Gardeners can get lots of free plants by taking cuttings in September. Early fall is a great time to take semi-ripe cuttings and get exact clones of your favorite plants. Whether to expand a collection or as a contingency in case you lose any to winter frosts, take cuttings this month and plant them out next spring.

If you are new to taking plant cuttings, it may sound confusing. In a nutshell, semi-ripe material is current-season wood that has started to harden but not fully firmed. The base is hard, but the tip is soft, and shrubs should have a lot of this material in September. As they are still actively growing in early fall, these cuttings should take relatively quickly.

There are still ornamentals and edibles you can plant in September, but there is always a real satisfaction to growing plants from cuttings. Here is a lovely selection of semi-ripe cuttings to take in September, along with expert tips for success. Get started with a pair of sharp, clean pruning snips (available on Amazon) to take your cuttings.

1. Rosemary

Rosemary is a staple herb for any keen cook to have in their herb or kitchen garden. The aromatic foliage also makes it very popular outside a herb garden, such as lining pathways or making a statement in a container.

Despite being a cold-hardy plant, rosemary will struggle sitting in cold, wet soil over winter. You can grow rosemary indoors in colder climates (US hardiness zone 6 and lower) to protect it from frosts. Or you can propagate rosemary from cuttings and overwinter these indoors, just in case anything happens to your parent plants over winter.

Select healthy, straight, non-flowering shoots 4-6 inches long and remove the lower leaves so only an inch of foliage remains on the soft tip. Dip the end in rooting hormone (such as this rooting powder at Walmart) and insert up to four cuttings around the edge of a small pot filled with well-draining cutting compost.

Keep the cutting somewhere protected over winter, such as in a greenhouse or on a bright windowsill. Ensure the soil remains moist, but not waterlogged, so the cutting can be planted outside come spring.

2. Lavender

Gardeners can easily propagate lavender from semi-ripe cuttings in September. It is a great option if you have a particular type of lavender you love, or have a woody lavender that may need replacing in the future.

As some lavenders are also more susceptible to frosts or damage during cold, wet winters, it is a sensible way to plan for potential losses. If your existing plants survive winter unharmed, you can gift young lavenders to friends and family.

Pick shoots that are brown and woody at the base, yet green and flexible at the tip. Trim them to 3-4 inches long and remove the lower sets of leaves. Dip them in rooting hormone and place them around the edge of small pots; this propagation potting mix on Amazon makes a suitable free-draining soil for cuttings.

Cover the pot with a clear plastic bag to create a humid atmosphere that helps keep the cuttings moist. The cuttings should overwinter in a greenhouse or on a windowsill where they can get bright, but indirect, light. The plastic bag should be removed after the first few weeks, and the cuttings should be potted on once roots have formed.

3. Hydrangea

Hydrangeas are easy to propagate from cuttings in the fall. If you have a hydrangea variety you really enjoy, or want to encourage a friend or family member to grow hydrangeas by gifting them a plant, taking semi-ripe cuttings in September is a great way to do so.

To multiply hydrangeas from cuttings in fall, select a non-flowering shoot and cut it into a 6-8 inch piece. Snip off all the lower leaves, leaving just one set at the top, and cut the remaining leaves in half to help reduce moisture loss. Dip the cuttings into rooting hormone and place them into a pot filled with well-draining compost.

Alternatively, you can propagate hydrangeas in water. To do so, follow the steps above but, instead of a pot of soil, place the cuttings in a container of water and put that in a warm, bright spot on a windowsill. Keep changing the water at least weekly and wait until the cutting has developed two-inch roots before potting it up.

4. Salvia

Gardeners in the know appreciate that not all salvias are winter-hardy. There is a wide range of borderline or half-hardy salvias to grow, including the popular Salvia ‘Amistad’, which flowers for a long time to delight onlookers and attract pollinators throughout the season.

Taking salvia cuttings in fall insures against any potential winter losses and expands a collection. If your salvias are getting older and woody, propagating salvias in this way gives you exact clones to add to borders or pots as replacements.

Pick healthy, non-flowering stems and take 4-6 inch cuttings. Remove the lower leaves, dip the cut end in rooting hormone, and pop a number of cuttings around the edges of small pots. Each cutting should have two-thirds of its length submerged under the soil.

Water gently and cover the container with a clear plastic bag or propagator lid to boost the humidity (you can get nursery pots with humidity domes at Amazon that are ideal for cuttings). Place it somewhere warm and bright, such as a greenhouse or windowsill, and then overwinter the rooted cuttings in a frost-free place.

5. Hebe

Hebes are among some of the prettiest evergreen plants for a garden. The genus contains around 90 different species of low-maintenance evergreen shrubs that flower in summer. It includes varieties with different sizes, leaf colors, and flowers.

Not all hebes are fully winter-hardy, and many are short-lived perennial plants. If you have a unique variegated hebe or a particularly colorful variety that you adore, it pays to take cuttings so you always have plants in your collection, just in case. As hebes will impress in borders or as evergreen container plants for structure and interest, why not propagate new ones?

Take 4-6 inch cuttings of stems where the base is firm, but the tip is soft. Remove the lowest leaves, dip the base into rooting hormone, and put the cuttings into pots of compost – again, you can put more than one per pot.

Once the cuttings have rooted and been potted up into individual pots, keep them in a greenhouse, cold frame, or on a windowsill over winter. But be careful not to overwater the plants, as young hebes are known to rot sitting in sodden soil. A soil moisture tester like this at Walmart can be used to quickly test individual pots to judge when to water plants.

6. Forsythia

The sight of bright yellow forsythia flowers heralds the end of winter. Their blooms are a welcome sight at an otherwise relatively barren time of year.

Such spring-flowering shrubs bursting into life make a big impact and lift the spirits – it is understandable why any gardeners might want to add more to their yard, whether as eye-catching stand-alone shrubs or a vivid hedge. It is not only us who revel in seeing forsythia blooms, as the flowers are also vital early-season nectar for pollinators.

If you grow forsythia, there are lots of options for cultivating new plants. You can take softwood cuttings in late spring, hardwood cuttings in winter, or semi-ripe cuttings in early fall.

When you go down the latter route of taking forsythia cuttings – September is an ideal month for doing this – the plants will develop roots quickly and can be potted on in spring. These plants should then be large enough to plant out later in the year.

7. Fuchsia

There is a diverse range of fuchsias, including hardy and half-hardy varieties. Fuchsias bring vivid color and interest to yards from midsummer through to the frosts, whether in flower beds, container gardens, or hanging baskets.

Gardeners can take fuchsia cuttings of hardy and tender plants in early fall. It is a reliable way to get new clones of your favorite plants, and an easy fallback if any half-hardy fuchsias are unfortunately lost during the winter months.

Select healthy, non-flowering shoots and take 4-6 inch cuttings with pruning snips or a sharp knife, such as this horticultural knife at Lowe’s. As with others on this list, remove the lower leaves, dip the cutting in rooting hormone, and place it in a pot filled with cutting compost – you can get 3-4 around the edge of one pot.

Cover the container with a clear plastic bag or propagator lid and put it somewhere warm and bright, but out of direct sunlight.

What to Shop

September makes a great month for planning the future garden. It is a month for planting shrubs and perennials in early fall to get them established before winter, along with thinking about seeds.

The best seeds to order in September include hardy annuals to sow directly straight away – they’ll put down roots, go dormant, then burst into life and flower early come spring – and perennials that need a period of cold stratification to germinate. Also, there are cold-hardy vegetables to plant in fall that can be sown straight into the soil.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

When it comes to winterizing the garden, young trees are among the plants most in need of protection from frost and wildlife damage. Failing to put precautions in place could result in severe damage that results in the death of your tree.

Luckily, there are lots of winterizing tools you can use to protect young trees before winter, such as this Amazon tree guard which stops hungry wildlife attacking tree trunks.

Tree expert Carrie McClain also notes you can mulch your trees to offer insulation and should do one last water in fall to ensure they stay hydrated through winter. Here, with Carrie's insights, we explain three things to do to protect young trees before winter.

1. Keep Watering in Fall

It can be easy to assume you don't need to water plants as we progress into the colder conditions of fall and winter, but dry spells during these seasons call for watering and keeping plants hydrated.

'One of the most important and often overlooked steps is making sure young trees go into winter adequately hydrated,' says Carrie.

'Evergreens in particular continue to lose moisture through their needles during winter, so going into winter with adequate soil moisture can help reduce winter drying and browning,' she explains.

If you're concerned about overwatering during fall, you can use an Amazon soil moisture meter to check the soil and water accordingly. You should also give your trees a final deep watering before hard frosts arrive.

Our guide to watering trees in winter has more information on how to water them correctly during the coldest months.

2. Mulch Around the Base

'If you only do one thing to protect a young tree before winter, add a good layer of mulch around its base,' says Carrie.

Mulching is an essential part of overwintering a garden, where you use a layer of organic material to lock-in moisture and insulate plant roots as frost protection.

'Young trees are still developing their root systems, and mulch helps insulate those roots from extreme temperature fluctuations while also helping the soil retain moisture,' Carrie explains.

'Apply about 2-4 inches of organic mulch, such as shredded bark, wood chips or pine bark, over the root zone. Spread it outward around the tree rather than piling it against the trunk,' she advises.

It's problematic to pile mulch up against tree bark because it can trap excess moisture and encourage rot and disease. Providing a gap around the base allows for airflow and will help keep the tree healthy.

You can gather fall mulching materials from your yard, purchase brown mulch from Lowe's, or even use mulching mats (like these from Amazon) which are suited to smaller trunks of young trees.

3. Install a Tree Guard

Winter wildlife, notably deer, rabbits, and rodents, can also pose a threat to garden trees. When other food sources are scarce in fall, they may start to chew on bark and damage tree trunks. It can leave trees girdled and exposed to frost damage.

'Young trees are especially vulnerable to browsing and rubbing during the winter months. A simple wire cage or tree guard can create a physical barrier around the tree,' says Carrie.

'Make sure the protection is tall and wide enough that deer can't easily reach over or through it to browse the branches. And don't be too quick to remove that protection in spring. Tender new buds and fresh growth can be particularly attractive to browsing deer, so continue to keep an eye on young trees as they break dormancy and put on new growth,' she advises.

These Amazon tree guards are a good choice because they're expandable and can ensure trees are fully protected. They also have a mesh design that provides plenty of airflow.

Alternatively, use a simple mesh wire tree guard (like this from Walmart) to put a barrier in place and stop wildlife getting to the tree trunks.

You can help keep deer away from your yard by growing deer-resistant plants, too.

What to Shop

As well as following these steps to protect young trees before winter, it's worth reading up on how to protect trees from winter weather. This includes removing any damaged branches, wrapping tree trunks with a breathable material, and protecting potted trees.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

As we move further into fall, it's important to start preparing your yard for frost. Winterizing plants, tools, and your wider outdoor space will protect them from incoming cold, harsh winter conditions.

Not providing proper frost protection for tender plants could kill them off, while leaving your irrigation systems exposed could cause costly damage. Luckily, there are so many tools and products out there to make winterizing your garden much easier, so you can put the garden to bed worry-free.

Whether you've got a container garden to insulate, tools to carefully store under shelter, or don't know how to give your lawn some TLC before frost, we've got you covered. Here, we talk through all the tools you need over the coming weeks, plus the best options to shop – a good place to start is this Amazon plant frost cloth.

Container Gardens

Container gardens have their own set of needs when it comes to preparing for frost and winter conditions.

Transitioning fall containers to winter with hardier plants is one way to ensure your displays don't get wiped out, but you can also protect tender spring and and summer-flowering perennials by wrapping pots in burlap (like this from Amazon) for insulation.

Likewise, don't forget to protect pots and planters from frost. If your precious pots aren't frost-tolerant, they could crack and become damaged in winter weather. In this case, moving containers indoors or under shelter may be preferable. A plant caddy (like these from Wayfair) can make this a less strenuous job.

Lawn Care

When it comes to fall lawn care, it's all about reviving it after summer and getting it ready for the freezing conditions of winter.

Key tasks include aerating your lawn to improve drainage (a lawn aerator tool from Amazon makes this easy, punching holes in the ground), overseeding your lawn to repair patches in your grass after such a hot summer, and dethatching your lawn with a dethatching rake (like this from Walmart).

Our guide to winterizing a lawn has more advice on how to get your lawn ready for frost, including when to give it a final cut.

Plant Frost Protection

There are multiple ways to protect plants from frost to ensure they make it through the harshest conditions of winter, and there are several tools to help with this.

Mulching is one technique you can use or you can turn to frost covers (like this from Amazon). Alternatively, a portable cold frame (like this from Wayfair) is an affordable option to provide your plants with some shelter and insulation.

Tree Care

There are a few steps to take when winterizing trees and protecting trees from winter weather.

As well as pruning away any damaged, hazardous branches (this tree pruning saw from The Home Depot can help with this), tree trunks should be protected from damage such as sunscald, frost cracks, and animal damage.

In particular, these mesh tree guards from Amazon provide a barrier from deer and rabbits that feed on bark where other natural food sources are scarce. You can also use burlap tree guards from Amazon to provide insulation and protection from frost.

Soil Preparation

Before the ground freezes in fall it's a good idea to give it a bit of love after a long summer.

This includes loosening compacted soil (using something like this garden hand fork from Walmart), getting rid of weeds with essential weeding tools, and putting down a fresh layer of compost to replenish nutrients and soil volume in flower beds.

You may also wish to use a soil test kit (like this from Amazon) to find out more about your soil's available nutrients and potential deficiencies to address before the next growing season.

Irrigation

Winterizing your yard isn't just about the garden, your irrigation systems also need preparing before frosty conditions arrive.

This includes winterizing your outdoor faucet with an outdoor faucet frost cover (like this from Amazon), and winterizing your sprinkler system, for example by blowing out a sprinkler system before frost.

Failing to do so can risk your pipes freezing and cracking, resulting in costly damage. You may even want to install an irrigation timer (like this from Walmart) to help manage your irrigation system more easily through fall, winter, and the rest of the year.

Yard Clean Up

It's best to start clearing up fall leaves before frost in areas where it may become hazardous. Not only this, but cleaning gardening tools and storing them out of cold and wet conditions can save any damage.

Doing this fall yard clean up hard frosts will only save you a bigger job later on. You can use a cordless leaf blower (like this Stihl one from Amazon) to keep walkways clear, while sealed outdoor storage boxes (like this resin one from Wayfair) can ensure tools are kept dry and safe.

Our guide to fall gardening tools has more insight into the types of tools that can help get your yard in shape for winter.

Don't forget to also read up on fall gardening mistakes to ensure your efforts aren't wasted this season. This includes forgetting to remove diseased plants that may spread through your garden, and waiting too long to plant spring bulbs.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Fall means just one thing to us garden enthusiasts: it's time to get spring bulbs in the ground. But, before you head out to the garden center, garden experts urge you to think twice about your selection.

While the classic spring bulbs will always be cheerful with colorful blooms that have become synonymous with the start of the season, the experts say it can make planting feel a little predictable. Likewise, hybrid varieties that don't reliably return each year can be a costly habit that some find not worth it. They also advise to avoid planting any bulbs that spread so aggressively they become unmanageable.

It's for these reasons the experts avoid certain bulbs and rather opt for choices that elevate the garden, are easier to maintain, and only need planting once for multiple years of blooms. Here, they talk through five bulbs they never plant, plus what to grow instead (Burpee's range of spring bulbs is a good place to start browsing, and don't forget to stock up on essential bulb planting tools to get the job done).

