Will June Give Us Gloom or Bloom?

Traditionally unpredictable June weather gives a chance to beat the heat of summer and make most of the last garden planting before fall.

If you have not already done so, amend the planting area with several inches of quality compost and a balanced fertilizer, following the application rate on the product. Be sure to shade new plantings from unexpected hot, sunny conditions and keep moist to root in.

The Sunset Western Garden Book has zoned the western United States with a system highly recognized for identifying our unique planting regions.

See the end of this article for a list of plants suitable for this region.

Depending on where you live in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, you are typically in either Sunset zone 19 or 20. These zones are influenced by thermal belts in the interior valleys, with occasional ocean influence.

The factors used to determine these zones are latitude, elevation, ocean influence (tends to be mild and laden with moisture in the cool season), continental air influence (colder in winter, hotter in summer), mountains, hills, and valleys (determines influence of ocean or continental air movement), Soil (drainage and Ph), and microclimates.

Microclimates are sharp modifications of the climate within any zone.  Examples of microclimates are south-facing slopes which receive more solar heat than flat land or north-facing slopes; hilltops are warmer than valleys into which cool moves (cold-air basins).

Microclimates are also present in your home garden with hills and valleys (warm/cool) or a north facing wall which provides a shady, cool environment. Conversely, a south-facing wall is a hotter, drier region with reflected sun and heat.

Sunset magazine has assigned climate zones to more than 8,000 plants which can be found, along with climate zone information, in the Sunset Western Garden Book or free online.

Plant choices for June

Plant choices for our (Sunset) West Climate zones 19/20 for June include some of the following edible options from seed or transplant: beans, beets, carrots, chard, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, lettuces (oakleaf and other heat-tolerant, bolt resistant types), melons, okra, peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, summer and winter squash, and tomatoes.

Some ornamentals to plant from seed or transplant include: alyssum, globe amaranth, celosia, cleome, coreopsis, cosmos, foxgloves, gazania (African daisy), marigolds, nasturtiums, nicotiana, portulaca, salvias, statice, sunflowers, tithonia (Mexican sunflower), and zinnias.

Ornamentals which can be found in your local garden center for transplant are: ageratum, asters, fibrous begonias, dahlias, gloriosa, marguerite and Shasta daisies, dianthus, dusty miller, gaillardia, geraniums, hibiscus, impatiens, lantana, lavenders, linaria, penstemon, petunias, rudbeckias, stock, verbena, and viola.

In the shade, plant begonia, coleus, impatiens, lobelia, and torenia.

Bulbs to plant now for late summer color are: tuberous begonias, cannas, gladiolus, and tigridias. Also plant palms, cacti and succulents now.

Next week, allergies in our southwestern climate and some environmentally low-impact local vacations.