Organic Gardening News

Aphids are small, sap-sucking insects that can do significant damage, especially to tender new growth, when they infest in great numbers and are not managed. Aphids can cause curled, yellowed, or twisted leaves, stunted growth, and a sticky residue called honeydew that attracts ants and can lead to black mold.

While these are common garden pests, aphid control isn’t always straightforward. In fact, it’s easy to make mistakes that actually increase the chances that your plants will attract and support an aphid infestation.

Here, we share some typical mistakes you can learn from and avoid with tips that will actually help manage aphids as you see them.

1. Using Too Much Nitrogen Fertilizer

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Nitrogen is great for encouraging lush, new, green growth on plants, but this can be an issue when it comes to aphids. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t fertilize plants, but overdoing it, especially with nitrogen, can cause aphids to infest a plant, as they favor fresh growth.

When feeding plants, always choose an appropriate product and use a balanced fertilizer if you’re unsure. A gentle, balanced fertilizer like Jobe's Organics All Purpose Fertilizer from Amazon is a good choice for most applications. Follow the product instructions and resist the urge to use more than recommended or to feed more frequently.

2. Not Checking Plants Regularly

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Any pest issue is best dealt with early. Aphids are particularly fast breeders, and a few individuals can multiply rapidly within days. Waiting too long to monitor plant health can lead to serious infestations and plant damage that could have been prevented.

Make checking plants a regular part of your routine, like while watering the garden. Look for aphids on new growth, growing tips, stems, and the undersides of leaves. In addition to the actual pests, look for signs they are present: sticky honeydew, ants, sooty mold, and curling, yellow, or distorted leaves. It’s especially important to regularly inspect plants during periods of active growth.

3. Letting Aphids Go Untreated

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A small aphid population on a plant can multiply quickly and is much easier to manage than a big infestation. If you see any number of aphids on a plant, don’t wait to act.

Acting to manage a small group of aphids doesn’t mean you need to jump to the nuclear option. Starting early means you can use simple, safe methods of control. Start with a spray of water to knock them off the plant. Pay attention to stems and the undersides of leaves.

The next step, if the force of water isn’t enough, is to use an insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. These are relatively safe and have low toxicity compared to stronger pesticides. You can make your own DIY insecticidal soap or purchase Captain Jack's Insecticidal Soap from Walmart or your local garden center.

4. Ignoring Beneficial Insects

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One of the best ways to manage aphid damage is to be proactive. Supporting a natural, native ecosystem in your garden ensures it is rich in beneficial insects, many of which prey on aphids. These include lacewings and parasitic wasps.

Gardeners too often reach for broad-spectrum insecticides for all types of infestations, which disrupts natural pest control. These products kill pests but also all kinds of beneficial insects. Instead of automatically reaching for pesticides, consider each issue separately and find specific ways to manage them that are least destructive.

How to Keep Aphids From Coming Back

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If you’ve successfully managed an aphid infestation on your favorite plants, make sure you don’t slip back into bad habits. Follow these best practices to reduce the risk that aphids will become an issue in your garden in the future:

• Fertilize plants appropriately, using specific recommendations or balanced products according to label instructions.
• Add pest inspection to your regular rotation of garden chores, checking new growth, stems, and leaves each time you water, for instance.
• Encourage native and beneficial insects in your garden by growing native plants and avoiding broad-spectrum pesticides.
• Consider releasing beneficial predator insects, like ladybugs, to increase useful predation in your beds.
• Always act immediately when you see signs of aphids. Don’t wait for a few pests to turn into an unmanageable infestation that requires drastic control methods.

Healthy plants, good management practices, and regular time spent in the garden make it much easier to catch any type of pest problem, including aphids. On the other hand, seeing aphids doesn’t mean you’re bad at gardening. These are extremely common pests that even master gardeners see.

Follow these guidelines, and you might see aphids, but they don’t have to become a garden emergency.

It’s not uncommon for homeowners to set a mowing schedule for summer and stick with it, rain or shine. The truth is that your grass rarely adheres to a strict routine. Sometimes it needs more frequent cutting and other times less.

How often you should mow your lawn depends on factors like weather, rainfall, grass type, and growth rate. In general, while you might need to mow less often in August than you did in July, you shouldn’t totally stop cutting it yet. Thoughtful mowing now can reduce stress on the turf and prepare it to wind down and go dormant in fall while remaining healthy.

Here’s everything you need to know about mowing your lawn in August to keep it looking lush and green until the first frost.

How Often Should You Mow in August?

Too many people make the mistake of always mowing on a schedule without considering if the grass actually needs a cut. Several factors influence when grass needs cutting, but the primary consideration is how it’s growing. Grass that is growing fast needs to be trimmed more often than slow-growing grass.

The rate at which your grass grows can vary by season and with weather conditions. In many places, August weather is hot and dry, which means turf growth is likely slow and your mowing frequency should slow down accordingly.

Repeatedly cutting slow-growing grass, especially in hot and dry conditions, can put undue stress on turf grass. August mowing should be responsive and based on what the lawn needs, rather than automatic and rigidly scheduled.

(Image credit: Getty Images)Finding the Right Balance

There are certain times of year, usually in late spring and early summer, when mowing the lawn becomes fairly automatic. Temperatures are steady, and rainfall is regular, so your grass keeps growing and requires cutting.

In August, it can be harder to strike a balance between cutting too often and not often enough. Cutting too often in dry, hot weather can cause several issues:

• It compounds the stress the turf is already experiencing due to weather conditions.
• Keeping the grass too short reduces its ability to gather energy through photosynthesis and can weaken it as a result.
• Cutting too much of your grass at once can weaken it and make it more vulnerable to disease and pests.
• Short grass also allows more weeds to take hold.
• The additional stress of cutting the grass too much now can interfere with the recovery and active growth that healthy grass goes through in early fall.

Cutting too often and too short is a bigger potential issue in August than letting grass get overgrown. However, you can go too far in the other direction. Tall, overgrown grass blocks sunlight and airflow, trapping moisture and increasing the risk of fungal lawn diseases. Tall grass also attracts pests.

If you cut your grass too infrequently, it will start putting energy into seedheads. You want its energy to go into growing strong roots for fall and winter dormancy.

(Image credit: Daria Nipot / Getty Images)Rule of Thumb for August Mowing

So, what does this all mean for when and how often you should mow in August? Unfortunately, there is no universal schedule. It’s all about watching your lawn and deciding what it needs.

If rainfall is regular and temperatures moderate, you may need to keep mowing once a week through August and even into September. If you are experiencing hot and dry conditions, you might only need to mow every two weeks.

The best general rule of thumb for deciding when to mow your lawn is the one-third rule: Never remove more than one-third of the grass height in a single mowing session. So, if your lawn hasn’t grown enough to require removing one-third or less of the blade, it’s not time to mow yet.

Factors That Affect Mowing Frequency

Checking the height of your grass and using the one-third rule is the best way to decide when to cut the grass. It also helps to understand all of the factors that affect the turf’s growth and mowing frequency:

• Type of Grass. Cool-season grasses tend to slow their growth in hot August weather, while warm-season grasses grow more vigorously and need more mowing.
• Rainfall & Irrigation. Water is a huge factor. If it isn’t raining and you aren’t watering your lawn, the grass probably isn’t growing much. Drought can really stress a lawn, so avoid mowing until rain returns or you’re able to water the grass.
• Temperature. Extremely hot temperatures cause cool-season grasses to slow down or even go dormant. Slow or stop mowing until temperatures cool off again.
• Lawn Conditions. Soil type, soil compaction, shade, and other localized conditions affect grass growth. If you have varied conditions across the lawn, you might need to mow some areas more frequently than others.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

As your grass prepares for fall and winter dormancy, how and when you mow becomes more important. In general, at this time of year, it’s best to keep the grass a little taller, so consider lifting your mower blades.

Those blades should be sharp, too. Check them and sharpen lawn mower blades if they’ve become dulled after a summer of frequent mowing. This simple blade sharpening and balancing kit from Home Depot makes it easy. Adjust your mowing schedules as needed based on weather and growth.

You want your lawn to be healthy with minimal stress leading into fall. Proper mowing helps maintain a dense, resilient lawn that can better compete with weeds and recover from summer stress. So avoid mowing on autopilot and be more thoughtful as you plan your late summer lawn care.

It’s been a long, hot summer so no wonder your patio pots are looking tired, but a quick injection of nutrients now will keep plants flowering for a little longer. There are plenty of plants that reliably keep on blooming well into fall; and there are plenty more that give up as August draws to a close. Give them a boost with tomato feed, however, and they'll get a new lease of life and grow more flowers.

Why Use Tomato Feed for Flowers in Late Summer?

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Tomato feed isn't just a helpful product to keep tomato plants producing fruit in August. It's very high in potassium, also known as potash, which drives not just fruit production but flower production too. And – crucially at this time of the year – tomato food is also extremely low in nitrogen, and this is the element that encourages new stems and leaves to grow. That’s why you stop feeding most plants towards the end of the summer with general fertilizers: even most flower-focused feeds have levels of nitrogen that will stimulate the growth of soft green foliage that won’t have time to toughen up before frost arrives.

