{"id":106783,"date":"2025-08-08T17:03:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T21:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=106783"},"modified":"2025-08-08T19:01:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T23:01:48","slug":"tweaking-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=106783","title":{"rendered":"tweaking August"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I can easily reach all of my back garden with two hose lengths fastened together, so that’s something to be said for a small garden. (But if I had the money, I’d buy up any adjacent property that comes up for sale, knock down the fence, and probably the house too, and plant it up.) New transplants, stock tanks and pots are watered daily in about 15 minutes or so. In this modified Mediterranean climate on the North Oregon Coast, summer is rainless — except this summer we had rain June 20ish and, two days ago, a full day of it. The heavy soil holds on to a day of rain for a good while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anemone ‘Dainty Swan’ started throwing flowers in June but recent rain kicked it into high gear<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Truth be told, other than deadheading and watering, there’s not a lot to do in August, and I miss the busy-ness and nurturing of early summer. I notice that I lay in bed a little longer on an August morning than spring\/early summer, when I’d be up before first light. Chiltern’s seeds did arrive and some have been sown, and now the shed has flats of seed trays again. I hate it when nothing is growing in the shed! Volunteering at a local veg garden means there’s some winter stuff like kale, leeks, pak choi growing in the shed too. But the chief occupation of August is passively looking, staring, taking it all in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When grasses catch the August light, it suspends a moment in utter absorption<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Easy August tweaks include deadheading flopping Parahebe perfoliata down to budding side shoots, whereupon it regains its stature and blooms again like August is the new early summer. Phygelius reacts the same way if pruned down to side flowering shoots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Choosing what to deadhead is a very subjective task. Digitalis parviflora’s seedheads make tight, tidy verticals, so I’d rather not cut them back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The seedheads of dierama are captivating, but there will be trouble ahead with seedlings insinuating themselves where they’re not wanted. In this case, beauty has a price that I’m willing to pay next spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Having started them from seed, protected them from slugs, pinched them back, kept them watered since the end of May, it’s not a chore to keep seedheads from forming on cosmos — it’s a mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cosmos are “short-day” plants, so they really seem to jump into action in late July\/August when days begin to shorten. As an experiment I’ve sown cosmos seeds in late July to see if they’ll bloom before frost.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The coppery seadheads of Euphorbia ‘Miner’s Merlot’ give it a rusty, mini-hydrangea look. I’m still reluctant to cut it back even though new growth is coming from the base. Just opposite the euphorbia, on its right a pajaroensis hybrid manzanita hits the same color notes, an unexpected collaboration that always satisfies my eye. I’m always looking for a through line in this overplanted little garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Foreground Manzanita pajaroensis backed by Euphorbia ‘Miner’s Merlot’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The A in August means agapanthus, just a couple clumps of Windcliff seedlings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The persicarias are to mid-late summer what the geums are to spring\/early summer, and they use the adjacent ground well together and appreciate similar growing conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of the persicarias ‘Summer Dance’ is earliest and most robust. The color differences among the three I grow seem very subtle, hardly noticeable. ‘Blackfield’ is deeper in color, ‘Purple Spears’ is more the usual crimson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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looks gloomier now without the Aralia ‘Sun King’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aralia ‘Sun King’ was great as the garden found its legs but began to threaten important woody plants like Stachyurus salicifolius. Removing the aralia was a monster job, so it was definitely time to curtail its spread. A couple of summer plants also had to be moved before bloom or risk being engulfed forever, including Heliopsis \u2018Burning Hearts\u2019 and a Helenium ‘Summer Cinnabar.’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Scabiosa ochroleuca and Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’ hitting their August stride<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Crocosmia ‘Limpopo’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Allium ‘Millenium’ makes August look fresh. Seedheads of Linaria ‘Peachy’ were cut back, bringing a small rebloom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Digitalis ferruginea leans on cassinia and pearly seedpods of Crambe maritima<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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the mountain mints rise up from their earlier quiet anonymity to become important, if monochromic, contributors to August. Calamints lining the path are also just starting to bloom. It’s a pollinator corridor now!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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mountain mint Pycnanthemum muticum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sinopanax formosanus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’m thrilled that the young Sinopanax formosanus survived the transplant in April. Sandwiched in the middle of a Bupleurum fruticosum and Senecio monroi, something had to give. I liked it’s protected spot slightly under the overhang, and the move near the back fence may lessen its odds over winter, but it was clearly going to be too tall. I really should move it to the protected east side of the house, which is just now getting planted up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When establishing woody plants in this zone, I always assume that there will be failures — and sometimes, surprisingly, there are no failures, everything flourishes, and once again I’ve obviously planted too closely. Now the adjacent Acacia pravissima is flourishing, and the sinopanax is once again squeezed! But one hard winter and another ice storm could change everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Corynabutilon vitifolium — flowers are blue-lilac and tiny, about the size of a globe mallow, but the leaves are fabulous in color and feltiness. Its ultimate attributes may be limited to being a 6-foot nonflowering cutback shrub with great leaves, but it’s tentatively still on trial depending on how it comes through next winter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The narrow east side of the house, where the previous owner grew strawberries and vegetables, is for me an overflow utilitarian area. Some vegetables, some orphan plants, some plants on trial. The borders on either side of a central grassy path are narrow and backed by either the house or the east fence — some of my least favorite conditions to plant. I think in deep borders! But I did notice some of the orphan plants are thriving, so I’m beginning to take this area a little more seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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on the east side of the house, corynabutilon, Hedychium ‘Tara,’ Kniphofia hirsuta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The kniphofia which grew too large for the back garden was sold as K. hirsuta, supposedly one of the smaller kniphofias. It’s the most aloe-esque kniphofia I’ve encountered. It bloomed in spring, but it’s that gorgeous arching urn shape that is the main attraction. I’m curious how it will tolerate a harder winter than last year’s and whether it can be reliably incorporated into more prominent planting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I love the flowering oreganos and somehow ended up with none this August. A couple were found local (‘Rosenkuppel’) planted in a pot with the grass Helicotrichon sempervirens. I repeatedly planted this grass in zone 10 and it repeatedly failed. Maybe a cool zone 8\/9 is the trick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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tiny flowers of Fuchsia ‘Hawkshead’ provide scale for big leaves of Bergenia ciliata<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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isn’t this charming as hell? Rhodochiton threading through cassinia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the big daisies of August, Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen,’ opened its first flowers today. Now that the acacia is taking over this corner, all or part of the helianthus will be moved to the narrow borders on the east side, which is filling up rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More soon! Best, AGO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can easily reach all of my back garden with two hose lengths fastened together, so that’s something to be said for a small garden. (But if I had the money, I’d buy up any adjacent property that comes up … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5119],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNJ2E-rMj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106783"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106783"}],"version-history":[{"count":113,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106897,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106783\/revisions\/106897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}