Huntree Newsletter June 2026

It’s JUNE!!!   Wow!

Update on our Vermiculture Class with Jill, our local worm lady:

We changed the date to Saturday, June 27 at 11:00 am.   Come and get soil smart!

We’ll be in Jan’s backyard.  Jill will enlighten us on the benefits of enriching your soil, increasing fertility by adding beneficial bacteria, fungi, and mychorrhizae using worm castings.  (it will make an amazing improvement to your garden soil.)

We have another program going on:

CHILDREN’S BUTTERFLY ART CONTEST  –    get your young artists going on this!

The Butterfly Effect; How Butterflies Affect My World

Open to 1^st through 8 th grade students in

Saugatuck, Douglas, Fennville, Glenn, and South Haven Public Schools

Prizes:  $50 cash prize awarded for each of the following groups:

1 – 3^rd grade    *      4 – 6^th grade   *      7 – 8^th grade

Create a piece of art that measures  8.5 x 11” or there about.   Bring it in.

Contest runs from June 1 through June 30.

KEEP  WATERING!   Remember to water those newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials… thoroughly soaking the root area.    It’s getting dry and you don’t want the roots to dry out.

Happy roots make pretty plants!

It’s getting time to cut back the ratty looking foliage of the daffodils, tulips, and other spring bulbs.  That’ll neaten up the yard and maker room to tuck in some showy annuals.

There has been a lot of frost damage this year.  Late frosts have damaged tissue.   Leaves are coming out slowly, distorted, and/or discolored.   Buds and twigs may be dead.  If the stems are still supple and green, be patient.  Wait and see what happens.  New buds may develop.

Deadhead your Rhododendron when the flowers are done blooming.   Snap them off so the energy goes into setting new flower buds for next year instead of producing seeds.    It’s also time to trim the flower heads off your Lilacs, for the same reason.   If your Lilacs are too tall and woody, you can cut one third of the large trunks.   New growth will shoot up and rejuvenate the plant.    If your Forsythia need trimming now is the time.   Waiting until later means you will not have flowers next spring.

It’s an old wives tale that you can only plant trees in the spring.   It’s not true!  Our trees are in pots, the roots are happy and they will not be disturbed by planting in the middle of the growing season.    Remember that shade trees can reduce the air temperature by 20 degrees.  Planting a tree in your yard will make your life much more pleasant… in more ways than one!

Speaking of trees, the Kousa Dogwoods are coming into their own.   If you are looking for a nice pink variety come in and check out our Scarlet Fire.

Need to add to your fruit collection?  We have a good selection of fruit trees – apples, peaches, pears, plums, apricots.    We also have small fruits – raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, elderberries, rhubarb, grapes, and currants.

Get your gardening done and go lay in your hammock and listen to the birds.

Happy days!

Jan and the Huntree Gang

Categorised in: Newsletter

This post was written by MHarrison9