The Fourth of July is almost here. It's not too late to create an Independence Day planter in red, white, and blue! For reds: try verbena, petunia, Sweet William, or salvia. For blues: bachelor's button, salvia, petunia, or lobelia. For whites: alyssum, petunia, candytuft.

Now...on to the July tasks in your gardens!

Planting
You can still plant some annuals and perennials in your summer gardens. For annuals, try marigolds, portulaca, and zinnias for that huge splash of color. For perennials, and even more color, plant coreopsis, gaura, rudbeckias, salvias, and many more.

Tropical plants are popular now and can be brought into any garden, whether tropical, cottage, or country themes. Flowering shrubs include hibiscus, brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet), canna, bougainvillea, and vines such as passion flower or Burmese honeysuckle. Large-leaf evergreens include philodendrons, xanadu, tree ferns, and gingers. You can even include abutilon, which comes in several colors including red, yellow, orange, and pink.

Harvesting
You are probably busy harvesting and enjoying your summer vegetables like green beans, tomatoes, eggplant, squashes, and peppers. You can also continue to plant these veggies to extend your crop harvest.

Maintenance
This time of year is often a major "pest" time in our gardens. Those holes in your rose leaves are from the rose slug. Aphids love the rose buds, and more. You can wash off these pests with water. You can also use Green Light Rose Defense. Caterpillars are abundant; try a spray containing Bt. And we can't forget snails--they won't let us. We recommend Monterey Sluggo for snails and slugs.

It's feeding time for your flowerbeds, roses, vegetables and warm-season lawns. Come in and ask one of us which fertilizers will be best for each of your plant needs. We offer a wide selection of fertilizers: multipurpose, organic, and slow release.

You can do some pruning, even though it's summertime. Fuchsia 'Gartenmeister,' gaura, and salvias will look much better if cut back by about 1/3. Oh...and your catmint, too.

If you forgot to increase your watering from the spring months, you must do so now. Trees (non-citrus) and shrubs will need deep soaks once each month in the summer, and regular irrigation in between. Citrus and your flowerbeds need regular weekly watering.

Those of you growing tomatoes and peppers, watch for tomato hornworms. They will need to be hand-picked from your foliage.

As usual, mulch, mulch, mulch! We will always tell you to mulch. This does not mean mound up the mulch to 5 feet. It means continue to replenish the mulch and maintain a 2-4 inch blanket over your soil. So when you hear us singing the MULCH song, you know just what we mean!

And last, but not least, have a very Happy Independence Day!

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Our lawns and gardens are put under a good deal of stress this time of year. Any weakness in water coverage, soil nutrition or weed control shows up immediately in the heat of summer.

Now is an excellent time to double-check your sprinkler system. Plugged or broken heads should be fixed or replaced.

Brown-patterned circles in your lawn around a sprinkler head indicate it has been plugged by dirt or has become a victim of the dreaded lawn mower attack.

The irrigation system in flower beds should also be carefully checked. Many times we plant in front of a sprinkler. This isn't a problem when the plant is a 6" tall seedling, but can result in disaster for others in the bed as that tiny plant grows to a couple of feet in height--and blocks the water to other plants.

Make the necessary adjustments--and watch your plants flourish!

Are you considering a new landscape for next year? If you're tired of your old garden look or have a brand new yard that needs landscaping, consider our team for all of your design and installation needs.

Green Arrow Nursery Consultants are experts in landscape design. We know which plants grow well in our area, and our design team is knowledgeable in all of the latest plant introductions and landscape techniques.

We work with you to design and create a look that is unique for you and truly reflects your needs and desires. But many people make the mistake of contacting us in late spring when we are already booked up for most of the year. It takes time to design a landscape plan for your home, so we invite you to plan ahead and let us design your landscape plan now so we can add you to our work schedule.

Give us a call today at (818)894-8306. We're here to make sure all of your garden dreams come true!

Many gardeners give up on their roses in the summer, believing they produce quality flowers only in the spring. Rose blossoms do tend to be smaller in the summer and the colors not quite as vivid because the summer heat forces the blooms to open before blossom size and color pigment have completely developed. But given the proper care, combined with a few simple pruning techniques, roses will re-bloom every six weeks until the first frost.

There are two ways to prune roses during the growing season, and both will encourage new blooms to set. Most roses have leaflets (with three to seven leaves) every couple of inches along the stems. In order to produce blooms you need to prune at least to the second five-leafed leaflet. (Pruning just above will eliminate nasty dead stems called coat hangers.)

If you also want to prune for size control, you can go as far down as two leaflets above the previous cut. Pruning beyond the previous cut tells the rose you don't want it to bloom. Remember that hybrid tea and grandiflora rose stems tend to grow at least 18 inches after each pruning before blooming, so if you prune only the minimum amount you will have a very tall (and possibly leggy) rose by the end of summer.

Because roses are constantly growing, they are in constant need of food. It's important to feed roses every 6-8 weeks with a quality rose food like Whitney Farms Rose & Flower Fertilizer. Continue feeding through September, and you will have quality rose blooms into fall. So don't give up on your roses. With a little help, they will provide loads of blooms for you all season long.

No doubt you're seeing these riotous shrubs and small trees in bloom right now! Sunny and hot will continue to be the forecast over the next couple months.

Some plants (and people!) grow weary and stressed when high temperatures persist day after day. Crape myrtles, on the other hand, thrive under these conditions, making them valuable flowering shrubs or small trees in the landscape. Whether trained as standard or multi-trunk trees, Crape myrtles make beautiful specimen or accent plants. Showy crinkled flowers are abundant throughout summer, with colors ranging from the reds to pinks, purples, and white. These gorgeous shrubs are wonderful in any sunny spot where summer color is needed.

For desired size and shape, prune in early spring. Don't worry too much about your pruning skills, as crape myrtles bloom on new wood. However, it is important to deadhead as blossoms fade in order to encourage continuous bloom. Crape myrtles are long-lived, drought tolerant and relatively pest free, although sometimes aphids and powdery mildew can be a problem. The handsome bark and fall leaf color just add to an already stunning plant!

Enjoy the show!