Fertilize salvia and chrysanthemums with liquid plant food. They will reward you with lots of blooms later this fall.
Examine your flower beds for tired out perennials like Shasta daisy, black-eyed Susan and purple coneflower. You can cut off dead flowers and brown foliage to neaten the plants for fall.
Preserve excess basil leaves by pureeing in a blender with a little water. Freeze the slush in an ice tray and use the cubes in your wintertime spaghetti sauce.
Lightly trim back the tropical hibiscus you kept outdoors for the summer. Make plans for where you’ll place it indoors in bright light.
Divide daylily, iris and monkey grass while you still have several weeks of warm weather to encourage root growth.
It’s a great time to plant peony roots. A good, old-time favorite is ‘Festiva Maxima’. For real excitement, plant a tree peony and get huge blooms next May.
Spring-flowering bulbs are for sale now. You can buy them – but don’t put them in the ground until soil temperatures are in the 60′s or cooler in October.
Get ready to plant cool season vegetable seedlings. Broccoli, collards and cabbage plants should be available at garden centers.
Examine patio plants for insects if you intend to bring them indoors. Treat with insecticide if necessary.
Cooler weather means it’s time to plant shrubs and trees. Make sure to dig a hole three times as wide as the root ball.
Propagate limber-limbed hydrangea, grape and forsythia plants by placing a thin branch on the ground and partially covering it with soil and a brick.
Replace all of the mulch under roses, red tip photinia and crabapples. You’ll prevent diseases on next year’s leaves.
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