PLANTING
Citrus and other subtropicals Plant kumquat, lemon, lime, orange, and other citrus. If you have room and live in the mildest coastal climates, try avocado, cherimoya, and mango (in Southern California, Sunset climate zones 21–23 are best — mangoes love heat and resent fog).
Quick summer color Fill empty spots with colorful, heat-loving angelonia and portulaca. For permanence, plant gaura, lantana, or lion's tail (Leonotis leonurus).
Succulent containers To spruce up patio tables, outdoor kitchen counters, and other areas for summer parties, plant shallow containers with a medley of forgiving, low-maintenance succulents, suggests Samantha Owens of Barrels and Branches nursery in Encinitas. Her favorites for tabletops include Aeonium 'Kiwi', jade plant ( Crassula argentea 'Crosby's Dwarf'), lipstick echeveria (E. agavoides), and Sempervivum arachnoideum.
Vegetables Gardeners on the coast (zones 22–24) and inland (zones 18–21) can still set out cucumber, eggplant, pepper, squash, and tomato plants, and sow seed of beans and corn. In the low desert (zone 13), start pumpkins and winter squash for harvest in early fall.
MAINTENANCE
Bathe roses Wash down your roses with a water wand to clean foliage and keep spider mites at bay, suggests Mission Viejo rosarian Patti Million, who writes a column for Gardening Thymes, the UCCE Master Gardeners of Orange County newsletter. Do it in early morning, so foliage can dry off during the day. You'll find more tips in Million's latest book, A Year of Million Roses: Rose Care in Southern California (MMQC Publishers, 2007; $20), available at gardenresourceguide.com and Orange County nurseries.
Guard against brushfires If you live in a fire-prone area and haven't taken preventive measures this year, do so now. Remove dead limbs and leaves from trees and shrubs, especially ones near your house. Cut tall grasses and weeds down to stubble. Clear gutters of debris. For more information, visit the American Red Cross website (www.redcross.org/services/disaster).
Protect fruit To keep birds and wasps away from grapes, enclose whole clusters in paper bags until the clusters have ripened. Also net your fruit trees — especially figs.
PESTS AND DISEASES
Bake away fungus and nematodes Use sun power to destroy bacteria, fungus, and nematodes in troublesome sections of the garden. Level the area, thoroughly moisten the soil, and cover it tightly with a thick, transparent plastic tarp, weighted down around the edges. Leave the tarp in place four to six weeks before removing it and replanting the area. The hotter your climate, the better this technique works. Control giant whiteflies Examine the underside of leaves of target plants such as hibiscus and plumeria for waxy white spirals where eggs are deposited. Wash them away with jets of water. Pick off and discard leaves that have long, hairlike filaments of wax (which whiteflies excrete as they feed on leaves).
TIP FROM THE TEST GARDEN
Meet your yard's secret helpers
Beneficial insects and birds are the hardest-working unpaid gardeners you'll ever find; they help keep your plants healthy.
Ladybugs The black-and-yellow larvae and orange-brown adults feed on aphids. Encourage them to stay by planting common fennel and cosmos.
Green lacewings Their larvae dine on aphids, mealybugs, and scale. Attract adults with sweet alyssum and coreopsis.
House finches They consume aphids and other honeydew-secreting insects. Provide nesting space in vines.
Hummingbirds Besides nectar, they eat small bugs, and will even pick off adult whiteflies in midair. Supplement their feeders with nectar-rich salvias.
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