• Be careful of the heat. Wear a hat and sunscreen; drink plenty of water. Try to do outside work in the morning or evening, when it is cooler.
• Be sure to trim trees and vines growing near swimming pools.
• Choose crape myrtles.
• Clean off the stems from agapanthus and daylilies that have already bloomed.
• Control fireblight by removing disfigured branches and twigs.
• Control pests and diseases that cause dead brown patches on cool-season lawns.
• Control pests on fuchsias.
• Control rose pests and diseases.
• Control white grubs on cool-season lawns.
• Cut back your petunias in mid-August to keep them flowering.
• Cut off the suckers from deciduous fruit trees.
• Do not fertilize deciduous fruit trees.
• Feed fuchsias, tuberous begonias, water lilies, cymbidiums, ferns and tropicals.
• Feed warm-season lawns. Feed cool-season lawns only if they show signs of yellowing.
• If you started biennials from seed in July, fertilize them with fish emulsion at weekly intervals.
• Fertilize roses with E.B. Stone Rose & Flower Food.
• Give fuchsias a light pruning.
• Control weeds by mulching, cultivating, and hand-pulling.
• Pick out and purchase cassias and flame eucalyptus.
• Plant papayas, bananas, and palms.
• Plant tropicals in coastal zones.
• Prune and train wisteria.
• Prune and train your espaliers through the growing season.
• Pull out dead crabgrass if you have previously treated it with weed killer.
• Purchase and plant succulents, cacti, and euphorbias.
• Remove dead and dying foliage from date palms.
• Remove suckers from roses.
• Stop pinching chrysanthemums.
• Study your irrigation system; check for malfunctioning heads. On drip irrigation systems, flush filters and headers.
• Transplant palms.
• Water warm-season lawns deeply at least once a week in most zones. Water cool-season lawns more shallowly and frequently. Follow local water restrictions, of course.
• Water, water water! Be sure to keep container plants and garden beds watered well.

Summer is upon us and so is the hot weather. We can choose to be miserable and suffer through the heat, or we can be smart and make a difference. One way to be more comfortable is to turn up the air conditioner and enjoy the arctic air. This works well until the utility bill comes. Energy rates have increased rapidly in the last few years, making the arctic air solution not very practical.

There is one solution that not only makes you more comfortable, but can also save you money or even make you money. The key to comfort lies in the landscape. With properly placed trees and shrubs, you can reduce your energy bill by up to 50%. When plants, especially trees, photosynthesize, they release a large quantity of water into the air, resulting in natural evaporative cooling. Research has shown that an environment that is shaded by plants will have an air temperature that is 3 to 9 degrees cooler than non-shaded areas.

When planting trees and shrubs you should be careful where you plant or you will actually waste more energy than you save. You want to reduce the summer sun as well as allow maximum warming winter sun. Placing trees on the east and west sides of the house has maximum summer cooling effect. These shade the walls and windows when the sun is low in the morning and evenings. If you place trees that shade southern winter sun, you may well have an decreased energy bill. To create maximum savings, you need to select a large shade tree such as a Chinese elm or a camphor tree that will grow large enough to shade the southern roof in mid summer and lose its leaves in winter to allow the needed heating. Shrubs and vines also provide sun protection and increased insulation and result in significant energy savings.

Proper placement of trees and shrubs not only saves you money, but can also make you money. There is nothing that has a higher return on home resale value than the landscape. On the average, landscaping returns 110% of the investment and continues to increase over time.

So get out and make your summers more comfortable and more affordable by planting trees and shrubs in your yard today.

Want to add a splash of tropical pizzazz to your garden? Think hibiscus!

Hibiscus is the one of the flashiest tropical shrubs around! The large vibrant colored funnel-shaped flowers are simply spectacular. The most familiar hibiscus to all of us is Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, originally from the tropical areas of Asia and cultivated for centuries.

Hibiscus can be used as specimen plants and are also beautiful when used as a tropical flowering hedge. They bloom in spring and summer with flowers ranging in size from 4-8 inches wide, single or double. Flower colors can vary from white to pink to red, from yellow and apricot to orange, depending on variety.

