ELAINE CERNY: MY GARDEN PATH — We made it to summer!

Saturday marked the first day of summer, also known as the longest day of the year. With a little luck, time can slow down now and we can enjoy it.

I’m still busy planting things and lots of you are too. The perennials are doing their thing, some are already done for this year. I particularly enjoy those extended season perennials that have a long bloom season. These include coreopsis, cone flower and black-eyed susans. Most of these will produce seeds and more plants as the years go by.

Now that the spring bulbs have done their thing, most of them have leaves that are about done for. Go ahead and snip the leaves to the ground. Most, like tulips, can be either left in place or dug up and left on a shelf until fall when it’s time to replant them in the ground.

With lilacs, cutting off the dead flowers is a matter of taste. They can either be left on the bush or snipped off, it doesn’t matter. Just be careful not to cut off branches over a month after blooming. You don’t want to risk cutting off the buds for next year’s flowers.

Have your resident hummingbirds flown the coop? This is normal. They will often go off to nest and be gone a few weeks. During this time, they’re raising their young ones and then they teach them to find tiny bugs and pollen, their normal food. Once that’s established, they usually return to your feeders. So, don’t give up on them. Clean out their feeders and put out some new sugar water. With a little luck, you’ll be rewarded.

Gladiola bulbs need to be in the ground now. These take several weeks to grow and bloom. Just dig holes in a nice sunny, well-drained area. Put a bit of fertilizer in the bottom of the hole, drop in the bulb, cover with soil and water it. You will be rewarded with nice blossoms later in the summer. To extend their bloom season, plant a few every week or two, not all at once. Unfortunately, glads aren’t hardy in our area. You will need to dig them and store them over winter or buy new bulbs next spring.

Another plant you may want to avoid is called kenilworth ivy. It is a really cute plant with tiny leaves having scalloped edges and lots of pale lavender blooms. The problem is that it has no manners! It spreads like crazy. I made the mistake of planting some once and the rest is history.

Be sure to stake those tomato plants. If yours are growing as fast as mine, they need it. I go through a lot of stakes every summer. Some others that need staking are: tall irises, glads and tall types of dahlias. Finding one of these knocked down and destroyed by the wind and/or rain can be no fun.

Have you ever planted a pretty rose bush only to have it “change color?” This is what happened … the bush you planted was grafted. That means it isn’t growing on its own roots. Instead, the top, which produces the pretty flower, has been grafted onto a hardier rootstock to get through our cold winters. Sadly, the top sometimes winter kills and you are left with what grows up from that hardy rootstock. This is usually from a climber called Dr. Huey that will eventually bloom an unremarkable dark red. The only thing you can do is to dig it out and start over. There are places now that grow the pretty roses on their own rootstock and seem to have pretty good luck keeping them over winter. Try it.

In case you don’t know why hummingbirds hum … it’s because they don’t know the words!

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Elaine Cerny has gardened most of her life, starting in 4-H. She has belonged to garden clubs in three states and is currently an active member of the River City Gardeners Club in Post Falls. Her column has appeared in The Press every other Sunday from early March until late October for the past 12 years.