1. Grape Hyacinth

Grape hyacinth, or Muscari, is a charming miniature bulb with bunches of florets that look like grapes, hence its name. However, Ian Mendoza, horticulture expert from the Botan app, says to plant them with caution.

‘Grape hyacinth spreads readily by seed and offsets and can also invade lawns if left unchecked,’ says Ian.

Muscari botryoides is even listed in the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States and has been reported as invasive in natural areas in several states.

One of the ways to avoid this naturalizing bulb spreading is by growing it in pots, or even forcing these bulbs indoors for Christmas displays. Keeping it contained can help avoid unwanted spreading, so you can enjoy these blooms without the hassle later on.

You can pick up grape hyacinth bulbs to grow in pots on Burpee.

2. Crocus

For Lindsey Chastain, homesteader and founder at The Waddle and Cluck, crocus is a spring bulb she doesn't bother with anymore.

'That's not to say everyone should avoid planting them. I have a lot of wildlife where I live, and the squirrels and mice get to the crocus bulbs before they have a chance to bloom,' she explains.

'Of course, you can plant them and stop squirrels digging up bulbs and eating them by using protective measures like wire mesh cloches (like these from Amazon),' Lindsey adds.

However, if you want something more reliable that doesn't require these extra precautions, opt for bulbs squirrels don't eat instead. This includes winter aconite, camassia, and daffodils (see the range at Plant Addicts).

3. Hybrid Tulips

There are so many different types of tulip to choose from for spring, but many are not reliable perennials. For Lindsey, it's not worth the money to keep purchasing these hybrid varieties.

'While hybrid tulips are absolutely gorgeous, most of them really decline after a year or two. It means you have to keep replanting them each year, which gets pretty expensive considering they aren't the most affordable bulbs in the first place,' Lindsey says.

'I prefer just regular tulips. I find the wildlife tends to leave those alone a little bit more, and they're much more affordable. My tulips come back year after year, yet the hybrids I've previously planted never came back more than one year after,' she continues.

Explore the tulip bulbs available at True Leaf Market.

4. Giant Allium

Peggy Anne Montgomery, horticulturist from Flowerbulb.eu, notes that while tulips and daffodils are always beautiful to grow, her spring garden wouldn't be complete with alliums. However, instead of opting for the popular and common Allium giganteum (Giant Allium), she'd rather plant something more unexpected.

'While Giant Allium might seem common, it’s a stunner in my pollinator garden and brings that garden to life long before the perennials bloom. But, there is an allium I believe is relatively unknown and sorely underused: Allium schubertii (Tumbleweed Onion),' she says.

'Few flowers are as memorable as Tumbleweed Onion. Its spectacular blooms resemble exploding fireworks, 9-12” in diameter, with rosy-purple florets radiating from the center on long stalks to create an eye-catching starburst effect. I value the dried flower heads as much as the blooms,' Peggy Anne describes.

You can find tumbleweed onion allium bulbs on Amazon.

5. Star of Bethlehem

Another bulb the experts say to avoid is Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum), which is native to Europe, north-west Africa, and south-west Asia.

‘I will avoid planting this anywhere and everywhere because they spread aggressively and they're hard to get under control. Every bulb you plant and leave in the ground will produce another plant,’ says Lindsey. ‘There are so many other bulbs that are much better behaved,’ she adds.

In many parts of the US, Star of Bethlehem is considered an invasive bulb, where it can quickly naturalize and form dense colonies. It can dominate woodlands, meadows, and prairies, and is difficult to remove once established. For this reason, it's best to avoid and opt for native alternatives with a similar appearance.

A top choice is wood anemone (Anemonoides quinquefolia). This North American native has delicate, star-shaped white flowers and spreads naturally by underground rhizomes, making it a good choice for a woodland-style planting.

Plant Addicts has a wide range of spring flowering bulbs to explore.

What to Shop

There are quite a few bulb planting mistakes to be aware of before you get started with planting this season. It's important to space the bulbs correctly to ensure they can grow to their full potential. Likewise, ensure your soil is well-draining and nutrient-rich to give your bulbs the best chance.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

After such a long and hot summer, leaves scattered across the lawn are a welcome sign that fall is finally making its arrival. But with so much contradictory advice about fallen leaves, it can be confusing to know whether you should clear them away or leave them for wildlife.

The truth is, it's a bit of a balance to strike. Removing fallen leaves is important if they're making paths slippery, smothering grass, or blocking gutters, but piles of leaves also provide invaluable shelter for overwintering insects and mammals, overall supporting your garden's biodiversity. In the case of removing them, it is beneficial to do so in September – waiting until the weather is much wetter and frosty can become hazardous and tricky.

It's also a good time to start collecting leaves (add these hand leaf scoops from Walmart to your fall gardening tools) to create leaf mulch for frost protection. Here, we talk through exactly when to start cleaning up falling leaves and where in the yard you should leave them alone.

The Risk of Not Removing Fallen Leaves

There are lots of reasons why September is a good time to start clearing up falling leaves.

While there are still dry spells and temperatures are milder, it's much easier to collect leaves and remove them than when the frost and ice arrive. Allowing leaves to accumulate into bigger piles this month will only become harder to deal with later on.

One particular area to focus on clearing in September are garden paths that may become hazardous when wet or icy. You can use a cordless leaf blower (like this from Lowe's) to quickly move leaves out of the way daily.

You should also watch out for leaves piling up on your lawn. In my own yard, a neighbor's large tree overhangs and drops leaves into a big pile. Once when I forgot to remove them, it ended up killing the grass beneath and caused an unsightly brown patch.

You may find a leaf rake (like this from Walmart) is the best for this, though a larger area of lawn will be easier to clear by using something like this Gardena push leaf collector on Amazon.

You also want to remove any dense piles of leaves in the garden that may trap moisture in the rain, leading to fungal problems like powdery mildew. Take care not to put these in your compost bin and rather dispose of them to prevent diseases spreading.

Elsewhere, look to clear leaves from your gutters. You don't want debris to cause a blockage, water overflow, and costly damage to your home. You can use this gutter rake from Amazon.

Of course, the other benefit of starting to clear up falling leaves in September is that you can collect them into a garden waste bag (a collapsible gardening tool essential, like this collapsible garden bag from Lowe's) to turn into leaf mulch. By the time it comes to protecting plants from frost, you'll have free mulch to work with.

When to Leave Them Alone

There is also a reason not to over-tidy your yard in fall, including leaving some fallen leaves for wildlife.

In particular, it can provide shelter for a wide range of overwintering beneficial insects and small mammals where other plans fade and coverage becomes more sparse during late summer and early fall.

Not only this, but as leaves break down they put nutrients back into the soil and can help keep weeds at bay in your flower beds.

Of course, this doesn't mean you have to keep leaves strewn all over the yard. Consider moving some leaf piles into a designated area of the yard and be selective about what you clear.

What to Shop

Fallen leaves are just one of the things to clear from your yard in September before frost makes it more difficult to. You should also consider removing older mulch, spent blooms, and weeds. Doing a light tidy now will help save you work later on in fall and spring.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Homegrown vegetables are undoubtedly tastier than any store-bought ones, which is why gardeners around the world enjoy ‘growing their own’. On top of this, there are also beautiful ornamental specimens which can bring color and texture to fall decor. You can grow and show this month, before you enjoy those homegrown flavors.

Growing your own crops opens up a world of veg in different colors and shapes than you normally see on shelves. Rainbow carrots, purple cabbages and cauliflowers, bright green romanesco, vivid Swiss chard, dazzling peppers, and ornate squash and gourds can be arranged together for rustic displays.

Think of your vegetable garden as an artistic palette as well as a place for ingredients for seasonal dishes. You can make stunning displays in this vintage willow wicker basket on Wayfair to place on a porch, side table, or make a centerpiece for fall gatherings. Here are our picks of seven ornamental vegetables to harvest in September for breathtaking seasonal displays.

1. Pumpkin

Pumpkins are potentially the vegetable most associated with fall decorations. There are many ways to decorate with pumpkins, from placing them on your porch to making a table centerpiece out of them. And you don’t need to go mad with pumpkin carving to make an eye-catching display.

How you display your crops will depend on the pumpkins you are growing. Larger pumpkins can adorn porch steps to create a spectacular entrance, or miniature pumpkins can line baskets or wooden trays on a table.

In September, pick pumpkins off the vine once they have a bright orange color, the skin is hard and can’t be pierced with a fingernail, and it sounds hollow if you tap them. The stem should also be dried.

You can get a variety pack of pumpkin seeds on Amazon for fruits in different colors, sizes, and textures. If you want to grow mini pumpkins, these Wee B Little pumpkin seeds from True Leaf Market are ideal and can even be grown in raised beds or containers.

2. Squash

I have always enjoyed growing squash, and one of the reasons is due to the wide range of shapes and colors there are to pick from. There is such a diversity of both summer and winter squash you can add to any vegetable garden.

From teardrop-shaped butternut squashes to ridged acorn squashes, through to scalloped pattypan squashes. There are smooth, ribbed, or warty skin textures that can add character if you add them to fall displays. Once you’ve enjoyed their unique decorative characteristics, you can bake or roast the squash and add them to a variety of comforting seasonal dishes.

In September, the window for harvesting winter squash is well and truly open. As with pumpkins, the rind should be hard, the stem woody and dry, and color deep and solid when the squash is ready to pick.

I always adore butternut squash (seeds available at Burpee) and Blue Hubbard (seeds available at True Leaf Market), both of which offer ornamental value on top of sweet flavor.

3. Gourds

Gourds are a quirky addition to any vegetable garden. They are ancient vegetables that have had many uses over the years – from water carriers to musical instruments – but nowadays they are grown for unique decorations. Gourds are easy to grow and feature an array of different shapes, colors, stripes, warts, and ridges.

You can create a kaleidoscope display of gourds in a basket or tray, or simply dot individual ones around a table or on a mantelpiece for a novel show that is sure to spark questions from guests.

Harvest your gourds and place them somewhere warm and dry to cure for a few weeks. You can wash them with soapy water to remove any soil, and, once dried, spray them with a mix of 10 parts water to one part vinegar to toughen the skin and preserve them for longer.

This packet of decorative mix small gourd seeds at Amazon is perfect for growing a fun mix of different gourds to display on porches, mantels, or tablescapes.

4. Rainbow Carrots

Mention carrots and the overwhelming majority of people will undoubtedly picture the iconic orange roots. It is understandable, as that is all you see in stores.

There are, however, many different varieties that offer a rainbow of colors. Historically, carrots were purple, yellow, or white before breeding in the 16th and 17th centuries created the bright orange carrots we all know today.

If you want to grow carrots at home, it offers an ideal opportunity to look outside of the norm. You can still get scarlet red, vivid yellow, bright white, or deep purple carrots (seeds available at True Leaf Market) to sow and grow in your vegetable garden.

When you harvest these carrots in early fall, they make a vibrant display in baskets alongside other seasonal produce. Keep the leafy tops on and don’t think of peeling them.

Carrots won’t make a long-lasting display, but they can be a talking point at a dinner before being stored as normal in a refrigerator to be used in dishes.

This Kaleidoscope Blend of carrot seeds at Burpee has mixed seeds of five different types. Gardeners can sow them and crop red, purple, white, yellow, and orange carrots.

5. Purple Cabbage

The deep purple heads of these fall and winter cabbages provide dramatic, deep shades for displays.

These cabbages, commonly known as red cabbages despite their darker color, look good either on their own or mixed with other crops in lighter colors. As an alternative, the ruffled leaves of savoy cabbages can add textural interest to any vegetable display.

September marks the end of the window for summer cabbages and the start of the season to harvest winter cabbages. Different varieties of red cabbages can be planted to pick from August into winter.

If you squeeze the cabbage head and it feels firm, that means it is ready to harvest. Waiting too long to harvest cabbages can cause the heads to crack, which isn’t ideal if you want to utilize their vibrant colors in any displays.

‘Red Acre’ is a popular purple cabbage variety to grow. This heirloom vegetable has deep purple heads and goes from sowing to harvesting in under 100 days. You can get ‘Red Acre’ cabbage seeds at True Leaf Market.

6. Romanesco

Romanesco is a very unique vegetable. A cultivar of cauliflower, though often referred to as romanesco broccoli, it has a lime-green head that displays buds in a distinctive spiral Fibonacci sequence.

Whether in a basket of its own or surrounded by other seasonal veg, it is likely that not everyone will be aware of romanesco, so the surreal heads can make a real talking point. If you have included it in dishes at a dinner party (romanesco has a texture like cauliflower and a nutty flavor), save a head or two for the table so guests can be enamoured by the beauty of this lesser-known veg.

Romanesco is really structural and capable of bringing something to displays that no other vegetable can. Even in a fall garden, it stands out and remains one of the prettiest vegetables to grow in a flower border or kitchen garden.

Romanesco is grown from seed in late spring and harvested from September onwards. Once its buds are compact and firm, the entire head can be cut with a sharp knife. Just like when you harvest cauliflower, make sure to pick before the heads begin to separate.

You can get romanesco seeds at True Leaf Market. Or, for a breathtaking display of cauliflowers, this cauliflower seed variety pack on Amazon contains seeds to grow purple, dark green, and lime green heads, along with the classic white cauliflower.

7. Leeks

You can grow leeks from late summer through to early spring if you plant different early, mid, and late varieties. As leeks are one of the best vegetables to overwinter, cold-hardy varieties will happily sit in the vegetable garden throughout the colder months to be harvested as needed.

Different types of leeks can have deep green or blue-green tops above the bright white base. If you harvest leeks this month, lay them out in baskets or lean them against larger vegetables, such as pumpkins or squashes, in an artistic manner. Their blue or green stems and white portions will contrast nicely with a deep orange pumpkin.

I would wipe down the stem and snip the roots back to the base with pruning snips or garden scissors before putting them on display. This quick job will neaten the leek. If the outer foliage is very dirty, consider removing the top layer.

These Giant Leek seeds on Amazon can be sown to grow large leeks with tall white stems.

What to Shop

If you want to grow a unique, decorative twist on a homegrown favorite, look no further than heirloom tomatoes. If you opt to grow heirloom tomatoes, there is a wide variety of these old-fashioned cultivars that come in colors and shapes you never see on supermarket shelves.

With heirloom tomato varieties coming in shades of pink, yellow, green, purple, and black, as well as classic red and sometimes striped, there is a whole spectrum to discover. For example, this colorful heirloom tomato seed variety pack on Amazon offers a chance to grow black, white, green, pink, and bi-color tomatoes.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Summer puts any lawn through its paces. Months of hosting and family recreation mean heavy foot traffic that compacts the ground and stresses the grass. Now that September is here, it is a chance to help the lawn recover and get it ready for winter and beyond.

Cool-season grasses benefit massively from aeration this month. It breaks up compacted soil so the grass can take in more water and nutrients. Aerating a lawn in September also improves air movement and supports healthy roots.

From mild to severe compaction, knowing when to aerate a lawn can make the difference and get your grass back to its best. It is worth adding it to your lawn care plans for the coming weeks. To make the task quicker and less exhausting than with a traditional garden fork, consider a four-row lawn aerator with 20 spikes like this one on Amazon.

Can You Aerate Your Lawn in the Fall?

Yes, you can aerate a lawn in September. However, it is not a one-size-fits-all rule, and whether you should aerate your turf in your fall lawn care plan depends on your location and the type of grass in your yard.

Aerating a lawn in September is good for some, but not all of the typical grass types that make up people’s lawns.

