Essential Tips for Gardening in June

June marks the height of the gardening season in the UK, bringing long days, warm sunshine, and gardens brimming with life. It's an ideal time to focus on planting ornamental trees, nurturing fruit trees, enhancing wildlife habitats, and maintaining your garden's health and structure.

Whether you're introducing compact trees for summer interest, tending to developing fruits, or supporting pollinators with nectar-rich blooms, June offers numerous opportunities to enrich your outdoor space. This guide provides essential tips to help you care for trees, hedging, lawns, and wildlife habitats, ensuring your garden thrives throughout the summer.

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Planting for June

June is a great time to plant container-grown trees and shrubs that bring structure, colour, and seasonal interest to your garden. With the soil warm and the days long, plants establish quickly — making this the ideal month to add compact flowering trees, patio-friendly shrubs, or foliage that carries your garden through summer and beyond.

Add Foliage and Texture to Shade

As temperatures rise, shaded spots become valuable places to rest — and the right plants can turn them into eye-catching features. For reliable texture and foliage contrast, try hostas, ferns, or heucheras. These shade-loving perennials offer bold leaf shapes and colours, helping you create cooling, tranquil corners in dappled light.

If you want to introduce larger plants with structure, Prunus cerasifera 'Pissardi Nigra' performs well in light shade, with deep purple foliage that contrasts beautifully with green companions. It’s ideal for adding height and colour without overpowering a small space.

Compact Trees for Summer Colour

Smaller trees can make a big impact in June, especially in tight spaces or urban gardens. Prunus incisa 'The Bride' (Fuji Cherry Tree) brings graceful white flowers and fresh green leaves — perfect for patios or lawn borders. For fragrance and pollinator appeal, try Syringa meyeri 'Palibin', a dwarf lilac that’s happy in a pot or border.

Need bold summer colour? Malus toringo 'Aros' offers deep red foliage that holds through the season, plus ornamental crab apples in autumn — a beautiful all-rounder for structure and wildlife.

Use Containers to Shape Your Space

June is the perfect time to refresh container displays and add structure to patios, balconies, or entrances. Compact shrubs and small trees thrive in pots and bring instant impact to small spaces. Try Euonymus alatus 'Compactus' for vibrant autumn colour, or Cercis chinensis ‘Shirobana’, a striking small tree with heart-shaped leaves and pale pink spring flowers. For something a little different, Exochorda serratifolia 'Snow White' (Pearl Bush) offers elegant white blooms and a tidy, upright shape.

Pair a feature tree or shrub with trailing plants or low-growing herbs for a layered look. Keep containers well watered, mulch with peat-free compost, and raise pots slightly to improve drainage. With the right care, containers can bring colour and structure to even the smallest garden space.

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Encouraging Summer Wildlife

With flowers blooming and warm weather in full swing, June is a busy month for birds, pollinators, and beneficial insects. Creating a garden that supports local wildlife not only boosts biodiversity — it brings movement, sound, and colour to your space all summer long.

Plant with Pollinators in Mind

Trees aren’t just for structure — many offer vital support to pollinators and other wildlife. In early summer, the nectar-rich blossom of ornamental trees can provide an essential food source for bees and butterflies. Malus sylvestris (Native Crab Apple) is a standout for biodiversity, with spring flowers for pollinators and fruits that support birds well into autumn. Prunus ‘Tai-haku’, also known as the Great White Cherry, produces large single white blossoms that are easy for bees to access and admired for their bold seasonal display. Another excellent choice is Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan), which offers creamy-white flowers followed by bright red berries — perfect for attracting both insects and birds throughout the year.

By planting trees that benefit wildlife across multiple seasons, you’ll create a space that’s full of life, movement, and natural balance.

Provide Food, Water, and Shelter

To attract and support wildlife in your UK garden, consider installing bird feeders stocked with seeds, suet balls, and nuts. These provide essential nutrition for birds, especially during the breeding season. Position feeders near shrubs or trees to offer natural cover, and clean them regularly to help prevent the spread of disease. Insect hotels offer shelter for beneficial insects such as ladybirds, lacewings, and solitary bees, which support pollination and natural pest control. Place these in sunny, sheltered spots to maximise their usefulness.

A small pond or even a shallow water dish can provide valuable drinking and bathing areas for birds, amphibians, and insects — just be sure to add gentle slopes or pebbles so creatures can get in and out safely. Finally, leaving a patch of long grass, building a log pile, or keeping a brush heap in a quiet corner will provide excellent cover and nesting spots for hedgehogs and other ground-dwelling wildlife. With a few simple additions, you can turn your garden into a thriving haven full of birdsong, buzzing insects, and life.

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Early Summer Tree Planting

If you missed your tree planting in spring, June is still a great time to plant potted ornamental trees. The soil is warm, the risk of frost is behind us, and trees have time to establish before the peak of summer heat. With the right care, planting now can bring structure, colour, and wildlife value to your garden for years to come. Here are some standout choices for early summer planting:

Cotoneaster

Cotoneaster salicifolius 'Rothschildianus' is a willow-leaved Cotoneaster that produces small white flowers in early summer followed by clusters of bright yellow berries. This compact, evergreen tree is ideal for smaller gardens and is highly valued for its year-round interest and wildlife benefits.

