I love your posts!

Yeah, it's a "grit your teeth & wait it out" month for us, too. Actually, for everyone, I suppose. Ever hear anyone say: "Oh, come visit us in AUGUST, it's our loveliest month"?

Around here, it's the time where we do just the bare minimum in the garden to keep the trees & shrubs alive until September. When the weather moderates we'll get a surge of energy & start helping the plants more & enjoying them again.

Three more weeks--hang on!

Hi,

Not related to roses, but I was intrigued by your comment about bay laurels. I'm currently intertwining the trunks of two very young bays to make a fun specimen tree at the front of an "Ancient Roman" styled garden. I have found the bays' leaves burn much more easily than I expected in full sun. Do you think they should respond better to the sun down the line?

Cheers,

Jay

This post was edited by ArbutusOmnedo on Thu, Aug 8, 13 at 14:09

Oh sympathies, Melissa. It is also a relief to hear of someone with the same discouraging chaos. It really is an act of faith to believe that summer is not over and there is still more to come....which does not look dull, sere and struggling. True, there is produce aplenty....and we finished the picking (well, there is still one more blackcurrant session) and the preserving is almost done (there will be blackberries but that is always the jamming swansong and I welcome it, even with the annual bloodletting in the brambles). Truly though, the first lot of flowers are long over and the deadheading has defeated me so sweet peas and cornflowers are over. I know I need to get out and deadhead the penstemons (a reliable show of colour) and definitley attempt some sort of rosy resurrection for the autumn but.....really, it has been easier to escape to the woods where there is nothing to do except strim, cut, strim and cut.....mindlessly. The falling trees thing is a tad fearsome though - I cannot help looking up at the wildly swaying (and ridiculously high) canopy and shuddering.

I think this is why August is called the dog days of summer. It's sad to hear that your lovely garden is in such a dreary state. Take heart, the weather will change and it will begin to grow and bloom again I'm sure.

Even here in my very temperate zone August is the drag month. The roses are looking very tired and messy at the moment from a terrible bout of black spot that our high humidities always bring. There are few blooms and they're small and pale usually. But September will bring a fresh breeze and new growth and bloom and that's what i'm looking forward to :)!

I HATE this time of year.My garden is as bad as Melissa's.I have no energy or ability to do anything it seems. Our town's population triples or quadruples with "vacationers",yelling and screaming. It's horrible,truly horrible.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who finds gardening in August a discouraging activity. I used to wonder about posters who would proclaim their roses were all continuous bloomers all season long while mine were going semi-dormant towards the end of the long hot summer.

This year, however, is most unusual. All summer it has been overcast, misty, cloudy, rainy--the lower temps certainly are a relief--I've had too many summers clinging to my a.c. waiting for the cooler weather to return. But I have found out, for the first time in my gardening life, what goes with cooler, overcast summers--humidity and blackspot! Never have I had such a long, continuous problem with all sorts of leaf fungal diseases--and yellowed leaves from too much water. Of course, if I sprayed more often that would help, but it is hard to find a time between the mists and the rain to actually spray. Add to that, my reluctance to spray any more than I used to (which was always as little as I could get away with), and the result is a garden of rather stick-looking roses with some (but not many) blooms on top--the lollipop look, I think its called.

Never had to contend with this problem before. Just the normal ups and downs of the weather? Or climate change? We spent last summer in a continual drought with temps over 100 almost all summer--and no water other than what our hoses delivered.

First too little, then too much. What happened to the happy medium?

Kate

I am with Kate, this has been a mild year and the roses are about to burst with another flush.

There I said it...and will have probably jinxed the weather.

Now the veggie garden is looking tired, it has pumped out ridiculous amounts of zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans and peppers. Some of the plants are ready to be pulled and replaced. And most of the fruit trees are done and looking like they are ready to shed their leaves and take a break.

