SUCCULENTS, BROMELIADS AND MORE
1 Wreath madness: Although planting in July is not generally recommended, you can plant cactuses and succulents at this time. Succulents are excellent candidates for living wreaths. You can find doughnut- and heart-shaped sphagnum moss wreaths online. Take cuttings from your succulents of choice and let the stem ends callus or dry for one week. Soak the wreath overnight before inserting the stems of your cuttings — making holes in the moss with a pencil — into the wreath. During the summer, you will want to take the wreath down every two weeks and soak it for ten minutes in a tub of water. As temperatures cool in the fall, watering frequency will be reduced.
2 Crazy about daisies: Gerbera daisies bring happiness and smiles of glee as much as any other member of the plant kingdom. They are blooming now and are among the most robust of flowers when it comes to vase arrangements, where they consistently stay fresh for a week or more. For an arresting tablescape, you can also just cut the heads off of your gerberas and float them in a bowl of water. Do the same thing with gazanias and blanketflowers (Gaillardia), which are Gerbera daisy relatives. Gerberas are as drought- tolerant as any perennial flower you can grow. I have had a clump of gerberas growing for two decades in afternoon sun. Even in the hottest weather, they never need to be soaked more than once or, on rare occasions, twice a week.
3 Flower disempower: Coleus is easy to propagate in water from stem cuttings but a bit tricky to grow in the garden. It will burn up in full sun but flounder when it gets too much shade. Filtered sun is its preferred exposure in the garden. It's important to mulch your coleus, since it does not thrive when watered too often but prefers soil that is consistently moist, a condition promoted by the presence of mulch. Since you grow coleus for its intensely colored leaves, you will want to discourage its pale blue flowers from maturing. As soon as the flowers appear, pinch them off so energy needed for foliar growth is not siphoned off by flowers.
4 Deadhead ruthlessly: Removing faded flowers is known as deadheading, and this practice is encouraged throughout the flowering season of every perennial, starting with roses. Prune a stem with faded roses back to a healthy five-leaflet leaf where the bud between leaf and stem points outward. To maximize rose flower production, apply rose fertilizer once a month until fall. Cut back penstemon stems that have flowered to two healthy leaves at their base. When a wave of gaura or wandflower bloom has subsided, shear the plant back so it stands a foot tall, and in another month it will bloom again. Star clusters (Pentas lanceolate), appearing in red, pink, lilac and white, will bloom for months on end as long as their spent flowers are removed in a timely manner.
5 Bro culture: Propagate bromeliads now. Bromeliads flower once and then die but, meanwhile, most will have produced offsets or pups, so you can keep their legacy alive for generations. Separate these pups and ideally place them in a fast-draining, acidic soil mix. In truth, bromeliads are a lot tougher than most people think and most can be grown in the ground outdoors, even surviving an occasional winter freeze. The UCLA Botanical Garden, at Hilgard and Le Conte avenues, is open daily with free admission and is home to a phenomenal collection of bromeliads. You will find them growing primarily in two areas: in the central, bottom part of the garden and in the droughttolerant section in the garden's upper northeast corner.