However, by using tomato feed, you can still maximise bloom production and keep plants in pots flowering while suppressing new stem growth, so you don't leave the plant vulnerable to frost damage.

The high potassium content has an extra benefit, too: this element strengthens a plant’s cell walls, hardening tissue before the onslaught of winter.

Why is it So Important to Feed Container Plants?

As well as containing potassium to boost flower and fruit production, tomato feed is typically fortified with magnesium. Tomato plants need this micronutrient to correct yellowing leaves, but you’ll often see this chlorosis in container plants at the end of the summer, too. That’s usually because they’ve exhausted the nutrient supply in the limited volume of soil they have access to. In a hot, dry summer when those pots have been watered more often than usual, more nutrients are likely to have been washed out of the soil, too.

So, tomato food can help replenish the soil, also helping plants to flower for longer.

If you want to give plants growing in the ground a boost in August, then a seaweed tonic will reinvigorate their roots to take up more moisture and nutrients from the soil.

(Image credit: Emma Kendell)How to Use Tomato Feed to Give Container Plants a Late-Season Boost

• Before you feed plants in pots, water the container first as normal. Moist soil will absorb the feed far more evenly than bone-dry soil, and this is better for the roots.
• Use a liquid tomato food such as Espoma Tomato!, available from Amazon. Dilute the tomato feed accurately, according to the instructions on the packaging. You’re not doing your plants any favours by adding an extra glug of concentrated feed to your watering can, as a too-high concentration can burn roots.
• Apply in the early morning or late afternoon so evaporation doesn’t concentrate the feed post-application. Choosing an overcast day is similarly helpful to the plant though not critical.
• Water the soil rather than the plant.
• Re-apply once a fortnight, depending on whether your plants are annuals or perennials (see below).

How to Use Tomato Feed for Annual Plants

(Image credit: Getty Images)

If your plants are annuals, completing their lifecycle in one year – or they’re perennials but you’re growing them as annuals because of your zone – you can keep giving your containers a fortnightly boost with diluted tomato feed until plants die with the first frost.

As plants are going to be killed by the cold anyway, you have nothing to lose by continuing to feed them. This will keep plants such as petunias in hanging baskets and begonias in pots flowering right up to the first frost. If you're a fan of container planting, this little tomato-feed trick will keep your annual bedding plants blooming long after most folks' flowers have finished.

How to Use Tomato Feed for Perennial Plants

(Image credit: Getty Images)

With perennial plants, you need to be a little more careful, but the benefits are even greater. Feed your plants now and give them another feed in a fortnight, but don’t feed them any later than mid-September or around six weeks before your expected first frost date, or you might interfere with their natural fall into dormancy.

Giving perennial plants a boost with tomato feed now will improve their winter hardiness and avoid frost damage by toughening their cell walls. Some plants will also be able to store some of this extra fuel in their roots for a stronger start when they reawaken next spring.

Handy Helps to Get More Flowers

Easy Feeding

Bloem 2.6-Gallon Watering Can

When using a diluted liquid feed, a watering can with a rotating spout makes it far easier to get beneath the plant to target the soil rather than pouring fertilizer over the leaves.

Regular Deadheading

Fiskars 8 Inch Bypass Pruner With Soft Grip Handle

Regular deadheading helps to keep plants flowering into fall. Getting into the habit of deadheading for 5 or 10 minutes a day will make a huge difference, as will soft-grip pruners.

Consistent Watering

Long Probe Plant Soil Moisture Meter

Consistent soil moisture levels help plants flourish but it can be tricky as the late-season rollercoaster of heat and rain rolls in. A moisture meter means you know when to water.

More Weekend Wins

This feature is part of the Weekend Wins series, and there’s still time to do the other August Weekend Wins:

• Remove rose suckers to enjoy bigger, better blooms next summer.
• Use a $4 dog comb to groom ornamental grasses and save yourself hours weeding in spring.
• Trim lavender so it has time to grow a duvet of dense foliage to survive winter well.

“Design is fine, but down the line.” If that’s been your approach to landscaping, who can blame you? It takes time to figure out what will work best to make your friendly little backyard look lusciously expensive. But it’s also understandable to wake up one morning longing for a look of luxe. Fortunately, bringing in a designer look doesn’t necessarily involve bringing in (and paying) a professional landscaper, nor does it involve spending loads on planting schemes.

It is possible to introduce key statement pieces to quickly improve the curb appeal of your house. You don't need a total border overhaul to achieve a tasteful, curated aesthetic. These planting ideas aren’t difficult to maintain and cultivate, and late summer is the perfect time to get your statement plant in position. Just adding one or two exceptional plants to a border can upgrade your look with reassuring simplicity.

Whether you have a small urban patio border, a shady corner, or a sprawling bed, there is a plant here that will bring instant impact to your yard. These high-impact, low-maintenance beauties deliver instant designer sophistication without demanding constant upkeep. From glowing texture to color-shifting blooms, these easy-care plants provide the structure, shape, and luxury aesthetic your space has been missing – for a polished, professional finish that lasts right through fall.

Easy Luxury Planting Options

What makes a garden look luxurious? What makes a border look expensive? Each of us probably has a slightly different notion of these concepts. Cost alone doesn’t cut it. Yes, there are exotic plants that cost more than a year’s maintenance on my 1996 VW camper, but installing something with an impressive price tag won’t get you that effortless designer look. Instead, you can move the ordinary into the stratosphere with low maintenance landscaping, a good eye, and a cool design. The trick is to mix color and texture in an artful and intentional way.

Intentional planting involves repetition, bold textural contrast, clean lines, and thoughtful placement. Luxury borders look curated because plants are given room to look good, rather than competing in a cluttered mix of random choices. But don’t pick fancy plants that need a nursemaid, or you’ll be paying for years beyond the purchase. By pairing strong, robust foliage with self-supporting flowers, the right plant can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. The plants here can help you to create a sophisticated rhythm to draw the eye effortlessly across the entire yard.

(Image credit: DrewTraveler / Getty Images)

Before planting these easygoing designer specimens, make sure the soil is primed and ready for action. If it is compacted or weary from earlier summer planting, blend a little rich organic compost into the ground to improve aeration and moisture retention. Boost your soil’s natural goodness with a little biochar. Plantonix Char Bliss Organic Biochar from Amazon is perfect for enhancing the spongy base that these luxury plants need and accelerating root growth into fall.

If you live in USDA hardiness zones 3-5, you’ll need to plant these designer plants by early fall to ensure roots settle before hard freezes. Southern growers (zones 6-9) have a few more weeks to make these additions. Always add a layer of dark wood mulch for a professional contrast that keeps roots insulated. Then you’re ready to add one of these cool-but-manageable selections to make your border look more expensive. Who knows? Pretty soon, your neighbors may be coming over to ask for your designer’s name…

1. Limelight Panicle Hydrangea

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If you want an immediate punch of high-end grandeur and color-shifting drama, this panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata) sets the designer tone right out of the gate. In late August, when other flowering shrubs begin to lose their vigor, Limelight reaches its peak. Its massive bloom clusters shift seamlessly from crisp lime to creamy ivory and dusty rose as fall approaches. And unlike moody blue hydrangeas, which demand strict soil pH levels, this panicle hydrangea is low maintenance, thriving in ordinary soil, full sun or light shade, and holding its sturdy stems high in heavy fall downpours. You can buy Green Promise Farms Limelight Prime Panicle Hydrangeas from Walmart in 3-gallon containers.

To make the most of this panicle superstar, give it a prominent place at the back of a border or use it as a specimen near an entrance. Hardy in zones 3-9, Limelight matures to an impressive 6-8 feet (1.8-2.4m) tall and wide. One quick pruning in spring is all that is needed: cut back by a third to encourage thick new growth and generous flower panicles next year. The longevity with these blooms is staggering. And if you leave the dried flowers on the plant through late fall and winter, their papery flowerheads add gorgeous structural interest to frost-dusted borders.

Green Promise Farms Limelight Prime® Panicle Hydrangea

2. Japanese Forest Grass (Aureola)

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Ornamental grass is your secret weapon for creating lightness and texture in a way that is both classy and effortless. While regular turf is losing popularity with its high maintenance ways, ornamental grasses are easy-care, versatile, and pollinator friendly. For a low maintenance yet up-scale border pick, you can’t do better than Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'). I suggest cultivar Aureola, a golden-yellow, clumping ornamental grass that reaches 18 inches (45cm). It forms fluid mounds of shiny golden leaves that arch gracefully, before turning coppery gold, lighting up gloomy border edges through fall in USDA zones 5-9.

The slender stems dance in a breeze, adding fluid elegance, interest and texture for mixed borders. Leaves are variegated with gold stripes running all the way to the tips. Aureola has a lush boutique glamor, yet it is resilient, easy to grow and resistant to pests and diseases. Just avoid harsh afternoon sun in hot climates, as it can scorch the delicate tips. Buy the Classy Groundcover Store’s Japanese Forest Grass Aureola from Amazon for a dense clump of finely textured leaves. Add 3-5 plants along a border edge to create a ribbon-like wave of golden texture.