Hibiscus prefer a well-drained soil, rich with compost, full sun to partial shade, and regular water during the growing season. During the blooming period, fertilize the plants every two months with a balanced plant food. To keep mature plants growing vigorously and to maintain an attractive shape, prune out about 1/3 of the old wood every spring. Pinching out tips of stems in spring and summer will increase your flower production.

We invite you to visit us soon so we can show you our great selection.

By Tamara Galbraith

Wondering what will grow in your veggie garden during summer's most sweltering months? Try the heat-loving beauty that is the eggplant.

Apart from the gorgeous fruit - which comes in many shapes and sizes, from the classic deep purple to pure white, to lavender-and-white marbled, and from the familiar large oblong fruits to the long slender Japanese varieties - the eggplant is in itself an attractive plant that can be grown as part of the ornamental garden. Its upright habit is fairly tidy, and the large, furry leaves provide an attractive contrast to other, more run-of-the-mill, plants in the landscape.

Unfortunately, eggplants tend to baffle a lot of gardeners. Many people don't want to grow them because they don't know what to do with the fruit, and that's a shame. When picked young, firm and still glossy, eggplants are delicious, virtually seedless and not bitter, and they make a wonderful accompaniment to many Italian and Mediterranean dishes.

Watch out for the rest of the plant, however; eggplant is a member of the toxic nightshade family, so don't eat any part but the fruit.

When planting by seed in the Spring, most varieties should be planted 18 to 24 inches apart; compact and dwarf kinds can be a little closer together. Although it is too late to plant by seed, we carry eggplants in 4 inch and 1 gallon pots that are ready to plant in your garden right now.

Stake taller plants to keep the fruits off the ground. Plant in full sun - the more sun, the better. Soil should be fertile, well-drained and rich. Eggplant is somewhat drought tolerant, so don't overwater - it is susceptible to root rot. Mulching around the plant will help maintain even moisture. Water a bit more often when blooms appear. Eggplants will also do well in pots; use 3 gallon or better, with a good potting mix like. Feed with a fertilizer recommended for tomatoes; like tomatoes, eggplants will put out lots of foliage and little fruit if you use a fertilizer too high in nitrogen.

Many homeowners purchase a beautiful Japanese maple in spring only to bring in burnt and damaged leaves in summer, worried that their investment is about to part ways with their yard. The tree isn't dying - it's just suffering from heat stress. A common misconception is that Japanese maples can't tolerate a full sun location. But this is not true. All Japanese maples can adapt to a full sun location and, in fact, tend to color up better when they are in one. What most people experience is summer heat stress due to infrequent (or lack of) water when the tree needs it, especially during a heat wave.

Most Japanese maples will burn a little on the leaf tips in the first year while acclimating to a sunny location. But after that, they should not experience more stress. The reason maple leaves turn brown on the edges in summer is that the tree is unable to replenish the moisture the foliage loses through natural transpiration. As moisture leaves a plant, the tree draws moisture up from the ground to keep the cells in the leaves healthy and robust. If the tree has no moisture to draw from, the cells burst and die, which leads to the burning one sees on the leaf edges.

This condition can also be caused by salt burn from the use or overuse of strong chemical fertilizers containing high amounts of nitrogen, especially ammoniacal nitrogen. Even if the soil is moist around the trees, the tree can burn because the moist soil actually activates the fertilizer and the tree cannot control the amount of fertilizer it draws up.

What Japanese maples do need is a consistently moist, well-drained environment and, preferably, the use of an organic fertilizer. The term "well-drained" is key because regular watering in a poorly drained area will lead to root-rot and, ultimately, death. So never plant a Japanese maple in a low spot or next to a downspout or gutter. The amount of watering it takes to maintain a consistently moist condition will vary with soil type and location but on average Japanese maples should be checked for watering every 2-3 days.

For most pool owners, the landscaping surrounding it can be the finishing touch to the backyard oasis. Plants provide beauty and privacy around a swimming pool.

They also can be used to hide swimming pool equipment and help swimming pools to blend more naturally with the surrounding environment.