‘Cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky Bluegrass or Tall Fescue, should be aerated and reseeded in late summer through fall, or mid-August to mid-October,’ recommends Theresa Smith, Senior Vice President at NaturaLawn of America.

‘These grasses thrive in the northern parts of the United States and have a growth cycle that peaks during the cooler months of the year.’

However, warm-season grass types, such as zoysia and Bermudagrass, that are typical in southern lawns, don’t benefit from fall aeration. These grass types are aerated in late spring or early summer when they are more actively growing.

The Benefits of Aerating a Lawn in September

If you wonder why you need to aerate a lawn in early fall, it is because it helps your turf recover from the rigours of a stressful summer. After months of high temperatures, low rainfall, and heavy usage, from family gatherings and summer parties to children playing and other recreational activities, your lawn has endured a lot.

This can include obvious bare patches of grass, together with other underlying issues you may not see when surveying the lawn. This includes compacted soil and thatch caused by an entire summer’s worth of foot traffic. These issues need to be addressed to keep the lawn healthy over winter and into next year.

‘That compacted soil and thatch will hinder your lawn’s water infiltration and nutrient absorption, explains Jason McCausland, Technical Coordinator at Weed Man.

‘That’s why fall is the perfect time for core aeration on cool-season grasses. The process prepares the turf for efficient uptake of nutrients and encourages root growth. This alleviates compaction and enhances air and water movement in the soil.’

If you notice water pooling and not effectively soaking into the soil, this is a telltale sign of compaction under the surface. Aerating a lawn in September helps prevent worsening issues from a waterlogged lawn over winter.

To fix any bare patches, you can plant fast-growing grass seed (you can get a bag of rapid grass seed for sun or shade from The Home Depot) in September. Aerating before seeding ensures the best conditions for new seed to develop healthy roots, so if you're planning any overseeding, aerate first.

When it comes to how to aerate a lawn, you can use a garden fork, an aerating tool, or a rolling lawn aerator. The tool you choose depends on the size of the lawn and whether you want to spike or remove soil plugs.

Spiking is efficient for a little TLC and mild compaction, while core aeration is needed for heavily compacted soils but requires more effort.

Shop Aeration Tools

Once fall arrives, it is time to start thinking about collecting fallen leaves off the lawn. Getting rid of leaves once they start dropping from the trees stops them from smothering the grass underneath, preventing water from reaching the soil, and creating a breeding ground for fungal diseases, such as snow mold or red thread. The easiest way to remove them is with a leaf rake (available at Lowes), and you can bag them up to create leaf mold, a nutrient-rich material to use around the rest of the garden.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Now that September has arrived, we gardeners turn our attention to tidying up after summer and preparing the garden for the coldest months ahead. Although the frostiest dates are a little while off, it's best not to delay the essential clean-up tasks that only become trickier once the ground freezes.

At the same time, you might choose to take some things off your fall gardening checklist, like leaving faded flowerheads to support wildlife. However, for those eager to get things in order before the depths of winter, there are plenty of areas to tidy now so you have less work later on.

From giving certain plants a quick trim to weeding and removing spent annuals, there are several things to clear from your yard in September. Here, gardening pros share their list of priorities – having the Fiskars micro-tip pruning snips from Amazon to hand may be useful.

1. Summer Annuals

Late summer is the best time to clear out dead summer annuals to instantly give your garden a refresh. While it is beneficial to leave some plants for seed heads that feed birds (like sunflowers), deteriorating plant material can encourage pests and diseases.

If any of your flowering annuals, like sweet peas, zinnias, and nasturtiums, are looking brown, turning mushy, and are generally weathered, now is the time to pull them up and dispose of them – you can even use them to make compost.

'In many areas, annual vines such as sweet peas and morning glories are much easier to remove before hard frosts arrive, making fall clean-up simpler and more manageable,' says Wendy Hanson Mazet, horticulturist at the University of Nevada.

Once the ground freezes, it will be harder to dig up the roots and wetter conditions may bring issues like powdery mildew, which spreads easily.

A hori hori knife (like this one from Amazon) can help lift deep taproots.

2. Spent Crops

'No matter your location, vegetable gardens require attention at this time of year,' Wendy says. 'Plants that are no longer productive, declining in vigor, or showing signs of disease should be removed and properly disposed of.'

This will largely be warm-season crops, vining crops like indeterminate tomatoes, and tender herbs that won't survive frost, like basil.

If you still have some green tomatoes, you can use methods to ripen tomatoes on the vine or take them indoors to ripen tomatoes off the vine.

Of course, if you're growing vegetables under cover, like in a greenhouse, you will have longer to keep them going. But you may want to move them out soon to make room for the vegetables to sow in September.

3. Spent Blooms

Another way to tidy up your yard in late summer is by deadheading.

'Summer-blooming perennials such as dahlias, hydrangeas, lavender, yarrow and roses benefit from late summer and early fall deadheading. Removing spent blooms encourages a tidier appearance, in some plants reblooming potential and supports continued plant vigor,' Wendy explains.

Use clean, sharp pruning tools and clean your tools once you're finished with a plant to reduce the risk of pests and diseases spreading. These Felco F2 pruning shears from Lowe's are a good choice.

The general rule of thumb is to follow the spent bloom's stem down to a healthy set of leaves and make a clean cut just above. This will ensure the plant continues to grow from this point.

When pruning lavender, avoid cutting into the woody parts of the stem, as it could stop returning growth.

Our guide to what hydrangeas need in fall also has some more guidance on pruning.

4. Old Mulch

Something else to clear away and refresh before fall frost arrives is your mulch.

There are lots of reasons to put down mulch in summer, as it helps retain moisture and regulate soil temperature, ideal for protecting plants in a heatwave. However, watering and deterioration can cause mulch levels to deplete over time. In early fall, it's worth replenishing it with new organic material to provide insulation for frost.

'September is a great time to remove old, decomposing pine straw and replace it with a fresh layer. It’s also an ideal time to add mulch to your garden beds if they’re looking a little bare,' says garden designer Kate Schneider.

'Think of mulch as a warm blanket for your plants during winter. It helps insulate the soil, moderate temperature swings, retain moisture, and reduce erosion. This is especially helpful in warmer climates, including the South, where fluctuating temperatures can create repeated freeze-and-thaw cycles that can stress or damage plants.'

'Just don’t pile it directly against the trunks or stems of your plants. A little breathing room goes a long way,' Kate advises.

The good news is there are lots of free mulch materials in fall you can gather from your yard, including fallen leaves. Or, if needed, you can purchase brown mulch from Lowe's.

5. Weeds

You may have noticed a lot of weeds spring up after the rain returns following summer heatwaves. Before frost arrives, it's best to get rid of weeds that will go to seed, overwinter, and take over when it warms up in spring.

'Take advantage of the rain. Weeding is much easier when the soil is damp, so get out there shortly after a good rainfall and pull those weeds while the roots are willing to cooperate,' Kate says.

There are lots of weeding tools you can use to remove different types of weeds from your yard. This paver weeding kit from Amazon can help with tight spots, while the long-handled Grampa's weeding tool (from Walmart) is ideal for pulling up weeds in your lawn.

Fall is also a good time to get new plants in the ground. You can use plants for a weed-free border and reduce the number of weeds that pop up next year.

What to Shop

As mentioned, there is also a reason not to over-tidy your yard in fall. Hollow plant stems, seed heads, and leaf piles can provide vital food and shelter for a wide range of wildlife.

The best plants for seed heads also create sculptural moments in your garden during fall and winter, especially dazzling when touched by frost. So, where possible, be selective about which faded plants you pull out and which you leave be.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

September is a perfect time to spruce up your container garden and get it looking on point for the colder months ahead. You can pick from a great selection of plants that will provide crucial color, structure, and interest all winter long.

Shrubs, evergreens, perennials, and cold-loving annuals can help any tired container garden transition successfully from summer into fall and look good well into winter and beyond. Your pots can end the gardening year with a bang, and you get something stunning to look at during the traditional leaner months.

If you are thinking about what to plant in September, we have something that offers beauty through the colder months. Indeed, certain shrubs and small conifers like Dwarf Alberta Spruce (available at Trees.com, formerly known as Fast Growing Trees) can provide year-round interest in a container. Use them on their own in a winter planter or pot, or complement them by pairing with some of these other plants for pots in September.

1. Violas & Pansies

Violas and pansies are two classic winter flowers for pots. The delicately flowered cool-weather annuals are routinely available as plug plants from garden centers, nurseries, and online in September to quickly add color to any container. You can also buy seeds to grow violas and pansies for winter hanging baskets, like these Johnny Jump-Up viola seeds on Amazon.

Winter pansies are part of the viola family, but offer larger flowers. Both violas and pansies come in a wide range of colors and bi-colored combinations that can offer elegant beauty in a winter container. They look great packed in numbers into containers, but also work well mixed with spring bulbs or foliage plants. Both plants are very cold-tolerant, and the flowers are resilient to snow and frost.

2. Coral Bells

You can plant coral bells in pots to provide streaks of vivid color and pattern through the colder months. The evergreen plants provide year-round interest, with the beautiful foliage complemented by delicate flowers in summer.

That foliage comes in a kaleidoscope of colors – you can get heuchera varieties from dark purple to lime green and everything in between. This ‘Caramel’ coral bells at Nature Hills does what it says on the tin, with year-round heart-shaped caramel-orange foliage.

Picking coral bells is especially good if you’ve got a container in a shadier spot in the garden. Many plants may sulk in limited sunlight, but not coral bells, which prefer partial or dappled shade. Coral bells stay compact in a container and work well with other shade-loving plants for pots like ferns or lungwort.

3. Black Mondo Grass

Ophiopogon, or black mondo grass, makes a dramatic statement in winter containers. Its dark, almost black, strap-shaped leaves grow in clumps and reach no more than 12 inches tall. It makes an eye-catching addition to containers and provides a backdrop for silver foliage plants or bright flowers to really pop.

Black mondo grass is hardy down to US hardiness zone six. It can work in full sun or partial shade and will keep its unique foliage all winter long. You can get three live, pot-grown black mondo grass plants on Amazon to add to your winter containers.

Black mondo grass also works as a spooky plant if you want to create a thrilling Halloween container.

4. Nandina

Also known as heavenly bamboo, but not actually a bamboo, nandina offers gardeners a year-round show in a container.

It is an evergreen shrub with attractive leaves that start pinky-red in spring, then turn green, before turning a bright red, bronze, or purple color in the fall. The shrub also has star-shaped flowers in late spring and summer, which, after flowering, transform and turn nandina one of the best shrubs for fall berries.

Compact varieties of this low-maintenance evergreen shrub can be grown in large containers. Depth is key, as nandina has extensive roots. So is planting it in a general potting mix, but adding a layer of ericaceous compost or pine bark mulch (available at Lowe’s) to make the soil slightly more acidic.

This ‘Fire Power’ nandina from Trees.com, formerly known as Fast Growing Trees, is a dwarf shrub that grows to just 2-2.5 feet. It is suitable for zones 6-10 and will impress year-round with deep green foliage, white flowers in spring, and (as the name suggests) bright red fall color.

Heavenly bamboo is considered an invasive plant in many regions of the southeastern United States. It spreads by suckers and birds spreading seeds. However, growing nandina in a pot restricts suckering, and ‘Fire Power’ is a sterile, non-invasive variety that doesn’t produce berries or viable seeds.

5. Small Conifers

Dwarf conifers bring structure and year-round greenery to any container. Even during the leaner months, when not much may be flowering, the shape, formality, and permanence of these evergreen stalwarts offer so much.

Conifers like dwarf Alberta spruce (available at Trees.com), miniature Korean fir, dwarf juniper, or compact arborvitae offer cold hardiness and versatility. Gardeners can tightly clip them into a formal look or leave them as a more natural Christmas tree silhouette. Or you can create a gorgeous profile to flank an entryway with dwarf Italian cypress (available at Trees.com) in containers.

Conifers need a large, shorter container to stop them from blowing over in the wind. They also always need good drainage, so add some perlite (get bags of organic perlite at Amazon) to the potting mix and raise the container on pot feet.

6. American Wintergreen

American Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is a native plant ideal for winter containers thanks to its compact size. It grows six inches tall and 6-10 inches wide and can thrive in a part-shade corner of the yard during the colder months.

The evergreen shrub has reddish foliage in the fall and bright red berries that remain throughout the winter. The foliage has a herbal minty fragrance when crushed or bruised. Earlier in the year, the rounded leaves are a deep green, and the plants produce bell-shaped white or pink flowers.

When there is little interest elsewhere in the winter, the vivid fall foliage and berries can be a welcome sight. This ‘Winter Fiesta’ Wintergreen from Plant Addicts offers something a bit different, with white berries that turn pink when the temperatures drop. These can provide a pop of color during winter.

7. Ornamental Cabbages

These winter plants are a unique option for bringing cold-season color to pots. Ornamental cabbages have rosettes of leaves in various vivid colors, including different shades of white, yellow, pink, red, and purple. Once the temperatures drop, these colors intensify and make a dramatic show in a fall planter.

If you want to grow ornamental cabbages in winter containers, plant them in numbers to make a statement carpet of color. Alternatively, put them around the edges of large planters to create a dazzling skirt around central plants. These winter-hardy additions can tolerate frosts and cope with temperatures down to 5°F.

You can get packs of ornamental cabbage seeds at Amazon to sow in early fall.

If you need to protect pots from frost, there is a simple technique to remember. By moving your pots together for winter, they all benefit from the radiated warmth. Grouping pots creates a microclimate that traps heat and shelters them from cold winds. If you cluster them against a wall of your home, they also benefit from the residual heat.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

It is time to show your tomatoes some tough love, as September is the month to start topping tomato plants to guarantee your late-season harvest. Stopping plants in their tracks is never the most enjoyable task of the season, but it comes with tangible rewards.

The priority when growing tomatoes shifts come September. You don’t want to encourage lots of new growth; instead, the focus is on ensuring plants can ripen all the fruit they already have before the end of the season. This is done by topping tomato plants and removing the growing tips.

It is a quick, simple task for a pair of sharp pruning tools (I will top my tomato plants in the coming days with my Felco pruning snips, available at Amazon). It always feels a bit harsh to top plants you have lovingly nurtured for months, so I want to show the benefits of topping tomato plants and when you should do it.

Should You Top Tomato Plants?

Yes, I am convinced that gardeners should top tomato plants at the latter end of the tomato season. I have grown lots of tomato plants over the years, from a greenhouse with 80+ plants that we cropped for a restaurant, to a few tomato plants in pots on a patio at home. This has always been in US hardiness zone 8 in the UK, where the season is relatively short, especially when my tomato plants were outdoors.

Come September, the season starts winding down from the summer peak. Healthy, prosperous tomato plants may have produced a lot of fruits so far, and still have lots of young tomatoes developing. This is where topping tomato plants is hugely beneficial in helping those existing tomatoes to ripen.

Without any intervention, indeterminate (or vining) tomato varieties will continue growing until the plant is naturally killed by frost. The plant will grow taller and develop more flowers and little fruits. Unless you are in the warmest climates, or have the luxury of a heated greenhouse that can provide warmth and year-round artificial light, any new fruits won’t have time to ripen.

Topping tomato plants focuses the energy. The plant puts all its energy into swelling and ripening the fruit it is carrying, rather than relentlessly growing new stems and charging upwards. At the end of the season, this helps guarantee that your fruits ripen before the cold weather arrives and growth stops.

Another reason to top tomato plants is to keep plants under control. I have not always had the luxury of super-tall greenhouses. I have topped plants once they reached the roof of smaller greenhouses, especially when using plastic DIY greenhouses on a patio or in a courtyard garden. For example, I have had great success using a plastic walk-in greenhouse like this at Wayfair at home in the past.