Bluegirl, actually, when I lived in the Pacific Northwest August WAS the prettiest month of the year: The brief period of overlong, hot, bright days of July were past, and a spell of elegaic mild weather would set in: still warm, still sunny, but with a softness not experienced at any other time of the year. September here is often the same way. In most of the U.S., though, I think you're absolutely right.
ArbutusOmnedo: that's correct. I have a couple of small bay laurels in full sun, and for the first couple of years they suffered considerably, but are now healthy and aren't burning. Possibly watering them well while they're growing their root system would help.
Suzy, this has been the year of falling trees for us. In your shoes I would keep an eye on that canopy.
Your food sounds MARVELOUS. Here we have only our two tomato plants, but they're producing handsomely and we're eating plenty of tomato salad. And the Nashi pear, planted to keep the ground in place, has produced a first handful of fruit.
Seil, hang on! Fall is coming!
Bart, thank the Lord at least we don't have a lot of tourists; it's one of the things I love about Piacenza.
I read one of your recent posts about your soil with interest. I just wanted to say that, though I've never had my soil tested, my impression is that it's close to neutral. I rarely have problems with chlorosis, even with roses that have a reputation for being susceptible to it. I believe that the impossibility of growing acidophile plants here is due to the compactness of the soil and the summer drought, more than to soil Ph.
Kate, years ago I read in one of David Austin's books that one of the weaknesses of repeat-blooming roses was that they were always making new growth that needed to be supported by water, and that that new growth was susceptible to fungal diseases. Summer drought is why I don't have to spray. Of course, when I die and go to live in (Rose) heaven, I have no doubt that the summer drought there will be interrupted every couple of weeks by a rainy day that brings a couple of inches of water with it. Since I choose not to irrigate--I'd empty the reservoir--I just have to live with the conditions I have. I'm just hoping for more shade as the trees and shrubs grow. The shade garden is much pleasanter than the sunny garden this time of year, and the plants there are happier. My roses down there in the drainage made good growth during the hot weather.
The weather here is tiringly extreme, too. Winter and spring this year were endlessly wet, then we got this very dry summer. At least I don't have to worry about watering restrictions as groundwater levels are fine.
Kippie, I venerate those of you who grow a lot of food. It sounds like you've had a lovely summer.
Melissa

This is a comforting thread for me I think. Every year at this time I get so depressed looking at my garden,thinking "why do you bother? what's the use? this is an impossible dream, a folly,a waste of time, life,money..you're a fool for trying to do this!" so it's kind of a big relief to hear that even some of you with more sensible, reasonable gardens (i.e.,surrounding your homes, with running water and milder climates,or even simply husbands/wives that share your love of gardening) feel depressed and find their gardens depressing at best. I've attempted to attatch a photo of my garden in May. It's an old one,from 2009,but I hope it will give myself and others courage. By the way, the lilac-coloured rose in the foreground is my The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild, before it got too big for it's britches. See why I don't want to give up on it? Imagine if I could get it to bloom like that at it's present height!!! bart

As Kippy says, we have had relatively mild temperatures here -- but the predictions now are for a big warm-up, just ahead of us.

Even in a mild summer, things here do slow down. A few roses are blooming, but it's not the bounty of early spring (or winter!) or anything approaching it.

Jeri

'Prospero' AND the lavender surrounding him love a morning shower -- even if it does come from a garden hose.

I feel for you, Melissa! We've had one of the worst summer droughts in years here, but not so bad as yours, I think. We had 28 millimetres of rain in early June and then nothing until yesterday when we had another 21 millimetres. We're in the middle of the August doldrums with hardly any perennials in flower but that's my fault for not planning well enough. There should at least be phloxes but the deer ate them. The katsura is dropping its leaves already and the birches are turning yellow.

Like campanula I'm picking soft fruit and making jam and syrup every day. But there will be no plums this year and there were very few cherries. The apples and pears are also fewer than usual because it was too cold for pollinators at flowering time.

Marianne, It sounds like yours is a rough year. I know you had a winter that went on forever--we did too, but a winter that won't end is far worse in Sweden than it is in Italy. It seems unfair that now you should be having a drought as well.
Bart, what a beautiful garden you must have! That's an impressive photo; I like it very much.
About your late summer garden blues, I can only say that every August I look at my garden and think that I must have imagined how lovely and thriving it was in May, or else that yes, it was beautiful then but the summer killed everything and it would never grow and flower like it did in spring again. And then, the next May, it does.
Are those trees in the background of your garden on your property? They are grand; exactly what I miss in our garden.
Jeri, 'Prospero' is lovely. Rain will come one day for us, not from a hose, though we may have to wait until September.

