August Gardening

I've learned the hard way that spring is not a good time for me to weed my flower beds...

I have a hard time telling the difference between flowers and weeds! If I weed in spring, very few flowers bloom in summer...

So I let it all grow - except for the gout weed, which is clearly recognizable, and which would grow over top of everything else!

But now that August is here, most of the perennials in my flower beds have already bloomed.

Now I can trust myself to trim and deadhead those that have finished blooming - so that the few beginning to bloom are clearly visible...

Flowers like the late summer yellow lilies that were a gift from one of Terry's co-workers whose husband runs a landscaping business...

Also the pink and white phlox. (The pink, in the pictures above; the white, near the backyard hedge which - in summer - becomes overgrown with wild vines.)

I also want to see the echinacea coneflowers that were hidden behind the dead daisies until I trimmed them back.

For me, August gardening is mostly about trimming back plants that have finished blooming - so that the late summer bloomers will not get lost amid dead flowers and vines - so that I can enjoy them all!