THE WEATHER SURE has been crazy of late — dry, hot, smokey then actually cold last Monday.
Let me assure all gardeners that given the two choices — drier-than-normal or the dog days of August on the Peninsula — needing a jacket for a stroll on the waterfront is the better option by far.
However, the North Olympic Peninsula is now in the beginning days of early-late summer (Aug. 22-31) and our gardens are now in the natural cycle of decline.
Decline is probably a false representation.
Except for annuals (plants completing their life cycle in one year or less) your plants are going through changes that correspond to their reproductive cycle.
It is the human’s subjective view that has us believe we are in a gardening decline.
Numerous changes are happening as the plants experience shortening days. Many perennials will begin to slowly die off.
As August wanes, many folks have the tendency to let their plants slowly die back.
In past columns, the virtues of pinching, deadheading and leaf stripping have been emphasized.
These tasks continue to become more important as we experience the end of summer.
Your plants are larger, loaded with blooms 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 keep up those sound cultural practices.
Water early in the morning.
Cut off flowers before they wither.
Pull off dead yellow leaves.
As we just stated, perennials are beginning to die back, so cut them back accordingly.
Too often, the gardener does one of two methods.
For the first, let’s take the peony as an example.
As the plant begins to yellow, the gardener cuts it to ground level.
This time of year, that process can actually trigger new growth.
Because our fall mimics spring conditions, an abrupt cutback followed by the cooling days can actually trigger the plant to regrow.
This process can yield tender new growth, susceptible to early frost that could severely damage the plant.
In the case of peonies, cut back the leaves and stalks as they yellow.
This will allow the plant to make and store more energy.
The greater amount of stored food, the greater number of flowers.
Lilies are another prime example.
As the flower head withers, cut it off.
In a few weeks, the top foliage begins to yellow.
Cut the stalk back another few inches into good green leaves.
On my own personal lilies, this process of chopping off a few inches may repeat itself three or four times until the end of September, when the remaining stock is cut at ground level.
By pruning down the lily with this method, the bulb has had an opportunity to swell and store the maximum amount of food and water.
Bulb plants especially respond in flower size and number exactly to bulb size.
Daffodil leaves in spring can be cut back in this manner for the same effect.
The second method employed by the gardener is the old standby — which is to do nothing.
Doing nothing, allowing plants to slowly die until one does fall cleanup, has its own inherent problems.
This method increases the chances of diseases and insects as the year progresses.
Many perennials actually will harden up if left to decline naturally.
With the advent of so many new cultivars and breeders constantly striving to increase bloom on compact plants, there comes the problem of callusing the bud eye because of too many flower spikes.
Removing those flower stalks keeps the blooming center of the plant young or clear for new flowers to emerge.
So the trick now is to start categorizing your plants.
Roses, annuals, snapdragons — those plants that we can extend the blooming season — should be in one grouping.
Continue the water-soluble fertilizers, trim only the dying leaves or flowers, keep the soils good and moist.
Basically, pamper them.
For the other group — peonies, lilies, delphiniums, lupine, gladiola, coral bells, etc. — start cutting down the stalk or pulling full leaf sets as those parts yellow.
Fertilizer for this group is extremely important and next week we will dive into the whole subject of fall fertilizer.
List of good and bad
Other concerns should be popping up now as well in the garden.
This is a perfect time to start the list of good and bad.
With the garden in its prime, make notes.
What works for you this year? What color of plants do you want next year? What plants need to be rearranged because of size, color, height or look?
What is in your neighbor’s yard or catalogs that you want? What jobs need to be done early or later?
As mentioned before, the time is now for fall planting and sowing.
Find those spots to add fall color crops.
Make a trip to the nursery and get sweet pea seeds, radishes or lettuce.
Assess where you want a new ornamental tree or shrub to go.
Look about your yard now to see what improvements can be made for next year.
And since we are on the subject, I would like to close with a personal plea for ornamental cabbage and kale!
These are magnificent plants and there is no finer place than here on the Olympic Peninsula for them.
They will grow from now until March in an array of textures.
They grow bigger and brighter as winter comes and are very simple to grow in a wide range of conditions.
On top of this, they are relatively inexpensive.
With all this in mind, and the desire to get the Peninsula known for its flowers, I challenge anyone who likes plants to start thinking of areas in front of your house or business to plant these gems.
The splendid impact on the area will be greatly enhanced if everyone would plant just a few ornamental kales, cabbages, mums, fall sedums, grasses, pansies and violas in the next few weeks.
What an easy and foolproof way to enhance our homes and businesses.
And please, 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).
