August can be a rough month. In either of my gardens, I’ve never had to deal with summer rainfall, flooding, plants getting pummeled by rainstorms like some of the East Coast and South are suffering under. And coastal Los Angeles gets relatively mild heat compared to some of the numbers cities are posting this summer. But August was still a dreaded month in my Los Angeles garden, one of the world’s five Mediterranean climates zones. By August the soil no longer wants to play garden and seems determined to reassert its hydrophobic, summer-dry chaparral nature. By August, moody and beneficent early morning marine layers are pfffft, and all the pots and containers now feel tethered to the gardener with a ball and chain. No doubt I have too many Los Angeles Augusts to blame for the skin cancer recently removed. Ants in the house are a feature of August in LA, and now newcomer mosquitos are the latest summer harassment.
Here on the Oregon coast there’s none of that sense of a doomed, relentless march into the cotton-mouthed maw of August. Barring wildfires, as in 2021, August at the Oregon Coast, 45th parallel, is no sweat. It reminds me a lot of San Francisco summers, also cool, misty and rainless. But if you do hate overcast skies til early afternoon, a cool ocean that demands wetsuits for swimming, and feel the same way about 8-9 months of winter rain as an Oregon expat I recently met who fled to Arizona, the summer bargain might not be enough of a payoff for you.
But gardens? Summer at the Oregon coast is easy on the garden. I’m finding that August skips along pretty much like July, temperature-wise, except August signals the summer annuals that now is their moment.
August activated the cosmos and zinnias I sowed in April for a small cut flower garden. Every sign of plant life in April is hyper-celebrated, so of course I saved all the seedlings. The cut flower 4X8′ area could only handle so many, but the cosmos slip into the main garden unobtrusively, billowing upward from a narrow, V-shaped footprint.
If August in my LA garden was a time to lie low and not make any sudden moves, on the Oregon coast fine tuning and planting continues into July and August, with the first frost in fall the hard backstop. I’ve been playing around with the dozens of cosmos, some planted into the garden, some plunged in pots. I love having new plants to mess with, new growth to watch for, deadheading to prolong bloom. The castor bean is still making size, and the amaranthus are just budding. The zinnias I’ve kept to the cutting garden.
I’m hoping to check in on family and friends in LA this winter, help the garden recover from my extended absence, and maybe catch some of my aloes in bloom. Hope you’re finding something to enjoy this August!
Wow, your pictures are recommendation enough for moving there. So pretty, and everything looks perfect. Love the cosmos! Not a tinge of scorch.
I wonder if I could convince my husband to buy a summer vacation cottage on the Oregon coast?! Summer here in coastal SoCal is as unpleasant in August as it usually is. I’m tempted to hack back all sorts of plants and pull many out but, fortunately, the heat mostly keeps those urges in check. My well-watered cutting garden is my only real pleasure at the moment.
I love your pretty Cosmos! I have several packets of Cosmos seeds I never even tried to sow and conditions certainly aren’t hospitable now.
So far, this has been the mildest August I can remember-complete with marine layer mornings and days barely dipping into the 80’s. The hellhole temps of July did their damage so cut backs and dig-outs have been on the agenda. Your garden looks splendid, and I can relate it to the numerous trips I have taken to New England in August-so lush and green ! I hope your skin cancer removal was successful. Laying around on the beach slathered with baby oil back in the 60’s was no help to any of us. Best wishes for full recovery !
@Tracy, not much heat, and some of my favs like calamint won’t grow because of that, but there’s lots of plants that love these conditions.
@Kris, a summer cottage somewhere that you could drive to would work with your household. You could find one near Jane/mulchmaid on the Central Coast, much closer to RPV! Temps there are 70-something year-round.
@Kathy, that’s great news that August has been good to you. I’ve always assumed because I tan that I didn’t need to worry about skin damage — not so! This little one was handled back in December. Yeah, baby oil days, oy!
July was brutal. An oven left too hot, overbaking the garden to its current state of crispiness. The clay in our garden is also cracking open more than usual, causing flagstone to move and plants to dry out even quicker. Thus, I’ve welcomed August, which seems unusually cool and cloudy compared to years past. Almost feels like fall has arrived. The Joe-Pye weed is a nice one, I need to try it in our newish prairie garden where I think it might compete well with horsetail. I’ve been trying to layer up more often to avoid skin cancer. Noticing my skin beginning to discolor much more easily and to begin scrunching up like well used crepe paper. As long as I don’t wear my reading glasses, it isn’t too noticeable. Hoping that the skin cancer removal was successful. It’s a good reminder to get checked for those of us who spend a lot of time outdoors.