How to keep your gardens looking great

Groom your borders to improve plant appearance and maximize flower production. Gently remove dried or yellowed bulb foliage because the bulbs are going dormant and have already stored nutrients for next year's flowers.

Prune off spent flowers (deadhead) on your annuals and perennials to encourage them to continue flowering. Remove yellow foliage to keep the plants neat and tidy.

• Conditions continue to be dry in gardens so monitor plants for supplemental watering, especially any plants installed over the last couple of years. Mow your lawn at 3 to 3½ inches to increase its resistance to drought stress.

• Trees planted in lawns can benefit from a mulched ring to reduce competition with grass roots, while keeping mowers and weed whips from damaging trunks. If the tree is small, mulch out to the drip line of your tree.

If this is not feasible, extend the mulch as far as you can. Even a 6-inch-wide mulched saucer will help protect tree trunks from serious damage. Do not mound mulch or soil around trunks because it is unattractive and can cause rotting at the base of the tree.

• June is a good month to shear your hedges.

Prune formal hedges slightly wider at their base than at the top. This ensures sides of the hedge will receive equal sun exposure and helps to keep the foliage full from top to bottom. Many hedges in the home landscape are not pruned properly and are usually wider at the top than the base.

Pruning hedges in June will help create a denser hedge. There likely will be more growth this season so plan on shearing again in July.

• Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden, chicagobotanic.org.