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Keep, cut-back or replace
By the end of August, the garden is beginning to show what has worked and what has struggled. Some plants are still flowering strongly, some have useful seedheads or foliage, and others have clearly run out of steam. This is a good moment to walk around with a practical eye and decide what to keep, what to cut back, and what to replace.
TL;DR
- Assess plants for structure, color, and wildlife value; keep those still performing well.
- Deadhead for more flowers or leave seedheads for visual interest and bird food.
- Cut back plants that have collapsed, mildewed, or finished untidily; hardy geraniums and nepeta can be trimmed.
- Refresh containers by replacing spent bedding plants with autumnal options like violas, pansies, or cyclamen.
- Note border gaps to identify needs for stronger late-season plants such as Japanese anemones or asters.
- A plant earns its place if it offers more than one season of interest, such as flowering, attracting pollinators, foliage, seedheads, or winter structure.
- Focus Plant: Caryopteris, a shrub with blue-purple flowers in late summer/early autumn, thrives in sunny, well-drained spots.
- Gardening Jobs include planting colchicum bulbs, sowing winter purslane, watering acid-loving plants, removing mildewed courgette leaves, and checking for scale insects.