After topping tomato plants, they will likely continue producing side shoots in response to being pinched back. Continue to monitor plants and prune tomato plants regularly, as removing these side shoots keeps the energy focused on developing fruits.

When to Top Tomato Plants

The ideal time to plan for topping tomato plants is around 4-6 weeks before your first anticipated frost. This leaves enough time in the growing season for the last of your fruits to ripen (hopefully).

For growers in many US hardiness zones, September is the month to do this. It may be early in the month in zones 5, 6, and 7, and more towards the middle for zones 8 and 9. Check your weather predictions and make sure to top plants at least four weeks before the first frost.

Also, I have had years when tomato plants have been slow, and the fruits simply didn’t ripen as quickly as I’d hoped. When this has happened, I have topped plants a bit earlier to revive my tired tomato plants and focus the energy they do have on giving me a decent harvest of tomatoes.

How to Top Tomato Plants

Topping tomato plants is super quick and easy. It is better to use a pair of clean, sharp pruning tools – pruning shears (you can get lightweight, sharp pruners at Burpee), pruning snips, or garden scissors – rather than snapping or tearing the stem by hand, which risks damaging any trusses further down the plant.

Take your pruners and cut the growing tip a couple of leaves above a fruit truss. A healthy plant should develop between four and six fruit trusses in a season. If you grow tomatoes in colder areas with a shorter season, it is sensible to expect fewer trusses, around three or four.

Topping plants is only necessary with indeterminate plants, not with determinate (bush) tomatoes. Vining tomatoes continue to grow and produce flowers and fruits over the season. Bush tomatoes grow to a fixed size and fruit over one period – they don’t need pruning over their lifespan.

What to Shop

Topping plants always helps tomatoes ripen on the vine. However, there may always be some tomatoes for which there isn’t time to redden up before the season ends. If the tomato has started showing a faint blush of pink or red, you can ripen it indoors. Place any fruits like this in a paper bag along with a ripe banana. The banana produces ethylene and helps the tomato turn red.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Summer may be winding down, but a productive vegetable garden keeps on providing. As you create gaps in beds, take advantage of this space and think of hardy vegetables to plant in September that can provide harvests throughout winter.

Cool-season crops like spinach, kale, Asian greens, collard greens, and mustards can mature quickly in early fall and are tolerant enough to handle the early frosts. These hardy crops can remain in the vegetable garden into winter and provide rich pickings late in the year.

Your climate makes a difference, as gardeners in US hardiness zones 7+ can keep sowing later than those in colder zones. For me, September has always been an opportune window to fill gaps in the garden, and I often add organic chicken manure pellets (available at Walmart) to the soil before planting to add a vital source of nutrients. Here are my picks of seven hardy vegetables to plant in September that you can pick well into winter and beyond.

1. Spinach

Spinach is a perfect crop for planting in early fall, as it’s a fast-growing cool-season vegetable that prefers lower temperatures rather than hot summers.

Warm temperatures usually cause spinach to bolt, while it thrives in milder 60–70°F days of September. Spinach is a fast-growing vegetable that can fill gaps created by summer harvests, or you can grow spinach in pots if you have any going free.

The easiest way to start growing spinach this month is to buy young plants. A slightly longer, but very satisfying route, is to sow the seeds directly outdoors into their growing position. Sow the seeds thinly into inch-long drills and keep them moist for good germination.

As the seedlings appear, thin them to 6-10 inches apart, and you can start to harvest spinach once the leaves are large enough to use. This could be 30-40 days for baby leaves, or a few weeks longer if you want mature ones.

Get live Okinawa spinach plants at Amazon

Get spinach seeds at Walmart

Get spinach seeds at Burpee

2. Kale

Kale is a very underrated crop, in my opinion. I have grown kale in kitchen gardens I worked in and on my home plots for many years, as it is a perfect winter crop that tolerates cold and can be harvested as a cut-and-come-again vegetable for many months.

The leaves are rich in nutrients and fiber and taste even sweeter in winter after a few frosts, which convert the starches into sugars. Once the temperature drops, cover them with frost cloth (you can get row covers at Walmart) to protect the plants from frost, and you can keep harvesting kale well into winter.

In September, gardeners can usually source young plants at garden centers or online to plant kale in the ground or pots. Or you can sow seeds directly into the growing site, sowing them a half-inch deep and a few inches apart, spacing them a foot apart as they develop.

I have grown red and green curly kale and red Russian kale, but always come back to cavolo nero (or lacinato kale, dinosaur kale, or Tuscan kale) as my favorite. You can get two live dinosaur kale plants at Amazon to add to your veg garden this month, or get curly-leaved Prizm kale plants and seeds at Burpee.

3. Collard Greens

Collard greens are hugely popular in Southern cooking. If you want to harvest these super-nutritious leaves for stews, stir-fries, soups, or sautéed dishes this winter, you can start growing collard greens this month. As a fast-growing crop, you can potentially begin harvesting baby leaves within 30 days.

You can plant young plants in September. For example, these ready-to-plant collard seedlings on Amazon can go straight into a sunny spot and be spaced 18-24 inches apart. Or you can get seeds (like these Top Chop collard greens seeds at Burpee) and sow them directly into the soil a half-inch deep in rows three feet apart.

Collard greens are hardy down to 15°F and can overwinter with ease in milder climates. A light frost sweetens their flavor, making them even more delectable for winter dishes.

I grew these in one kitchen garden and was picking the leaves throughout December and January for chefs. We covered the plants with a hoop tunnel (you can get strong greenhouse hoops at Amazon) and frost cloth to protect them from extreme temperatures and winter damage.

4. Corn Salad

Corn salad, which is also known as lamb's lettuce and mache, is a marvel of a winter crop. The small-leaved, low-growing plant may not look much, but it is incredibly winter hardy and can provide lots of leaves for salads throughout the winter.

If you want a vegetable to harvest in December to add a nutty flavor to winter salads, grow corn salad as it’ll reliably crop. I even picked it through a layer of snow in one kitchen garden I worked in.

Sowing corn salad seeds in late summer and early fall means you will have invaluable harvests throughout winter, potentially even through to mid-spring. If you cover plants with row covers or cloches (get PVC garden cloches at The Home Depot) through the harshest winter weather, you’ll guarantee the best leaves to pick.

Sow corn salad seeds in shallow drills spaced four inches apart and cover them lightly with soil. You can get Dutch broad-leaved corn salad seeds at True Leaf Market to plant in September.

Keep the soil moist by using a watering can with a fine rose attached (this steel watering can at Wayfair comes with a removable rose for fine watering) to avoid disturbing the seeds, and thin seedlings to 4-6 inches apart. You can start harvesting small leaves as a cut-and-come-again crop within 4-6 weeks.

5. Winter Radish

There is still time to start growing radishes in September. But I am not talking about the typical summer salad radishes. September is a window for sowing their winter cousins, such as Black Spanish radishes or daikon radishes (also known as mooli).

Winter radishes are larger and slower-growing than their speedy summer counterparts. They are also very hardy and can be left in the ground to develop right up until the soil freezes. Even then, winter radishes can be lifted and stored for many months to eat raw, add to soups or stir-fries, or roast.

I annually sow Black Spanish Round radish seeds (available at True Leaf Market) in September. I plant this radish because it is reliable and easy to grow, plus it looks good with black skin and white flesh. Sow the seeds an inch deep in rows 12 inches apart, then thin the seedlings to six inches apart.

You should be able to start harvesting radishes in 8-10 weeks from sowing.

6. Mustard Greens

Mustard greens tick all the right boxes if you want a cool-season crop to add some peppery flavors to winter dishes.

I have grown Golden Frills, Red Giant and Southern Giant, among others, over the years, for bountiful harvests of leaves that come in bright colors and flavors from mild to fiery. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked and go from sowing to harvesting in around four weeks.

You can sow the seeds of a wide variety of mustard greens directly into the soil in early fall. They will germinate quickly in the warm, moist September soil and require little attention, aside from watering during dry spells in early fall. Regular watering is important, as hot, dry weather often makes the leaves turn bitter and tough.

Sow the seeds a half-inch deep in rows 12 inches apart. Check the seed packet for the exact spacing required for full-grown plants, which can vary depending on the plant and the desired leaves, from 3-4 inches for baby leaves to 12 inches for larger plants.

Get Southern Giant Curled mustard seeds at True Leaf Market

Get Red Giant mustard seeds at Amazon

7. Asian Greens

Another often-overlooked range of hardy vegetables to plant in September is Asian greens. These low-maintenance cool-season crops include mizuna, komatsuna, pak choi, and tatsoi, and the leaves can be added raw to salads or cooked in many Asian dishes.

Asian greens don’t take up much space in the vegetable garden and can easily fill gaps you have created by harvesting summer crops. They can be harvested as cut-and-come-again crops by removing a few of the largest outer leaves at a time with a pair of pruning snips (like these at Amazon), or cut the entire head and the plant should resprout. It can take just 4-6 weeks from sowing to harvesting.

Sow the seeds into a sunny or partially shaded spot in the vegetable garden, or directly into raised beds or containers. Plant the seeds an inch deep and two inches apart – for multiple rows, space each 12 inches apart. Keep the plants well watered, and watch out for slugs who may try to nibble your precious seedlings.

Get Mizuna seeds at Burpee

Get Komatsuna seeds at True Leaf Market

Get White Pak Choi seeds at Burpee

Get Black Knight Tatsoi seeds at Amazon

Knowing the right timings for sowing and planting is vital for growing vegetables successfully. With a bit of planning, gardeners can plant crops year-round. To inspire you, our guide to when to plant vegetables shows what you can sow and grow each month, from January to December.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

With the temperatures beginning to drop and the fall colors deepening, September is a great month to take stock of your garden. From what thrived to what struggled, now is an ideal time to note any gaps and plant up, ready for next year.

Furthermore, at this time of year, the soil is workable and still warm, making digging easier and encouraging plants to get their roots down before winter sets in.

From spring bulbs to perennials and shrubs, I share some of my tried-and-tested favorites from my nearly 20-year horticultural career to help you decide what to plant in September for color and interest next year. But before you start planting, check your gardening tools and, if necessary, consider investing in a border spade (available on Amazon) to help you prepare your borders.

What to Plant in September

With growth slowing and the time to start planting for the fall and next year beginning, it is no wonder that gardeners often think of September as the start of the gardening calendar.

Additionally, with the heat waves almost all behind us, fall rain the norm, and soil still invitingly warm, September is a perfect month for planting almost everything except tender species.

1. Daffodil

One of the most dependable spring-flowering bulbs, daffodils (Narcissus) certainly deserve their popularity. Thriving in borders, containers and even lawns, daffodils are always a welcome sight come early spring. Available with yellow or white petals, daffodils range in size and can also be scented.

Daffodils can be planted as late as November or December, but should ideally be planted from September to October to allow root systems to develop before winter dormancy.

One of the earliest-flowering varieties to grow and herald spring, Dutch Master, available to purchase from Walmart, develops large golden-yellow blooms on stems 16-18 inches tall from March to April.

Wear gloves when handling toxic daffodil bulbs. You can purchase cowhide leather gardening gloves from Amazon.

2. Crocus

Adored for their colorful, yet delicate flowers, spring-flowering crocuses are a welcome sign that winter is coming to an end. They can be planted in containers, at the front of a border, or in a lawn where they can naturalize.

Typically flowering from February to March, spring-flowering crocuses are planted from September to October and are an important early source of nectar for pollinators. Consisting of two main types, you can choose between large-flowering, vibrantly colored Dutch crocuses and smaller pastel-hued species crocuses.

Cold-hardy down to USDA Hardiness Zone 4, Tricolor Crocus Sieberi, available from Burpee, with its violet, white, and yellow flowers, brings color to a garden when little else does.

3. Hardy Geranium

Hardy geraniums, or cranesbills, can be planted at any time of year, just as long as the ground is not frozen. However, September is an ideal time to plant them, as the warm soil helps them establish before the colder months.

Whether purchased or as a free clump from a divided plant, hardy geraniums are a great investment as they can flower for months on end and, as perennials, reliably return every year.

Suitable for growing in USDA zones 5-8 and hugely popular for its long flowering season and violet-blue flowers with white eyes, hardy geranium ‘Rozanne’ is available to purchase from Nature Hills.

4. Hellebore

Another spring-flowering plant that you can plant in September is the perennial hellebore. Blooming during some of the darkest months of the year, hellebores generally prefer partial shade and are perfect for brightening up a dull corner.

With a wide range of hellebore varieties to choose from, you can decide between cream, lime-green, pink and even sumptuous dark purple flowers.

As well as being a great time to plant hellebores, September is also an ideal month to lift and divide any you may already have.

Using the right gardening tool for the job can mean the difference between a pleasant task and a laborious one. A comfortable trowel is an essential tool for small digging jobs. Designed with an ergonomic handle to reduce fatigue, you can purchase the Fiskars ergo flower bed trowel from Walmart.

5. Bay Laurel

With cooler weather and fall rains to come, September is an ideal time to plant shrubs and trees.

Bay laurel, or Laurus nobilis, is a commonly grown herb native to the Mediterranean. An evergreen shrub or tree, bay can grow 40 feet tall if left to its own devices, but is also one of the best trees to grow in a container.

Water well on planting and until established, but avoid saturating the soil, especially over winter. Tolerating USDA zone 8 and above when grown in the ground, bay trees are available to purchase from Nature Hills.

To protect against low temperatures and insulate the roots, add a layer of mulch 2-3 inches deep in the fall. You can use garden compost as mulch or purchase Timberline natural cedar mulch blend, available from Walmart.

6. Camellia

Spring-flowering camellias (Camellia japonica, Camellia × williamsii) are a great choice for adding color and interest over the colder months.

Available with white, pink, red, or yellow flowers, which contrast strongly with their glossy green foliage, camellias are easy to grow when planted in acidic soil and irrigated with rainwater.

Best planted directly in the ground or in a container in the fall to allow their roots to establish, camellias generally grow best in USDA Hardiness Zones 7 through 9 and in partial or dappled shade.

For classical white blooms with a golden centre, Camellia japonica 'Victory White' is available to purchase from Garden Goods Direct.

7. Corn Salad

With the summer coming to an end, there is still time to plant some vegetables in September.

As a hardy, cool-weather crop, lamb’s lettuce or corn salad (Valerianella locusta) thrives through fall, winter, and spring.

Forming rosettes of low-growing green leaves, with a nutty flavor, corn salad is ideal for sowing in September and can be harvested in as little as six weeks.

It is hardy enough to withstand winter frosts and even snow cover, meaning that you can look forward to picking it early next year.

If you do not have a vegetable patch, you can still grow corn salad in a container or a raised bed. You can purchase galvanized steel raised beds from Amazon.

8. Fava Bean

Growing well both directly in the ground and in containers, fava beans (Vicia faba) are ideal for sowing in the fall or spring.

However, when little else is growing, why not sow some fava beans from late September to October for a harvest of nutty-tasting beans next May?

Hardy and easy to grow, fava bean 'Aquadulce', available from True Leaf Market, tolerates light frosts and develops attractive purple-black and white flowers that later turn into pods.

Fall can be a busy time for gardeners, with gardening checklists to get through before the temperatures plummet. From bulb planting to mulching and leaf collecting, there is lots to do, but these fall gardening tools will help make these tasks feel less like a chore and maybe even enjoyable.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Fall is just around the corner and for us keen gardeners, that means just one thing: a busy gardening season is about to begin. From bulb planting to pruning and giving our lawns some TLC, there's so much to get done over the next couple of months.

