JULY

GARDEN TIPS

As the heat ramps up there are many ways to keep your garden looking beautiful. With a few smart strategies, you can keep your plants vibrant and healthy, ensuring a spectacular display late into the season.

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Season Extenders

Want to keep color bursting in your garden as summer winds down? Now's the perfect time to plant late bloomers and season extenders. They'll get established nicely and then light up your landscape when other plants are fading. Consider adding:

Tender Salvias: 'Black and Blue' Salvia guaranitica for deep indigo, Pineapple Sage for a fragrant punch, or Dalvia uliginosa with its charming baby blue flowers.

Classic Fall Favorites: Asters and mums are always reliable. Or Chrysanthemum pacificum for something different.

What to Prune and When

Say Goodbye to Spent Bulbs: Now is the time to cut back any yellowing daffodil foliage. Remember, leaving it intact for as long as possible is crucial, as the plant uses this time to photosynthesize and store energy in its bulb for next spring's display.
Shaping Perennials: Give asters, chrysanthemums, and other late-summer perennials their final pinch in early July to encourage branching and a fuller form. If some perennials look a bit congested, don't hesitate to thin stems to improve air circulation.
Hard Cuts for Fresh Growth: After their spring flowering, give a hard cut to catmint (Nepeta), lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis), and perennial geraniums. They'll thank you with a fresh flush of growth!

Container Plants

Container plants are heavy drinkers and eaters, especially in the summer.

Feed Regularly: Opt for compost tea, fish emulsion, or seaweed extract every 7-10 days. These organic liquid feeds provide essential nutrients.
Water Wisely: On sunny, hot days, your containers might need daily watering. We recommend a deep watering once per day, letting the plants "hold" between waterings encouraging them to develop stronger, tougher roots. Only water when plants show signs of wilting.

Weeds & Mulch

Nip Weeds in the Bud: The golden rule of weeding? Catch them before they go to seed! This prevents countless new weeds from sprouting.
Mulch! Add organic mulch to any bare spots or plant another "season extender." Shredded leaves saved from fall cleanup are a fantastic, natural, free, and local mulch for annuals, perennials, and even vegetable gardens. They break down over the season, enriching your soil.

Biennials: Plan for Next Year's Blooms

Get a head start on next year's garden by sowing seeds of biennials now. Plants like foxgloves, Angelica, Salvia sclarea, Lunaria, and Dianthus will produce leaves this year, overwinter, burst into glorious flower next year and set seed their second season.

Vegetable Gardens

Succession Sowing: Keep the harvest coming by direct sowing succession crops like radish, lettuce, carrots, chard, and beets for your next harvest.
Feed the long season crops: Fertilize heavy-feeding crops such as corn, tomatoes, squash, peppers, potatoes, onions, and eggplant now to support their continued growth.

Smart Watering: Efficiency is Key

Irrigate borders and lawns infrequently but deeply. Generally, gardens and lawns need about 1 inch of water per week, or a deep watering that penetrates 6 inches into the soil.
Monitor Rainfall: Use a rain gauge to keep track of natural rainfall and only supplement with irrigation when truly needed.
Consider Alternatives: Thinking long-term? Consider converting parts of your lawn to lower-maintenance groundcovers, shrub or perennial borders, or even meadow plantings. This reduces water needs and boosts biodiversity!

Hellstrip Gardening

Pollinator Containers

FOR PLANTS

Vineyard Garden’s Andrew Wiley, a creative plant ‘genus’

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It’s not just a job for Andrew Wiley, his passion for plants is infused in his bloodline. As a child he grew up at Vineyard Gardens, watching his horticulturalist parents, Chris and Chuck Wiley develop a singular greenhouse and lawn mowing business into the vibrant establishment it is today. Not only did Andrew soak in the atmosphere and information as a boy, he now embraces everything about plants, landscaping and design. After an unmatched year at Great Dixter House & Gardens, Andrew’s plant knowledge and creativity in the landscaping world has been unleashed. His ethereal and poetic gardens are a wonderful demonstration in succession planting, filling garden beds with continuous blooms throughout the year. His front bed display at Vineyard Gardens is constantly evolving, never a dull moment from one plant finishing it’s bloom cycle to a new one opening up. Within the display bed there are many beautiful vignettes that seamless work together as a whole.

Next time you are at Vineyard Gardens take a meditative walk along the display garden and you will notice something new, fresh and exciting each time.

July’s Display Bed

Have you ever had the chance to walk through a garden with Andrew? His energy and excitement for designing with plants is unmeasured. Spewing off latin names and talking about the evolution of gardens and biodiversity you feel like you just had a master class in horticulture. Andrew’s contagious spirit will have you walking away from Vineyard Gardens with a million plants because he made you fall in love with every single one of them!

Take a virtual walk to learn about July’s display bed.