Pruning and Maintenance
- Prune early flowering shrub roses and ramblers that have finished flowering by removing some of the shoots that flowered.
- Prune shrubs that flowered earlier, but only if they are too big for their allotted space.
Watering and Drought Management
- Check young trees, shrubs, and roses for signs of drought, and water them heavily if needed to get water down to the roots.
- Water young trees and shrubs if they look like they need it, applying about twenty liters per plant at a time, if there is a dry spell more than a week.
- Watering should be carried out about once every week or ten days if the conditions remain dry at the root.
Disease and Pest Control
- Spray roses for blackspot disease if the weather is wet, well into summer, especially in the damper parts of the country.
- Check beech hedging for signs of beech aphid, which is woolly, and spray with insecticide if the infestation is heavy on a young hedge.
Hedge Clipping
- Clip hedges of all kinds before the wood gets tough. Any heavy cutting back of a hedge should be left until the start of the growing season next year.
- Be sure to check for nesting birds before clipping hedges.
Propagation Techniques
- Take cuttings of the soft growth of shrubs, such as cistus, lavender, weigela, and tree mallow.
- Layering can be used to raise a small number of plants – pin down a low-hanging shoot in good compost with a wire pin or a rock.
- Take summer cuttings of shrubs, including clematis and roses.
By following these care tips for trees, shrubs, and roses during summer, you can ensure their healthy growth and flowering. Proper pruning, watering, disease and pest control, hedge clipping, and propagation techniques are essential for maintaining the vitality of these plants.