Classy Groundcovers Classy Groundcovers Japanese Forest Grass Aureola, 1-Gallon Pot

3. Cane Begonia

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I’m a great fan of traditional wax begonias, but cane begonia varieties (Begonia spp.) are in another class. Lavish and over the top, the cool, enormous wing-shaped leaves have earned these plants the nickname of angel wing begonias. With their architectural stems and dramatic foliage, these easy luxe additions bring elegant texture to your border. Foliage is soaked in shades of green, purple, pink, and silver. Often splash-painted in metallic silver polka dots and deep maroon undersides, these plants look like a living work of fine art, yet flourish with very little upkeep.

While they are primarily tender perennials (hardy outdoors only in zones 9-11), savvy designers nestle potted begonias directly into borders, large stone urns, or pathway edgings to create instant focal points. Grouping a few adds an exotic look, and you can then bring them indoors to overwinter. Place them near the middle or back of a shady border, rather than the front edge. Bright, dappled shade helps to protect the metallic foliage patterns. Happy cane begonias grow clusters of pink or white flowers. Buy LA Tropic Polka Dot Angel Wing Begonia Plants from Walmart for impactful border spots and pathway edgings.

LA Tropic Polka Dot Angel Wing Begonia

4. Japanese Anemone

(Image credit: Alex Manders / Getty Images)

When late August arrives and typical summer borders begin to look tired, Japanese anemones (Anemone × hybrida) can steal the show with ethereal elegance. Cultivars such as Honorine Jobert are especially pretty and add understated grace with white blooms that last well into fall. Named the 2016 Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association, its pristine blooms with their golden-yellow centers dance on tall, wire-thin stems above lush foliage. Planting these gives your border a soft, luminous quality with bright, bowl-shaped blooms that sway on the breeze.

Position Japanese anemones in rich, moist, well-draining soil, in full sun or partial shade. These delicate yet profuse bloomers pair well with ornamental grasses and dark hostas. This layered contrast defines style in a way that is easy to attain and even easier to care for. To steal the look for a classic white beauty like the one pictured here, Perennial Farm Marketplace’s Honorine Jobert Japanese Anemone from Amazon is a real bargain. Thriving in zones 4-8, Honorine Jobert reaches 3-4 feet (90-120cm) tall. Consistent moisture keeps flowers opening through October.

Perennial Farm Marketplace Perennial Farm Anemone X Hybrida Honorine Jobert

5. Hosta

(Image credit: L Toshio Kishiyama / Getty Images)

I used to scorn hostas (Hosta spp.) because they didn’t offer impressive flowers. But after growing some, I’m such a big fan. Hostas are foliage plant royalty, and they put all of their dreams and schemes of making an impact into the leaves themselves. Their lush, sculptural leaves come in rich greens, blue-grays, purples, gold and white, often with multi-colored patterns, dark margins, speckles, and ripples. Massive, sculptural hosta varieties like First Frost or Empress Wu provide instant wow factor with zero maintenance. For an elegant powder blue option, try Plants That Work’s Prairie Sky Hosta from Nature Hills for a luminescent glow.

Most prefer a site in light shade, out of the direct sun. Nothing grounds a shaded border with more authority, and ongoing plant care is so minimal you’ll wonder why you didn’t plant one sooner. Thriving in zones 3-9, these shade perennials range from neat 12-inch (30cm) edgers to huge 4-foot (1.2m) specimens, bringing easy shape and rich color contrast to garden beds. Just group blue-leafed varieties in deep shade, where their waxy protective coating stays vibrant without sun-bleaching.

Plants That Work Prairie Sky Hosta

6. Agapanthus (Lily of the Nile)

(Image credit: Jacky Parker Photography / Getty Images)

This may be the easiest plant to care for, yet one of the most spectacular in appearance. Agapanthus africanus (aka the African lily or Lily of the Nile) is a resilient African native that only asks for well-drained soil, full sun, and moderate water. In return, it offers tall, architectural stalks with intense clusters of deep blue, violet or white flowering fireworks that hold their own well into fall. And you can enjoy the same wow factor year after year for decades to come. For exquisite bi-colored blooms, you can currently buy Ever Twilight Agapanthus Plants from Trees.com (formerly Fast Growing Trees) for a 20% discount.

Agapanthus is a plant that takes care of itself and thrives in zones 6-11. The fleshy rhizomes store water and nutrients, letting it sail through summer droughts and periods of neglect. Don’t worry about deadheading or staking! Agapanthus clumps are self-supporting, even if they grow to 3 feet (1m) tall and wide. Bright, strap-like foliage provides texture all year long, while the flowers are large and exceptionally lovely. Blooming straight through late summer and early autumn, this luxe wonder provides clean vertical accents that instantly upgrade neighboring plants.

Trees.com Ever Twilight™ Agapanthus Plant

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There are few things in the garden quite as magical as a Japanese maple tree in fall. One week, it's quietly sitting there and doing its best to blend into the background, and then suddenly the leaves seem to catch fire – glowing scarlet, orange, gold or some combination of all three.

If you grow one, I bet you probably spend the summer waiting for that moment, but now is not the time to simply admire your acer and wait for fall to arrive. In fact, there is plenty that Japanese maple trees need in August, as what you do now can help your tree head into the changing season in the best possible condition – particularly after a long hot summer.

It's an important thing to remember, because Japanese maples can be surprisingly sensitive to summer stress; heat, drought and inconsistent watering can leave them struggling before the cooler nights arrive, and a stressed tree may also be more prone to leaf scorch, which can spoil the display before fall color has a chance to develop.

What Japanese Maple Trees Need in August

Your Japanese maple tree is still actively growing in August, even though autumn may already be on your mind. And, yes, it needs enough moisture and the TLC required for those all-important healthy roots to maintain its leaves through the end of summer and into the beginning of fall.

Now, while no amount of Japanese maple care in August can guarantee a spectacular display (the intensity and timing of fall color depend on the variety, daylight, temperatures and weather conditions), you can give your tree the best possible chance.

Here are three things your Japanese maple needs from you this month.

1. Consistent Moisture

(Image credit: Feifei Cui Paoluzzo / Getty Images)

If there's one thing Japanese maple trees need in August, it's consistent watering. They do, after all, prefer evenly moist soil, and summer heat can dry the root zone surprisingly quickly (something which can be particularly bad news for young trees and those growing in containers, as they can lose moisture much faster than established trees in the ground).

Rather than giving your maple frequent little sips, then, water deeply when the soil begins to dry. The goal is to moisten the root zone without leaving the soil permanently soggy, and don't wait for the leaves to wilt before reaching for the hose, either. Leaf scorch (those crispy brown edges and patches that can appear during dry weather) can be a sign that the tree is struggling to keep its leaves adequately hydrated.

A layer of organic mulch around the root zone can help, too, as it helps slow evaporation and keeps the soil temperature more stable during hot weather. Just keep it a few inches away from the trunk and avoid piling it against the bark.

Shop Japanese Maple Watering Essentials:

YEE-HENTE Garden Hose 100 Ft

Back to the Roots Organic Premium Mulch

RTS Home Accents 50-Gallon Eco Rain Barrel

2. Prudence

(Image credit: mtreasure / Getty Images)

We talk a lot about what Japanese maple trees need in August, but one thing they don't need is a feast, particularly if you're hoping for spectacular fall color. Which is why you must resist the urge to pile on fertilizer.

Yup, these trees generally don't need heavy feeding, and pushing tender new growth late in the season isn't what you want. A tree that is already growing well is usually better served by consistent moisture and good soil conditions than by a late-season dose of fertilizer.

If your maple genuinely needs nutrients, a soil test (something like Amazon's Rapitest Soil Test Kit is ideal) can help determine what is actually lacking rather than relying on guesswork. And when it comes to fall color, remember that more fertilizer does not mean more color. The brilliant reds, oranges and yellows you see later in the year are influenced by the tree's genetics and by the conditions it experiences as summer gives way to fall.

3. Protection

(Image credit: Nakarin Tangphunpholwiwat / Shutterstock)

Your Japanese maple doesn't need to be pampered, but August is a good month to protect it from unnecessary stress, especially if your tree is growing in a particularly hot or exposed position, as afternoon sun and drying winds can be tough on the foliage.

Some Japanese maples tolerate more sun than others, but varieties with delicate leaves can be especially susceptible to scorch during intense summer weather, which is why you should avoid any unnecessary pruning now. To be honest, they generally don't need heavy summer pruning anyway, and cutting away healthy branches and foliage during stressful weather can create wounds while reducing the tree's ability to produce energy.

Instead, concentrate on keeping the growing conditions steady. Check the soil during periods of heat, maintain your mulch and keep an eye out for signs of scorch, pests or disease. Think of August as a month for protecting what your tree has already grown, rather than trying to force it to grow more.

Shop Japanese Maple Trees:

New Life Nursery & Garden Shaina Dwarf Japanese Maple - Live Plant

Brighter Blooms Bloodgood Japanese Maple Tree

Expert Gardener Japanese Maple Live Tree in 1-Gallon Grower Pot

If you're wondering what Japanese maple trees need in August, then, the answer is simple enough: keep the roots comfortably moist, protect the foliage from unnecessary stress, and let the tree gradually make its way toward fall.

