My Garden Looks Like August Crap

Here we are, looking at the middle of August, and as usual, my garden looks like crap. It looks like a black and white photo with green and brown instead.

I hate this time of year. The heat has just done a number on the plants. They are surviving, but they blew the last of their glory a week or two ago.

Now I have to wait for the cool weather in order for the color to come back.

I know, I know. It is poor planning on my part. Paying attention to blooming dates would fix this, but I am not really great on remembering these things (hence the blog).

So what can I do to fix this?

First of all, I can take a walk around the neighborhood and see what is blooming in the ‘hood. I know a few of my neighbors still have some color in their yards. ID the plants and plan on incorporating them.

Second, I can plant more annuals. Most hard core gardener’s view annuals as a cop out, but the fact of the matter is that they fill in where perennials fail. My neighbor planted a bunch of pink geraniums. Does her yard look blah? Nope. Her perennials are just as yucky looking as mine but those geraniums look great.

Third, I can incorporate more colorful foliage. In my backyard, I have this awesome salvaged trunk that I planted coleus in. It looks great. My hanging baskets with chartreuse sweet potato vine and coleus , they look great. Colored foliage is a August savior.

I need to pay more attention to my August garden so it doesn’t look like this next year.