Fuzzy Wuzzy Dahlia, photo by Amanda Jarrett

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The Garden Website for AugusT

 August Introduction -  August Plant Combo - Amanda's Garden Blog -  August Garden Chores 
August Garden Stars - Plant Police -
August Lawn Care - Thirsty Lawn Symptoms
How to Tell When Plants are Thirsty 
Fruit Harvest Time - Harvesting Veggies - Summer Pruning
Tomato Troubles - Winter Veggie Gardening
The Heritage Vancouver 6th Annual Garden Tour 
August Arrangement - Need Help? - For the Tropical Gardener - Plant of the Month: Black Eyed Susans

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Easy Does It is an easy care floribunda fragrant rose that grows to 4 feet.

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NEW Job Posting! 

Heartwood Gardenworks, South Surrey, is expanding and looking to hire landscapers and non-professionals willing to work hard and learn. On the job training is provided and enrollment to the RLT program or Organic Master Gardener Program available. Read more..

​For landscapers looking for work and landscape companies looking to hire.
If you are looking for work or if you wish to post a position please go to Job Postings.​

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A Hummingbird & Scarlet runner beans Video

Little did I know that my planter full of scarlet runner beans would be such a hit with the hummingbirds. Bees seem to love it too. After a couple of failed attempts trying to get a video of the hummingbirds, I finally got one that was in focus. They sure are fast.. I will be planting more scarlet runner beans on the deck again next year. 

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August Intro

This is a white version of the usual blue Love-in-a-Mist called Bridal Veil. It is an easy to grow annual from seed.

Aaah, the lazy days of summer, but no, not quite. Harvesting and watering are taking up my time, as it is with most gardeners this time of year. We have sprinklers on a timer but it’s not a proper underground system – yet!
It’s on the ‘to do’ list.

As I wander around my garden I notice I have to deadhead the roses, dahlias, lilies, the spireas and quite a few other plants. Some shrubs are in need of taming as their branches are getting in the way of other flora. 
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 I’ve done my summer pruning of the grapevine and the apple tree, but the ornamental cherry tree has some branches that are obviously on steroids. 
Since we had quite a hot July, our garden is showing signs of heat distress, especially the lawn. So far my tomato plants are doing well but with the ensuing high temperatures, I hope they don’t fall prey to late blight or verticillium wilt, common tomato diseases in the Pacific Northwest (hence the article on Tackling Tomato Woes). Hope it helps with your summer tomato issues. 
Good luck with your garden this August. May it not get too, too hot and dry for you and that you have time to enjoy your summer garden. 
Cheers,
Amanda

Amanda's Garden Blog

Raspberries, ready to pick!

• Heritage Vancouver 6th Garden Tour
• The Dunbar Garden Tour 2018
• Easy Roses Do Exist.. Really!
• Dart's Hill, A Garden Park
• VanDusen Botanical Gardens Visit
• Tall Kale Tales
• Northwest Flower & Garden Show, Seattle
• Pruning in Winter
• Pruning & Training Grape Vines in Winter
• Insects & Diseases Control with Dormant Spray
• Why Christmas cactus Don't Blossom
• A Quickie Festive Swag
• Putting the Garden to Bed
• How to Drain Soggy Soil
• A Visit to the Arizona - Sonora Desert
• Banana, Palm Tree Winter Protection
• Lasagna Gardening, Sheet Mulching
• Saving Geraniums, Coleus, Bougainvilleas & Other Tender Plants 
• Spiders Everywhere - Oh My!
• Tomato Troubles & Soil Solarization
• Trees That Drip That Sticky Stuff
• Balcony Bliss
• One Huge Beetle! 
• A Summer's Day Harvest
• The Dunbar Garden Club Private Tour
• Leaky Birdbaths and Slug Free Strawberries
• Easy Roses
• Oops... Wrong Plant, Wrong Place
• I Had An Ugly Lawn...

To subscribe to my blog click here. 

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August Garden Stars

Hillside Black Beauty bugbane, Actaea (Cimicifuga) simplex 'Hillside Black Beauty', likes shade and grows to 3ft, including the flower spikes.

A silky satin white gladiolus. Prefers full sun. Store corms after foliage fades, in a frost free, dry and dark place over winter.

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A flower from the Persian Silk tree. Ultimate height is 52 feet, but in Vancouver it's half the size. Zones 6 to 9.

Butterfly bush (Buddleja (Buddleia) davidii) attracts butterflies, but is considered an invasive species in many locations.