Then, when those first cool nights arrive and the leaves begin to change, you can sit back and enjoy the show – knowing you've given all of that beautifully blazing foliage exactly what it needed to get there. Huzzah!

A common mistake many first-time fruit growers make is choosing a variety that needs more than one tree to produce fruit. Many fruit trees require cross-pollination to produce a harvest. This includes most varieties of apple trees and sweet cherries among others.

If you don’t have room for more than one tree or you don’t want to commit to growing that much fruit, there are self-pollinating fruit trees that only require one plant to produce a harvest. Though the options are a bit more limited, there are still delicious choices available.

As summer comes to a close, it’s a great time to plant potted, balled and burlapped, or bare root fruit trees. Installing them in your yard or garden in fall allows them time to settle in before winter hits and gives them a head start come spring. Here are the best self-pollinating fruit trees to plant in fall for big harvests from only one tree.

1. Peach

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Peaches are one of the most popular deciduous fruit trees, second only to apples. Though the first thought that comes to mind when you think of peaches may be Georgia, there are peach trees that thrive in USDA growing zones 4-9. So even if you’re a northerner, you can still get the delicious taste of homegrown peaches.

There are plenty of self-pollinating varieties of peaches available, but a ‘Belle of Georgia’ peach tree from Perfect Plants gives you fruit with that classic Southern flavor you want in cobblers, crisps, or pies.

2. Nectarine

(Image credit: DennyThurstonPhotography / Getty Images)

Love the taste of peaches, but not the fuzz? Then nectarines are just what you need in your garden. They are genetically identical to peaches, other than their lack of a fuzzy skin. Nectarines are often a bit smaller in size than peaches, but the flavor is almost exactly the same.

Like peaches, nectarines are self-pollinating and hardy in growing zones 4-9. But late spring frosts can destroy flowerbuds that turn into your fruit crop. So if you live in a colder climate, choose a hardier cultivar like this ‘Hardired’ nectarine tree from Stark Bro’s.

3. Sour Cherry

(Image credit: OLEG525 / Shutterstock)

Many sour cherry trees are self-pollinating, as opposed to sweet cherry trees. A popular type of sour cherry that makes for not only a beautiful landscape tree with its white blooms in summer, but also provides plenty of delicious fruit is ‘Montmorency’, which you can buy at Lowe’s.

The tart cherries this tree produces are perfect for baking, making preserves, or even eating fresh. It’s hardy in growing zones 4-7 and is a great addition to any edible garden or pollinator garden – bees love the spring blossoms!

4. Fig

(Image credit: SabbirDigitall / Shutterstock)

Figs are one of the easiest fruit trees for beginners to grow not only because they’re self-fruitful, but also because they produce quickly and abundantly. Originating in the Mediterranean, some fig tree varieties are hardier than others. So be sure to check your growing zone and the hardiness of the fig tree before you buy.

One of the most popular fig trees for colder climates is the ‘Chicago Hardy’ fig, which you can find online from Trees.com (formerly FastGrowingTrees.com). It is hardy in growing zones 5-10 and can tolerate temperatures down to -10°F (-23°C), which means you can plant it in most parts of the U.S. This particular cultivar can produce up to 100 pints each season, only one or two years after planting.

5. ‘Jonagold’ Apple

(Image credit: aprilphoto / Getty Images)

Most apple tree varieties require at least two trees for cross-pollination to produce fruit. However, there are a few types of apple trees that are self-fruiting. Some self-pollinating apples include ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Jonathan’, but one of the most delicious varieties is ‘Jonagold’.

Jonagolds are sweet and juicy, perfect for eating, baking, or turning into cider. These apples ripen in mid to late fall and are an orchard classic because of their reliable harvests and crowd-pleasing sweet-tart flavor. They’re hardy in USDA growing zones 5-8. You can buy a high-quality Jonagold tree online from Trees.com.

What do you get when you cross fluttery purple coneflowers with spiky blue sea holly? The answer is prairie planting perfection – romantic, sculptural, and made to shimmer in the soft dappled light that stretches from late summer into fall. Looks can be deceiving, though, as these graceful beauties are hard as nails, tolerating heatwaves and drought as if they were minor inconveniences.

Add my latest Plant Matchmaker pairing to your garden now, and you’ll get weeks of flowers this year, followed by months of structural seed heads through late fall and winter. Then, the perennial plants will be established in time for next summer, giving you floral fireworks for months on end.

Coneflower (Echinacea) is, without question, one of the best native perennials you can add to your garden, bringing months of color while feeding pollinators and birds. Sea holly (Eryngium) is its tougher-looking counterpart, with steely blue flowers and spiky bracts that add contrast, texture, and a slightly wild edge. When planted together, they offer the perfect blend of softness and structure, and as they both have similar growing requirements, they’re easy to grow side by side.

Which Varieties to Choose

There are endless Echinacea varieties to choose from, but the classic look of purple coneflower is simply irresistible here. Try the Magnus purple coneflower, available from Woodies Garden Goods, for the lovely airy prairie planting effect pictured above. To save money, you could also start seeds this fall for plants next year, with these Sweet Yards purple coneflower seeds, from Amazon.

If purple’s not your thing, then an orange coneflower, like Artisan Soft Orange Coneflower from Nature Hills, will give a lovely warm contrast that feels more modern and energetic while keeping the prairie character.

Magnus Purple Coneflower

Sweet Yards Purple Coneflower Seeds

Plants That Work Artisan Soft Orange Coneflower

For sea holly, I love the look of tall, frothy Blue Glitter sea holly, available at Plant Addicts. When the light hits the plant just right, it shimmers and gives an electric blue aura. If you prefer larger heads, then Big Blue sea holly, also at Plant Addicts, is a great choice. Blue Star, available to preorder as roots from Eden Brothers, is a striking alternative if you don’t mind waiting until spring, as each divided bract is like a ruff around the flower.

Blue Glitter Sea Holly

Plants That Work Big Blue Sea Holly

Blue Star Sea Holly Roots

Why Coneflowers and Sea Holly Work Together

If long bloom times (2–3 months) followed by architectural seed heads in winter sounds appealing, then a coneflower and sea holly pairing hits the Plant Matchmaker jackpot. They flower at similar times, yet each brings something completely different to the table.

Coneflowers, with their tall, slender stems, carry soft, daisy-like petals surrounding rounded central cones, while sea holly adds spiky, structural flower heads and metallic blue tones. Together, that contrast makes both plants look more interesting. Their colors work naturally, too: purple coneflower blends beautifully with blue for a romantic prairie look, while orange varieties create the kind of dramatic contrast that Van Gogh would approve of.

The plants’ flowering seasons also overlap beautifully, and both hold onto striking seed heads long after the last petals have fallen, giving extra structure into fall and winter.

(Image credit: Fasil Tiru / 500px / Getty Images)How to Grow Them Together

Coneflowers and sea holly make natural companions in garden borders. Both thrive in full sun, prefer well-drained soil, and become impressively drought tolerant once established. Most coneflowers are hardy in USDA zones 3–9, while many sea hollies suit zones 4–9, although it is worth double-checking the recommendations for your chosen varieties.

To ensure strong plants and abundant flowering, give the pairing at least six hours of direct sun each day. Neither plant likes sitting in wet soil, and sea holly in particular prefers the soil to be on the dry side. They will tolerate a range of soil types provided drainage is good, though if you have heavy clay soil, you’ll need to improve drainage before planting. Avoid making the soil overly rich, though, as this can encourage floppy growth.

(Image credit: Alexmak72427 / Getty Images)

For a natural prairie effect, weave the plants together, rather than planting each variety in a separate block. Allow roughly 18–24 inches (45–60 cm) between plants, depending on the mature size of your cultivars, and repeat small groups through the border, so the purple or orange coneflowers appear to float among a sea of metallic blue.

Consider height when deciding on position. Taller coneflowers like Magnus can sit towards the middle or back of a border, with similarly tall, airy sea hollies like Blue Glitter threaded between them. But more compact varieties can be brought further forward, so their contrasting flower shapes are easier to appreciate.

Water newly planted perennials regularly during their first growing season, to allow roots to establish. After that, you’ll find both plants to be pleasingly low-maintenance. Simply water during prolonged dry spells and avoid heavy feeding. Coneflowers can be deadheaded to encourage more blooms, but leave at least some faded flower heads standing in fall to continue the display into winter.

More Plant Matchmaker Articles

• Combine These Two Classic Fall Perennials for a Stunning Jewel-Toned Display
• This Dreamy Combination Shines Late in the Season
• These Fiery Perennials Make Borders Glow Into Fall

Gone are the days that only those living in a hot, dry climate thought about drought-tolerant gardens: after this heatwave summer, with hosepipe bans up and down the country, we all need to consider how to make our yards less dependent on water. But don't worry, that doesn't mean you have to compromise on a great-looking garden. These landscape designer tricks for drought-tolerant planting can transform your backyard while cutting the need for irrigation.

The combination of choosing the right plants and enhancing them with complementary landscaping materials can result in a sustainable design that feels right for the local climate, plus works for you. As with any good landscape design, the focus is on texture, color and repeat planting, but landscape designers rely on plants that are self-sufficient once established and tend to self-seed, as well as native plants adapted to the local climate. Using plants that practically grow themselves means that a drought-tolerant garden is also a low-maintenance garden, requiring less of your time to stay in good shape.

