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To Do List:
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JULY
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1...The spring rush is over...relax and move the hammock under a shade tree !!!
2...Keep 'dead-heading' annuals for continuous blooms
3...If drought occurs, water trees and shrubs weekly
4...Inspect Peach trees, Lilacs and Dogwoods for borers, spray to control
5...Now is a good time to place your order for fall bulbs
6...Shear off seed heads of Candytuft and Creeping Phlox
7.Spray or dust your roses for Black Spot
8.Use Sevin to control Japanese beetles on roses and fruit trees
9.When hot and dry, lawns should not be cut too short
10.Plant strawberries now for next year's crop
11.Divide and or move Oriental poppies
12.Cut and hang some strawflowers or lavender for winter bouquets
13.If planning to set out evergreens next month, prepare the planting areas now
14.Plant Madonna Lilies now, cover with no more than 2 inches of soil
15.Keep up your weekly spray program for roses and fruit trees
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Did You Know ?
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That in Shakespeare's time it was not that uncommon for salads to contain as many as 30 ingredients such as:
Almonds, Barberry berries, Broom buds, Elder buds, stalks of Purslane, Mushrooms, Currants, Raisins, Samphire,
fresh and candied Rose petals, Primroses, Violets, Nasturtiums, Marigold petals, Strawberry leaves, Daisy leaves, Marrons, Yarrow,
Sorrel and Borage flowers and leaves.
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Butterflies
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To be watched for in July
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Buckeye
Comma, Gray
Crescent, Pearl
Dusky-wing, Sleepy
Emperor, Tawny
Fritillary, Great Spangled
Fritillary, Regal
Fritillary, Silver-spot
Hair-streak, Acadian
Hair-streak, Banded
Hair-streak, Gray
Pearly Eye
Purple, Banded
Purple, Red-spotted
Sulphur, Brimstone
Sulphur, Clouded
Swallowtail, Blue
Viceroy
White, Checkered
Wood-nymph, Common
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The Bloomin' Times
July 2001
DIVIDING IRISES
Summer is the best time to divide Irises because their tuberous roots (rhizomes) are dormant now. If you have any in your perennial
beds or borders, they should be divided every 3-4 years.
If not divided, the blooms may become sparse and the rhizomes get matted together, competing with each other for soil nutrients.
Carefully dig out the rhizomes and rinse off the excess soil. Examine all roots to be sure they are sound. If any feel soft or mushy,
discard them right away. Try keeping all your different varieties separated.
Before replanting, replenish the soil with peat and bonemeal. Don't plant more than 3 roots to a clump, and spread out roots. Place the rhizomes so that the tops are about half way above the soil. Just barely cover the roots with soil. Do not plant them too deep !!!
PRUNING
If you haven't done so already, prune your spring blooming shrubs now: Lilacs, Viburnums, Deutzia, Mockorange, Spireas and other spring blooming shrubs.
This is also a good time to shear or trim deciduous hedges, trim espalier fruit trees, cut back unwieldy growth on wistaria, and remove suckers from
fruit trees, lilacs, magnolias and maples
BERRY PATCH
Everbearing strawberry plants can be planted now. They will start flowering in a few weeks and these flowers can remain. Berries will form in time for a
September harvest. The everbearing varieties take hold fast even though they are planted this late.
As soon as the last raspberry is picked its pruning time. This will keep your patch from becoming a tangle of thorny brambles. Canes that bore
fruit this year should be cut to the ground. The new canes that developed this year will bear next years crop.
INSECT PESTS
Keep an eye out for moths of the peach tree borer (clear wings 1 inch wide) around your fruit trees. The moths fly to the
bases of peach, cherry and plum trees to lay their eggs.
The eggs hatch into small, wormlike creatures that chew into the heartwood and develop into borers. To prevent an infestation, the bottom half
of your trees should be sprayed every two weeks from now until late August.
JULY WILDFLOWERS
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Arrow-head
Aster
Boneset
Camomile
Cardinal Flower
Chicory
Corn Cockle
Dodder, Common
Everlasting, Pearly
Foxglove
Golden-Rod
Ground-nut
Hardhack
Horseheal
Indian Pipe
Iron-weed
Jewel-weed
Ladies' Tresses
Lily, Turk's Cap
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Lobelia, Great Blue
Meadow-rue
Orchis
Oswego Tea; Monarda
Parnassus
Pink, Sea or Marsh
Rose Pink
Saint John's-wort
Senna
Shephard's Purse
Skullcap
Smartweed
Spikenard
Sundew
Tansy
Thistle, Common
Touch-me-not
Turtle-head
Virginia Clematis
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