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Yellow and red trumpet vines (creeper), intertwine. They love full sun and are quite vigorous growers.

Bee Balm attracts bees and is a spreading perennial. Full sun is best, grows to 18 inches.

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Double Decker coneflower, Echinacea purpurea 'Doubledecker', prefers full sun, grows to 30 inches, a perennial for Zones 3-9.

Hardy fuchsia, Fuchsia magellanica, a tender perennial suited to afternoon shade, Zones 6 to 9, grows up to 5 feet.

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This sun loving perennial grows to 30 inches, attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Zones 3-8.

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Rose of Sharon,Hibiscus syriacus, is a deciduous shrub growing to 12 ft, Zones 5-8. Best in full sun.

Heritage Vancouver 6th Annual Garden Tour 

Garden #4

A total of unique gardens in West Vancouver, Point Grey, Kitsilano, Shaugnessy and Dunbar were on display for two days last June. This self-guided garden tour is a fundraiser for the Heritage Vancouver Society. It's the best way to show off Vancouver's finest gardens for a worthy cause. I took tons of pictures as per and was awed and inspired. Check them out by going to The Heritage Vancouver 6th Annual Garden Tour blog 

Album martagon lily from Garden #1.

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August PLANT COMBO

On the left is a purple garden phlox, below a white pee gee hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata 'Grandiflora') and red and yellow daylily. There's tall pale yellow and red pompom dahlias on the far right.

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plant police

Rose sawfly damage.

Sawflies eat only the green tissue but not the veins.

The damage on this rose leaf is caused by the larva of a sawfly. The larva resemble tiny yellowish-green slugs. They feed on the green leaf tissue leaving the veins behind. To prevent and control infestations, inspect both leaf surfaces in mid spring. If it's just a few, remove the infested leaves or wash them off with a forceful spray of water. Soap and water or neem oil are also effective if infestations are severe. Read more

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Lawn Care
Summer Maintenance

Lawns can handle drought, but don't let them get too dry like this lawn.

​Our northern lawns are not actively growing as it is just too hot, however, they would appreciate at least ¼ inch of water, twice a week. This will keep the roots and crowns alive so they will bounce back when they start to actively grow again in September. It also keeps lawn insects such as chafer beetles, at bay.
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If you mow, mow high – at least 3 inches high. Avoid fertilizing now as the grass is in relative dormancy.
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Wait to do lawn repair, overseeding, sodding and seeding next month at the earliest. Fall rains make establishing new grass much easier and makes it less work for you. In the meantime, just keep the garden alive by watering it. If you don't water it, you'll have more work to do this fall to fill in the spare spots and to pull up all the weeds, and maybe even deal with chinch bugs damage - oh no!

The lawn on the left is healthier than the one on the right as it has been cut higher, mowed more often and receives 1 inch of water/week.

Thirsty Lawn Symptoms

• footprints remain on the lawn and so do lawn mower tire marks
• a blue-green hue
• brown and yellow patches in the lawn
• the lawn is thin, and weeds are taking over

How to tell When plants are thirsty

• leaves curl or roll inwards
• limp, wilted, droopy  leaves
• small leaves
• yellow leaves
• slow growth
• flowers, fruit and leaves drop off the plant
• leaves are brown at the edges
• branch ends die, which eventually extends to the entire limb
• premature leaf colouring in autumn

Don't let these plant dry out in the summer:

• ash (Fraxinus species)
• azaleas and rhododendrons (Rhododendron species)
• birches (Betula species)
• dogwoods (Cornus species)
• horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum​)
• hydrangeas 
• katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum)
• lungwort, (Pulmonaria)
• maples (Acer species)
• mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia)
• ornamental flowering cherries, plums (Prunus species)
• Skimmia  
• stewartia, (Stewartia pseudocamellia)  
• sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
• tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
• willow (Salix)

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Fruit Harvest Time

Blackberries at a Pike Place Market in Seattle look delish!

Ripe fruit at their peak are packed with vitamins and other goodies. They also taste better too. Here is a quickie guide to picking the cream of the crop. 