Your goal should be to create a landscape that frames your pool and makes it the focal point of your yard. Make sure to incorporate some taller plants that will be able to form privacy screens around the pool area. And don't forget to select plants that will be low maintenance and use less water. This will give you more time to enjoy your pool.

Every pool owner should be aware of a number of considerations before selecting plants. Remember that your pool and the deck surrounding it reflect a tremendous amount of sun. Make sure to choose plants that can take it. Also, pick plants that either don't cause much litter or that drop all their leaves at one time so you only have to clean up once a year. Constant leaf drop will require constant cleaning.

Use low water-use plants that will not require heavy irrigation around the pool. Too much water can damage pool equipment and potentially lift your concrete decking. Plan for year-round color and select plants with showy flowers that don't attract bees.

Try to avoid planting lawns near swimming pools. This will help keep grass clippings out of the water. If planting trees, select varieties with non-invasive root systems to avoid damage to deck or pool.

It's hard to avoid splashing around a pool, so any nearby plants will probably be exposed to the effects of pool chemicals. How your plants are affected will depend upon the type of chemicals you use. As a general rule, plants with thick leaves are more likely to be resistant to chemicals and pool salts.

A poolside landscape will enhance the beauty and elegance of your pool. By softening the edges of your pool, you can make it blend in more naturally with the rest of the garden. We have a great selection of plants that are perfect for poolside planting. Stop by and our staff of nursery professionals will be happy to help get you started.

This Phantastic Phasmatid made the Top 10 Strange Species found and described in 2008 by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University by being the world's longest insect, with a body length of 14 inches and an overall length of 22.3 inches. Found in Borneo by amateur Malaysian naturalist Datuk Chan Chew Lun, the Phobaeticus chani, also known as Chan's megastick, beats out both the previous record holder for the longest body in the insect world (another stick insect from Borneo named P. kirbyi), and the longest stick insect with its legs fully stretched (P. serratipes, which was also found in Malaysia).

Little is known about the P. chani's biology, but there is speculation that it lives in the canopy of the rainforest of Borneo, and its eggs have tiny wings so they can glide from one tree to another. And the upside? Its life expectancy is believed to be 100 years.

A specimen, one of only six specimens known, all of which originate from the State of Sabah in Borneo, will go on display in the Creepy Crawlies gallery at the Natural History Museum in London. The museum's curator of stick insects, George Beccaloni, said: "We've known about both the previous record holders for over 100 years, so it's extraordinary an even bigger species has only just been discovered. It's a sad thought that many other spectacular insect species are disappearing as their habitats are destroyed, before we have been able to find and name them. It's amazing that such big things are still out there and makes you wonder what else there might be."

Hopefully these finds, and the subsequent attention they are receiving will lead to a monetary boost to scientific funding. We frequently forget how little we truly know about our own world and the marvels that are still to be discovered.

Click here to view more Strange Species!

Can I save my plants that have shriveled up from the heat?

Answer:
That depends how long your plants have been suffering. Plants don't die from heat exposure, but rather from a lack of water to combat the drying effects of the heat.

(Think walking in the desert without water.)

Plants need moisture to keep the cells in their leaf tissues healthy. If there is no moisture for the plant to take up, the cells will burst and the foliage will start to shrivel and burn in the areas farthest from the root ball (source of water) and work its way towards the center of the plant.

When plants are first stressed, they will show you by wilting. When watered within a few hours of wilting, most plants will perk up and look just fine again. They may be saying a few choice words under their breath at you, but all will be forgiven. But if your plant is shriveled and burned, it means your plant was neglected and you could be facing five to ten for plant homicide.

If the plant is in the ground, water the root ball with your hose. Turn the water so that the hose is only slowly dripping. Water for 1-2 hours or until the root ball looks fully saturated.

If it's in a container, try to soak the entire container in a bucket of water until it has fully absorbed enough water and the container is heavy again. Then continue on a regular watering schedule. Do not fertilize your stressed plant to "help" it recover.

If the plant is still alive, it should show some new growth within 7-14 days. At that point, prune off any dead foliage above where the new growth is appearing. Once you have at least 3 inches of new growth, you may give it a light feeding.

Click to print this article.