Supertunia Bordeaux - always outstanding in my yard Photo: Nancy Shepard |
I am determined to squeeze out the last possible beauty from my perennials, annuals and vegetables this season. I’ve watched all the big attractions bloom and retreat like peonies, bleeding heart, Chinese poppies, and Delphiniums. My green beans and tomatoes are barely producing so I know those are ready to say goodbye. With only some hibiscus, roses, bee balm and hostas, I’m concentrating on just maintaining good foliage, raking and applying mulch to the beds. All of my Plant Select specimens still have noble endurance especially my Sunset hyssop (Agastache rupestris.) My annuals, despite the heat, always seem to persevere with trimming, watering and fertilizing.
My annual flowers benefited earlier in the season by alternating high nitrogen (24-8-16) with high phosphorus (15-30-15) fertilizers. The higher nitrogen is useful when they are rapidly growing in the spring, but mid-summer into fall the application of high phosphorus keeps them blooming longer. But I've always diluted these fertilizers way down. Excess phosphorus can be detrimental to the environment because of runoff and its threat to water quality. See the link below for more about using phosphorus. Also, significant pruning of leggy petunias other annuals like geraniums really helped them keep going. I find that snipping off a third of their growth produces more re-blooming than deadheading does.
Mezoo (Dorotheanthus bellidiformis) Photo: Nancy Shepard |
https://ag.umass.edu/cafe/fact-sheets/fertilizing-flower-gardens-avoid-too-much-phosphorus
Lambs Ear (Stachys byzantina) Photo: High Country Gardens |
Vegetables
My spring cool crops of lettuce, spinach and arugula were
terrific and I’m re-sowing those now for a fall crop. If it continues with very
high heat in the 90s past August, I’ll drape shade cover over them.
Watering
It goes without saying that this year summer was hot for a
long time. I found myself watering annuals every other day instead of the usual
two times a week.
Here's to closing down a summer of gardening and getting ready for fall!