• Apples: should easily fall into your hand when twisted.
• Blackberries: plump, shiny and black, not dull or reddish.
• Blueberries: plump, firm uniform dark blue with powdery white coating that fall off into your hand
• Cantaloupes: should be yellow or cream colour, make a hollow sound when tapped, fragrant, the blossom end (not the stem end) should be spongy.
• Pumpkins, Squashes: they are ripe when the skin hardens and it is difficult to pierce with your fingernail.
• Cherries: plump, firm, glossy, rich colour for the variety, fragrant.
• Figs: the tree’s sap is an irritant so wear long sleeves and gloves when picking. Figs hang down when ripe and should be slightly squishy.
• Peaches: no green on the fruit, fragrant, easily fall tree, slightly squishy and not rock hard.
• Pears: stay green and hard even when ripe but will be fragrant, and stem end should yield when pressed.
• Plums: retain flavour if left on the tree to ripen. Should yield to pressure when squeezed and will drop easily from the tree.
• Raspberries: fragrant, firm – not mushy, uniform in colour, easily removed.
• Watermelon: makes a dull, hollow sound when tapped. Pick when plants turn brown and the stem curls. 

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Summer Pruning

Petunias and other annuals benefit from a good trimming.

• Annuals: Deadhead annuals and cut back spindly stems by half. 
• Perennials: Cut back flowering stems of perennial plants to tidy them up and to prevent them from going to seed (unless you want to collect their seeds to propagate).
• Roses: Remove blossoms including whole flower clusters once they have finished flowering. Cut back stems to an outward facing leaf that has a 5 to seven leaflet, a node or a side branch. Feed and water afterwards.​​
• Fruit Trees: Remove: suckers, dead, diseased, overly long branches and ones that are in the way etc. Prune back the side branches of apple trees to encourage fruiting spurs. Cut them back to only a few buds and in a couple of years they should revert to buds that produce flowers, and subsequently apples.
• Wisteria: Cut back each side branch to a 2 to 4 buds (nodes). This will also increase the number of flowers as the remaining buds should revert to fruiting spurs in a couple of years.
• Raspberry and blackberry: Cut down canes that have already borne fruit this year.
• Water and Feed: After pruning, plants bounce back much faster if they get a good long drink and some plant food. 

Winter Veggie Gardening

​If you live in relatively mild climate of Zones 6, 7 and 8, and would like to harvest your own veggies year round, try your hand winter vegetable gardening. Read more...

August Garden Chores

Fleabane (Inula spp.) grows to 6 ft depending on variety. Full sun, Zones 3-7. Can be invasive depending on the species and location.

• Water! Shrubs, trees, including street trees preferably before they start wilting! Sometimes a little bit of wilt is all it takes to become aware of how dry it is out there. After giving everything a good drink, maintain soil moisture by putting the hose on trickle for half and hour a couple of times a week. Lay the hose on the ground where the canopy ends (dripline), not against the trunk. 
• Just a reminder that Stage 1 Water restrictions are still in effect for the Lower Mainland of British Columbia until September. The restrictions apply to lawn watering but not to garden beds, veggies, and containers, so don't deprive your garden and veggies of a good drink. 
• Mulch: Replenish mulch in beds if necessary. It should be 3 inches deep. It will reduce watering and weeding. 
• Stake: Continue to stake dahlias, tomatoes, gladiolus and other tall or top-heavy plants as they grow. Remove stakes of those plants that no longer need them
• Compost: Turn the compost pile and add water as needed.
• Cuttings: Take cuttings (herbaceous type) from annuals now so you can over-winter them as houseplants: impatiens, coleus, petunias and geraniums.
• Collect mature seeds from plants once their seed heads have turned brown: sweet peas, hollyhock, lupins, nasturtiums, calendula, marigold and zinnia. Store in paper bags or envelopes in a frost free, dry place. Don’t forget to label them and include the year of harvest.
• Wilted raspberries: Wilted raspberries tips are a typical of crown borers. Look for two rings at the stem below the wilted shoot, as that is where the adult crown borer deposited her eggs. Control is easy, just remove the part of the stem between the two rings and throw it out. If not removed, the larvae migrates down to the plant’s base. Infested canes break easily and die following year. Since the pupa overwinters in the soil, it is important to remove affected canes asap. 
• Weed: Keep on weeding, as you know that this garden chore never really ends. Water the ground first to make it easier. 
• Ponds, bird baths & water features: Water evaporates quickly with the heat so check every few days and replenish the water when necessary. 
• Birds: Our fine feathered friends are often in need of supplemental water as the ponds, swales and other sources of water dry out. Poor birdies. Add a birdbath to your garden or even a flat shallow dish will do. Hummingbirds go through lots of nectar during the summer so inspect nectar levels more often than normal. 
• Direct seed to harvest in fall and winter: arugula, beets, lettuce, endive, pac and boc choi, radicchio, radish, scallions and spinach.​
• Powdery Mildew: White powder on cucumbers, melons, phlox, roses, tomatoes and many other plants is the result of a disease called powdery mildew more...

