Some August Garden Jobs to Help You Get Ready for Fall

Laguna Niguel has an absolutely lovely climate to grow hydrangeas, which are beautiful in the garden and fabulous in cut bouquets.

Some of the prettiest weddings I have ever seen have used hydrangeas as the main flower. Later in the season as they start to fade, you can cut and hang them in a dry spot to use in fall displays, such as a wreath for your door. They look great with the little dwarf pomegranates that are super-easy to grow both in a container and in the ground.

Mine are just starting to flower, so I am hoping for some nice fruit to use in the fall. (The parking lot of the old Home Expo store has many dwarf pomegranates. Take a look in the fall and see if any are ripe for the picking.)

Once your hydrangeas have finished blooming, cut the dead flower a few buds down from the bloom to encourage tall growth and a nice bloom next spring. Don’t cut green stems that haven’t already bloomed,  because they will next year. Once you are sure the season is over, feed for growth. Wait until early spring to feed for bloom or to force blue flowers.

Both my daughter and I are fond of hydrangeas and have many varieties. She has a lovely powder-pink that blooms like a champ in bright sun. Wanting to see if I could get a cutting of hers to grow, I took about a 5-inch cutting and placed it in moist potting soil, covered the pot with plastic and put it in my window for a few months. Now it’s outside and seems happy.  

I will wait for cooler weather to put it in the garden, since the root system is still quite small. Hopefully, it will grace my garden in the spring. If you're interested in hydrangeas, visit hydrangeashydrangeas.com for some excellent advice.

If you remember garden that I visited earlier in the year, you may recall that her tip for great foxgloves was to start early. While Gillian plants pony packs in August, some gardeners go as far as to plant their own seeds. They do this by planting between rows of vegetables or in some part of the garden where they will receive good water. Once they have sprouted a few leaves, dig up and plant in the desired location in your garden in late summer or early fall.

I volunteer in the Hortense Miller Garden in Laguna, and we have already put out our foxglove pony packs. We are on constant snail patrol, and the foxgloves seem to be growing beautifully. I will keep you posted.

Camellias and azaleas are two more spring-blooming plants that need a little love this time of year. Both are acid-loving plants and not particularly heavy feeders. So a good dose of fertilizer now and then again in late September will really improve their blooms. I usually take a few minutes to trim off errant branches and to train my espaliered plants now so they are well shaped in the spring.

This is the month for us to sit back and relax and enjoy Laguna Niguel’s perfect summer weather.