Before ticking anything off your fall gardening checklist, you need to gather some essential gardening tools. Whether you've got lots to plant, need to do some fall pruning, or are planning to collect seeds for next year, there's a plethora of tools to help you get the job done with ease.

But, you don't want to just buy any cheap tools that will need replacing after one seasons, it's always best to invest in durable tools that last for many years. To help you find exactly what you need, we've compiled our top tools for fall gardening.

Bulb Planting

One of the main tasks to get done this season is planting bulbs. But, this can be a particularly tiring and time-consuming job to do.

Luckily, there are several bulb planting tools you can use to make it easier – from bulb planters that cut a perfect hole for planting into, to trowels with a depth marker. You may even want to pick up a hori hori knife which can be used for planting, pruning, and more around the yard.

Just take care to avoid bulb planting mistakes to avoid disappointment come spring.

Leaf Collecting

While there are many benefits of not over-tidying your yard in fall (plant debris provides shelter and food sources for wildlife), excessive fallen leaves can smother your lawn and cause a bigger mess to clean up.

But, you shouldn't just dispose of fallen leaves, there are lots of things you can do with them. For example, you can make leaf mold and use them for mulching to keep plants insulated over winter.

Whatever you plan to do with fallen leaves, these tools make sweeping them up much quicker.

Lawn Care

There are quite a few fall lawn care tasks to tick off in the next couple of months. This includes dethatching your lawn, aerating your lawn, and overseed your lawn.

It's essential not to skip out on these tasks, otherwise your lawn won't necessarily come back greener and thicker in spring.

There are several specialized tools to help you get your lawn in shape before frost hits. Each one makes tasks quicker, more convenient, and less fatiguing.

Fall Pruning

There quite a few specific plants to prune in October – including deadheading and pruning tree branches – all of which need different essential pruning tools.

You need to ensure whichever tools you use are sharp and clean to protect your plants' health and stop the spread of pests and diseases.

Of course, you may also want to leave some faded seedheads for architectural and wildlife value in your fall garden, so be selective about what you remove.

Collecting Seeds

One of the most enjoyable fall gardening tasks is collecting seeds from faded blooms to save and plant next year.

But, it's important to wait until your plants with seedheads have turned brown and dried, as this indicates the seeds are ripe and ready for harvesting.

Likewise, you need to store seeds properly to keep them viable – ideally somewhere dry, dark, and cool, like in a seed tin.

Fall Weeding

It can be a fall gardening mistake to not get rid of weeds, as many weed seeds can overwinter and take over your yard come spring.

The good news is, there are plenty of ways to kill weeds in fall and remove them for good. This includes using weeding tools to pull them up by the root.

Soil Preparation

After a long, dry summer our soil health appreciates a bit of TLC to rejuvenate before winter arrives.

It's important to loosen compacted soil to prevent surface water run-off in fall, and to ensure it's aerated for plant roots to have access to oxygen.

Likewise, it's a good time to test your soil and see if it has any nutrient deficiencies and improve your garden soil accordingly to support the growth of new plants you add to your yard this season.

With your tools for fall gardening in hand, you can start preparing your yard for the incoming season. This includes doing the August garden reset that means less work in fall and working through your August planting list to ensure an abundant fall display.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

As you look around your garden throughout August, you’ll see plenty of plants that can still benefit from a nutritional boost. Not all need it, but for those that do, the key is using the right feed for their late-season needs, and there is one specific fertilizing mistake you must steer clear of.

That crucial fertilizing mistake to avoid in August is using high-nitrogen feeds. These encourage the wrong type of growth in late summer. Not only this, but it creates a real risk of burning plants and damaging their long-term health.

It is a high price to pay for using the wrong fertilizer. You never want to over-fertilize plants, and certainly not with high-nitrogen feeds at this time of year. If you want to fertilize plants in August, it is better to use a balanced feed or a bloom booster, such as this Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster at Amazon. This can benefit any flowering or fruiting plants this month, whereas other feeds won’t.

The Dangers of Excess Nitrogen in August

Fertilizing is important, but it doesn’t come without risks. Different fertilizers promote different responses in plants. Feeding plants correctly ensures you encourage the right response at the right time of year. This is why giving plants lots of nitrogen is such a key fertilizing mistake to avoid in August.

Late summer is a time of abundant growth across the garden. Summer annuals and perennials are blooming, and fall flowers aren’t far behind. Elsewhere, your late-season vegetables are developing while your summer crops are primed for picking.

At this time of year, two of the three essential plant nutrients are more important than the other. Phosphorus and potassium are crucial – they help with flowering and fruiting, which is what you want in August. On the other hand, nitrogen primarily promotes lush, green growth of stems and foliage, not ideal for late summer.

If you do give shrubs, perennials, or crops high-nitrogen fertilizers in August, you’ll see the plants respond by putting out young green growth, not flowers and fruit. This unseasonal late flush causes issues over the rest of the year, as the plant is not prepared for fall or winter.

‘It pushes soft growth this late that won't harden before frost. You're growing leaves for winter to kill,’ warns Mirela Bajic, Senior Garden Designer at House Designer. As well as being susceptible to the first frosts, tender new growth encouraged by lots of nitrogen is more vulnerable to pests and disease.

Encouraging the wrong growth doesn’t just apply to feeding flowers or vegetables. It is also a mistake to fertilize a lawn this month with excess nitrogen, as this would encourage weak, leggy growth rather than strengthen the lawn as it prepares for dormancy.

Some gardeners may reach for fertilizers in an attempt to rescue heat-stressed plants in late summer. This is not the best course of action, especially if you mistakenly use nitrogen-rich feeds.

‘When it is extremely hot outside, plants are going to slow down with growing and flowering, and more fertilizer is not going to fix that,’ warns Lindsey Chastain, an experienced gardener, homesteader, and editor at The Waddle and Cluck.

‘Instead, what can happen is that you can overfertilize and burn your plants, especially with a high-nitrogen fertilizer.’

Over-fertilizing or fertilizer burn shows itself as discolored foliage, stunted growth, wilting, or shedding of leaves, flowers, or fruits. If you see these signs this month, flush the soil with lots of water to wash away the build-up and refrain from using any feed for the rest of the season.

What to Use Instead

Certain plants around the yard don’t need any feeding in late summer. It is not an ideal time for fertilizing shrubs, trees, or early-flowering perennial plants, for example. These want to be slowing down and preparing for fall and winter, so ease off and let nature do its job.

Any plants that are still actively blooming and developing fruits do benefit from extra nutrients this month. This includes popular plants such as roses, dahlias, tomatoes, and peppers, and especially any flowering or fruiting plants growing in containers.

The best summer fertilizers for flowering and fruiting plants are higher in phosphorus and potassium. These products will have the latter two numbers of the NPK ratio on the packaging higher than the first. This indicates more phosphorus and potassium than nitrogen – which is what you want to see in August.

You can extend the flowering season and ripen the remaining crops by using this kind of liquid fertilizer every week or two until around six weeks before your first frost. If you have flowering and fruiting plants in container gardens, they definitely need a weekly feed.

Look for products described as bloom boosters or tomato feeds, as they are reliably higher in phosphorus and potassium than nitrogen. A good summer fertilizer encourages what you’ve got to end the season on a high note, rather than promote late, soft growth that does more harm than good.

Shop Late Summer Fertilizers

Another way to guarantee late-season flowers on your annuals and perennials is deadheading. Removing spent blooms stops energy from going into seed production and focuses it on opening new flowers.

Sweet peas, roses, dahlias, phlox, bee balm, and snapdragons are all among the top flowers to deadhead in August to keep those blooms coming and extend the display.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Pots and containers can all too often look a bit tired come late summer. Understandably so, as restricted space, summer heat, and inconsistent moisture take their toll. It can be quick and easy to revitalize them, as a little makeover and TLC can keep them performing late into the season.

Trim them, feed them, and replace anything past its best with new plants that can carry the display forward into fall. A snip here and there can tidy up even the weariest plants, and they will all feel better with some extra nutrients. Then you can pick from a selection of late-season flowers to fill any gaps.

Afterwards, your container garden will be revitalized and reenergized to face the coming weeks and months. To help you give your container garden a late-summer lift, here are three expert-recommended tasks to get your pots looking their best. A good starting point is to get a bag of quality compost (like this organic compost from Amazon). A new layer at the end of the process helps any container look fresh and feeds the plants.

1. Trim Tired Growth

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to do a radical overhaul to refresh containers. A little fine-tuning and sprucing can be enough to give them a new lease of life and reward you with glorious pot displays into fall.

For the first step in lifting your container gardens in late summer, take time to give your plants a gentle prune. A little haircut at this stage helps spruce them up and prepares them for the new season.

Brandon McCormick, Landscape Design and Product Development Director at Hooks and Lattice, advises starting with a spot of deadheading. He adds: ‘Removing spent flowers and leggy stems helps plants look neater right away and can encourage another flush of blooms.'

Also use this time to assess the plants in your containers and remove any leggy, scraggly, or unsightly growth to smarten them up. This bit of TLC refreshes the display and can also unveil any gaps that may need to be filled.

‘One of the easiest ways to refresh container plants in late summer is to remove dead, damaged, or overgrown plants,’ recommends Rebecca Sears from Ferry-Morse. ‘Trim away broken stems, yellowing leaves, and leggy growth to improve the appearance and encourage new growth.’

Use clean, sharp pruning shears for any trimming. This pair of Japanese pruning shears from Amazon is perfect for the job.

2. Lightly Feed Containers

Any plants growing permanently in containers, whether annuals or perennials, need feeding regularly, especially during the summer months. After a summer of growing in limited soil and dealing with hot temperatures and potential heat stress, your plants will have endured a lot.

A gentle feed in late summer is advisable to give your container garden a lift and an essential dose of nutrients to keep them prospering into late summer and beyond. This can be accompanied by a fresh layer of compost or potting mix (such as this premium organic potting mix from Burpee) to boost the nutrients in depleted soil.

‘Apply a weak solution of a water-soluble fertilizer each time you water to give the plants a new boost of energy,’ recommends Kathy Jentz, an experienced author and host of the popular GardenDC Podcast.

A good summer fertilizer for flowers in containers is a liquid feed high in phosphorus and potassium. This encourages the development of new flowers, which will lift even the most tired of container displays. A blossom booster like this at Walmart is a great option for fertilizing container plants in summer.

Amit Gershon, the Founder of Balcony Plants, suggests using a tomato feed once a week. You can get a liquid tomato feed at Amazon to mix in a watering can and use to water your container plants.

Alternatively, you can use a liquid balanced feed. But never use high-nitrogen feeds when fertilizing plants in August.

3. Fill Any Gaps

The rigors of summer can leave you with plants past their best, and sometimes there is little option but to replace them. Replacing tired plants with new ones that perform later in the season can add fresh color and texture without needing to design a brand new fall planter from scratch.

If you want to transition summer pots or hanging baskets for fall, swapping one or two dead plants with fall flowers that thrive in pots refreshes the display and gives the container a new lease of life.

‘The goal is to keep some of the established planting for fullness, then add fresh color and texture where the container needs it most,’ advises Brandon McCormick. ‘Chrysanthemums, asters, ornamental peppers, coleus, coral bells, ornamental grasses, and late-blooming salvias are all good options depending on the climate.’

Many gardeners like to think ‘thriller, filler, and spiller’ when planting up containers. The thriller is a statement focal point, the fillers are medium-sized plants to provide color and abundance, and the spillers are trailing plants that cascade over the edge,

For a fantastic spiller plant for a fall container, Rebecca Sears suggests alyssum, saying: ‘Alyssum is a great option for filling in gaps and adding a lower-growing layer that can carry into the fall.’

You can get a pack of six sweet alyssum plants in three-inch pots at Amazon to add to your fall containers. Or you can get a packet of ‘Carpet Of Snow’ alyssum seeds at Burpee.

Shop Plants for Fall Containers

Kathy Jentz has one final trick for refreshing any container and adding interest and whimsy, without needing to go out and purchase new plants.

‘If you have a big bare spot in a container, you can use non-plant materials to fill it in,’ she says. ‘These could be fun things like plastic toy dinosaurs or fairy garden props. Or you could go more natural and fill in the bare spots with seashells or interesting rocks.’

When you give your container garden a late-summer lift, why not think outside the box and make your pot unique? Who says all fall planters need to look the same?

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Even though the summer garden is past its peak and starting to slow down in August, there are still quite a few maintenance jobs to keep on top of. Neglecting to do them can sabotage your late-season display, leaving you with a bare fall landscape.

To prioritize what's left on my summer gardening checklist, I turned to a gardening pro. She said there's one gardening job everyone forgets to do in August that can make a huge difference come September: removing seed heads. Removing them redirects the plant's energy into producing new blooms, and August is really the last reliable window to do this before temperatures are too cool and plants start to enter dormancy.

It's a neat trick to extend your display and carry over some late-summer color and interest to your fall garden – all you need is a sharp pair of pruning snips, like these Fiskars ones from Amazon. We explain why it's key to remove some seed heads now and when to leave them alone.

Why Remove Seed Heads in August?

'The main reason to remove seed heads in August is to keep a flowering plant going a bit longer,' says Lindsey Chastain, homesteader and founder at The Waddle and Cluck. 'Those seed heads take away energy from the plant, so if they are dead, you can remove them and redirect that energy towards producing more flowers if it's capable of re-blooming,' she explains.

Essentially, removing seed heads is deadheading a plant to encourage another flush of blooms while the plant is still in it's active growth season. With temperatures still warm in August, it's the last window to get results.

'It also just makes a summer garden look a bit fresher rather than having those dead heads throughout your garden,' Lindsey adds.

However, it's important to note not all plants will react to seed head removal with more blooms. For example, some hydrangeas only produce one round of flowers in a season, so seed head removal isn't necessary.

'There are certain plants that respond better to deadheading. Those are like cosmos, zinnias, dahlias, and other perennials,' says Lindsey.

To remove these seed heads, use essential pruning tools (like these Felco F2 pruning shears from Lowe's). 'I usually cut the spent flower back to a healthy set of leaves or to the next flower bud, rather than just pulling off the petals,' Lindsey advises.

'However, I would not remove every dead head in the garden.'

When to Leave Seed Heads

It's beneficial to allow some plants to produce seed heads to bring architectural interest to your yard and even help feed birds in winter.

'Go through your garden and decide which plants you want to keep flowering and deadhead those, but you also want to pick some that you want to let go to seed. If you leave some of those seed heads, especially on coneflowers, sunflowers, or black-eyed Susans, you can collect seeds for next year,' Lindsey advises.

This seed tin and packets set from Amazon has everything you need to collect and store seeds from your garden for planting next year.

'Self-seeding flowers may also drop the seeds into your soil. I don't actually ever plant new sunflowers or coneflowers. I just let the deadheads go to seed and drop. Dropping those seeds also will help feed birds as their food sources dry up and we get closer to winter,' Lindsey explains.

Our guide to the best plants for seed heads has more guidance on which of your garden plants to leave for your fall garden.

What to Shop

If you do collect seeds from your yard this fall, make sure to read up on seed storage mistakes. Keeping them somewhere wet could sabotage their viability and next year's display. Likewise, when it comes to planting your collected seeds, avoid these seed sowing mistakes to improve your chances of success.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Navigating August in the garden can be a little confusing, with some plants still in their prime and others wilting from exhaustion in the summer heat. But, it's also a month where lots of maintenance slows down, so you can sit back and simply enjoy your late-season garden.

