Works in the Garden in June

Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year.

I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this.
Here is part 6, in which I talk about the works in June. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Because the life of a gardener is tied to the weather and seasons, it is essential to mind the weather during each month described.

Japan is a long island, stretching from the North-East to the South-West and crosses several degrees of latitude. Plus it has a mountain range running from north to south, which will create different weathers in the west and east.
I will start each article with the average weather of that month focussing on Tokyo and Kyoto if possible.

The weather in June:
In June, the rainy season starts and we have a warm and very humid climate. The average sum of rainfall for this month lies at 185mm.
The temperatures ranging from 25 °C (77°F) during the day to 19 °C (66°F) during the nights and we have four hours of average sunshine each day.

Works, which will be done in June:

Pruning of flowering shrubs
It is necessary to prune flowering shrubs before the new flower buds appear. Azaleas, Osmanthus fragrans, Gardenia jasminoides and Camellia sasanqua need to be pruned best before July but necessarily before August.

Create cuttings
June is is the best time to create cuttings of evergreen trees in Japan. Often, this is still done by not cutting a branch, but by layering, which means to remove a part of the bark of a branch, covering that part with peat moss and putting a plastic bag around. Where the bark was removed, new roots should appear.

Fertilizing flowering shrubs
Right after the flowers fell off and before the rainy season starts is the right time for using fertilizer on flowering trees and shrubs.

Renewal of the seasonal flowers
Also in Japan, seasonal flowers are often used in public spaces or in private homes. In June is the time to change the spring planting to the summer planting.

Lawn care
In Japan, a special grass is used for lawn, which can easily cope with the high temperatures during summer. You can read more about it here.
Thanks to the rainy season, the maintenance of the lawn is slightly reduced. Watering might become necessary only before and after the rainy season. However, it is still necessary to mow it once or twice a month, fertilize it and remove weeds.

Our original Japanese Garden Calendar 2025 is out now! Get it here.