun away from the dirt, lessening evaporation.

• Inspect your irrigation system.
It's very easy for you to have an underground leak in your irrigation system that leaks water incessantly, costing you money and wasting loads of water. Check around your sprinkler and drip lines and keep an eye out for areas that are too wet, have much faster-growing vegetation, or sunken impressions in the ground. These are all signs that you have a leak. If you're not comfortable doing irrigation work, it's not a bad idea to talk to a professional so you know it's fixed correctly.

• Trim bushes back from sprinklers.
If it's been awhile since you trimmed your bushes, you should check to ensure they are not blocking your sprinklers. If you want to let them grow bigger, you should consider either raising or relocating your sprinkler heads so they will continue to get to the lawn. If not, trimming the bushes back a bit will help make sure the water you're using gets where it needs to.

• Add a layer of mulch to your shrubs and trees.
Keeping a layer of mulch around your larger plants helps keep moisture in, keeps the weeds to a minimum, and can add a nice decorative touch to your beds.

• Use plants that need less water.
There are a large variety of plants that are either native or adapted to our climate, and will require less water than more tropical varieties. Ask one of our associates here for some ideas that will work for your circumstance.

Saving water is easy, and it has the potential to save you some cash and make your yard much more sustainable. If everybody reduced their usage a bit, the savings could be huge.

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Do your last thinning on deciduous fruit trees after June drop, nature's way of getting rid of an overload of fruit. It may occur any time between early May and July but is most likely to happen in June. One day you visit your deciduous fruit tree and find a circle of immature fruit lying on the ground under the branches. You may worry if you are new to fruit trees, but don't panic! It's a natural part of the cycle. These trees often set more than double the amount of fruit they could possibly ripen properly, so they simply drop off part of it.

If you thinned out fruit on your trees earlier, you enabled the remaining fruit to grow larger and thus will have less fruit dropping now. Nevertheless, you may need to remove even more fruit than naturally drops in order to space your crop evenly down the branches. Inspect other deciduous fruit trees that are less subject to June drop and thin out their fruits also.

Clean up any fallen fruit under the tree before it has a chance to rot and spread disease. If it's healthy, chop it and add it to your compost pile (cover it with earth to keep away flies and rodents). Also water your deciduous fruit trees deeply in June and July.

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