June Landscape & Garden Tips

Our region is a big one and throughout June different areas will see different types of weather and temperatures. This is why June is such a critical month when it comes to proper care for our landscape and gardens. Preparation and better care now will ensure a healthy and full landscape throughout the summer and heading into the fall. Our nursery pros have compiled a few tips and tasks for your landscape this month.

To Do List:

• Watering: Some areas in our region will see triple digits this weekend. Yes, summer is here. But don't worry. Following our nursery pros recommendations your landscape can still look green and vibrant all summer long. Common questions like "how much water do I use" and "how often do I water" are all answered here in our Best Watering Practices. 

• Fertilize: As we mentioned above, June is a tough month for the material on your landscape as it transitions to the warmer days. Give the material on your landscape and your lawn a boost with specialized fertilizers like our  fast acting Moon Royale Professional Turf Fertilizer. In most cases, you will see results in just four days, and it gets stronger as it goes to work greening up your lawn. Our Super Charged Moon Juice and Super Palm Juice which are designed to trigger growth responses and supplement the essential micro and macro nutrients that plants need to thrive in our climate.

• Protect The Trunk Of Your Trees: Trees, just like us, can also get sunburn. However, the bottle of sunscreen isn't going to be enough. Young trees, especially citrus, need protection from the sun when temperatures increase. You can protect the trunk of a new tree from sunburn with Protective Tree Wrap. Available at any Moon Valley Nursery location. To further protect your tree, young or old, you can stake them. This provides stability when high winds come in. Moon Valley Nursery also offers staking services as well. Click here to map a location near you.

• Weeds: Stick to your weeding plan. Continue to do it often. Moon Valley Nursery stocks all of the things you will need for your weed prevention plan at our locations.

• Mulch: With temperatures increasing , mulching is going to be extremely important for the next few months. Mulch any area where the sun is shining directly on the dirt. The mulch allows the roots to keep cool and moist. Moon Valley Nurseries has a great selection of mulch to choose from. 

Olive Trees
Moon Valley Nursery offers three beautiful olive trees from our farm  that has been growing olive trees for more than 50+ years. Fruitless olive trees are available in Arizona and Las Vegas and "fruiting" olive trees like the Mission and Manzanilla are available in California. Click on the variety below for more info. Fruitless | Mission | Manzanillo 

Palms
Palm trees love being planted during the summer and as an accompaniment to our June Landscape & Garden Tips we list our Top 5 Palms To Plant This Summer right here. 

Desert Museum Palo Verde
One of the most popular trees for our customers who want to decrease their water usage while adding color is the Museum Palo Verde. It is a low maintenance tree that is easy to grow that thrives in full sun. When in bloom, the tree displays a vibrant yellow flower display that is complimented well by its brighter green thornless trunk.

Tipu
The Tipu is the perfect summer shade tree. It is a water wise variety that has become popular among landscape professionals and homeowners for its rapid growth and showy apricot yellow flowers during the summer. This semi-evergreen grows extremely fast and is great at  quickly creating massive canopies of shade to cool your home, shade a patio or protect the other plants in your yard. It also requires little maintenance as it does extremely well in many soil and drought-like conditions.

Chinese Elm
A top performing shade tree in our region, the Chinese Elm is a widely popular for good reasons. It is very tolerant to poor soil, poor weather, and can still provide the large, wide shade that it's known for. It loves growing in the full sun and provides a massive canopy of shade at an early age. The Chinese Elm is also known as the “Evergreen Elm”. In very mild winters, Chinese Elms can retain their leaves throughout the season. In warmer months, the Chinese Elm boasts dark green foliage on an umbrella-shaped shade canopy. 

Sissoo
The Sissoo tree is one of the fastest growing trees on this list and is extremely well adapted to our hot summers. Native to the the hotter areas of India, the Sissoo tree looks like a classic midwestern shade tree but is very durable and uses very little water. The Sissoo has quickly become a favorite for landscapers and homeowners because of their extremely fast growth rate and huge amounts of shade. 

Vitex
Although the Vitex is known by many names it is best known for its beautiful spikes of purple blooms is has in the summer months.  The Vitex is prized for not only these unique desert blooms, but also for its natural ability to attract butterflies to one’s landscape. One of the plant's common names, monk's pepper, references the use of its seeds as a pepper substitute in monasteries, where it was prized for its intrinsic effects on virility.  

Ficus
Indian Laurel, commonly referred to as the Ficus nitida, are among the most beautiful and versatile trees for any landscape. Lush, dense foliage provides dense canopies of shade from strong softwood branches. Ficus are easily pruned into any shape and size from patio trees and hedges to substantial storybook shade trees with unique looking powerful branches and trunks as they mature.

Crape Myrtle
One of the best choices for beautiful bursts of color in your landscape if the Crape Myrtle. These small trees produce exquisite colors in purple, pink, red, and white and look aesthetically pleasing to the eyes when they are planted in cluster on side views or accent location on your yard. These trees bloom from late spring and through the summer and perform best when they receive at least a half day of sun.