August is not a showy month in the garden. It’s steady garden maintenance in Chester County that keeps it going this time of year, the kind that rewards whoever keeps at the small tasks instead of waiting for a slow week that doesn’t come. This is also the point in the season where what’s happening underground, in turf and in root systems, starts to matter as much as what’s blooming.
- Deadhead the roses, especially the shrub types. A spent bloom left on the plant tells it the season’s work is finished. Cut back to the first five leaflet leaf facing outward and a shrub rose reads that as a reason to keep going. Stay on top of it through August and a rose that’s deadheaded regularly can keep producing new flowers right up until frost, instead of stalling out in the heat.
- Shear Coreopsis and Nepeta back hard. Once the first flush of bloom fades, cut both back to 3 to 4 inches, the same treatment we recommended for Nepeta in June, just pushed later in the season. It looks severe for about a week. Then new growth fills in fast and pushes a second round of flowers that carries well into fall. Nepeta especially rewards the harsh treatment, coming back fuller and more compact than the leggy growth it replaces.
- Watch the turf, not just the beds. August is when Japanese beetle grubs begin feeding just under the surface, and turf care this time of year means checking for early damage before it spreads. A drought stressed section of turf shows grub activity first: spongy patches that lift away like loose carpet. Catching it now, while grubs are small, makes September treatment far more effective than waiting until the damage is obvious.
- Water containers and new plantings differently than the rest of the garden. Established beds can coast on a deep soak twice a week in this heat. Containers and anything planted this year can’t. Their roots are still shallow and still establishing, so they need water more often, ideally in the morning so the foliage has time to dry before evening humidity sets in.
Cut a few blooms for the house while you’re out there. It’s one of the smaller pleasures of a Chester County garden in late summer, and easier to enjoy once the deadheading and watering are handled. If the beds are asking for more time than your calendar allows, EHS’s garden maintenance team is doing exactly this work on properties across Chester County this month, and we’re glad to talk about yours.
Ann Waters is Head Horticulturist at Eastern Horticultural Services. She is a University of Delaware graduate and completed the two-year Professional Gardener Training Program at Longwood Gardens.
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