Powdery mildew has smothered this poor tomato plant.

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Tackling Tomato Woes

Click here for:
Quickie Tomato Troubles Table
Happy Tomatoes - Late Blight - Cracked Tomatoes
Blossom End Rot -Verticillium Wilt
Early Blight - Preventing Diseases

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Harvesting Veggies

Produce fresh from the garden are best picked in the morning. Wait for the morning dew to evaporate as touching plants when they are wet spreads diseases. The following is a list of when veggies taste their best. 

• Beans, cucumbers, zucchinis: pick when they are young and still sweet and crisp.
• Onions, garlic and shallots: harvest  when their necks (where the stem meets the bulb) turns papery and falls over.
• Herbs: To dry basil and other herbs, harvest by picking them early in the day after the morning dew has dried then hang them upside down in a dry location out of direct sun.
• Asparagus: don’t harvest spears on plants less than 3 years old. Select 6 inch long spears with tightly closed tips.
• Basil: pick when flower buds begin to appear but before they open. I always remove the flower buds as soon as they form to keep plants bushy, resulting in more leaves. This also prolongs the plant's life. Don't store in the fridge. Treat them as a cut flower and put the cut ends into a vase of water. 
• Beans: pick before the beans inside start to swell and become obvious. Beans give numerous harvests when picked often however they will become tough and tasteless as the heat takes its toll. 
• Broccoli: the heads should be dark, blue-green with closed buds. If the buds are open and in flower, use them as edible flowers in salads.
• Brussel Sprouts: they taste best after a frost. Harvest individual sprouts from the bottom of the stalk first.
• Carrots: Best when young and when their orange ‘shoulder’s’ appear.
• Cauliflower: Pick when the heads are white, tight & compact florets that have not separated and are not green. To promote white heads, bend their leaves over top of the heads as soon as they form to keep them white. Check them daily as those heads mature fast!
• Corn: husk should be green with dry, brown silks attached. A milky liquid should ooze out when the kernels are pierced. Malformed and missing kernels are often caused by drought.
• Beets, Cucumbers, Eggplants, Kale: small ones are sweetest!
• Garlic & Onions: harvest when the tops turn yellow, remove flowers when they appear.
• Parsnips: wait to harvest after a few frosts for best flavour.
• Peas: pick when pods are green before they go a dull
• Pepper: green peppers are not ripe! Pick when they are yellow, orange or red as they are sweeter and more flavourful.
• Potatoes: harvest new potatoes when plants flower by plucking some from the soil. To harvest mature taters, wait for the entire plant to wither and fade away. Stop watering a few weeks before harvesting. After digging up the potatoes, cure for 10 days a dark and dry location. To store, rub off the extra soil and store in cardboard boxes or paper bags in a cool location, 4 to 7C (40 to 45F), away from frost, and dampness (fridge or unheated basement, garage). They must not have any light as they will turn green. The easiest way to do this is to place the potatoes, once cured, in paper bags, cloth bags or cardboard boxes (don’t use plastic as they will rot). Spuds that were damaged while being harvested should be eaten as soon as possible and not stored as they will quickly rot.
• Zucchini & Yellow Squash: Pick when young at 4 inches.
• Tomatoes: pick before they get too ripe. Don’t store in the fridge as it impairs flavour. 
• Root Crops: Most root crops that have already been planted will continue to size up, and can remain in your garden through winter. Carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, leeks and onions planted in well-drained soils are, perhaps, better left in the soil for harvesting as you need them.  Parsnips, in particular, improve in flavour with a few light frosts.  

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August Arrangement

Goldsturm black-eyed Susans, Golden Sceptre dahlia, Crazy Daisy Shasta daisies, garden phlox, Lucifer crocosmias, Hakone White balloon flowers, Gloire de Versailles French California lilacs, Aitara Bronwyn fringed dahlias, Striped Vulcan Dahlias, Casa Blanca lilies, tiger lilies and Purple Sensation allium seedheads.

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Plant of the month
BLACK-EYED SUSANs, RUDBECKIAs

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A drift of Black-eyed Susans in the autumn mist at Holly Park, Surrey.

