It’s time now to be sure your plants have water and they do not get burned.

I was out watering, and the ferns in front of the house need water now every day. When it is hot, they need it twice. Being planted in the ground, they have shade in the afternoon, but the morning sun sometimes cooks the new growth, and they look like they are going to die.

I have planted hydrangeas around in the shrubs behind the other shrubs there, so they are protected from the hot sun. When planting plants you know like a little sun, mix them in with the other shrubs for protection.

Another way to get color in your beds is to plant bulbs that will bloom in the seasons, and then you have color all year. As I get older, bulbs are the way to go for flowers and color. Bedding plants are beautiful, but you have to get down on your hands and knees to plant them, and I have had too many cakes for that anymore.

One thing you can do is plant container gardens and place them in your flower beds for color. You can move them around so they will get morning and afternoon sun.

I am working in the yard – or, as the English say, the garden – behind my house, making beds for shade plants. The neighbors’ trees are large enough now that I can have hosta beds, which I love. A friend of mine gave me blue hosta a few years back, and it’s a very slow grower. I think when it gets replanted in a new bed with a little more light, it will grow. There are so many kinds; I would like one of each, to space them out so they will fill the back corner of the yard with the new potting shed that is being built.

The herb garden – or should I say, what herb garden? The herbs all died in the winter, and I have not planted back. Because we are getting into the hot summer heat, I am planning on planting in pots, and then this fall I will transfer to the ground. Most herbs love the sun, and you can also mix in with shrubs, if you want. Sage and rosemary are the best ones to plant; they have sun and shade, and watering is easy when you water the beds.

One of the most important things to remember when planting bulbs is to plant where there is well-drained soil. If you have to plant where you can, lay screen wire over them the first and maybe the second year. Squirrels love to eat them.

If you have new shrubs, and they are short, to give height in the beds, elevate sun macho fern in the beds, and the pot gardens can be all sizes. You can raise them up and set other pots in front to block whatever you have used – most of the time it is a concrete block.