July Garden Tips
July is all about summer management: deep watering, smart pruning, pest checks, mulching, and keeping warm-season plants fed without pushing unnecessary stress. Heat, dry soil, and fast-growing pests can change the garden quickly this month, so regular observation makes a big difference.
Water deeply, mulch generously, prune carefully, and watch for aphids, thrips, mites, budworms, leaf miners, and other warm-weather pests.
Pruning, shaping, and plant care in July
In summer, avoid harsh pruning that exposes plants to heat stress. Focus on selective thinning, deadheading, light shaping, and removing problem growth.
Junipers
Drought tolerant, useful, and coming back in popularity—especially low-growing forms.
There are hundreds of juniper varieties, and many work well in Southern California because they give a greener, non-desert look while staying relatively water-wise. Trim overgrown junipers by cutting individual stems back to their starting point and shortening others only as needed.
Thin cautiously and remove only a few longer branches at a time. Do not shear junipers into bare wood.
Silk Floss Tree (Ceiba speciosa, formerly Chorisia speciosa)
Summer dryness helps mimic its natural cycle.
This beautiful tree has green bark and gray thorns on the trunk. Reduce or stop irrigation through August to mimic the dry-season pattern it receives in its native range. To help prolong bloom, begin watering again when flower bases start to swell.
Silk floss trees need little pruning. Trunk thorns can be rubbed off if needed in high-contact areas.
Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella tenuissima)
Shear after flower stalks emerge if reseeding or appearance is a concern.
Summer shearing can create a tidier look. If you dislike seed heads—or are trying to reduce reseeding—wait until the flower stalks emerge, then shear back.
Daylilies (Hemerocallis)
Feed and water to prolong bloom.
Daylilies are one of Southern California’s easiest and most popular bloomers. To extend flowering, feed with a complete fertilizer and water thoroughly. Remove spent flowers to keep plants looking fresh.
Duranta
Fast-growing, blooming now, and best kept on a pruning schedule.
Duranta can be trained as a small patio tree with beautiful drooping blooms. To maintain that shape, prune regularly. After bloom and berry set, trim hard, then continue shaping every other month and remove suckers as they appear.
Pink Thrift (Armeria maritima)
Deadhead spent flowers to keep bloom going.
Pink thrift blooms from spring into summer. Cutting spent flowers helps prolong the show. It needs low to moderate water, good drainage, and full sun, though Garden View has seen it tolerate some partial shade.
Small sections may need occasional replacement over time.
Tea Tree Shrubs (Leptospermum)
Prune lightly and avoid cutting into bare wood.
When clipping or shaping tea tree shrubs, avoid cutting into bare wood because new growth may not resprout. These plants need good drainage and little water once established. Too much water can lead to root rot.
If left less-pruned, some types can develop into attractive small trees.
Rosmarinus officinalis — Creeping Rosemary & Upright Rosemary
Avoid heavy feeding and overwatering; don’t cut into bare wood.
Too much water and heavy feeding can cause rank growth and later woodiness. Occasional light feeding is fine. Control size by pinching when plants are young. If rosemary becomes woody, cut back only into leafy wood—rosemary usually will not regrow from bare wood.
Peruvian Lily (Alstroemeria)
May look sparse in heat, but often returns strongly with water and fertilizer.
Alstroemeria flowers off and on through much of the year, but can slow down and look thin during the hottest months. Don’t assume it’s dead. With enough water and fertilizer, it will often keep cycling back into bloom.
If irrigation is reduced, foliage may die back, but the roots/tubers can survive and return when water resumes.
Azaleas (Rhododendron)
Keep evenly moist as weather warms.
Azaleas are shallow rooted and can dry out quickly in summer. Keep them well irrigated, avoid cultivating around the roots, and reduce competition from other plants growing too close.
Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha)
Prune sparingly, deadhead, and avoid overwatering.
Mexican bush sage has a long bloom season. Prune sparingly now to manage size and renew flower stems. Limit watering to what the plant needs to stay healthy; in many sites, established plants can tolerate relatively infrequent irrigation.
Remove blossoms as they fade to keep plants cleaner and blooming longer.
Prune Coral Trees (Erythrina)
Thin now before fall winds.
Thin coral trees now to reduce wind risk later. Thinning is especially important where trees are growing in lawns or receiving plentiful water, which can produce faster growth and softer wood.
Roses
With proper pruning and feeding, roses can rebloom every 6–8 weeks until frost.
During the growing season, prune spent blooms back to at least the second five-leaflet leaf. This encourages new blooms and avoids dead “coat hanger” stems. For size control, you can cut farther down—usually no lower than two leaflets above the previous cut.
Hybrid tea and grandiflora stems can grow 18 inches or more after each pruning. Feed roses every 6–8 weeks with quality rose food through September for fall bloom.
Hydrangeas
Prune bigleaf hydrangeas as soon as flowers fade.
