Mid-Summer Garden Maintenance

By Sarah Van Arsdale

Spring is knocking on your door, inviting faithful gardeners to come out and resume tending their sleeping gardens. Soon you will look around your neighborhood and see flower beds of colorful pansies, yellow daffodils and red tulips. Soon the irises will follow along with a beautiful assortment of roses. Spring has sprung, let the gardening begin!

 

But come late July, the garden starts slumping, and then one morning in early August you wake up to realize that it's become nothing more than a tangled mess of green-going-brown leaves with a few nodding heads of late-blooming lilies.

Many people think of spring and fall as being the times when the garden needs the most attention, but mid-summer is another crucial point, and there is plenty you can do to bring new life into your plot of land, whether it's a flowerbox or a whole perennial bed.

The first thing is to clear out the dead. You have to be ruthless here; there may be some plants that seem as if they're not entirely dead yet, but don't let this fool you. If something looks as if it's on its way out, and you know its blooming season is over, don't be afraid to snip it back, down near the ground. Cut back any hollyhock stalks that are flopping over, snip off the dead peony heads, and clean out those lily blossoms that have fallen to the garden floor.

Some plants will maintain, and maybe even continue to produce, green foliage until summer's end, long past blooming time. Don't cut these away; once you get some new blooming plants in your garden, you'll appreciate how the plants that are past blooming add their greenery. The rule of thumb is that if the plant is still green and fresh-looking come early August, leave it, but cut off any brown leaves and any dead blooms that are hanging around.

This is also a good time to do a little gentle raking, being careful not to disturb the roots of the plants that are still growing. Rake up any debris, such as dead blooms, leaves, or Cousin Charlie, who's still sleeping off last weekend's barbecue.

Now comes the fun part: the mid-summer trip to the nursery. Consult with the nursery staff about which plants still have blooms to come. Buy several, and plant in a couple of clumps of uneven numbers, remembering that uneven numbers of plants always look more natural. Phlox will bloom late in the summer, and can add a splash of hearty color to the garden.

You can often get a good deal on plants at this time of year, even on the late bloomers, especially in regions with short growing seasons. While you're there, check the annuals, too; you'll probably find some that are still blooming, even if your own plants of the same species have gotten ragged-looking. There's nothing wrong with buying more snapdragons, for example, if the ones you bought in June are looking summer-worn and the ones at the nursery look fairly fresh - especially not at the cut-rate prices you can find in early August. Impatiens, mums, and salvia are among those that will keep blooming into the fall.

All too often we think of bulbs as producing a profusion of spring flowers, such as daffodils and tulips, but some will also bear flowers later in the summer, notably hardy cyclamen, which will produce dark pink blooms. So once your garden is replanted, don't just sit back and enjoy it. Begin plotting out where you'll want to plant your bulbs come fall.

With a few days devoted to perking up the mid-summer garden, you will assure yourself of a cheerful end to summer, complete with flowers for cutting to help you keep your home looking garden fresh.

Reprinted with permission from the Sheffield School of Design