While there are still things to tick off your summer gardening checklist this month, many perennials are starting to prepare for dormancy and don't need as much watering, fertilizing, and deadheading. In fact, allowing some plants to fade is good for wildlife, providing shelter and food sources in fall and winter.

At the same time, you don't want to neglect the essential August tasks, as it could sabotage your late-summer display. To help you strike the balance, experts share three jobs you can stop doing in August. And with a bit more time on your hands, why not start planning next year's spring garden with this garden journal from Amazon?

1. Removing Every Faded Flower

Deadheading is a technique used through the growing season where you remove faded blooms to redirect a plant's energy into putting out more.

But, as we reach mid-August and our plants are slow down, this isn't necessarily a productive thing to do.

'You're not going to get quite as much growth from deadheading in August as you are earlier in this season. Late summer is a time to look at your flowers and decide what you want to let go to seed from those deadheads,' says Lindsey Chastain, homesteader and founder at The Waddle and Cluck.

The best plants for seed heads will bring architectural interest to your fall garden and help feed birds in winter.

'We'll still keep deadheading our dahlias, roses, zinnias, and cosmos, but by late August we'll start leaving some of the seed heads on coneflowers, sunflowers, rudbeckia for the birds,' says Christina Stembel from Farmgirl Flowers.

If you are planning to deadhead your late-summer blooms that will still flower into fall, use clean, sharp pruning shears (like these Fiskars pruning snips from Amazon).

2. Watering Frequently

While it is important to keep on top of watering plants in hot weather, keep an eye on the forecast for late-August temperatures dropping and adjust your watering frequency accordingly.

'I find that during August, many of my clients are overwatering their garden beds which leads to issues like powdery mildew, root rot, and a bounty of mushrooms popping up around their plants,' says landscape designer, Ellie Black.

'If you have an automated system, adjust it so that it's watering deeply but less often so that your plants can continue to thrive in the late-summer season,' she advises.

You can use a soaker hose (like this from Amazon), a drip irrigation system (like this kit from Amazon), or even these self-watering terracotta spikes from Walmart to keep your plants hydrated.

To prevent overwatering, always check the soil before. You can do this by feeling it with your finger or using a soil moisture meter from Amazon.

3. Fertilizing Perennials

It can actually be a fertilizing mistake to feed your plants through scorching temperatures. It can burn plant roots and make foliage susceptible to damage.

'Fertilizer is intended to encourage growth, and during these hottest months of the year, your plants are not trying to grow. They're trying to survive the heat,' Lindsey Chastain says.

'They will look wilted because they're trying to decrease the surface area that the sun has access to. Instead of growth, you want to focus on making sure that your plants have enough moisture and shade,' she advises

You can protect your plants with this shade cloth from Amazon and consider mulching to help rescue heat-stressed plants, but put the fertilizer away until early spring when your plants are entering their next active growth season.

What to Shop

To really boost your late-summer garden, consider incorporating ways to bring back color to your garden in August. This will extend your summer display through to fall, ideal for late-season hosting in the garden.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Most gardeners routinely add compost to flower borders and vegetable gardens in spring and fall. But don’t overlook August. It is an opportune time to add compost to your beds and borders, and your fall garden will benefit from the additional nutrients.

If you put down compost in August, your garden thrives in several ways. Compost helps the soil retain water during the heat of late summer, protects the soil and plant roots from baking temperatures, and replenishes nutrients that heavy feeders have used up before this point of the season.

You can use homemade compost or purchase bags, such as this organic compost from The Home Depot, to add as a top-dressing layer around plants in flower beds, vegetable gardens, raised beds, or containers. Trust me, your plants will thank you if you add this to your late summer gardening checklist.

Why You Should Put Down Compost in August

If you put down compost in August, it helps your garden recover from the rigors of summer and puts it in better shape for fall.

For gardeners planning to add new plants to their flower beds or borders in early fall, compost boosts nutrients and improves overall soil health by increasing the activity of beneficial microorganisms.

While lots of gardeners don’t put down compost in August, they are missing out on the fact that organic matter breaks down quicker in the hot summer temperatures than when added to the soil in spring or fall.

‘You get to see the benefits compost offers a little quicker than if you apply it when the weather’s cooler,’ claims Justin Hancock, horticulturist at Costa Farms.

The experienced gardener hails compost as ‘as close to a miracle cure for your soil as you can get’ for its ability to boost various soil types if you put it down in summer.

‘It helps sandy soils to hold moisture and nutrients better, helps clay soils drain better, and increases microorganism activity in the soil – allowing beneficial fungi, worms, etc. to thrive and enrich your soil,’ he explains.

Putting down compost in August helps reinvigorate tired soil and replenish lost nutrients. If you have grown hungry crops like tomatoes, peppers, squash, or potatoes, compost can put valuable nutrients back into your soil in preparation for fall crops.

It is not just a quick fix, though you do get immediate results, as the benefits of putting down compost in August can be felt for many months to come.

‘August is the perfect time to add a fresh layer of nutrients for the fall garden,’ says Nikki Bruner from My Perfect Plants. ‘Not only does it add new nutrients, but it can help contain weed growth, retain moisture, and help boost the soil for next spring too.’

The Best Way to Put Down Compost in August

When you put down compost in August, the best approach is to add it as a mulching layer on the soil surface. Add a 1-2 inch layer of compost around the base of existing plants, spreading it thinly over the surface with a sturdy garden rake (available at Walmart), or 2-3 inches deep over recently cleared areas of the yard.

It is important to avoid disturbing plants already in your beds or borders in late summer – that is why it is better to top dress with compost rather than dig it into the soil.

‘Try not to dig around or disturb roots when there are still hot days on the horizon,’ warns Marian Keith, horticulturist at Newfields. ‘If you're adding compost to established garden areas, top dress with about an inch and don't be tempted to get too heavy-handed.

‘Keep your coverage from piling up at the base of plant stems and avoid the temptation to stir up or otherwise disturb the soil.’

It is a mulching mistake to pile the soil against stems or over the plant crown. Always leave a gap of an inch or two around the plants to eliminate any risk of rotting. It is recommended to water the compost after applying it to the soil.

Siobhan Shaw, co-founder of Growing to Give, warns about using unfinished or hot compost for the task. ‘Finished compost is excellent to apply in August as a top dressing,’ she says. ‘Hot compost can damage plants, tie up nitrogen, burn roots, introduce weeds, and attract pests. I would not put this around actively growing plants’.

A good test for whether homemade compost is ready is that it smells earthy and neutral, is fully decomposed with no recognizable signs of plant material, and is at an ambient temperature rather than warm. As temperature is a good indicator, a compost thermometer (from Amazon) can be a welcome investment.

Shop Compost

August can offer an opportune time to give many plants a late-summer boost so they can flower and fruit strongly into fall.

Anything still blooming or producing fruits, such as roses, dahlias, or tomatoes, is among the most important plants to fertilize in August. As are plants growing in containers that need regular nutrient top-ups to keep performing at their best.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Meet the Experts

Most people are very busy during the summer. Family activities, holidays, and social functions all demand our attention, and sometimes the garden is the unfortunate one left behind. Even if you are only gardening for 15 minutes a day in summer, you can keep your outdoor space looking good.

To help you put together an achievable summer gardening checklist for when you are short of time, I consulted some experts. They picked their top summer jobs for a homeowner who can commit to gardening for 15 minutes a day in their busy lives. These focused jobs can keep a garden looking pleasant and full of blooms without exhaustive effort.

It is all about figuring out the high-priority tasks for each 15-minute block. Abandon any dreams of clearing the whole garden, but focus on what needs to be done each day. Key jobs like weeding, watering (you can get a soil moisture meter from Amazon), deadheading, feeding, supporting plants, propagating and more can all be done in small windows.

Stop Weeds From Seeding

It may never be the most glamorous or enjoyable task (though I do know some gardeners who love spending time getting rid of weeds), but weeding is always essential in summer.

The adage goes ‘one year of seeds, seven years of weeds’, and it is true that letting weeds set seed creates a snowball effect of issues. To stop future you having to deal with even more weeds, set aside some 15-minute blocks for this task.

‘Pulling weeds before they produce seeds can help prevent thousands of weed seeds from landing in your garden,’ says Justin Hancock, Horticulturist for Costa Farms. ‘And the younger a weed is, the smaller the root system and the easier it is to pull. So even if you just pull a couple of weeds every day, it can make a difference.’

Smaller weeds can be removed quickly with a garden hoe, but older or tap-rooted weeds need a more thorough approach. You need to use a type of weeder that guarantees you remove the entire plant and its roots to prevent it from resprouting. This can be a fork or a hand weeding tool like this at Walmart to lever weeds out of the soil.

As you are only gardening for 15 minutes a day, set realistic goals for weeding. Your borders or raised beds may be weedy, but remain focused on weeding quickly. ‘I would not worry about making every bed spotless, but I would absolutely pull anything that is about to seed,’ adds Alex Wright, the Founder of YardCalc.

Water to Keep Plants Alive

There is no escaping that if you are gardening for 15 minutes a day in summer, much of that time may be taken up by watering plants in hot weather. However, be selective about what you focus on, as some plants need more watering in a heatwave than others.

‘Focus on keeping plants, especially this year's additions, alive,’ recommends Marian Keith, Horticulturist at Newfields in Indianapolis, Indiana. Also, seedlings and plants growing in pots in container gardens need to be at the top of your watering hit-list.

Water deeply to deliver the moisture to the roots. You should ideally water the garden in the morning, so plants have time to hydrate before temperatures rise. You can water in the evening, but take extra care to water the base of the plant, not the foliage.

Alex Wright advocates for proactive planning. He recommends using watering tools or a timer, so this time-consuming task doesn’t take up your 15 minutes of gardening time.

‘Drip irrigation or even a basic hose timer changes the whole equation,’ he says. ‘Watering is super important, especially for containers, raised beds, and new plantings, but it is also one of the easiest garden jobs to automate.

‘If you only have a few minutes a week, I would rather use that time on the things a timer cannot do.’

You can get an automatic timer at Garden in Minutes that has a simple dial for set-up and two outlets – perfect for attaching to drip irrigation, soaker hoses, sprinklers, or just a garden hose.

Deadhead to Extend the Show

Flower beds and container displays may start to look past their best as the first blooms go over. If you can commit time to deadheading flowers during summer, you can extend your display of blooms and keep the garden full of color.

Christina Stembel, founder and CEO of Farmgirl Flowers, admits she often has 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening to garden. She picks tasks according to what needs most attention each day.

‘One day it's deadheading because the blooms are literally dead and failing to remove them will probably prevent a second flush. The next day it's weeding because the weeds are gobbling up all the resources,’ says Christina.

‘Right now, my 15 minutes in the morning is usually spent deadheading to keep our flowers flowering through August and into September.’

Removing the old flowers tidies borders and stops plants putting energy into producing seeds. That energy goes back into developing buds and opening new flowers. If you can find time to deadhead flowers in August, your garden will keep putting on a glorious show for longer.

A pair of pruning snips (such as these Japanese pruning snips on Amazon) or shears is a perfect tool for deadheading. You can snap some blooms off between your fingers and thumb, but you must be careful not to damage any stems or unopened flowers.

Fertilize Plants in Containers

Summer can be taxing for any plants in pots. The warm temperatures mean the limited moisture in the soil disappears quickly, and nutrients quickly leach from the containers. It can leave plants starved and looking past their best in summer.

‘When I have 15 minutes to spare, I turn my attention to my potted plants,’ says Tenielle Jordison, garden content editor at Homes & Gardens. ‘They can start to look a little tired after such a hot summer, so I give them some extra nourishment.’

It shouldn’t take long to rejuvenate container plants and help to keep annual flowers blooming for longer in pots.

‘If the potting mix is hard and compacted, I first gently loosen it with a hand fork. Then, a balanced all-purpose liquid fertilizer (like this TPS one on Amazon) gives my plants a quick boost,’ adds Tenielle.

‘A layer of compost or potting mix can also be helpful, replenishing nutrients and topping up soil that has depleted over time, whether from watering or decomposition.’

You can get a bag of organic potting mix at Burpee to top up containers and give them a late summer boost.

Check For Disease

There can be many potential diseases around in the summer. Warm, humid weather, along with garden watering mistakes like soaking the foliage, leads to common diseases such as powdery mildew, rust, leaf spot, blight, and more, which trouble both ornamental and edible plants.

When it comes to diseases or summer garden pests, it is best to act fast and nip problems in the bud to stop them from spreading. As you are out gardening for 15 minutes a day, keep your eyes peeled for fungal coatings on leaves, yellowing foliage, or other markings.

‘Just like with weeds, diseases are easier to deal with if you catch them early,’ says Justin Hancock. ‘Removing an affected leaf at the start of an infection can help stop that infection from spreading further. And it keeps your garden looking better.’

Always clean your pruning tools with sanitizing sprays or wipes (available at Walmart) after removing any diseased leaves, to prevent spreading the issue to other plants.

Alternatively, you can get a ready-to-use copper fungicide at Amazon that gardeners can use to treat many diseases, including mildews, blight, black spot, and more.

Check Plants Are Supported

Christina Stembel adds that another of her regular 15-minute jobs is ‘adding more supports to the dahlias so they don't topple over from the weight of the heads’. While out in the yard, gardeners should also take time to check their plant supports to ensure they are fully protected from wind damage or buckling under the weight of flowers or fruit.

Top-heavy flowers like dahlias, delphiniums, peonies, or phlox, or weighty fruit-bearing crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, or eggplant all need strong supports. Dry soil will contract in the summer and can loosen stakes like bamboo canes or wooden posts. Check that your plant supports are firm in the ground, and push them deeper as required.

These plants can also need new plant ties to keep them supported by the posts. Add any new ties as needed to stop stems snapping and ruining potential flowers or crops. Always use soft plant ties, such as these Velcro garden ties at The Home Depot, and never use wire or hard plastic as they can rub and even snap the stems.

Do Some Quick Propagation to Plug Gaps

Extreme summer heat can take its toll around the garden. If your garden has experienced losses, don’t just rue lost plants. There are new ones you can replace them with.

That list includes heat-tolerant perennials you can plant in August, like coneflowers or black-eyed Susan, to fill gaps and enjoy a fall display. And there are fast-growing flowers to sow in August, like calendula or sweet alyssum, that have time to give you late-season blooms.

Sedum ranks among the former, a low-maintenance perennial you can add for late-summer and fall blooms that will attract pollinators.

Rachel Bull, Head of Gardens at Homes & Gardens, suggests a quick and easy way to grow sedums without needing to head to the garden center and spend money on new plants.

'I've lost quite a few annuals to the heatwave this year, so I've been filling gaps in my containers with a super quick propagation trick,’ she reveals.

‘I snip short, single stems off a lovely trailing sedum, which I love for its blue-grey foliage and tolerance of full sun. I immediately pop them into gaps and sprinkle with water, and within a week I can see new growth.

‘It is the easiest and most reliable plant I have ever multiplied, and it's ideal for right now, when the temperatures are still high.'

You can also take plant cuttings of sedums and start them in pots, rather than place them in the garden. If you only have 15 minutes in the garden, getting new plants for free seems like a very effective use of your time.

What to Shop

If you prefer low-maintenance backyard ideas to intensive gardening, our guide to ‘the 10 minute garden’ might be perfect for you. It features inspirational ideas for a glorious garden that needs just 10 minutes of maintenance a week.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

You may think it's an inevitable slow decline after summer-flowering perennials peak in midsummer. However, when you cut back perennials in August, you can encourage a vibrant second flush of blooms to enjoy.