Bigleaf hydrangeas set flower buds on upright/lateral branch tips from late summer into early fall. Pruning too late removes next season’s flower buds. After flowers fade, selectively remove dead or weak stems while keeping enough old wood to support future bloom.
California Native Plants
Be careful with summer irrigation.
Many California natives are adapted to wet winters and dry summers. Frequent summer watering—especially in clay soils—can cause problems. Water only as needed and avoid creating warm, soggy soil.
Coleonema — Breath of Heaven
Trim after the main spring/early-summer bloom.
Breath of Heaven may continue to bloom sporadically through warm months, but pruning after the main bloom helps keep it compact and improves future bloom quality.
Martha Washington Geraniums
Remove faded flowers and begin progressive cutback after bloom.
These are not true geraniums; they are pelargoniums. After bloom fades, clip spent flowers and begin cutting plants back gradually. They prefer good drainage and not too much water. They can survive multiple seasons but are often treated like annuals.
Coleus
Grow for foliage; remove flowers for a longer-lasting, compact plant.
Coleus likes bright shade (not deep shade). Pinch out flowers to keep the plant compact and extend its life. Some newer varieties tolerate sun, though they may not be as colorful.
Coleus can also be used indoors as a houseplant if it receives bright light.
Coreopsis
Deadhead for longer bloom.
Coreopsis is an easy-growing member of the sunflower family and blooms heavily through summer. It needs low to moderate water. Deadhead spent flowers to extend bloom; hedge shears can be used lightly to remove faded flowers.
Pelargoniums / Geraniums
Remove faded flowers regularly.
Regular deadheading encourages more blooms and keeps plants looking clean through summer.
Chrysanthemums
Last pinch of the season.
Pinch growing tips for the last time this month. Continue regular feeding and generous watering to support fall bloom.
Groundcovers
Trim after flowering finishes.
Trim Vinca major and other groundcovers after bloom to refresh growth and keep coverage dense.
Divide Iris
Best for older clumps that are getting crowded.
Lift, wash, and separate 3–4-year-old bearded iris clumps. Discard spongy rhizomes and let cut ends of healthy rhizomes heal for several hours or up to a day before replanting. Trim leaf tops to compensate for root loss.
Replant with the top of the rhizome just below the soil surface and point the leaf end in the direction you want growth.
Fruit trees, lawns, and summer watering
Deciduous fruit trees
Do your final thinning after “June drop,” the natural process where fruit trees shed excess immature fruit. If you thinned earlier, the remaining fruit should size up better, but you may still need to remove more fruit so it is spaced evenly along branches.
Clean up fallen fruit before it rots and spreads disease. Healthy fallen fruit can be chopped and composted, but cover it with soil to discourage flies and rodents. Deep-water deciduous fruit trees through June and July.
Feed warm-season lawns
This month and next, lightly feed Bermuda, dichondra, St. Augustine, and zoysia. Follow the product label. These grasses are actively growing now and respond well to nitrogen.
Water lawns efficiently
Lawns near the coast need less water than inland lawns. As a rough rule, water deeply and less often rather than shallow daily watering. Use catch cups or an irrigation audit to understand how much your system actually applies.
Older rule-of-thumb ranges: Kentucky bluegrass may need about 3½–5 inches of water spread over multiple irrigations in a hot month; Bermuda often needs less. Adjust for weather, soil, slope, and local restrictions.
Watering
If you haven’t increased watering since spring, do so now. Established trees (non-citrus) and shrubs often benefit from monthly deep soaks in summer, with regular irrigation in between as needed. Citrus and flower beds generally need more regular watering.
Mulch
Mulch flowers, fruit trees, shrubs, vegetables—nearly everything. A 2–3 inch layer of compost, ground bark, weed-free straw, sawdust, or dried grass clippings helps suppress weeds, conserve moisture, and improve soil over time.
Planting in July
Plant midsummer color
For quick summer color, plant heat-tolerant annuals such as marigolds, portulaca, annual verbena, and zinnias. Perennials for summer and future bloom include vinca rosea (Catharanthus roseus), coreopsis, blanket flower, gazania, sunrose, sea lavender, and gloriosa daisy.
Plant vegetables
Set out seedlings of beans, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, squash, and tomatoes. Sow seeds of beans, beets, carrots, corn, cucumbers, pumpkins, and summer squash directly in the garden.
Watch for plant pests
Corn earworms (also called tobacco budworms or geranium budworms) target ripening corn, geraniums, and petunias. Products containing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are often used for caterpillar pests—always follow label directions.
For leaf miners on ornamentals, use labeled controls carefully and avoid unnecessary broad-spectrum sprays.
Weed
Remove weeds before they flower and set seed. A little work now prevents a lot of late-summer reseeding.
Before buying or using any insecticide, read the label and strictly follow label recommendations. Mention of trade names or commercial products is for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by Garden View.