My garden is so messy at this time of year.
It is too hot to do anything but sit in the shade and read a book.
My deepest shade, is under Marechal Niel. It is putting out a good flush of flowers at the moment. Not so big a flush as it has in May, but there are over a hundred blooms on it at the moment.
Now that I am 66 years old, I need reading glasses. These glasses make everything that is at a distance slightly blurred. So when I look up from my book, the garden looks like an impressionist painting. I call it my "Monet" garden. It is the best way to view it at this time of year.
Lots of colour and you don't notice the mess!
Try squinting at your garden, it will look better I promise!
I took a few photos this morning, If you squint at them, they look better!

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Daisy

Bart, your garden is lovely.

Ditto yours, Daisy. Mine should look so lovely in August.

DaisyinCrete, if you dare to complain that your lovely garden full of flowers looks BAD now I'm gonna come over there & swat you! Love the mix of purples, blues & reds with the roses. Seriously, that is gorgeous.

Same to you, Bart. Beautiful.

Thank you for your kind words,forum maties!Daisy, I agree with bluegirl; your garden looks absolutely GREAT! I especially love the picture with the asters and lavender. What varieties are they? bart

Daisy, your garden is wonderful--love your color combinations and contrasting foliages and heights. And beautiful roses. If that is your garden at its worst, you better start posting pics of it at its best and bowl us over! You are much too modest!

Thank you for sharing those great pics.

Kate

WOW, Bart, Daisy, your gardens are beyond gorgeous!!! I know what you mean about this time of year, though. Its the same for me. We have not had drought, instead tons of rain, and the weeds have gotten so big that some of them ought to have social security numbers!!! I can't keep up with it, the best I can do is at least try to keep them from swamping all the roses and other flowers. Evey year around now, I resolve to take tons of pictures in May and June to remind myself of why I put myself through all this, and every May and June I'm too busy and forget to do it! Maybe next year ...

Meanwhile, thanks for posting these stunning pictures! And remember it is SO not a waste of time, creating such amazing beauty!!!

I stayed up til 3 canning last night, had everything prepped and found out friends were in town and wanted to do dinner so I got a late start. Make me want to go and do my own kind of garden massacre on what is left of the plants (that I don't think I want to can....)

Thanks all of you.
Not bad, just soooo messy Bluegirl!
Bart, your garden is so romantic. Beautiful. And you can grow delphiniums. I am envious.
The aster is Aster x frikartii Monch. The plant behind it, is not lavender but Perovskia atriplicifolia. They both flower all summer, autumn and into early winter here.
I got them both from Constantine Nurseries in Cornwall.
They send me my order, when I ask for it in early November. The plants are bare root, small and beautifully packed. In spite of the Greek postal service, they are in good condition when they reach me.
I don't know what the garden centres are like in Italy, but here in Crete, they are dire.
Daisy

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.cornwallgardens.com/

My garden actually looks better now than it did in June, after a very short spring flush due to too little winter rain and then a very hot wind storm that decimated the garden. This was followed by a much cooler than normal July and early August which enabled the garden to recover somewhat. I'm eagerly waiting for Young Lycidas to bloom and the transplanted Earth Song and Pink Rosette to put out new shoots, which they're beginning to do. Romaggi Plot Bourbon in its third year is finally beginning to bloom quite a bit, although I disbudded it this morning since we're expecting the usual hot weather now. Since I have quite a few new polyanthas and other roses I'm hoping that by next spring they'll make a showing, barring of course another practically rainless winter. I must have over 25 roses out of 80 that are very new and that has quite an impact on the appearance of the garden. I can't wait for the day when all my roses will be the right roses for my climate and I'll never have to remove another rose!

Daisy and bart, how very beautiful! Daisy, I used to think we had somewhat similar climates, but I see now that mine is much harsher than yours; your garden is so lush with happy plants that would never thrive here.

Ingrid

Good luck, Ingrid, and best wishes for a fall flush!
We're all on different schedules that are based on what the weather is doing. Here it still hasn't rained and, barring a chance of thundershowers tomorrow, there's very little chance of rain in the two weeks' forecast. We were walking on the hill above the reservoir yesterday and I noticed that it looked pretty low. All this is making me pensive.
Well, it will rain again some day.
Again, good luck!
Melissa