The likes of hardy geraniums, nepeta, delphinium, astrantia, and lady’s mantle can be coaxed into bonus fall flowers by being cut back in late summer. At a time when even the best perennials can start to look faded and tired, don’t just deadhead but cut the plants back hard. It may feel counterintuitive, but the rewards are worth it.

You need to know when to cut back perennials in August, and also appreciate that not all plants will respond well to this treatment. Here, we look at perennials to cut back in August that you can encourage into a second flush, and those to keep the pruning tools (like these Felco F2 pruners on Amazon that are great for trimming perennials) away from this month.

Hardy Geraniums

Anyone who grows hardy geraniums knows how rampant they are. They are fast-growing and long-flowering perennials that develop into large clumps during the summer.

By August, they can start looking tired and collapse. But you can keep geraniums blooming for longer by cutting the clump back this month. Use a pair of sharp pruning shears or hedge shears and cut the plant right back to a few inches above the soil.

Remove the debris, give the plant a deep watering, and feed it with a balanced liquid fertilizer, such as this 10-10-10 plant food from Walmart, which contains seaweed extract.

It might look harsh, but new growth will quickly appear, and you’ll get a new flush of blooms in little time.

Nepeta

Nepeta, or catmint, is a low-maintenance perennial that fills any space with aromatic grey-green leaves and trumpet-shaped lilac blooms. It works perfectly near the front of flower beds, and you can also grow catmint in pots if you garden in smaller spaces.

When you grow catmint, it can provide long interest. With the right care, this can stretch right into fall. Come August, it can appear a bit straggly, and the stems often start flopping over other plants, lawns, or garden paths.

If you prune catmint back this month to above the first leaf, it will tidy it up, encourage new growth, and provide another round of flowers for you to enjoy.

This trim may take five minutes with a pair of pruning shears or hedge shears. These Fiskars 23-inch hedge shears at The Home Depot are ideal. They have sharp steel blades and soft grip handles for comfortable trimming.

Astrantia

Astrantia produces delicate, papery, pincushion flowers that sit atop slender stems. They come in shades of pink, red, or green-white and have a long flowering season. Indeed, with the right trimming, astrantias are one of an elite group of plants that flower twice or more.

Gardeners growing these cottage garden plants can extend the blooms with regular deadheading. If the plant starts to look tatty in late summer, you can cut it back by half to get a new flush of growth and pollinator-friendly flowers that extend the show well into fall.

Astrantias prefer soil types that keep their roots moist. They can be grown in drier sites, but will need regular watering in hot weather to prevent the leaves from going crispy and ruining any chances of a new set of flowers.

A soil moisture meter, available at Amazon, can be an essential gardening tool to help you judge when to water your garden plants.

Lady’s Mantle

Lady’s mantle, or Alchemilla mollis, is grown predominantly for its soft, scalloped, mid-green foliage. However, don’t overlook its blooms. It produces frothy star-shaped lime-green flowers starting in late spring or early summer.

However, come August, the plant can look untidy with flopping stems and browning foliage. It is a perennial to cut back for fall flowers and this month is an ideal time to do it. When you grow lady’s mantle, you can cut the plant back to the base, and it will sprout new growth within weeks.

Another reason to cut back lady’s mantle after the first flush of flowers goes over is that it stops the plant from self-seeding. If you don’t want lots of new plants sprouting, head out this month and give it a trim.

Delphinium

Delphiniums put on a towering display of blooms in summer. In reality, the season is short and come August, the spikes can look worse for wear. The best solution for this is to cut back delphiniums, pruning the flower spikes right back to the ground.

Cutting off the blooms after delphiniums finish flowering stops the plants looking tatty in borders. It might seem cruel, but the plants can respond with a second flush of flowers.

No matter what types of delphiniums you are growing, trim them, fertilize them, and water them this month. You should hopefully get another round of, albeit slightly smaller, flowers to enjoy in early fall.

If you care for delphiniums, use sharp pruning tools and cut the stalks to two inches from the ground.

Shop Pruning Tools

Perennials to Not Cut Back in August

• Peonies - When you grow peonies, they should be cut back in the fall. It is not recommended to cut back peonies in August, as the plants are still photosynthesizing and storing energy for next year’s growth. If you prune peonies now, next year’s display can be badly damaged.
• Asters - Asters are a great plant for fall color. They come to the fore in August and can bloom right through until October. It comes as no surprise to anyone growing asters that the advice is not to cut them back. You can cut back asters in the fall or spring, depending on whether you want to leave the plant for wildlife over winter. As many aster varieties can be a reliable food source for birds over the colder months, and the old growth insulates the plant against winter freezes, I would always opt to cut them back in spring.
• Japanese Anemones - Japanese anemones are another perennial routinely grown for showy performance from August to October. They offer color and interest at a time when summer perennials die down and are adored by many pollinators. However, they do spread through underground rhizomes, so many gardeners use a root barrier (such as this root barrier at Amazon) to keep them contained and prevent them from becoming invasive perennials. If you do grow Japanese anemone, cut them back in late fall or early spring. Don’t do it now or you’ll miss out on their blooms.
• Sedum - When you grow sedum, or Hylotelephium as they are now known, their flowers are rich in late summer and early fall. They are great plants for pollinators in fall, and will attract bees and butterflies in droves. If you cut them back this month, you are missing out on flowers and unnecessarily removing a vital seasonal food source for pollinators in your garden. Your best bet is to cut back sedum in spring, as the dried stems and heads can provide glorious interest and structure in a winter garden.
• Joe Pye Weed - Joe Pye weed, or eupatorium, is covered in nectar-rich flowers in late summer. These tall blooms provide food to several types of bees and many different butterflies. As late summer can be a period when nectar is scarce – it is a gap where summer flowerers have ended and the fall ones are just beginning – you want to retain Joe Pye weed blooms for pollinators. Other perennials that offer pollinators lots of nectar during this gap include black-eyed Susan and coneflowers. These are also plants you don’t want to cut back. You can deadhead them, but don’t prune them completely.

August is a busy month in the garden. While there are lots of maintenance tasks to do – watering, feeding, cutting back – there are also opportunities to take plant cuttings and get new plants for your garden for free. Our guide to plants to propagate in August reveals seven shrubs you can take semi-ripe cuttings from this month.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

If you want to keep your annuals in borders, containers, and hanging baskets flowering all summer long and looking good right through until the first frosts, an expert flower grower recommends three tasks that are guaranteed to prolong their life as long as possible.

‘We grow a lot of annuals at our farmquarters up in Washington state,’ says Christina Stembel, the founder of Farmgirl Flowers. ‘I find the three things that do the most are to deadhead, water deeply and consistently, and not overfeed.’

To keep annual flowers blooming until frost arrives, follow this expert-approved advice to make the most of that one-season show. Add these three simple words to your summer gardening checklist: deadhead, water, feed (you can get a liquid bloom booster on Amazon that is perfect for annuals). ‘I've found that doing those three things works far better than any hack or wives' tale,’ adds Christina.

1. Deadhead Often

Deadheading encourages lots of fresh flowers and the longest display. Annual flowers are short-lived and put energy into producing seeds once the blooms go over. As Christina Stembel puts it, once the plants start making seeds, ‘that basically means they've done their job and are calling it a day’.

You don’t want the energy going into seed production; it exhausts the plants as they essentially prepare for the end of their lives. Instead, by deadheading, you direct the energy into producing new buds and flowers. This quick, easy task can dramatically extend the show and lifespan of annual flowers, including marigolds, cosmos, zinnias, snapdragons, petunias, and many more.

Check your plants every few days and snip off the spent flowers with a pair of sharp pruning snips, such as these Felco pruning snips on Amazon. Alternatively, you can snap the old blooms off many plants between your fingers and thumb, but be careful to snap rather than pull the entire plant by accident.

An exception comes with self-cleaning annuals that don’t need deadheading. These plants naturally drop faded flowers, and include impatiens, lobelia, and some varieties of petunias.

2. Water Deeply

Annual flowers won’t last long if they are repeatedly left to dry out and wilt, then completely soaked. That kind of feast-and-famine approach throughout the summer will stress the plants and reduce their lifespan.

The best approach to watering the garden is to water deeply and consistently. Shallow daily watering may seem beneficial, but it causes plants to grow shallow roots near the surface. When the temperatures spike and the top inches of soil dry out, they quickly suffer and wilt.

A much better way to water plants is to water deeply, though less frequently. This encourages stronger roots.

‘Depending on how much you're watering, I've found mulching helps them retain the moisture longer so you don't feel like a jerk not conserving water,’ adds Christina. This bag of all-natural wood mulch from Miracle-Gro is available at The Home Depot and ideal for use around annual flowers.

Fast-growing annuals in pots will need more regular watering, potentially every day, but still soak them thoroughly until you see water running out the drainage holes.

It is good practise when watering plants in hot weather to do it in the morning, so the plants benefit most, and avoid the watering mistake of soaking the foliage rather than the soil, which causes fungal issues.

3. Feed Regularly

To keep annual flowers blooming until frost hits, they need a consistent source of nutrients. Well-fed annuals will have the nourishment required to keep producing lots of new blooms for the longest display.

The best summer flower fertilizer is higher in phosphorus and potassium – the nutrients that encourage strong flowering. Avoid high-nitrogen feeds that promote lush foliage growth, and stick to fertilizing flowers in pots and borders with water-soluble products labelled ‘bloom booster’ or tomato feeds.

Feed annuals, especially those growing in container gardens or hanging baskets, every week or two to keep them blooming. Always stick to the recommended rates, as Christina warns: ‘I've made a ton of mistakes, like over-fertilizing, thinking that would keep them blooming longer, but sadly it actually did the opposite.’

Shop Summer Flower Fertilizers

If you keep annual flowers blooming until frost, that can be the end for them. However, you can protect plants from frost to try to squeeze a little bit more of a show from even tender annuals.

It can take only a few minutes to cover plants with frost cloth (such as this 10 x 50 feet frost cloth at Walmart) when a light frost is forecast. This quick job can extend the season, but remember to remove the covers in the morning once the temperatures rise.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

The Farmers' Almanac has released its winter weather forecast, predicting sharp contrasts between snowstorms and milder rainy conditions across the US. This first insight makes it easy to start prepping the winter garden so your precious plants make it through unharmed.

Trusted source of weather predictions for Canada and the US, the Farmers' Almanac, says to 'prepare for a winter of snow, sleet, and surprises' when thinking about your winter gardening checklist. Southern regions should focus on preparing gardens for snowstorms, while northern regions could have unpredictable cold snaps that wipe out plants quickly. Meanwhile, rainfall across the country calls for our yards to be more flood-resilient.

So, now is the time to get your hands on things like this frost cloth from Amazon and make changes to your yard to cope with the incoming winter conditions. Here's what the Farmers' Almanac winter forecast 2026 means for your garden.

Prepare for Snowstorms

The Farmers' Almanac winter forecast 2026 warns, 'El Niño is expected to remain an important influence through the heart of the season, favoring wetter-than-normal conditions across much of the southern United States.'

From Southern California and the Desert Southwest, through Texas, the Gulf Coast, and the Southeast, the report warns to 'watch for frequent storm systems, muddy fields, and occasional surges of cold air.'

The report also notes for much of the West, northern Plains, Upper Midwest, and Great Lakes, 'fast-moving clippers, sudden cold snaps, and brief snowy periods are likely.

'Farther north, the Plains, Midwest, and Great Lakes could experience sudden snow squalls, blustery winds, and bursts of bitter cold,' it continues.

This calls for preparing your yard for a storm and protecting plants from frost and snow.

You can use plant cloches (like these from Amazon) and frost cloths (which are also available at Walmart), and consider moving tender plants undercover, such as into a conservatory or greenhouse.

And if you're wondering whether you should remove snow from plants, it's not always necessary. It can actually provide insulation, much like mulching (putting down a layer of this brown mulch from Lowe's in fall can protect plant roots from freezing).

Make Your Yard More Flood-Resilient

As well as preparing for snow, much of the US is expected to have high rainfall this winter season.

'Coastal communities could receive more rain or mixed precipitation, while inland areas may be hit by several rounds of heavy, wet snow,' the report reads.

The storms in the South will also bring rain, and 'a second storm path may guide weather systems along the Eastern Seaboard, bringing additional opportunities for rain, wintry mixes, and snow from the mid-Atlantic into New England.'

Taking steps to make your yard more flood-resilient now can help it cope better with water surface run-off later in the season and stop your lawn becoming waterlogged.

This includes installing a French drain, aerating your lawn (with this lawn aerator tool from Amazon), and growing flood-resilient plants, like astilbe (which you can find in a wide range of colors at Plant Addicts).

There are also plenty of garden drainage ideas to consider adopting, including adding drainage channels to your patio to stop flooding.

What to Shop

As the report summarizes, 'keep the snow shovel, rain boots, and ice scraper close at hand. This winter, you may need all three.'

You can make your winter garden more low-maintenance by opting for the best winter plants for pots that can cope with these conditions. Plus, consider these ideas to make your yard more resilient in extreme weather for more long-term solutions.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Tomato plants can look a tad weary in late summer. The stresses of quickly growing stems and leaves, developing and ripening fruit, and facing hot midsummer temperatures can take their toll on plants. There is still time left in the season, though, and you can encourage them to end on a high.

Growing tomatoes in late summer is more about gentle encouragement and preserving what you have got. You need to ensure the fruits you have develop healthily and ripen, and that is the priority rather than encouraging huge flushes of new growth.

So, what can you do to rejuvenate ageing and tired tomato plants in late summer? The answer is selective pruning, regular watering and feeding (you can get Miracle-Gro water-soluble tomato food at Walmart), harvesting fruits when they are ready, and controlling any problems. Here’s what I do with my tomatoes to revive and prolong plants through the final stages of the season.

Prune Leaves and Shoots

As the season goes on, tomato foliage can look a little worse for wear. Tomato leaves can turn yellow, brown, spotted, or deformed. Many factors can cause tomato leaves to curl or turn discolored, including nutrient deficiencies, poor watering, diseases, and natural old age.

For healthy plants, it is beneficial to remove any less-than-desirable foliage towards the bottom of the plant. If you haven’t been pruning tomatoes and removing lower leaves through the season so far, do it now.

It keeps plants healthy by improving airflow, allows more light to reach fruits to ripen them, and makes watering tomato plants easier – it is plain sailing to direct water to the base of the plant without unnecessary foliage in the way.

As we get towards the end of the season, you also need to continue removing side shoots as they appear. You need to put as much energy as possible into ripening existing fruit, rather than new stems.

A pair of sharp pruning shears is crucial for removing tomato leaves and larger side shoots. I have often used a pair of Japanese pruning shears like these Okatsune pruners on Amazon for this task and found them sharp, lightweight, and comfortable to use.

Alternatively, these Fiskars micro-tip pruning snips at Walmart are perfect for precise snipping tasks like removing leaves and side shoots.

Routinely Feed Plants

Hopefully, you have been fertilizing tomatoes every week or two since they started flowering, which is the trigger point to start giving them a tomato feed (or any fertilizer lower in nitrogen and higher in phosphorus and potassium) that encourages fruit development.

If you have, that is good, and you should continue this until around three weeks before your first frosts, or when your last ripe tomatoes are ready to harvest. Feed plants every two weeks, or every week if you are growing tomatoes in pots or grow bags.

However, if you haven’t been feeding your crop regularly, now is the time to make a positive change. They may desperately need a pick-me-up, and a lack of essential nutrients could well be why your plants look tired or are not producing a good crop so far.

