Happy Independence Day!

• Water deeply but infrequently.
• Control fungal diseases - which flourish in hot and humid weather - by keeping irrigation water from standing on foliage.  The best time to water is early morning so that the sun can dry water drops from foliage. Watering in early evening keeps foliage damp all night, encouraging the development of fungal spores.

• When you visit your roses, clip off leaves that show early evidence of blackspot - a common fungal disease that causes black spots on leaves. Put the spotted leaves in the garbage (not in the compost pile.)
• When gathering cut flowers to bring indoors - cut stems early in the day.  Then bring them indoors and recut the ends submerged in a sink of water.
  
• Don't use japanese beetle traps, because the pheromones in the traps often attract beetles that would not otherwise be there.  To control a particulary pesky group of beetles, go hunting for them in early morning and shake them into a bowl of soapy water to get rid of them.
• Keep potted plants watered! Plants in pots outside may need daily watering in the heat of summer.
• Pinch out the tips of garden mums to encourage lower, compact plants with many flowers.
• Start stem cuttings of geraniums and leaf cuttings of succulents to be potted for use as house plants this winter.
• Propagate shrubs by rooting cuttings. Semi-hardwood cuttings of Azalea, Camellia, and Holly can be taken this month. The wood should be hardened enough that the stem breaks when bent. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8702.html
  
• Prune off spent crape myrtle blossoms to prolong the flowering period.  Check out the March Gardener's Dirt for additional info on pruning crape myrtles. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/johnston/homehort2/gmarch.html
  
• Sooty Mold on the crape myrtles will make the leaves appear dark and sooty or almost uniformly charcoal gray. Sooty mold grows on the sticky leftovers of a May/June aphid feast. Control the aphids, and the mold will wash off. Powdery Mildew makes the leaves appear grey and powdery. It's a common problem which disfigures the foliage but doesn't kill the tree.
• Hand-pick bagworm bags on evergreens. Pesticides are not effective once the caterpillars are safe in their bags.
• Remove vigorous upright sprouts growing from tree roots ("suckers") or from the upper surfaces of tree branches ("water sprouts").  Pruning the sprouts out directs the tree's energy into desirable growth.
• Weed when it's easy. Weeds are easier to pull when the soil is moist, so wait until after a soaking rain, or irrigate the area first. The roots of desirable plants can be injured by pulling large weeds nearby, so pull those weeds in late afternoon or on cloudy days, and water the area afterward to help injured plants recover.
• Start seeds for cool-weather annuals indoors in July/August for fall planting. Try foxglove, pansy, alyssum, snapdragons, ornamental cabbage (kale), and primroses.  Pansy seeds germinate well when stored in the refrigerator (not freezer) for 10-14 days before planting.  Check out February's Gardener's Dirt for more info: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/johnston/homehort2/gfebruary.html  
  

• Pinch out the tips of blackberry shoots when they reach about 4 feet tall.  This helps form a tidier hedgerow for easy picking.
• Soon after tomatoes begin to set fruit, give them a boost of fertilizer to keep them vigorous and productive. Most of the new varieties are heavy producers if provided with good nutrition and adequate soil moisture. 
  

• Deckscape: Play with colors, textures, and the placement of furniture on your deck or patio. Use container-grown plants, windsocks and sculptures to change or fine-tune your color scheme and overall feel.
• Think strategy. Now that deciduous trees and shrubs are in leaf, survey your landscape critically. Do you have too much? too little? are plants too low where screening is needed? so tall that a view is blocked? Take photographs and make plans to add or move shrubs this fall. Don't do it now.

• Put out a bird-bath and keep it filled with fresh water.  Change it once a week to minimize mosquitos. Birds will pay you back by eating lots of insects! 
  
• Think twice about squashing caterpillars; many turn into butterflies.  This is just one example of what swallowtail caterpillars look like. This is a swallowtail butterfly.  Swallowtail caterpillars love parsley, so set out a few extra plants to share with them. A pan of moistened pebbles or sand will attract butterflies.