British Homes and Gardens
Vogue Living
I have always had an affinity for flowers. I was once married to a landscape designer whose specialty was English gardens. It was then that I cultivated a taste for old-fashioned heirlooms--roses, delphiniums, hollyhocks, foxglove and flowers with romantic names like forget-me-not and Queen Anne's lace. Later in another life with an artist, I discovered the joy of spring in Idaho found in the blooming faces of fragrant peonies. The thought of my garden and the list of hopeful plantings carried me through the long desolate winters. And when the relationship ended, my love affair with peonies did not.
Over the years, the gardens I've grown are those where the only thing meant to partake of is beauty. I've never experienced the satisfaction that surely must come from working the earth to reap the benefit of sustenance. While the requisite herbs were planted and found use in my kitchen, their primary purpose was to serve as a foil against the pink of a petal or the blue of a blossom. Neat little rows of lettuce and dangling vines did not excite me. The lure of a flower bud was always much too seductive.
Hopefully this summer, tomatoes hung heavily from the vines in your garden awaiting their inclusion in a savory dish. Maybe you were lucky enough to pull a bundle of juicy lemons from your own tree. I'm personally salivating for a private booty of avocados. Or perhaps you are more like me and your rooms were filled with swathes of color from fresh cut flowers. In any case, the bounty of summer is nearing to an end. Late summer is the perfect time to give thought to preparing your garden for fall's respite.
1. Remove spent annuals and vegetables of the season.
2. Compost the refuse from your garden from discarded leaves and clippings. Be sure to use only healthy, pest-free cuttings!
3. Cut back and thin out the perennials. You can do this by digging up your plants, dividing them into sections and replanting in other areas of the garden.
4. Remove the weeds from your garden that might rob it of vital nutrients needed for next season's planting.
5. Add mulch to your beds, trees and shrubs. They need a winter coat like you do.
6. Choose your bulbs for spring planting. This is the best part because it means...more flowers!
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