Flower Garden - August

Take cuttings of tender perennial, such as Verbenas, Argyranthemums, Fuchsias, Salvias and Pelargoniums. Dip the cuttings into a hormone rooting compound before inserting them into small pots of half and half peat and perlite or peat and silver sand. Water in well and keep the cuttings in a cold frame or even on warm windowsill out of direct sunlight. They should root within eight weeks and can then be potted up in J Arthur Bower’s Multi-Purpose compost and overwintered in a heated greenhouse or on a bedroom windowsill.

Trim Lavender bushes once the flowers are past their best. If you like to attract wildlife to your garden you may prefer to leave the seedheads as goldfinches adore the seeds and may visit in early autumn.

If you have Camellias, Azaleas or Rhododendrons water them well in dry weather otherwise the flower buds for next year may not develop properly. To boost growth feed them with J Arthur Bower’s Liquid Ericaceous Feed. If you have lime in your soil you may find that the foliage of these particular plants is turning yellow. The lime in the soil stops the plants taking up trace elements, particularly iron. You can alleviate the condition by applying J Arthur Bower’s Sulphate of Iron. In severe cases it is probably better to grow lime-hating plants in containers using one of the J Arthur Bower’s Ericaceous composts.

Late-flowering bulbs such as Nerines, Agapanthus, Schizostylis and Sternbergia will appreciate watering at this time of year. The reason is that all these plants come from parts of the world with summer rains. If they go dry they may not flower well.

This is the month to plant the lovely, but temperamental Madonna Lily. It prefers limy soil and should be planted not more than 5 cm (2 inches) deep. Fork J Arthur Bower’s Coarse Grit into the planting hole as the bulbs hate to be soggy.

Stop feeding roses now. Feeding will encourage soft growth that won’t have a chance to ripen before the winter. It will then be prone to diseases.

Rambler roses that have finished flowering can be pruned now. Cut the long old stems that flowered this year, but leave non-flowering shoots as these should bloom next year.