Here are some plants to use in the shade this summer to keep your shade garden colorful. These plants provide color through foliage not flowers.

Caladium (Caladium species): a summer bulb with colorful leaves. Dig the bulbs at the end of the season for next year.

Elephant ear (Alocasia and Colocasia): a plant that has large tropical-looking leaves. Some varieties are green, some are colored. Dig bulbs in fall.

Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides): a great, easy to grow annual that comes in numerous colors.

Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum'): foliage is gray green mixed with maroon.

This is a list of common insects that tend to show up mid-season. Be looking for these pests. If you see them in your yard, call your local Extension office for information on how to control them.

June/July: Japanese Beetle: These insects are iridescent green in the front, with copper colored wings in the back. They are quite damaging. They will chew leaves, often leaving the veins, so that the leaf has an almost lacy appearance. Japanese beetles are equal opportunity feeders. They feed on about 400 different species of plants. Their young are grubs that will attack lawns.

July: Iris borer is back again. They are moving into the rhizome underground and will tunnel into it causing damage. Bacterial soft rot often follows and rots the rhizome.

June

• This is the time of year that fruit trees often experience the 'June drop' (the trees drop excess fruit that they cannot support. If your fruit tree looks too full after the drop, thin excess fruit by hand. This will result in higher quality fruit.
• Deadhead annuals now (and all season) to keep them blooming.

July

• Watch for rust disease on the lawn (your shoes will turn orange when you walk across the lawn). Overcome rust by giving a small dose of nitrogen fertilizer and watering regularly.
• Now is the time to replant cool season vegetables for a fall vegetable garden.

June has come and the garden looks great. Have you thought about what it will be like in late July and August? By mid summer flower gardens often look a little tired. Here are some tips to keep the garden looking great all season. Some of these practices are preventative maintenance and can be put into place now, others can be implemented as parts of the garden start to fade.

Watering: It is essential to keep plants watered consistently during the heat of summer. On average plants need one inch of water per week (they may need one inch every five days in the heat of summer). Apply that one inch all at once to insure a good deep watering that allows plants to be fully hydrated. Doing it all at once also allows us to water within the water restrictions of most municipalities. Avoid wetting foliage as this can lead to fungal diseases.

Mulch: A 2-3 inch layer of mulch can reduce weed problems, conserve moisture, give the garden a better look and reduce erosion. It can also reduce stress on our plants. Bare ground can really heat up causing the root area to be hot, which adds stress to the plant. Mulch acts like an insulator and applying the mulch before temperatures become excessive will prevent soil from being too hot.

Fertilizer: Do your plants need it right now? Plants under drought stress need water, not fertilizer. Be sure that plants are fully hydrated before even thinking about fertilizer. Always make water the priority. Using a time release fertilizer can be a good practice, since the fertilizer is released slowly over a number of weeks rather than all at once. This can reduce the incidence of fertilizer burn.

Deadheading: Keep deadheading annuals to produce more flowers. When deadheading, remove the entire flower, not just the spent petals. If you do not remove the base of the flower, the plant will try to make seeds instead of more flowers. Deadhead perennials to prevent seed production and strengthen the plant. There may be some perennials that you do not want to deadhead because the seed will feed the birds or the seed head may be something you want to use in a dried arrangement.

Rejuvenate 'tired' plants: By mid-summer it is common to see some of our perennials looking a little ragged. Consider cutting these plants back to encourage a flush of new growth. The plant may not flower again, but at least it will look green and fresh instead of brown and tattered. Cut plants back based on how they look. Some perennials may need just a trim, while others may need to be cut back all the way. Be sure to follow up with watering to encourage that flush of new growth to develop. Dry plants don't grow much.