The best ideas for drought-tolerant gardens (also known as dry gardens and xeriscape gardens) are so much more than simply practical solutions to the challenges of climate change. Instead, they're aesthetically pleasing designs that tap into the best sustainable ideas to create a dream outdoor space despite limited water resources. It's a natural fit for hydrozoning ideas too, the landscape design method that groups plants with similar water needs together into specific zones.

If you're wondering how to design a drought-tolerant garden, or simply make part of your yard less dependent on water, these are the key tips and techniques that landscape designers use.

1. Embrace Rockscaping

(Image credit: Neil Hepworth/RHS)

Rockscaping is a modern version of the traditional rock garden that's arisen from the necessity of creating low-water gardens, as the stone effectively locks moisture in the ground and shields the soil from extreme temperatures. Rocks partner beautifully with xeriscaping, creating visual interest and helping to define different areas of the garden. Using bold sculptural planting, a rockscape can be planted less densely than a traditional border, further minimising the amount of water needed.

Building a rock garden isn't as hard as you might think. The key to successful rockscaping is to create an initial structure with larger rocks, then add smaller pebbles, crushed stone and gravel to create a full, layered design. Begin with a few well-placed larger rocks to anchor the space, then allow space between the rocks for plants to grow, and use drought-tolerant groundcover plants to spread into crevices and knit the scheme together.

Lowe's has a good selection of landscaping rocks. If you're on a budget, look on Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Craigslist and Freecycle for listings of surplus materials left over from landscaping projects. Using local stone for hardscaping wherever possible is more sustainable in terms of carbon footprint and naturally complements local planting.

2. Use A Dry River Bed as a Key Design Element

(Image credit: Wulingyun/Getty Images)

Dry river beds are an ornamental solution to drainage problems in the garden as well as being an aesthetically pleasing design. Also known as a dry creek bed, this is a type of landscaping that’s designed to resemble a pebbly stream without the water. It allows water to filter down naturally into the soil too, offering a landscaping solution where plants can thrive in drought-prone areas.

This is a budget-friendly way to improve your garden too. All you need to do is dig out a curved path to simulate the stream bed, cover the area with a landscaping fabric that allows air and water through like this weed barrier from Lowe's, then add pebbles. Use pea gravel such as this Landscape Rock from The Home Depot as it's rounded so looks more river-worn than conventional gravel, and mix in larger river pebbles such as these Landscape Pebbles, also from The Home Depot, for a natural finish.

Choose a mix of drought-tolerant planting to enhance the design. Consider tall accent plants like lavender and yarrow, softly textured ornamental grasses such as Mexican feather grass and feather tail grass, and low-growing plants that spread about in gravel like sedum.

3. Include Plant Accents as Bold Talking Points

(Image credit: Sarah Cuttle/RHS)

The label 'drought-tolerant plant' doesn't sound very inspirational, but there's so much scope for including statement plants in your design without becoming dependent on regular irrigation. Adding an accent plant is a landscape designer trick that's easy to do yourself, and will give your planting design the edge.

Start your search for showstopper no-water plants with succulents, choosing from sempervivum, agave, aloe, and sedum. Crushed stone, gravel and rocks offer the perfect dry and gritty growing medium succulents like, too.

One of most spectacular succulents is aeonium, a showy plant that comes in a kaleidoscope of colors including black, red and lime green. These grow on tall arching stems that add a sculptural touch to your planting design. While known mainly for their waxy rosettes of leaves, many aeonium species naturally produce bright, star-shaped yellow flowers too. These form dramatic, cone-shaped, attention-grabbing clusters that last from late winter through summer.

4. Pair Big Planters with Resilient Plants

(Image credit: Tim Sandall/RHS)

Although container gardens generally need more watering than plants in the ground, using resilient drought-tolerant planting choices in large planters reduces irrigation needs. To give these plants the fast-draining conditions they prefer, fill containers with a standard potting mix but mix in plenty of perlite, coarse sand or grit such as Jack's Gritty Mix from Walmart to create the right growing medium. Add a top-dressing of gravel mulch to containers to help retain moisture in the soil.

In a big-enough container, you can even grow a compact pine tree such as Pinus sylvestris ‘Watereri’, featured in the design above. This hardy, slow-growing evergreen conifer with distinctive blue-green needles and a rounded form is a dwarf variety, perfect for adding year-round structure and color to a container garden.

Standout Plants for Drought-Proof Planters

Zones 4-8

New Vintage Violet Yarrow

Zones 4-10

Color Guard Yucca

zones 5-10

Fire Wonder Delosperma

5. Plant Resilient Ground Cover that Slowly Spreads

(Image credit: Neil Hepworth/RHS)

One of the best landscape designer tricks for drought-tolerant planting is to use resilient low-growing ground cover plants that act as a living mulch in dry and xeriscape gardens. They prevent the evaporation of water from the soil and help protect against soil erosion, as well as blocking weeds that steal precious water from your plants.

Fragrant, resilient creeping thyme is a great pick for a drought-tolerant garden as it's happy in poor soil including sand, gravel and grit, and full sun, and once established requires very little water. With soft gray foliage, a touchable texture and showy pink blooms from late spring to early summer, it releases a cloud of fresh scent whenever it's stepped on, so it works well on path and driveway edges, too. At this time of the year, you'll get better results with young plants such as these 3 Red Creeping Thyme plants from Walmart, or sow Thymus Serpyllum seed, available from Amazon, in spring.

6. Blur the Edges with Distinctive Plants

(Image credit: Getty Images)

When you're using lots of rocks, pebbles and gravel in addition to the usual amount of paving and paths, it's important to pay attention to softening the edges of all this hardscaping with planting. Don't fall into the trap of thinking these softening plants are the low-growing, unobtrusive ground cover we talked about in the previous idea. No, these are eye-catching plants that draw your focus away from hard lines with brightly colored leaves, airy flowers or stems that drape artfully.

There are plenty of showstopper low-water plants that landscaper designers use to soften hardscaping such as pink muhly grass, coral bells and creeping rosemary.

7. Ditch the Lawn for a Gravel Garden

Drought-tolerant plants are protected by a gravel mulch that helps to enhance water infiltration and reduce runoff (Image credit: Neil Hepworth/RHS)

It's hard to keep traditional lawns looking good when hot, dry summers regularly wreak havoc on them. With water restrictions in place in many parts of the country due to widespread seasonal droughts and heatwaves, it's no surprise lawns are out of favor, with landscape designers seeking more sustainable options.

If you're looking for an alternative to parched brown turf, consider replacing your lawn with a mix of gravel landscaping and plants. It can be surprising to learn which plants thrive with zero water once established, so it's well worth noticing what's still flourishing in your local climate in midsummer, as this will give you a wider choice of plants than simply those seemed across-the-board drought-tolerant.

It's easy enough to add this low-maintenance and water-wise choice to your garde yourself. Lift the turf, lay a weedproof membrane and cut planting holes to add the plants, then spread a thick layer of gravel. Water well while the plants grow their roots deep enough to source their own moisture but then gradually reduce irrigation.

8. Replace Water-Guzzling Grass with a Native Perennial Meadow

Choose native plants like yarrow and coneflower for perennial meadow landscaping ideas to replace lawn (Image credit: Tim Sandall/RHS)

Another more sustainable lawn alternative is a native perennial meadow. This lovely idea is steadily growing in popularity, reflecting the shift towards our desire to create more wildlife habitats in our own backyards. This lawn alternative will enhance biodiversity and be appreciated by bees, butterflies and other beneficial pollinators, while bringing a loose, romantic and informal style to your yard.

Once you have removed your existing turf lawn, choose plants that are adapted to dry conditions, have low water requirements, and are suited to your local soil and climate, as well as the particular growing conditions in your garden. Select a diverse range of plants with different textures, colors, and sizes to create visual interest. Try native perennials like yarrow, coneflowers, black-eyed Susan and bee balm. Add fine-textured ornamental grasses as a filler to create a fuller, more layered, look.

You can also scatter the seed of perennial wildflowers to create a naturalized meadow, if you're on a tighter budget.

Meadow Flowers That Pollinators Adore

Zones 3-8

Magnus Purple Coneflower

zones 4-9

Coral Reef Bee Balm

Zones 4-8

Strawberry Seduction Yarrow

9. Add a Drought-Tolerant Tree to Shade Plants

Attractive red crushed brick is used in this drought-tolerant planting design (Image credit: Sarah Cuttle/RHS)

Introducing a tree that offers dappled shade makes a beautiful addition to any outdoor space but also has a practical purpose as one of the best landscape designer tricks to shade drought-tolerant planting from the heat. Integrating trees into drought-tolerant landscapes helps protect your garden's ecosystem during dry spells. Tree canopies reduce moisture evaporation from any plants beneath them as well as the surrounding soil. They can disperse the sun’s hot rays, giving shade to cool the air and allowing life to thrive beneath them.

Choose small shade trees that are drought-tolerant themselves such as palo verde, crape myrtle and olive. Resilient varieties will perform well as the climate warms, and be able to cope with rising temperatures and drought, thriving in both urban and country gardens experiencing excessive heat in summer.

