Summer’s end is near and your bright summer colors may be starting to wilt.  Add some color to your fall garden with these expert fall gardening tips.

1) For an instant display you could try adding summer bedding plants to containers and borders for your fall garden. Petunia surfinia is a good choice and will bloom until the end of summer. Ensure it is grown in a sheltered spot in light shade. Bedding plants do require a lot of watering so if you don’t have a lot of time, this may not be the best option.

2) There are many brightly-colored perennials that flower late in the season, such as astilbe, helenium and phlox paniculata. They will grow back every year and are a good way of ensuring your fall garden gets that extra splash of color. As they get bigger, some perennials may require dividing or staking.

3) If you want to add late summer flowering plants to an existing border, try to buy a few of the same variety and color and intersperse them throughout the border for a more subtle display.

4) Depending on how much space you have it may be worth creating a separate flower bed for late summer flowering plants.  This can help when you are deciding on colors and will ensure that as the flowers in the summer bed fade, they will be replaced by others in another part of the garden.

5) If you are planning on creating a bright display of warm colored flowers for your fall garden, try to avoid too many pastel colored blooms as they will be overpowered by the stronger shades.

6) Dahlias are a popular choice and come in different colors and varieties from pom-pom to cacti types. However, be aware that most dahlias need to be over-wintered inside as they can be susceptible to frost damage.

7) To brighten up containers and baskets in your fall garden, violas are another good choice. If you remember to deadhead them they should continue to flower until early winter.

8) To add some vertical interest to borders, consider planting crocosmia. It has upright, spiky leaves and orange-red flowers. A popular variety is Lucifer, which grows up to 120 centimeters tall and has bright red flowers.

9) It isn’t just plants that can brighten up borders and pots; shrubs with bronze, dark purple or burgundy foliage work well with yellow, red and orange colored flowers. Berberis, heucheras and lysimachia ciliata are all good choices.

10) Japanese anemone is perfect if you have a low maintenance fall garden and will thrive in a shady spot. The plant produces large pink, mauve or white flowers, which should bloom until October. Anemones can become invasive and after flowering it may be necessary to split them up and plant in other areas of the garden.

Are the weather and the want to conserve water preventing you from planting your wanted garden? The Lawhead Team would like to share some helpful tips to gardening even during a drought.

Soil it most important.  Well-amended soil is the foundation of a vegetable garden that will tolerate drought. Prepare your garden’s soil by adding lots of rich, organic compost that will help trap moisture and encourage deep root formation in plants.

All of this soil amending is for naught if you aren’t mulching to reduce evaporation and water runoff. A thick carpet of mulch will also keep down the weeds that compete with your vegetables for water and nutrients.

Be smart about how you layout your plants.  Plant your vegetable garden in block style layout rather than in rows to create microclimates, shade and reduce water evaporation.

Layout your vegetable garden so that plants with similar water requirements are grouped together. For example, cucumbers, zucchini, and squash all have similar water needs. Focus on vegetables that produce abundant crops like tomatoes, squash, peppers and eggplants.

Edit the number of plants you grow to conserve water and space. One or two determinate tomato plants can serve your needs. Unless you can’t live without them, avoid growing space and water hogs like broccoli and cauliflower.

Three Sisters Garden.  Planting Techniques like the Three Sisters Garden is a companion planting method that the Native Americans have used for ages that you can employ in your own garden .

In the Three Sisters Garden mound, beans fix nitrogen into the soil, corn provides support for the beans to grow up, and the bristles on the squash stem protect the corn from the corn earworm while shading the soil all three plants grow in.

Educate yourself on when your plants need water.  If your vegetables are planted before the hot and dry days of summer arrive, they’ll have time to establish a root system that will allow them to survive the hotter days. Deep watering will train roots to grow deep into the ground. A drip irrigation system will deploy water where it is needed and potentially reduce your water consumption by as much as 50%. Soil amended as described above should be able to go between two and seven days between irrigation.

Knowing at what stage of development your vegetables will need water can also help you reduce the amount of water you use. Vining crops like cucumbers, assorted melons, summer and winter squash are frequently over-watered by gardeners.

They require less water than many other vegetables, and watering is only critical during flowering and fruiting. The same goes for eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. In fact, this year has been great for tomato lovers because the heat and drought has lead to some of the most flavorful tomatoes in recent years.

