July

Brr, it's a wet and chilly month - but while the garden goes into hibernation, there's plenty you can get done. Use this downtime to prune your wisteria and deciduous fruit trees, plant bulbs and natives, and even start treating bindii in preparation for spring lawn growth. It's also your last chance to condition your soil for your choice of hydrangea colour in summer.

Skip to what to plant in the garden in July

Skip to which plants need feeding in July

Skip to which plants to prune in July

Skip to garden pests, diseases and weeds to look out for in July

Skip to July's general lawn and garden care tasks

Skip to your July garden centre shopping list

What's flowering in July?

• Trees and shrubs: Banksia, camellia, daphne, diosma, lavender, Geraldton wax, grevillea, hakea, leptospermum, magnolia, poinsettia, rosemary, strelitzia, viburnum, wattles, and beautiful flowering apricot, peach and quince trees.
• Annuals and perennials: Calendula, hellebore, poppy, kalanchoe, pansy, polyanthus, stock, sweet pea, viola, wallflower, zygocactus.
• Bulbs: Clivia, cyclamen, daffodil, hyacinth, jonquil, snowflakes.
• Climbers: Banksia rose, orange trumpet vine.

What to plant in July

• For gorgeous winter colour, plant alyssum, calendula, pansies, polyanthus and iberis candytuft.
• This month is a great time to start planting potted fruit trees.
• Plant natives such as banksia, grevilleas, hakea, wattle and callistemon (bottlebrush) to attract birds to your garden.
• For summer colour, plant bulbs of agapanthus, arum lily, calla lily, bearded iris, gladiolus, hippeastrum, lilium and spider lily.
• There are plenty of edibles for planting now! Get seedlings of beetroot, broad beans, carrot, lettuce (winter varieties), onion, parsnip, peas, radish, rhubarb (crowns), rocket, shallots, silverbeet, spinach and kale started this month.

Which plants to feed in July

• Winter-blooming annuals will benefit from a nice feed of Thrive Flower & Fruit.
• Feed citrus towards the end of the month - this will help get it ready for its spring growth spurt. We recommend Gyganic for Fruit and Citrus.

Which plants to prune in July

• Prune repeat-flowering roses, deciduous fruit trees, crepe myrtle and grapevines. Click here for more info on how to prune.
• Avoid pruning those spring-flowering, deciduous ornamental shrubs and fruit trees that are grown purely for their beautiful blossoms. If you prune now, you'll miss out on the spectacular spring flower show you've waited all year for!
• Wait to prune frost-affected plants until frost has finished. Frost-bitten foliage may look ugly, but it serves an important purpose by protecting any tender new growth coming through underneath.

Garden pests, weeds and diseases to look out for in July

• For the fruit lovers, spray your fruit trees against leaf curl with a lime sulphur or copper fungicide before buds begin to swell. It’s too late when flowers begin to open.
• After pruning roses, spray with Searles Rose Pro for fungal diseases such as rust and powdery mildew, and use Searles Lime Sulphur to ward off scale.

July's general lawn and garden care tasks

• Keep azaleas and camellias well-watered to ensure prolonged flowering.
• Apply Bin-Die now to kill bindii in lawns before the burr develops. Bin-Die is a broad spectrum selective weed killer which will also control oxalis, clover and a range of other weeds.
• Now's your opportunity to spray Amgrow Chemspray Winter Grass Killer too, as soon as it appears to prevent it flowering and setting seed. Doing this will help prevent it reoccurring next season.
• Try not to over-water as this will cause rot. Remember, plants are less thirsty in the winter months, so adjust your watering accordingly.
• Promote abundant flowering by removing dead flower heads from annuals and bulbs.

Your July garden centre shopping list

• Bare-rooted fruit trees
• Native plants
• Liquid fertilisers such as Thrive
• Bin-Die
• Searles Rose Pro
• Searles Lime Sulphur
• Vegetable dust