Although xeriscape and dry gardens with drought-tolerant planting are require far less maintenance than traditional gardens, they're not maintenance free. All plants need irrigating while they establish themselves in their new home and grow a supportive root system to find their own moisture source. Drought-tolerant gardens need weeding, mulching, irrigating and occasional pruning, too, to keep them looking their best.

However, creating a yard that isn't reliant on regular irrigation long-term is a smart move in our current climate, and you don't need to compromise on style.

For one east Vancouver character home, “renovation” meant lifting the entire house off its foundation. Though the intervention was dramatic, the decision to retain rather than rebuild was much less so.

Both homeowners had grown up in older houses and had experience with heritage and character projects, so when they found this 1912 home in Vancouver’s Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood, they saw an opportunity to make it their own without losing the sense of history that drew them to it.

There were practical reasons to renovate, too. Qualifying the house through the city’s character merit assessment process allowed additional floor area that wouldn’t have been possible with a new build, while a comparable custom home would have cost substantially more. More importantly, the homeowners saw little reason to tear down a solid building simply because it needed work.

The harder question was what, exactly, was left to retain.

“Previous owners didn’t preserve its own history,” says TQ Construction president Henri Belisle. “It looked like a late 70s renovated house.” From the street, the house’s 1912 roots were hard to find, obscured by grey-green glass-dash stucco and a weathered front porch. Inside were decades of piecemeal and DIY alterations, including a poorly converted attic, unpermitted rear additions, mismatched flooring and sponge-painted mustard-yellow walls. And beneath it all sat a leaky, mouldy basement.

Rather than preserving every surviving element, the design-build team focused on recovering the character the house had lost while adapting the 3,400-square-foot home for a growing, active family. “A lot of what this project was about was bringing this house to where it should have been,” says Belisle, “but then also naturally [incorporating] modern design, taste and technology.”

On the facade, that meant stripping away what didn’t belong and restoring historic cues that had disappeared. A Douglas fir entry door and real cedar siding now frame the front, while the exterior was repainted a deep slate blue and the porch rewrapped with white cedar railing.

“When you walk up to the house, it meets all those traditional ideas,” says Belisle. The team also added deep red oak hardwood flooring, wood-trim double-hung windows and wood door casings to anchor the interiors in a more traditional esthetic, while upgraded windows and insulation improve the home’s energy efficiency.

“We did a bunch of work to air seal, add insulation to the interior [and] exterior of the building, put in better performing windows [and] do all these little details that we knew would be better than current code,” says Belisle, “and make sure this house would stand the test of time.”

The biggest upgrade happened below. Working with Zebiak House Raising, the team lifted the entire home and excavated deeper to pour a new insulated concrete foundation, raising the basement ceiling from seven to nine feet. The resulting recreational floor is tailored to the family’s active lifestyle, featuring a gym, workshop, guest suite and space for a two-person kayak — a far cry from the leaky basement they started with.

Up on the main floor, the unpermitted rear addition was removed and rebuilt, extending the kitchen and opening the main living areas. “We opened up the whole centre of the house and created a designated kitchen area that had a lot more natural light and connected to the outdoor spaces,” says lead residential designer Rebecca Verschoor.

Designed around how the couple likes to entertain, one end of the kitchen island holds a bar fridge, small sink and glass-rinsing station so guests can help themselves without getting in the way. “He loves to cook,” she shares. “He didn’t want anyone interfering with his work zone when he was there, but [the couple] still wanted the kitchen to be a central gathering space.”

Nearby, a dedicated wine bar provides storage for the homeowner’s 96-piece stemware collection in upper display cabinetry, while an integrated pullout step ladder makes the higher shelves easier to reach. “It was creating little things like that make the home specific and tailored for them and helps their everyday living,” says Verschoor.

The entertaining continues outside through an accordion-style window and door that open the kitchen and dining area onto bar-top seating, a patio and a covered deck beneath a glass-topped Douglas fir pergola. A barbecue and hot tub give the family more places to gather outdoors.

Completed in October 2023, the project has since been recognized as a finalist for several industry awards. For Belisle, though, the project’s measure of success is more personal.

“I hope it’s a house their kids remember growing up in,” he says. “You can’t always guarantee anything, but I would love to know that the kids grew up in the neighbourhood.”

Verschoor’s hope goes a little further: “I would hope that this house can now stand for another hundred years.”

Design and build:TQ Construction

Structural engineer:Ennova Structural Engineers Inc.

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If you have spent the last few weeks seemingly confronted by wasps at every turn, you're not imagining things: late summer is prime wasp season. Which is, sure, great news for birds that eat wasps, but not so great for the rest of us.

By this point in the year, social wasp colonies have grown dramatically from their tiny spring beginnings. Yellowjackets, in particular, can become a real nuisance around outdoor food and drinks, although any wasps defending a disturbed nest can become increasingly defensive. So naturally, gardeners are looking for ways to kill wasps (or, y'know, send them elsewhere).

One suggestion I keep seeing on Reddit is particularly inventive: make a fake wasp nest out of a brown paper bag and hang it where you don't want wasps to build. The thinking is logical enough: that wasps are territorial and won't establish a new colony close to another one. And sure, there are plenty of anecdotal reports from gardeners who swear by the trick, including Reddit users who say they've had success with crumpled paper bags.

Personally, though, I find the evidence a little scanty. And if I'm going to stage war against the wasps in my yard, I'd rather forge an alliance with a few feathered friends than whip out the arts and crafts table.

Meet the Birds That Eat Wasps

Oh yes, stay the brown paper bag for a moment, because several beautiful backyard birds are perfectly happy to make wasps part of their diet. And while I wouldn't expect a bird feeder to magically clear your yard of stinging insects, encouraging natural predators is a lovely way to make your garden more wildlife-friendly while potentially lowering wasp numbers at the same time.

With that in mind, then, here are three birds that eat wasps like we eat Twinkies bars (along with a few tips on how to attract them to your yard)...

1. Summer Tanager

(Image credit: KEvin McDonald/Getty Images)

At the tip-top of the list of birds that eat wasps is the summer tanager, but that's putting it lightly, because these striking red birds don't merely eat the occasional wasp when one happens to cross their path. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, summer tanagers specialize in catching bees and wasps on the wing, and they'll also raid nests for larvae. They catch flying insects in short sallies, then beat their prey against a perch before eating it (take that, wasps!).

There is something wonderfully satisfying about the image of a beautiful red songbird doing the gardening equivalent of pest control, but don't expect to lure one with a standard seed feeder; summer tanagers are more interested in insects, fruit and the habitat that supports them.

With that in mind, rather than trying to create a wasp-free garden, create a bird-friendly garden: grow native plants, keep mature trees where possible and consider fruiting shrubs that provide another food source.

Plant for Summer Tanagers:

Expert Gardener Expert Gardener 1-2' Serviceberry Autumn Brilliance®

Daylily Nursery Daylily Nursery Dwarf Everbearing Mulberry Live Plant

Southern Living Southern Living Blueberry Hello Darlin Live Shrub

Most importantly, avoid reaching for insecticide every time you spot an insect; a garden with plenty of natural insect life is more likely to provide the food that insect-eating birds are looking for.

2. Northern Mockingbird

(Image credit: Melody Mellinger / Shutterstock)

The northern mockingbird may be better known for its extraordinary singing abilities, but this familiar backyard bird has another talent that gardeners might appreciate: eating insects.

Yes, it may not be on the list of birth month birds, but, during the summer, northern mockingbirds eat mainly insects, and their menu includes beetles, ants, grasshoppers, moths, and (you guessed it) wasps. They typically forage around open ground and shrubby vegetation, making them particularly well suited to suburban gardens.

Now, unlike summer tanagers, mockingbirds aren't wasp specialists. They're opportunistic feeders, which means they're taking advantage of whatever useful food your garden happens to provide.

The trick is to give them the sort of garden where they can forage naturally, then; Cornell recommends keeping some open lawn while also providing fruiting trees and shrubs, as they aren't particularly known for visiting conventional bird feeders.

3. Blue Jay

(Image credit: Jeff Caverly / Shutterstock)

Now we get to the beaky wonder that really caught my attention when I started looking into the birds that eat wasps., as there are documented observations of blue jays attacking wasp nests to scoff up the larvae.

Check it out:

Pretty impressive, right? That said, blue jays are omnivores, and insects make up only part of their overall diet – Cornell's review of their stomach contents found that insects accounted for about 22% of the diet, with nuts, fruits and grains making up most of the remainder.

Think of their wasp-eating behavior as a useful bonus, rather than a biological pest-control service... but that's still worth laying out the red carpet, honestly! Thankfully, blue jays are regular visitors to bird feeders, particularly tray or hopper feeders, and adore peanuts, sunflower seeds and suet. They also readily use birdbaths, while oak trees provide one of their favorite natural foods: acorns.

