Gardening Tips for August 2026

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• Annuals- Zinnias (the shorter profusion varieties), Pentas lanceolata, New Guinea Impatiens, Cosmos, Nasturtiums, Lobelia erinus.
• Perennials- Felicia amelloides, Fuchsias, Kniphofia uvaria, Rudbeckia, Dahlias, Lantana. Hanging and Upright Begonias.
• Bulbs - Soon it will be time to start buying fall planted, spring blooming bulbs. If you are looking for specialty Alliums and Daffodils check out BrentandBecky'sbulbs online. When shopping in person, look for bulbs that are heavy for their size andblemish free. Keep bulbs in a cool/dry place until it's time to plant in your area.
• Seeds - Sunflowers, Nasturtium, Beets, Carrots, Lettuce, Radish, Arugula.
• Extas – Yellow Sticky Traps, Water jugs for slow watering and fertilizing, Maxsea fertilizers. Bamboo Stakes (green and beige so they can be hidden in the foliage).
   

• BLOG: Plants for Summer Color 
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• Watering – Check all container plants to make certain they are getting enough water to thrive. Dig down about 6 inches to see what’s going on in the soil. Many people are surprised that container plant soil is completely dry even though they have been watered everyday.
• Hanging Begonias – are quite drought tolerant. They like to dry out a bit between watering. When watered too much the tubers may start to rot. Watch The Gardening Tutor video Two Quick Ways to Apply Liquid Fertilizer to see one easy way to water hanging plants.
• Container Plants – August is a great time to refresh containers completely or swap out one or two plants that are looking ready to be composted. Look for Zinnia, Lobelia, Lantana, Fuchsias, Verbena, and other plants for color for the rest of summer into fall.  
• Sunflowers– Can still be planted by seed until the third week of August here in Sonoma County. Planted this month means Sunflowers blooming in October or sooner!
• Vegetable Seeds and Starts– Mark calendars for Labor Day (September 7th) as a soft target to plant many winter veggie starts (small plants) before the soil starts to turn cold and the days shorten. Seeds of Lettuce, Arugula, Parsley, Carrot, Beet can be sown this month.
• Pruning- Get the garden ready for a great fall show by pruning back many perennial plants this month. To see how to shear plants such as Erigeron, Oregano, and Lobelia watch The Gardening Tutor video: Shearing Plants to encourage flower or foliage. Continue to deadhead annuals and some perennials, such as Cosmos, Marigolds, Zinnias, Gaillardia, Gazania, Coreopsis to keep them blooming all the way through fall. Fuchsias too will keep blooming well when spent flowers are removed promptly. Shrubs, such as Citrus can still be shaped until the end of August or so. This gives the plant time, here in Zone 9, to harden off any new growth that pruning stimulates before the frost season begins here in Sonoma County at the end of October. Bearded Iris can be divided at this time of year. If Iris have stopped blooming as well as in prior years, it's time to divide the clumps. When you're ready to learn how to do pruning or any other gardening task, contact Mary for and appointment. If you missed the window to prune Lamium right after it flowered, it can still be sheared now so it fills in nicely for fall. Remember to give Lamium showers from the hose as it fills back in after shearing.
• Pest Management - By mid summer many plants (shrubs especially) may be quite dusty from hot weather and road dust. You may notice lots of tiny webbing inside the foliage. This may be evidence of spider mites. Spider mites like hot, dry, and dusty environments. In the morning, rinse the whole shrub off with a strong spray of water from the hose to get rid of the webbing. Make sure to blast under the leaves too. You may need to repeat this every few days before you see the mite population decline. Continue to bait for or hand-pick snails, slugs and earwigs. Cucumber beetles (little green insects with black spots that look like lady beetles) are an awful garden pest! Squish them as soon as you see them. Cucumber beetles are super hard to control with spraying organic approved sprays. Lures attached to yellow sticky traps work pretty well. Yellow sticky traps without the lures usually do not attract this pest. Mosquitoes - Continue to dump out standing water from the yard and garden. Mosquitoes breed wherever they find standing water. Mosquito bites can transmit diseases to horses, cats, dogs, and people. Weeds are one of the worst pests in the garden. Stay ahead of removing weeds before they go to seed. Watch The Gardening Tutor Video: Weeds-How They Grow and How to Manage Them.
• Fertilizing - Citrus appreciate monthly fertilizing during the growing season. If the citrus has plenty of nice green leaves but not many blooms, use a Bloom Fertilizer (Mary uses Maxsea). If the citrus leaves look unhealthy and/or yellowing, use an All Purpose Fertilizer (Mary uses Maxsea). Before applying the liquid fertilizer make certain the yellowing leaves are not from too much water in the rootzone. When applying fertilizer apply to damp soil, not dry soil as the plant could burn from fertilizing into a dry rootzone. See how to apply liquid fertilizer-watch The Gardening Tutor Video: Two Quick Ways to Apply Liquid Fertilizer. Continue to fertilize container plants regularly throughout summer.
• Roses - In general, late August is the last fertilizing for the season here in Sonoma County. Clean up fallen leaves and prune a little farther down the stems then you did earlier in the summer in order to encourage blooms for Thanksgiving.
• When you're ready to learn how to care for your plants  Contact The Gardening Tutor
• Take Time To Just Kick Back and Enjoy the Summer Garden. Mary's reading the Elizabeth Strout series of books right now in her garden!
   

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ALL CONTENT by Mary Frost (no AI).