Don’t give tomatoes too much nitrogen now, as it’ll encourage foliage growth. You want to encourage fruits to develop and ripen. Use a liquid tomato fertilizer – such as this tomato booster at Walmart – and feed plants weekly to breathe some new life into them.

Alternatively, you can feed tomatoes using a seaweed fertilizer, such as this fish and seaweed liquid fertilizer on Amazon, or make your own tomato fertilizer by brewing a nettle or comfrey tea.

Water Consistently

Tomatoes are very susceptible to changes in moisture. How and where you grow the crop can make a massive difference, and will impact how much you need to water your tomatoes to keep them thriving.

For example, tomatoes growing in a greenhouse are likely to experience sweltering temperatures in midsummer. If they are in grow bags – or indeed even if you use grow bags to grow tomatoes on a balcony or patio – the soil can dry out incredibly quickly. I have seen tomatoes go from happy to wilting in a blink of an eye during a heatwave when they are in pots or grow bags.

When tomatoes go short on water, plants wilt, drop flowers, and curl leaves as they try to conserve moisture. The fruit is also affected; inconsistent watering – periods of drying out followed by a soaking – commonly causes tomatoes to split or succumb to blossom-end rot.

Tired tomato plants could easily be suffering from drought stress during late summer. The key is to water consistently and, when you do water plants, water deeply. If you allow the soil to go back and forth between dry and waterlogged, you’ll have miserable tomato plants that likely won’t provide much towards the end of the season.

Pick Tomatoes When Ripe

Harvesting tomatoes is super-satisfying – a summer highlight. A perfectly ripe tomato will be deep red (or yellow, orange or purple, depending on the tomato variety) and not green, feel firm but give a little when squeezed, and come away from the plant easily when twisted.

You need to keep on top of picking tomatoes; otherwise, it slows down the ripening of newer ones. The plants will focus energy on the older fruits, which may crack, go moldy, or simply drop off if they are left too long. This halts the production of new blooms and fruits, and other tomatoes still ripening on the plant may go without nutrients.

To keep your harvests going into late summer and fall, it is crucial to check your plants regularly and pick the fruits once they’re ready. To help tomatoes ripen on the vine later in the season, remove foliage, snip off new flowers, and cut the top of the central stem to focus the energy into ripening the existing fruits.

Watch for Pests and Disease

Late summer is unfortunately a prime time for plants to show the effects of pests and tomato diseases. It can cause them to look tired and show symptoms such as yellowing foliage, stunted growth, a white coating on leaves, or wilting.

Common tomato pests like aphids, whiteflies, and spider mites can cause issues. But it is the tomato hornworm that causes most damage, as the caterpillars can completely defoliate plants. The best way to combat tomato hornworms is to hand-pick the caterpillars or spray plants with Bacillus thuringiensis, available at Amazon.

Young caterpillars can be targeted with insecticidal soap (available at Walmart), which is also a proven way to get rid of aphids and other small soft-bodied pests, such as flies and mites.

If you do see any signs of disease, fast action is crucial to preserve your plants and any future harvests.

Thankfully, diseases such as blight, leaf spot, and powdery mildew can be combatted by pruning off diseased leaves and watering the soil rather than the foliage. You can also spray copper fungicide like this from Amazon.

However, bacterial diseases such as wilt cannot be cured, and plants must be removed and destroyed.

What to Shop

Around 4-6 weeks before the end of the season, it is advisable to cut the growing tip of the tomato plants.

This technique, known as topping, encourages the plants to focus their energy on ripening all existing fruits rather than producing new flowers and fruits. This is a crucial, and often overlooked, task to ensure you get the most from your plants before their time is up. It is a tomato growing mistake not to top plants, and you’ll miss out on harvests as a result.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Raspberry plants are at one of two distinct stages in August. It is towards the end of harvest time for summer-bearing raspberries, while fall-bearing canes are starting to ripen their fruits. The types of raspberries you have impact what attention they need this month.

In a nutshell, both types need picking, watering, and weeding, while summer-bearing raspberries also need pruning and tying in. You wouldn’t want to trim fall-bearing raspberries, though, as you’ll miss out on fruit – a regrettable mistake.

Knowing how to grow raspberries ensures you care for different types properly. I have worked in kitchen gardens with both summer and fall raspberries, where understanding the particular nuances of each is essential to getting the best crop year after year. If you ever wonder what to do with raspberry plants in August, these six tasks are essential.

Harvest Ripe Fruits

For the longest cropping season, many growers enjoy having both summer- and fall-bearing raspberries in their garden. Planting both raspberries ensures a crop of sharp-but-sweet berries from midsummer into fall.

Summer-fruiting raspberries are ready to pick from June to August, depending on the variety, and the season for fall-fruiting raspberries starts in August and runs through to early October.

In August, picking ripe fruit is essential, no matter which types you have. You can enjoy the last fruits of summer canes, the early fruits of fall canes, or both if you have planned for a long season.

Once the fruits have ripened to their full color – which can be red, yellow, or purple (like on this ‘Jewel’ raspberry bush at Nature Hills), depending on the variety – they should come loose from their central core easily. If you need to pull hard, the raspberry is not ready.

Prune Summer-Bearing Raspberries

Summer-bearing raspberries produce their fruit on the previous season’s wood. Once they have finished fruiting, it is time to prune the raspberries, as the canes that carried this season’s fruits will not produce again.

Take a pair of clean, sharp pruning tools and cut the old brown canes back to ground level. Don’t cut away any green stems yet; these are this year’s growth that will fruit next year.

After removing the old fruiting wood, it is time to thin the newer canes. You don’t want the raspberry canes to be too congested, as they’ll struggle to produce the best crop. A few choice cuts now help guarantee a better harvest next summer.

Start by removing any damaged or weak canes. Then thin out any crowded areas to leave a strong selection of canes 6-8 inches apart. Any raspberry suckers growing too far out of the row should also be removed.

A pair of pruning shears should be sufficient for the task. I have a trusty pair of Felco F2 pruners that I used for many years to cut back raspberry canes in the productive gardens I worked in. You can get Felco F2 pruners at Amazon.

Tie in Stems

After pruning and thinning the stems, tie the remaining healthy raspberry canes to their support.

When you plant raspberries, they need some form of support. This usually comes in the form of wires stretched between posts. You can buy a raspberry trellis (like this durable metal trellis at Amazon) or make your own DIY version with wooden posts and wire.

The framework keeps stems protected from wind, especially when laden with fruit. In August, after pruning summer-bearing raspberries, tie the remaining canes to the ties to keep them upright.

It is important to use soft, flexible plant ties, such as jute twine, flexi-ties, Velcro ties (get Velcro garden ties at Walmart), or fabric from old T-shirts as a plastic alternative in the garden.

Water During Hot Weather

Raspberry plants have shallow roots, so are susceptible to stress if the soil dries out during summer. It is important to keep the top two inches of soil consistently moist in summer if you want the raspberry plants to fruit well.

Raspberries need 1-2 inches of water per week, but this increases when the berries are developing. A lack of water during the fruiting period causes the fruits to shrivel and dry out – hugely impacting your yield.

During hot, dry spells, keep a close eye on your plants to keep on top of watering. Check the top inches of soil with your fingers. If it feels dry, then water deeply. It is better to give plants a deep watering more infrequently than little and often.

You can use a soil moisture meter (available at Amazon) to measure levels and get immediate guidance on whether you need to water your plants.

Remove Weeds

Weeds will compete with your raspberry canes for the water and nutrients in the soil. For the strongest canes and best fruits, you want all those essential plant nutrients being taken in by your raspberries, not lost to unwanted invaders.

Spend a little time gently pulling weeds around your raspberries. Carefully remove them by hand with a garden fork or hand weeding tool (such as this hand weeder tool at Amazon) to avoid damaging the shallow roots of raspberry canes.

You can use a garden hoe, but be careful not to accidentally catch the raspberry roots that sit just below the surface.

Mulching around raspberry canes offers a double advantage. It helps to retain moisture in the soil and also smothers weeds. The best types of mulch for raspberries are compost, wood chips, straw, and bark. You can get bags of all-natural pine bark mulch at Lowe’s.

Protect Fruits From Birds

Sometimes you face competition for your fruits. I have seen birds brazenly stealing my raspberries this year. If this is happening to you, you may need to protect soft fruits in your garden from being nabbed.

You can cover your canes with a large fruit cage, like this crop protection tent from Wayfair. Or place bird netting (available at Amazon) over the plants.

It is advisable to place netting over hoops or supports placed around the canes. The netting needs to be secured at the base with landscape staples or bricks so birds can’t get underneath and get stuck.

What to Shop

Raspberries are one of many fruits to pick in August around the garden. It is a time of rich bounty, with blueberries, blackberries, peaches, plums, and figs also ripening to perfection in late summer. You can pick them for desserts, puddings, or jellies, or just enjoy sun-kissed fruits straight from the bush or tree.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

August isn’t commonly thought of as a month for sowing flower seeds. It isn’t peak sowing time, true, but that shouldn’t put you off. There is a beautiful mix of flowers to sow in August that can provide both color this year and early blooms next spring.

Perennials, biennials, and annuals can all be sown in August. The fastest, such as sweet alyssum or marigolds, can flower this year in warmer climates. Or, viola can be sown for winter color. Others, like black-eyed Susan, coneflower, and California poppies, will reward you with a bounty of color next year and potentially for years to come.

Don’t disregard summer sowing. Despite there being a lot of other tasks around the garden needing attention, there is a great selection of popular flowers to sow in August. You can sow seeds indoors or outdoors, but just make sure to keep a close eye on watering after planting in August. A soaker hose, like this one at Walmart, can offer an efficient solution to keep outdoor sowings hydrated on warm summer days.

California Poppies

California poppies are short-lived perennials in warmer climates or annuals elsewhere. They are popular types of poppies with vibrant orange, yellow, or red flowers. They are perfect plants for hot, dry gardens and can also thrive in poor soil types, including sandy and rocky ground.

If you want to grow California poppies, you can sow seeds in late August for earlier blooms next year. Once you have them in your garden, they will self-seed readily, or you can harvest California poppy seeds to sow yourself.

Sow seeds outdoors directly in their growing position, as poppies have delicate roots that dislike root disturbance. Clear the area, rake it level, and thinly scatter the seeds. Press them into the soil and cover them with a fine layer of soil. Keep the area moist, but be careful when watering plants. Use a fine rose (you can get a rose head for a watering can at Amazon) or spray so as not to dislodge the small seeds.

You can get packs of ‘Mission Bells’ California poppy seeds at Amazon that are bred to bloom in six shades, including orange, pink, scarlet, apricot, and cream.

Cornflower

Cornflower, or bachelor’s button, is a popular wildflower that has become a common sight in gardens.

The plants are highly versatile and can be used in anything from wildflower meadows to cottage garden borders. The classic cornflower is a beautiful blue, but nowadays you can get blooms in shades of white, pink, red, and even dark plum to suit any garden type or color scheme.

Sowing cornflowers in August works as you get strong plants and early flowers next year, usually starting to show in May or early June and putting on a strong performance early in the season.

The best method is to sow the seeds directly into prepared ground in late August. Cover them lightly, keep them moist, and the seeds should readily germinate. However, an alternative option is to start them off indoors in modules or pots and overwinter them before planting outside next spring after the frosts.

You can get a packet of ‘Blue Boy’ bachelor’s button seeds at Botanical Interests that’ll impress with sky-blue flowers.

Calendula

Pot marigolds are a hardy calendula variety and a fast-growing flowering annual. They are traditionally sown in spring by gardeners. But as hardy annuals that can cope with frosts, calendulas can also be sown in the early fall to overwinter outdoors to flower earlier next spring.

Wait, as it gets even better. If you live in warmer climates, there is even time for August-sown calendula to bloom this year and continue well into winter. The bright, cheery blooms can be great for fall pollinators and be used as a vegetable companion plant. Calendula blooms are also edible flowers to add to salads and soups.

Pot marigolds are so simple to grow from seed. Either prepare the ground and sow them directly where you want them to flower, or sow seeds indoors into modules or pots filled with a good seed compost, such as this organic seed starting mix at Burpee.

You can get pot marigold seeds at Amazon to sow at home.

Black-Eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan is a perennial plant with a long flowering season. Indeed, many types of Black-eyed Susan can bloom from summer right through to the first frosts. The plants dazzle with their bright petals set against the dark centers, and the blooms attract lots of pollinators to any wildlife garden.

You can buy plants from any garden center or online, but a cost-effective way to grow Black-eyed Susan is to sow seeds, and August is an ideal time to start plants off. Planting Black-eyed Susan seeds this month gives plants the chance to develop stems and roots this year, and then burst into glorious bloom next summer.

You can get Black-eyed Susan seeds at Botanic Interests to sow directly into the garden or into trays, modules, or small pots. Using biodegradable pots (like these fiber pots from Burpee) is an ideal way to start plants and transfer them to the soil without disturbing the roots too much.

Coneflowers

Like Black-eyed Susan, coneflowers are perennial plants that are popular additions to flower beds or container gardens thanks to their distinctive backswept petals around a central ball. Coneflowers are also great plants for pollinators and can be grown as cut flowers.

An advantage of sowing coneflower seeds in August is that you provide them naturally with the period of cold stratification they need to germinate. Coneflower seeds need up to 10 weeks of cold to germinate, which they get naturally by sowing in late August and overwintering in the ground.

Sow the seeds thinly over the soil surface and press them down to establish good contact. Don’t cover the seeds, as they need light to germinate, and keep the soil moist. Gardeners may need to cover them or put up deterrents to stop birds from eating the seeds over winter.

There are many different coneflower varieties you can sow this month. However, purple coneflowers are probably the most popular, and you can understand why due to their light purple petals against dark centers. You can get packs of purple coneflower seeds at True Leaf Market.

Sweet Alyssum

There is time to get fall flowers in warmer climates by sowing the seeds of these fast-growing tiny flowers in August. Sweet alyssum germinates and develops speedily, and you can go from sowing to enjoying the first blooms in 6-8 weeks.

Gardeners in colder climates can also sow at the end of this month or into fall, but their sowings will emerge in spring for early blooms.

Sweet alyssum seeds are another that need light to germinate, so just press the seeds lightly into the surface rather than cover them with soil. Keep a close eye on the soil to ensure it remains consistently moist and doesn’t dry out.

When you grow sweet alyssum, prepare for your plants to self-seed and spread around the garden. You can deadhead plants throughout the flowering season to restrict the spread.

You can get packets of white sweet alyssum seeds at True Leaf Market

Viola

Winter violas and pansies are tough plants that provide bright color during the starkest times of year in the garden. They make great winter flowers for pots, and there is a range of violas to propagate from seed in August.

Viola seeds are incredibly fine and must be handled carefully. Sow them into the surface of damp seed compost in trays, modules, or pots. As they need light to germinate, only cover them with a very fine layer of compost or vermiculite (get organic vermiculite at Walmart).

Place the seed containers somewhere bright, transplant the seedlings into individual pots if needed, and plant them outdoors once they are ready.

If you want to grow violas for late and early season color in your yard, ‘Johnny Jump-Up’ is a classic heirloom winter viola variety. You can get packets of ‘Johnny Jump-Up’ viola seeds at Amazon.

What to Shop

Any gardener wanting to expand their plant collection should consider taking cuttings in August. It is a time of the year when plants have lots of semi-ripe material that is perfect for summer cuttings. Our guide to plants to propagate in August reveals seven popular shrubs and perennials that you can clone via cuttings this month.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?