Shop Blue Jay Feeding Essentials:

Wagner's Wagner's 52023 Black Oil Sunflower Seed Wild Bird Food, 5-Pound Bag

Heath Outdoor Products Heath Outdoor Products Birds Dd4-10 All Season High Energy Suet Cake, Case of 10

Kaytee Kaytee Peanuts Wild Bird Food, High in Fat and Protein

Just don't expect every blue jay you attract to immediately go looking for your wasp nest. You're creating good habitat and a reliable food source – what the bird does with the rest of its day is up to the bird.

Transform Your Garden Into a Bird-Friendly Paradise:

Pretty Drinking

Dreamysoul Bird Rain Chain

Pretty Drinking

Mademax Solar Bird Bath Fountain Pump

Feeding in Style

Sweetfull Hanging Metal Bird Feeder

It should go without saying that birds aren't going to replace proper wasp control, particularly if you've discovered a nest close to a door, play area or another part of the yard where people are regularly exposed (seek professional expertise in this instance).

Still, if I'm choosing where to put my gardening energy in the meantime, I'd much rather spend it planting berry-producing shrubs, keeping mature trees, adding a birdbath and putting out a tray of unsalted peanuts.

Because if a few beautiful birds happen to arrive and eat some of the wasps along the way? Well, that's a gardening win I can get behind.

Weekly roundup of three properties that recently sold in Metro Vancouver.

1102 — 89 West 2nd Ave., Vancouver

Type: Two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment

Size: 1,043 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $1,095,000

Listed for: $999,000

Sold for: $1,030,100

Sold on: July 12

Days on market in this listing: Eight

Listing agent: Adam Pospischil at Engel & Volkers Vancouver

Buyers agent: Shahlah Bakar PREC at Oakwyn Realty

The big sell: According to listing agent Adam Pospischil, multiple offers were received for this condominium home in Pinnacle Living on West 2nd Avenue in the former Olympic Village. Not only does it have two bedrooms and two bathrooms but two home offices as well. Situated on the light-filled southwest corner of the building with a covered balcony from which to enjoy panoramic city views, it features an open-concept living space, separated bedrooms, and a modern kitchen with granite counters, flat-panelled cabinets, pendant task lighting over the peninsula, a breakfast bar, and stainless-steel appliances. The primary bathroom has a double sink and a separate bathtub and shower, while the second bedroom has direct access into a semi-ensuite bathroom. The home comes with a parking stall, storage locker, a monthly maintenance fee of $762.28, and owners can enjoy a well-stocked gym and a residents’ lounge.

22136 River Bend, Maple Ridge

Type: Three-bedroom, two-bathroom detached

Size: 1,611 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $1,036,000

Listed for: $898,000

Sold for: $849,000

Sold on: June 18

Days on market in this listing: 45

Listing agent: Shannon Drummond PREC at Royal LePage Elite West

Buyers agent: Alison Stebbings PREC at Sutton Group — West Coast Realty (Abbotsford)

The big sell: This three-bedroom house resides in Maple Ridge’s Port Haney neighbourhood, a heritage district which, according to the city’s website, was created to protect the area’s historical buildings. This particular home was built in 1986 on a 6,652-square-foot corner lot complete with ample parking and a separate shop. It has a functional layout with the principal reception rooms on the main level and all three bedrooms upstairs. There are laminate floors, a focal point wood-burning fireplace, a large living room that opens to a dining area, a white kitchen with matching appliances, and a breakfast nook with sliding glass doors that open to a patio and a yard that is mainly laid to grass. The property is located near the Fraser River, eateries, and other amenities including the West Coast Express for a downtown Vancouver commute.

116 — 2780 Acadia Rd., Vancouver

Type: One-bedroom, one-bathroom townhouse

Size: 736 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $768,000

Listed for: $699,000

Sold for: $692,500

Sold on: June 2

Days on market in this listing: Nine

Listing agent: Jessica Chen PREC at Oakwyn Realty

Buyers agent: Dan J. Reilly PREC at eXp Realty of Canada, Inc.

The big sell: According to listing agent Jessica Chen, the three-storey Liberta building is one of the few freehold ownership complexes in UBC’s Wesbrook Village. Constructed in 2005, it has close proximity to Pacific Spirit Regional Park, the university’s campus, groceries, restaurants, and transit options. This updated one-bedroom-plus-den home boasts its own private patio entrance and a linear design. Inside, there are hardwood floors, refreshed appliances, an open-concept kitchen with bar seating, an electric fireplace in the conjoined living and dining area, insuite laundry, and patio access off the bedroom at the rear of the unit. The strata accepts rentals and pets (both with restrictions), and the home comes with a parking spot in the underground garage, and a monthly maintenance fee of $264.38.

These transactions were compiled by Nicola Way of BestHomesBC.com.

Realtors — send your recent sales to nicola@besthomesbc.com

Want more expert mortgage info? Robert McLister shares Canada’s best national insured and uninsured mortgage rates, updated daily.Related

• Sold (Bought): West Vancouver home blends luxury with functionality
• Sold (Bought): 100-year-old Shaughnessy home showcases refined finishing touches

August is still summer, but it’s the end of summer, and perennial plants have been growing for many months since early spring. That means that many of these plants are overgrown by summer’s end and would benefit from being divided.

Division is a type of perennial propagation in which you dig up the root clump and chop it up to create several plants, then replant each section. August is an ideal month to divide plants since cool nights and warm soil will encourage roots to regrow quickly.

Which plants to focus on? Give preference to species that have finished flowering and are showing crowded centers. Summer’s end is a fine moment for dividing plants - from geraniums to shade-loving hostas. It makes your borders neater and gives you healthier, happier plants next year. Grab a perennial shovel from Lowe's that is specifically designed for dividing and transplanting perennials to make the task easy as pie. Here are half a dozen perennials that will benefit from being divided now.

1. Bearded Iris

(Image credit: LianeM / Shutterstock)

With six petals – three upright, three drooping - the bearded iris (Iris germanica) is an extremely popular perennial. It is beloved for its huge, showy blossoms that are super-fragrant and have a frilly beard in the center. It’s this beard with pollen and nectar that attracts pollinators. The plant also sports long, strappy, sword-like leaves. It’s a powerhouse in the garden and can grow to a mature height of some 4 feet (1.5m).

Bearded iris is hardy to USDA hardiness zones 3-9. It needs well-draining soil to thrive, sandy is preferred, and full sun exposure. Water when the top few inches of soil are dry. Never let that soil get wet – and never mulch this plant – or you are risking root rot.

The bearded iris can live for many years. But after several years, the clumps become crowded, congested, and tangled with old and new growth. That makes August the perfect time to divide irises. This gives you new plants and freshens up and cleans up old ones. To divide, cut the foliage back to 6 inches, lift the roots and divide. Then replant with the top of the rhizome exposed to the sun.

2. Shasta Daisies

(Image credit: Niall_Majury / Getty Images)

Shasta daisies have cheerful, white-petaled flowers with butter-yellow centers that contrast beautifully with the plant's dark green leaves. These perennials thrive in USDA hardiness zones 5-9 and require a site with sun – either full or partial sun – as well as well-draining soil. They are drought tolerant but do best if you give them sufficient water to keep the soil moist.

Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) grows in clumps, and after 2-3 years, the clumps get tired and woody. Left to their own devices, these tired clumps won’t flower well in the spring. The solution is to divide Shasta daisy clumps in late summer or early fall. Dig up the entire clump, shake off excess soil and discard the woody, worn-out center. Split the rest of the clump with a sharp garden knife. Split the clump into several smaller sections, then replant them all immediately. Make sure that they are replanted at their original soil depth.

3. Common Yarrow

(Image credit: Getty Images)

You may know yarrow plants as gordaldo, milfoil, poor man's pepper or thousand leaf. It’s also called plumajillo in the southwest – a term that means little feather in Spanish. The plant’s aromatic leaves are feathery and have a lacy texture. The yarrow stems can grow to 3 feet (1m) tall and are topped by flat clusters of tiny blooms - often yellow, cut sometimes white or pink.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) likes a sunny location in USDA hardiness zones 3-9. It grows in poor soil, clay soil, and even sandy soil, as long as it is well-draining. Yarrow plants need regular pruning and deadheading to keep the plant blooming. Even so, they get overgrown at summer’s end and benefit from being divided every few years or when the center of the plant begins to die out. Dig up the plant, discard the center and replant the outer chunks.

4. Hostas

(Image credit: Valeriy_G / Getty Images)

Hostas are known as the queen of the shade garden and for good reason. These popular perennials have stunning foliage and thrive in shaded areas. Gardeners appreciate that hostas return year after year from their rhizomatous roots. They are available in many sizes - from teeny tiny to giant - and a wide variety of leaf patterns.

Hostas thrive in USDA hardiness zones 3-9. Although they prefer shade, some can grow in dappled sunshine. Hostas can get tired, tattered, and worn out by autumn. The beautiful foliage turns yellow or brown, and may sprawl or collapse as the plant prepares for winter dormancy.

Use an overcast August morning to divide hostas into sections, making sure each section has a healthy set of roots and shoots. Keep the pieces damp and you can store them for a few weeks before replanting.

5. Daylilies

(Image credit: Daniela Duncan / Getty Images)

Pretty, popular daylilies grow fast and live a long time. They are not true lilies, but are easy to grow, drought-tolerant and attract pollinators. The trumpet shape blooms appear in fiery shades of red, orange, yellow, purple, and pink, and are top choices for borders and edging. They thrive in USDA zones 3-10.

