August is usually our hottest, the driest month. We assume it will be so this year. Our most important job is to continue our maintenance programs of watering, weeding, and spraying.
We hope to have our lawns, flowers, shrubs, and trees in good condition to enter the fall season when we expect relief from heat and drought.
Colchicums
Colchicums, giant autumn-flowering croci, are one of the few things you can plant in midsummer to obtain a nice display of flowers before the snow flies.
Planted now, they will send up in September rather large crocus-like flowers in bright blue, light violet, purple, or white from leafless stems.
Plant them in groups. Autumn-flowering crocus species, similar to spring-flowering ones except in flowering time, should also be planted now.
Natives To Tame
Virginia Cowslip
One of the native wildflowers happy to come to the city is the bluebell or Virginia cowslip, Mertensia virginica, which thrives in our open woodlands along streams.
They are pretty planted with dogwood, in the flower border or with ferns and trilliums on the north of the house. The roots are dormant now and easy to transplant.
Bloodroot
Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, is another good wilding that often carpets a shady roadside in April with white flowers above round blue-green leaves. It is splendid for the rock garden, under early blooming trees, or on the north of the house.
Madonna Lily
The Madonna lily, Lilium candidum, is one of the loveliest of white lilies. If old plants in the flower border have become crowded, they may be lifted and divided now.
Plant in a sunny, well-drained site, setting bulbs with tops only an inch or two below the soil.
Planting on the side with surrounding clean sand is usually recommended.
Black Raspberries
When black raspberries have finished fruiting, remove old canes at ground level, being careful not to injure the new shoots and burn them.
New canes should be pinched when they are about 18″ inches high to promote the development of side branches.
Next spring, before growth starts, cut back these side branches to about 8″ or 10″ inches.
Oriental Poppies
The Oriental poppy is one of our old flames that has been away to school and has returned with a “new look.”
Formerly, an Oriental poppy meant a large, fiery-red bloom that appeared in the garden just in time to clash with its neighbors, the irises and peonies.
The educated poppies have discarded their cloaks of scarlet and put on new ones of soft and varied hues. Now they are ready to take their places in perfect harmony with other flowers.
A few pleasing combinations:
- ‘Sass Pink’ (flesh pink), with blue or purple iris
- ‘Curtis Salmon-Pink,’ also with blue or purple iris
- ‘Enchantress,’ a soft lilac rose
- ‘New Perfection,‘ a pale pink
- ‘Watermelon,‘ a cerise pink, is happy with blue or purple iris, blue columbine or yellow daylilies
Dormant Poppies During July And August
When Oriental poppies have finished blooming, the plants become dormant during July and August. During this dormant period, the poppies may be dug and divided.
With a sharp knife cut between the new shoots, leaving good-sized divisions. When moving a plant without dividing it, dig down about 18″ inches to get a good portion of the long roots.
Retain as much soil around the roots as is practical. They prefer an open, sunshiny position in good, deep, well-drained, loamy soil.
Root Cuttings
Propagation is using root cuttings which are made at this time. Cut the roots into pieces from 2″ to 5″ inches long, making the cut straight across the top end and slanting on the bottom end. Be sure not to plant the roots upside down.
A mixture of sand, soil, and peat moss makes a good rooting medium. Set roots upright with the top slightly below the surface. Place in a cold frame, a flat about 6″ inches deep, or in a well-drained spot outside.
If only a few cuttings are made, they may be placed in flower pots set down with their rims, even with the ground. Use a light mulch of peat moss. Set out the rooted cuttings early next spring, about 2′ to 3′ feet apart.
44659 by R Mclane