Solstice in the Garden, photo by Pacha Edica
Last Friday, June 20th was the longest day and the shortest night of the year. This event is called the Summer Solstice. What does that mean? Sol means Sun. North of the Equator, where we are, the earth has its maximum tilt toward the sun and the sun is at its highest in the sky.
This is often a very hot time of year, when spring flowers have peaked and soils are drying. You may have noticed that our very green foothills have suddenly started turning brown. From the Summer Solstice until the Winter Solstice on Dec 21 this year, the days will be getting shorter and the nights longer.
For gardeners, this is a good time to remove spent flowers so the energies in the plants are not spent making seeds. Dead-heading followed by a deep watering will help to revive or keep the garden looking good, and can help support the plants to flower more. If you do want seeds, you can remove half the dead flowers, leaving half to make seeds and that will still save energy.
The Summer Solstice is also the best time to prune trees and shrubs for maximum dwarfing effect. Do you want that fruit tree to grow only 15’-18’ instead of 25? Does your Forsythia, shrub rose or Privet get too big? Prune them every year mid June to early July to keep them smaller. Why does that work? In the spring, plants use their stored energy to grow and make lots of leaves. By Summer Solstice, much of the spring energy is stored in the leaves and new growth. When plants are pruned at this time, you are removing resources from the plant so it has less energy to grow.
Two of the world’s top weather agencies predict upcoming years of extreme heat, which can lead to extreme wind and drought. We are already in this trend, so best to be prepared as best we can. We will have more to say in the future about making your garden more resilient. For now: grow more natives and Colorado-adapted plants, feed your soil biology, water deeply and seldom, and mulch.
This is last week of Pollinator Month…..if you’re looking for all-summer assistance, this week annuals are buy-one-get-one (of an equal or lesser price).
And: Mikl and Eve will be taking next week off to celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary! Congratulations for being business partners for all those years and still in love!