WELL, WHAT DO you know, we’re well into August already.
Now, I hear a lot of folks getting all tensed up that summer is close to being over. That is pretty bizarre, because summer is only a few hours into its third trimester.
And what gorgeous summer days we’ve been having, even getting some much-needed rain! I was just commenting on August as the month in which “every inch is to be reveled in. It’s when life should be lived each moment, not just on weekends.”
In the garden, we horticulturists (domesticus landscaperis) know that every moment our yard needs to be worked — every inch to be weeded or dead-headed, pruned, raked, admired and cherished.
It may be my tundra upbringing in Green Bay, Wis., but I have to tell you that it is never hot, nor is it ever cold here.
You see, the heat is relative to what you are accustomed. The lack of humidity on the Peninsula, subzero temperatures, mosquitoes, tornadoes or killer storms make this place ideal for outdoor enthusiasts.
The beauty is unmatched anywhere and community spirit is as high as I have ever seen any place else.
For the next several weeks, make sure you go out and enjoy the Peninsula.
For now, let’s list some very radical notions I would like everyone to come away with:
1. During the summer, a brown lawn is not only advantageous, it is normal. You do not have to water it.
2. Insects, even aphids or white flies, are a “good thing” in the garden. I even found a quick running lizard in one client’s yard this week.
3. One must indeed cut and prune away flowers and buds in order to promote a more prolific plant. You must spend flowers to make flowers.
4. The chemicals one uses to kill the weeds are far more destructive than the weeds.
5. Watering properly is way more beneficial than daily sprinkles. Watering is an art form.
6. The pruner is mightier than the sprayer (or the shovel).
7. The best way to compost the grass clippings is to leave them on the lawn.
8. The best plant may not be the prettiest one, but the one ideally suited to its location.
9. Switching to organic gardening guarantees the worst results in the short term.
10. There is nothing wrong with native plants — the natural salal, ferns, huckleberry, flowering current, madrona and western red cedars are gorgeous to everyone east of the Cascades.
11. There is no shame in hiring out all or some gardening jobs.
12. Rocks never die and do not need to be pruned, fertilized or watered.
With these points taken, cutting back your lovely, gorgeous, beautiful flowers (my columns are online through the Peninsula Daily News, to see which varieties react positivity to this process).
Cutting back flowers is a great way to begin the re-adjustment as we head into the third trimester of summer.
You must pinch back your flowers, baskets, pots and window boxes, and pinch them back hard.
By pinching back, and remove not only the flowers but at least one leaf set, and preferably several leaf sets.
In the case of fuchsias, that’s each and every tip — which is half the blooms.
If this pitching is not done quickly (and for some, it may already be too late) by Labor Day, these untended beauties will have turned to mostly trash.
Then again, for many of you caught in the habitual rhythms of humans, this is when summer is over.
So now I will go out and check the edges of my beds for even watering, smell the lovely fragrance of the full-on bloom of the oriental lilies wafting down the neighborhood and prune tips of flowers for my Labor Day rush of blossoms, with a cold drink tucked in the shade nearby.
Any reason is a good one for being in the garden during our gorgeous “end of summer” weather.
And please, do stay well all!
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Andrew May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturist who dreams of having Clallam and Jefferson counties nationally recognized as “Flower Peninsula USA.” Send him questions c/o Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email news@peninsuladailynews.com (subject line: Andrew May).
