A. Planting in Summer-Yes, trees and shrubs can still be planted through the summer. It’s not going to be as easy on you however to care for and water the plant. You must watch the plant very closely at first and not allow it to dry out. How much and how often you water is dependent on your soil type, slope, and wind. Many of our soils are clay and clay holds water quite well, so be careful not to drown your plant. Keep an eye on the root ball itself and water it when the top couple of inches feels dry to the touch. This may be twice at day at first or twice a week if your soil holds water well.

A. Annual Care- Annuals are big feeders, be sure you’re getting them enough nutrients. In containers they will need fertilizer once a week or more, in the ground about twice a month should be enough, depending on your soil type. Also deadheading the spent flowers will encourage new blooms and reserve energy (not spent on seed production). Lastly there are some annuals that don’t like the heat of our mid to late summers. If you cut these plants back a bit, they may come back in fall when it cools off a little. Replacing them with something that will take the heat is another option.

A. Summer Aphid Control-Ants are attracted to the honeydew that another insect will leave behind when sucking sap from your tree. Our most common insect on willows is an aphid that produces large amounts of honeydew; attracting ants, wasps and bees. Controlling the aphid will eliminate the ants and others. Check your willow closely to see if there are aphids on the leaves and/or stems. Aphids are easy to kill, however, there’s often too many of them to catch in one spraying. A contact insecticide such as diazinon is quite affective, make sure you get complete coverage and repeat spraying about 10 days later.

A. Fire-Resistant Landscaping-Yes, this is very important for you to do some investigating and research before landscaping. Officials say it is not the question of if but when a wildfire will strike a particular area. CSU Cooperative Extension has free information you can get by calling your local agent. There is also information you can get through the State Forest Service. Basically you want to create safety zones around your home, next to the house there has to be defensible space, where the firefighters can do their jobs. There are lists of recommended plant material, but you are generally safe using natives, things that are already growing around you. The important thing is spacing and keeping things far enough away from buildings.