THE WEATHER SR has been crazy lately – dry, hot, smoky then cold last Monday.
Let me assure all gardeners that given both choices – drier than normal or on the August heatwave days on the peninsula – they need a jacket for a walk by the water. is by far the best option.
However, the Northern Olympic Peninsula is now in the early early and late summer (August 22-31) and our gardens are now in the natural cycle of decline.
The decline is probably a misrepresentation.
With the exception of annuals (plants that complete their life cycle in a year or less), your plants undergo changes that correspond to their reproductive cycle.
It is the subjective point of view of humans that makes us believe that we are in a decline in gardening.
Many changes occur as plants experience shorter and shorter days. Many perennials will slowly begin to die off.
As August wanes, many people tend to let their plants slowly die off.
In previous columns, the virtues of pinching, topping and stripping have been emphasized.
These tasks continue to grow in importance as we experience the end of summer.
Your plants are taller, full of flowers, and full of older vegetation.
This increases the habitat for pests and increases the chances of plant problems.
Now is the time of year to maintain these healthy cultural practices.
Water early in the morning.
Cut the flowers before they wither.
Remove the dead yellow leaves.
As we just said, perennials start to die back, so cut them down accordingly.
Too often the gardener uses one of two methods.
For the first, let’s take the peony as an example.
When the plant begins to turn yellow, the gardener cuts it down to the ground.
At this time of year, this process can actually trigger new growth.
Because our fall mimics spring conditions, a sharp reduction followed by chill days can actually trigger the plant to regrow.
This process can produce new, tender growth sensitive to early frost that could seriously damage the plant.
In the case of peonies, cut the leaves and stems as they turn yellow.
This will allow the plant to produce and store more energy.
The greater the amount of food stored, the greater the number of flowers.
Lilies are another prime example.
As the flower head wilts, cut it off.
Within a few weeks, the upper foliage begins to turn yellow.
Cut the stem a few more inches into good green leaves.
On my own personal lilies, this process of cutting a few inches can be repeated three or four times until the end of September, when the remaining stock is cut at ground level.
By pruning the lily with this method, the bulb had the opportunity to swell and store as much food and water as possible.
Bulb plants respond particularly by the size and number of their flowers to the size of the bulbs.
Daffodil leaves in spring can be cut this way for the same effect.
The second method used by the gardener is the old method of waiting, which is to do nothing.
Doing nothing, letting the plants die slowly until the fall cleanup is done, has its own inherent problems.
This method increases the risk of disease and insects as the year progresses.
Many perennials will harden if allowed to decline naturally.
With the advent of so many new cultivars and breeders constantly striving to increase the flowering of compact plants, the problem of bud eye callus arises from too many flower spikes. .
By removing these flower stems, the flowering center of the plant remains young or open for new flowers to emerge.
The trick now is to start categorizing your plants.
Roses, annuals, snapdragons – those plants whose flowering season we can extend – should be in one group.
Continue water soluble fertilizers, cut only dying leaves or flowers, keep soils good and moist.
Basically, pamper them.
For the other group – peonies, lilies, delphiniums, lupines, gladiolus, coral bells, etc. – start cutting the stem or pulling whole leaves as these parts turn yellow.
Fertilizer for this group is extremely important, and next week we’ll dive into the whole topic of fall fertilizer.
List of good and bad
Other concerns should now arise in the garden as well.
Now is a great time to start listing the good guys and the bad.
With the garden at its peak, take notes.
What is working for you this year? What color of plants do you want next year? Which plants need to be rearranged because of their size, color, height or appearance?
What’s in your neighbor’s yard or catalogs that you want? What work needs to be done sooner or later?
As mentioned earlier, now is the time to plant and sow in the fall.
Find these places to add fall color crops.
Take a trip to the nursery and get some sweet pea seeds, radishes or lettuce.
Evaluate where you want a new ornamental tree or shrub to go.
Take a look at your garden now to see what improvements can be made for the next year.
And since we’re on the subject, I would like to end with a personal plea for cabbage and ornamental cabbage!
They are magnificent plants and there is no better place than here on the Olympic Peninsula for them.
They will grow from now through March in a range of textures.
They get bigger and brighter as winter arrives and are very simple to grow in a wide range of conditions.
On top of that, they are relatively inexpensive.
With all of this in mind and the desire to make the Peninsula known for its flowers, I challenge anyone who loves plants to start thinking about the areas in front of your home or business to plant these gems.
The splendid impact on the region will be greatly enhanced if everyone plants a few ornamental cabbages, cabbages, mums, fall sedums, grasses, pansies and violas over the next few weeks.
What an easy, foolproof way to improve our homes and businesses.
And please be well all of you!
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Andre May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturalist who dreams of having the counties of Clallam and Jefferson recognized nationally as “Flower Peninsula USA”. Send him questions c / o Peninsula Daily News, PO Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email [email protected] (object: Andrew May).