August Gardening Tips for Trees, Shrubs, and Roses

Encouraging Late Blooms and Maintaining Roses

• Obtain a late show of roses from strong new shoots by pruning flowered stems back to a strong bud. This will produce new shoots quickly and form flower buds for late blooms.
• Speed up the process with an application of rose fertilizer.
• Prune early flowering shrub roses and ramblers that have finished by removing some of the shoots that flowered.
• Remove spent flower shoots of roses about halfway down to encourage late flowers.

Hedge and Shrub Maintenance

• Clip deciduous and broad-leaved evergreen hedges during August.
• Trim all evergreen hedges such as cypress, thuya, holly, and laurel now to keep them neat until May.
• Check young trees and shrubs for water shortage, and water young trees if they appear to be struggling.

Controlling Bindweed and Preparing for New Plantings

• If bindweed is a problem in shrub areas, untangle some stems and place them on the soil surface to spray with Roundup without getting spray on the shrubs.
• Roundup is effective at this time of year as the chemical is taken down into the underground root system.
• If planning to plant trees this autumn, especially small plants for woodland or shelter planting, clear existing vegetation with two applications of Roundup or similar glyphosate-based spray, or cover small areas with old carpet to control existing vegetation.

Tree and Shrub Care

• Check young trees for signs of drought and ensure that camellias and rhododendrons in pots do not dry out, especially in late summer, as they now set flower buds for next spring.
• Make sure that all staked young trees are properly tied and tall shrubs that can be rocked by wind are secured.
• Prune up the lower branches of garden trees to allow light to plants underneath.
• Begin preparations for autumn and winter planting by clearing grass and weeds.