Take time to sit back, relax and enjoy your late summer garden in all its glory! Big beautiful hanging baskets and container gardens on the patio. Late summer blooming perennials in the gardens. Gather your family together and celebrate this beautiful summer season as it draws to a close. Normally at this time we would encourage you to invite friends and neighbors over to show off your beautiful creations and celebrate all your hard work! Not so much this year…hopefully next year.
If you can’t sit back and relax…there is plenty to do….
August Garden Planning
You might think that we have lost our minds but…now is the perfect time in the season to begin planning your garden and landscape for next year. Consider this, every day right now that you walk through the garden or relax on the patio you are making small observations about your flowers and landscape. What is the star of the season? What did not turn out so well? How are the plants growing? What would you like to stay the same? What would you like to change? Take a couple of minutes right now to jot down a few notes for next year.
Creek Side August Garden Planning
We are working on the same process here at Creek Side Gardens. All our varieties and flower recipes are reviewed and graded at the end of the season. So now we begin making changes in the plan to improve what we do. One thing we will take a close look at this year is to evaluate each variety for heat tolerance. We have always done this but the weather these last couple of years really put them to the test. We want to offer you only the very best variety in each category so that you will have the greatest opportunity for success.
August Garden Tasks
Looks like August is going to finish with a streak of 90-degree days, so keep up with the watering. Sometimes twice a day unless we get some relief as daily clouds may roll in with a little monsoon rain at this time of the year. And the nighttime temperatures will be cooling off. Lots of beautiful flowering weather ahead.
Don’t get caught over-watering when temps cool down again.
Keep up with your regular fertilizer regime. You may reduce your rate or extend the time between applications as we begin coasting into the shorter days of fall.
Get a second bloom from many tired annuals such as petunias, calibrachoas and verbena by cutting them back now with a sharp pair of garden shears and then fertilizing with Jack’s fertilizer. Fresh flowers will arrive in a couple of weeks.
August perennials are rich with color and they really begin showing up all over now! Look at your perennial gardens at home. What do you see? Look at the neighborhood landscapes including roadway medians and business landscapes. What do you see? With just a few additions to your garden, you can be enjoying those rich fall tones as well.
Everybody is familiar with Goldstrum Rudbeckia, the Black-eyed Susan daises. You will see them all around town now. Why? Because they are hardy, dependable, easy to care for perennial plants that reliably bloom in August. Right about the time we are beginning to sense a change in the seasons and in the mood for a little touch of fall.
Looking for an addition or alternative to Black-eyed Susans? Visit Creek Side to see and select other plants with flowers that your garden is missing this time of the year. Consider Gaillardia Blanket Flower, Coreopsis Tickseed, Aster Daisy, Agastache Hyssop and ornamental grasses as additions to your garden to help keep it looking colorful all season long!
Still time to plant trees, shrubs and perennials for that landscape project you have been thinking about. Check out our fresh selection!