Bright yellow annual black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) surround a bold Black Magic elephant's ear (Colocasia 'Black Magic'.

A mass planting of perennial black-eyed Susans (R. fulgida) makes a bold and colourful statement.

Goldsturm black-eyed Susans flower best in full sun.

Prairie Sun an annual rudbeckia, also called a gloriosa lily, grows to 3'.

Goldsturm is a dependable, trouble free perennial.

Birds love rudbeckia seeds, so keep the heads on throughout the winter.

​Common Name: black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, gloriosa daisy
Botanical Name: Rudbeckia spp.
Form:   upright, vase shape with round top
Family: Asteraceae, sunflower family
Genus: Rudbeckia
Species: numerous
Plant Type:  annual or perennial depending on species
Mature Size: depends on variety, species, cultivar
Growth: fast
Origin: North America
Hardiness Zone: perennials Zones 4 to 9
Foliage: leaves with coarse hairs, light green, simple, entire
Flowers: composite, yellow petals surrounding a black disks comprised of tiny florets. 
Propagation: seeds, basal cuttings, division
Stems: green with short coarse hairs
Exposure: full sun best
Soil: not fussy, but prefers well-draining soils
Water: drought resistant once established
Uses: Birds, bees and butterfly gardens. Cut flower gardens, containers, woodlands, rock gardens, meadows, mixed borders
Propagation:  seeds, basal cuttings and root divisions of perennials
Pruning: Remove spent flowers to prolong the flowering period.
​Problems: Powdery mildew
Comments:
Leave the seed heads on at the end of the season for the birds. They will also self-seed, which is perfect for naturalized areas. Deer and rabbit resistant. Attracts bees and butterflies. Drought tolerant once established. Perennial and annual types available so read the plant label to make sure you have the correct one. 
Cultivars and Varieties

• Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii "Goldsturm": perennial, 2ft, reliable, pest free, blooms from August well into fall. Stems are hairy with ridges. Plants spread with runners and seeds, but are not considered invasive.
• Rudbeckia hirta "Prairie Sun": An annual with 5 inch wide flowers. Petals are orange with yellow tips. The central disk is green, grows to 3 ft. Drought and salt tolerant.
• ​Rudbeckia hirta ‘Toto’: A compact annual, grows to 10 inches, fragrant 2 to 3 inch yellow, orange or mahogany coloured petals with a chocolate brown central disk   

Three smiling Goldsturm black-eyed Susans.

Toto black-eyed Susan is a cute little annual.

Rudbeckias attract birds, bees and butterflies to the garden.

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A dwarf black-eyed Susan contrasts nicely with the blue ageratum in the front and a blue hydrangea at the back.

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Need Help?

Need help figuring what to do in your garden? Make an appointment for Amanda to come to your garden to show you how to grow food, sow seeds, prune, design beds etc.  Need help trying to figure out how to get the garden ready for spring? Get Amanda to teach you the ropes by making an appointment here. 

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THE GARDEN WEBSITE INDEX

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​About & Services ​                        Contact ​                         Job Postings ​              Ask Amanda                     Classes & Workshops

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Learn How to Garden Introduction 

• Planting Know How
• Soil Building
• Cover Crops
• Composting
• Compost Tea

 ​ Growing Food Introduction

• Crop Succession, Crop Rotation, Companion Planting

​Pruning
Lawns

Container Growing 101

• Choosing a Container

Monthly Flower Arrangements
Growing Roses Introduction 

• Types of Roses
• Climbing Roses
• Rose Insects & Diseases
• Pruning Roses

Mulching & Types Introduction

• Living Mulches – Groundcovers​

Fertilizing & Feeding Plants Introduction

• Fertilizers & Ratios
• Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
• Organic Plant Food

Propagation Introduction

• Growing Seed Outdoors
• Growing Seed Indoors
• Taking Cuttings

​Amanda’s Blog
Plant of the Month

for the tropical Gardener

While working in Florida as horticultural consultant, it became apparent that there was a need for a book on tropical shrubs. There are so many wonderful shrubs to choose from, so I wrote a reference book to make the selections easier. Ornamental Tropical Shrubs includes pictures in full colour and information about the plants in point form. So if you live in the tropics and subtropics and need a reference book on tropical shrubs, or you just want to have a look-see click here. 

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Love plants, love to garden. ​
​Amanda's Garden Company
The Garden Website ​

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