What vegetables are right for drought tolerance?  Seek out plants and varieties that do well in hot and arid locations. Purchase seeds for agricultural crop varieties that are arid-land adapted.

Beans have the highest water requirement of all of the common garden vegetables. Cole crops and root crops need a consistently moist soil during their life span. But you can still grow your favorite vegetables even if they aren’t exactly adapted to growing in a dry garden .

Varieties with short days to maturity are a viable option if you are conserving water in the garden . As are miniature varieties like the mini bell peppers and eggplants I grow because they need less water for fruit development than their larger counterparts.

This is by no means a complete list of vegetables and herbs that will tolerate drought, but the list can serve as a place to start.

1. Low prickly pear cactus-edible fruits and leaf pads of O. humifusa
2. Rhubarb-once mature is drought resistant.
3. Swiss Chard
4. ‘Hopi Pink’ corn
5. Asparagus-once established
6. Jerusalem artichoke
7. Legumes: Chickpea, Tepary beans, Moth bean, Cowpea, ‘Jackson Wonder’ lima bean.
8. Green Striped Cushaw squash
9. ‘Iroquois’ cantaloupe
10. Okra
11. Peppers
12. Armenian cucumber
13. Sage
14. Oregano
15. Thyme
16. Lavender
17. Amaranth-green leafed varieties
18. Rosemary
19. ‘Pineapple’ tomato
20. Chiltepines-wild chiles

Summer is here and hotter months can cause stress on your garden.  Check out some of these helpful summer gardening tips to ensure your garden looks its best throughout the season.

The Lawhead Team believes in the importance of making your home look its best, especially to enhance curb appeal.  Your outside garden should be a reflection of how your home looks inside so we’d like to share some helpful tips to keeping your garden looking its best through the summer months.

• Water trees and shrubs deeply if natural rainfall is less than one inch per week. Watering the soil and not the foliage reduces leaf spot diseases.
• Replenish mulch under trees and shrubs to conserve moisture, reduce weeds, and control temperature fluctuations in soil.
• Prune late spring flowering shrubs and hedges in your garden now.
• Avoid pruning oaks and elms between mid-April to mid-July. Oak Wilt and Dutch Elm Disease are spread by sap-feeding insects carrying the disease from tree to tree.
• Monitor all plants in your garden regularly for pest and disease problems.
• Pull weeds before they go to seed. After a rain, roots will pull out more easily and completely.
• Plant summer flowering bulbs and annuals. Annuals are developing roots; fertilize and keep well watered.
• Monitor container plants (especially those in clay pots) daily for watering needs.
• Pinch garden mums and asters once a month (until July 15) for bushier growth.
• Remove faded blossoms from flowering annuals, perennials, and roses to encourage more blooms.
• Fertilize roses with a 10-10-10 slow-release fertilizer after first bloom.
• Check bird houses for unwanted tenants and fill birdbath regularly.
• Cool weather and excess moisture in spring allows fungal diseases to thrive. To prevent reinfection, remove as many infected leaves as possible.
• Cut rose blooms back to the first set of five leaves after blooming to encourage stronger canes and more flowers.
• Divide and replant iris. Discard any plants in your garden showing signs of insect or disease. Iris should be divided every three to five years.
• Remove spent flowers and pinch back leggy foliage from annuals and perennials to promote bushier growth and more flowers. Stop pinching mums after July 10 to allow flower buds to set.
• In hot weather, let the grass grow longer by raising the height of your lawn mower.
• Provide fresh water for birds and other wildlife.
• Spectacular summer-flowering shrubs and perennials are blooming at the Arboretum in the Ground Cover Garden, the Fragrance Garden, along Joy Path, and in the Four Seasons Garden at the Thornhill Education Center. Plan a visit soon.
• Mid-August through Mid-September is an ideal time to establish a new lawn or seed in bare spots.
• Plant peonies at the end of August through October.
• In August, don’t fertilize woody plants. New growth will not have time to harden off before winter.
• Continue regular weeding and monitor for insect and disease problems in your garden.
• Start cuttings of herbs to growing in a sunny windowsill during the winter.
• Order spring flowering bulbs to plant this fall.
• Remember to photograph gardens for winter planning.

Good luck with your garden this summer!  The weather is perfect to sit outside and admire your hard work you’ve put into your garden.