Gardens come into their own in June. The warmer weather makes it a pleasant time to get outside and enjoy the hard work you’ve put into your garden, along with the opportunity to take in the fresh air and sunshine. I appreciate the early mornings, where I sit on my garden bench with my first coffee of the day, spot new flower buds emerging, delight in seeing my zucchini grow, and watch birds swooping down for a drink and a splash in my bird bath.
However, sometimes, all is not well in the garden. Those plants that you have spent time tending to can quickly become infested with disease or damaged by garden pests. To ensure your precious time doesn't go to waste and your plants stay healthy all summer, we spoke to Jamie Shipley, gardening expert and managing director of Hedges Direct , to find out his tips on the three most common garden problems to look out for in June.
Boxwood is a slow-growing shrub that looks neat as a traditional hedge and looks beautiful when used for topiary. However, it can succumb to box blight, which doesn’t kill the plant but can make it look unsightly and far from the tidy and compact shrub we’ve come to love. According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture , box blight was first found to occur in the US in 2011 and has since spread to 25 states.
It can be devastating for gardeners who have spent time carefully maintaining and trimming their box hedges to find them ruined by the disease, as I experienced when box blight hit my neighborhoo.