Willow

Salix alba 'Tristis' is a golden weeping willow with long, graceful branches and golden-green foliage that turns bright yellow in autumn. Best suited to larger gardens or damp ground, it provides excellent habitat for birds and amphibians near ponds or water features.

Spindle

Euonymus europaeus 'Brilliant' is a compact deciduous tree known for its vibrant pink-red autumn foliage and striking pink seed capsules. It supports a variety of insects and birds, offering bold seasonal colour and structure in wildlife-friendly gardens.

Hawthorn

Crataegus monogyna (Common Hawthorn) produces masses of fragrant white blossom in late spring and early summer, followed by red haws in autumn. A UK native loved by pollinators and birds, it’s perfect for informal hedging or as a small feature tree.

Rowan

Sorbus aria 'Lutescens' is a compact ornamental tree with silver-grey young leaves that mature to green, creamy-white flowers in early summer, and red berries in autumn. Its upright habit and hardiness make it ideal for exposed or urban sites.

Flowering Cherry

Prunus avium 'Stella' is a compact cherry tree that produces beautiful white blossoms in spring followed by sweet edible fruit in early summer. It’s ideal for small gardens, supports pollinators during flowering, and brings visual and culinary appeal to wildlife-friendly planting schemes.

Planting for Lasting Impact

Early summer is an excellent time to shape your garden’s structure for the seasons ahead. By planting ornamental trees now, you’ll enjoy a flush of fresh foliage through summer, followed by autumn colour, berries, and wildlife activity later in the year. Whether you’re updating a border, filling a gap, or creating a new focal point, June planting helps set your garden up for beauty, biodiversity, and balance all year round.

Container Tree Planting Tips

If you're planting in a patio, courtyard, or compact space, container-grown trees offer the perfect solution. Choose a large, well-draining container filled with peat-free, soil-based compost, and raise it slightly off the ground to improve drainage and airflow. Add a slow-release fertiliser to support healthy root development, and apply mulch to lock in moisture as temperatures rise.

Compact trees such as Cotoneaster salicifolius 'Rothschildianus', Sorbus aria 'Lutescens', or Prunus padus can all thrive in pots with the right care. Just remember to water regularly, particularly in hot weather, and position them in a sunny, sheltered spot to help them establish and flourish.

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Managing Garden Maintenance

As the garden settles into summer, June is the time to stay on top of light maintenance that keeps everything healthy, tidy, and thriving. A few quick tasks now will help your trees, hedging, and container plants power through the warmer weeks ahead.

Stay on Top of Weeds

With warmth and longer days, weeds can take off quickly. Regular hoeing or hand weeding will stop them competing with young trees and shrubs for moisture and nutrients. Focus especially on newly planted areas and around the base of hedging where growth is still establishing.

Check for Signs of Stress

Inspect trees, especially those planted in spring, for signs of drought stress or poor drainage. Wilting leaves, yellowing foliage, or cracked soil may signal a need for deeper, more consistent watering. For container plants, check daily — pots can dry out quickly in sunny weather.

Support and Shape

Fast-growing shrubs, young trees, and climbers may need additional support. Use soft ties to secure loose stems and guide growth. If any ornamental trees are developing unevenly, light formative pruning (avoiding heavy cuts) can help maintain shape.

Thin Developing Fruit

If you’re growing fruit trees, now’s the time to thin overcrowded fruits — especially on apples and plums. Removing smaller or poorly positioned fruits allows the tree to focus energy on fewer, healthier ones, and helps prevent branches from becoming overloaded. Also inspect for any damaged or diseased limbs, and prune them out to improve air circulation and overall plant health.

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Your June Gardening Round-Up

June is the start of high summer — a month of long days, warm soil, and flourishing borders. It’s the ideal time to plant compact ornamental trees, refresh containers, and create shaded retreats that bring structure and colour to your garden through the hottest weeks of the year.

Success in the garden this month comes from simple, well-timed tasks. Whether you’re thinning fruit for a better harvest, adding wildlife-friendly trees, or keeping young plants hydrated through dry spells, June is all about sustaining growth and building resilience into your garden.

By staying on top of key jobs like watering, mulching, weeding, and pruning, you’ll help your plants thrive while setting the scene for a vibrant, wildlife-friendly garden full of texture, colour, and life.

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FAQs

Is it too late to plant trees in June?

Not at all. June is still a suitable time to plant container-grown trees in the UK. The soil is warm, promoting root establishment. Just ensure consistent watering, especially during dry spells, and apply mulch to retain moisture.

How often should I water my garden during June?

With warmer temperatures, it's crucial to water plants deeply once or twice a week rather than shallow watering daily. Early morning or late evening watering reduces evaporation. Newly planted trees and containers may require more frequent attention.

What are the best trees to support pollinators in early summer?

Trees like Crataegus monogyna (Common Hawthorn), Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan), and Prunus padus (Bird Cherry) produce blossoms rich in nectar and pollen, attracting bees and other pollinators during their flowering periods.

Should I prune my shrubs and hedges in June?

Yes, but with caution. June is suitable for light pruning of spring-flowering shrubs after they've bloomed. However, always check for nesting birds before trimming hedges, as it's illegal to disturb active nests in the UK.

How can I manage weeds effectively this month?

Regular hoeing on dry days can prevent weed establishment. Applying a layer of organic mulch suppresses weed growth and retains soil moisture. For persistent weeds, consider manual removal or targeted treatments, ensuring minimal impact on surrounding plants.