It's summer, at last

The official “first day of summer” was a few days ago. That (should) mean lots of nice warm days for many weeks to come. I don't know about you but I got enough cold this past winter to last for a long time.

Things have been blooming like mad lately. The tulips and other spring bulbs have come and gone. If yours still have their leaves, go ahead and cut them off. Peonies and bleeding hearts put on their usual show. Next to bloom were the irises. If yours didn't bloom well, it may be time to transplant them. This chore should be done in mid-July. More on that later.

Perennials in bloom now include Shasta daisies, salvias, coreopsis, Asian lilies and speedwell. We can look forward to later blooming perennials such as hostas, Oriental lilies and many more. Then there's the clematis. These have both early and later blooming varieties.

It's about time for the mosquitoes to start being a nuisance. Don't be alarmed if you see what looks like a gigantic one. These really aren't mosquitoes at all. They're actually a bug called crane flies. Their sole purpose in life is to fly around and lay eggs in lawns. They couldn't bite you if they tried as they have no mouth parts. For sustenance, they drink nectar.

In the summer, we can grow three different types of plants. These include annuals, perennials and biennials. The first group grows just one summer and is done. Group two will live over winter and return to grow for many summers. The third group is a bit different as biennials will grow in year one but won't bloom. That happens in their second summer. After that, they die. Most of the time, they produced lots of seeds at the end of that summer. These will produce new plants the next spring and their life cycle continues.

If you're growing milkweed plants for the monarch butterflies, they are probably blooming about now. Mine are. With the widespread use of Roundup killing these plants all over the country, these migrating butterflies are dying off rapidly. Monarchs will only lay eggs on this type of plant. That worked all right until farmers, etc., started spraying and killing these plants in most ditches and pastures.

Now that the warm weather has arrived, you might as well give up on the lettuce as it likes it cool. Go ahead and yank out the plants. Replace them with something else such as carrots or green beans. These should do well for you.

If you haven't already done so, go ahead and fertilize that raspberry patch. It's easy. Just scratch up the surrounding soil, toss on some fertilizer and water it in. Plain old lawn fertilizer works fine. Just don't use any containing weed killer.

You may be a redneck gardener if:

• You consider dandelions to be a groundcover

• Your house is covered with ivy instead of paint

• Your milk cow doubles as your lawnmower

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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 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 to late October for the past 15 years.