Daylilies are so easy to divide that they would be a great place for a beginning gardener to learn about propagation by division. They outgrow their space every three to five years. Wait until they finish flowering to divide them. This is usually the end of August.

Use clean, sharp pruners to clip the daylily foliage close to the ground before digging out the clump. Then divide the root ball with your fingers, move each one to a new location, and plant them so that the crown is just below the soil surface.

As fall approaches, common backyard birds as well as migratory species are looking for nourishment and cover ahead of impending cold weather. With the transition of late summer into fall, our backyard borders undergo a quiet transformation, but for birds, this transition presents a few challenges, as natural resources start to dwindle.

Migrating songbirds like hummingbirds, warblers, and tanagers require immense calorie intake to build vital fat reserves before embarking on journeys spanning thousands of miles. Simultaneously, year-round resident species (such as cardinals, chickadees, and goldfinches) start looking for reliable seed heads, lipid-rich berries, and dense thermal cover to survive the cooler months ahead.

By establishing bird-friendly plants that provide food and shelter, you can help finches, cardinals, bluebirds, and hummingbirds before winter arrives. As natural supplies get harder to find, you can attract birds to your yard with native flower species and shrubs that provide protein-rich seeds, berries, and nectar, as well as draw insects. And planting shrubs and perennials together will create a safe haven for birds to find shelter and warmth in the coming months.

Bird-Friendly Plants to Add Now

Meeting the survival needs of backyard birds and migrating hummingbirds in fall comes down to three elements: protein-dense seeds, lipid-rich fruit, and secure shelter. Long-distance migrating hummingbirds rely on high-sugar nectar sources to double their body weight before making long trips across the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, nomadic flocks of cedar waxwings and bluebirds seek out rich berry displays, while foraging finches, sparrows, and juncos depend on seed cones.

Always check for regional native plant varieties of these species that are suited to your area, and be aware of regional planting windows. If you are growing in USDA hardiness zones 3-5, you’ll need to finish planting these natives by early autumn. This will allow them 4-6 weeks for good root growth so they can establish and settle before soil freezes. However, those growing in zones 6-9 will have a little longer.

(Image credit: Stanley45 / Getty Images)

Warm late-season soil paired with cooler air temperatures encourages rapid root establishment, ensuring that fruiting shrubs and seed-rich perennials lock in quickly. Just make sure your soil is well draining. If it isn’t, work in some well-rotted compost before planting. Adding in a little bone meal into the planting site, such as Espoma Organic Bone Meal from Amazon, also helps to boost healthy root development in these natives before dormancy kicks in.

After planting, add a 2-inch (5cm) layer of organic mulch to keep soil temperatures regulated for these native fruiting, seeding and shelter options. Visiting birds will thank you – with plenty of repeat visits all the way through fall.

1. Purple Coneflower

(Image credit: Mieneke Andeweg van Rijn / Getty Images)

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a welcome pollinator plant, and also a seed buffet for goldfinches, house finches, black-capped chickadees, and dark-eyed juncos. Goldfinches often don’t wait for the seeds to mature, and visit flowers even when seeds are still green. There are many cultivars of echinacea, but typically only the single petal varieties of the native purple coneflower produce viable seed. You can buy American Beauties’ Native Purple Coneflower Live Plants from Plant Addicts for lush, prolific flowering that lasts right up to first frosts.

Plant in full sun to light shade and well-draining soil. Boost root development by scratching a handful of Dr Earth Pure Gold All Purpose from The Home Depot into the planting hole. Coneflowers grow 2-4 feet tall (0.6-1.2m) in hardiness zones 3-8. Leave spent flower heads standing all through autumn and winter rather than deadheading them during late-summer cleanups.

American Beauties Native Plants Native Purple Coneflower

2. American Beautyberry

(Image credit: Nurana Abasova / Getty Images)

American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) is an eye-catching native. The bright magenta fall berries are the real draw, attracting northern mockingbirds, robins, northern cardinals, brown thrashers, towhees and gray catbirds. As foliage drops, the berries remain exposed on bare stems, making them a magnet for migratory flocks searching for nutrition. Whichever birds get their first are likely to scoff the lot! For a quick-developing shrub, Green Promise Farms’ American Beautyberry Live Plants from Amazon grows well in full or partial shade.

Plant beautyberries in full sun or part shade in well-draining soil. These perennials grow 3-8 feet tall (0.9-2.4m) and perform best in zones 6-10. Planting in loose groups of 2-3 shrubs helps to maximize fruit production through cross-pollination. Top-dress shrubs with a carbon-based soil conditioner like Rosy Soil Biochar Booster from Amazon to hold root moisture through dry fall spells.

Green Promise Farms Early Amethyst Beautyberry Shrub

3. Goldenrod

(Image credit: Solidago / Getty Images)

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) is known as a superb fall nectar and pollen plant for bees and butterflies, but its bird appeal is often overlooked. Beyond hosting protein-rich caterpillars and insects that migratory warblers hunt, its feathery seed heads yield a feast for goldfinches, dark-eyed juncos, tufted titmice, pine siskins, and sparrows. If the stems are left standing through winter, they also create a safe shelter. American Beauties Goldenrod Fireworks Live Plants from Nature Hills is a generous nectar resource, while clump-forming Wichita Mountains is neat and well behaved.

Goldenrod is not an allergen, so it is safe to plant. It thrives in full sun and average, well-draining soil, but also tolerates poor soil and clay soil. Heights range from 1-5 feet (0.3-1.5m). Growing zones vary with the native plants and cultivars, but this plant is generally hardy in zones 3-9. Feed very lightly during establishment with a gentle tonic like Bloom City’s Organic Liquid Seaweed and Kelp Fertilizer from Walmart to jumpstart growth without triggering weak foliage.

Nature Hills Fireworks Goldenrod

4. American Cranberrybush

(Image credit: Mike O'Carroll / Alamy)

American cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) is a self-fertile native viburnum (it does not require a pollinator to produce fruit). This multi-season native presents with showy, lacecap flowers in spring, and the edible berries are glossy and bright red, similar to cranberries in taste and color, though it is not a true cranberry. Just be sure to get the American variety, not the European cranberrybush that is invasive with inedible fruit. Buy Bailey Compact American Cranberrybush from Plant Addicts for smaller yards and modest-sized yards in need of color.

The tart fruits last well into late winter, undergoing freezing and thawing cycles that soften them into a prized food source for cedar waxwings, robins, bluebirds, and cardinals. Grow this native in moist, well draining soil and full to part sun in zones 2-7. It grows 8-12 feet (2.4-3.7m) tall and wide. Work a handful of slow-release Espoma Organic Tree-tone Plant Food Double Pack from Walmart into the surrounding soil at planting time to help strengthen heavy branches. This feed is an excellent investment for other fruit trees and ornamentals, too.

Plant Addicts Bailey Compact American Cranberrybush

5. Trumpet Honeysuckle

(Image credit: K Quinn Ferris / Shutterstock)

Trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is a must-have native nectar source for migratory hummingbirds. Its tubular, coral-red flowers bloom from early spring to frost on this semi-evergreen perennial vine. The spring bloom is the heaviest, but it blooms all summer and is generally guarded by a territorial hummer. In late summer, red berries attract robins, finches, cardinals, northern mockingbirds, thrashers, and cedar waxwings. One of the finest examples is the popular, disease-resistant American Beauties ‘Major Wheeler’ Trumpet Honeysuckle from Nature Hills, which can service hummingbirds and other pollinators well into fall.

Grow it in well-drained soil in full sun in hardiness zones 4-9. This plant just requires a sturdy trellis or fence to hold its heavy vines, which can reach 10-20 feet (3-6.1m). To keep tubular nectar blossoms opening through to fall frosts, it’s also worth adding a splash of potassium-rich flower feed every few weeks in the growing season. Its dense, semi-evergreen foliage provides crucial shelter from rains and predators.

American Beauties Major Wheeler Honeysuckle Vine

6. New England Aster

(Image credit: ESOlex / Getty Images)

New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) lights up autumn borders with clouds of deep violet-purple, pink, and rose blossoms. While bees and migrating monarch butterflies flock to its rich late nectar, songbirds eagerly wait for the flowers to mature into fluffy, seed-filled heads. It pairs well with goldenrod to provide late summer nectar as well as seeds. Goldfinches, juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, and cardinals spend crisp fall mornings clinging to sturdy stems to feast on energy-dense seeds. Leaving these natives intact through winter ensures a steady food source. You can buy pink Native New England Asters from Plant Addicts.

Thriving in full sun and moist, well-drained soil in zones 4-8, native asters reach 3-6 feet (0.9-1.8m) tall. Give new transplants a healthy boost by mixing TPS Nutrients Organic Bloom Fertilizer from Amazon into the surrounding soil. This low-nitrogen, blossom-boosting granular feed supports rich petal color and heavy seed production without forcing sappy stems. To keep this plant shorter and bushier, you can pinch the growing tips back in spring.

American Beauties Native Plants Common New England Aster

7. Rocky Mountain Juniper

(Image credit: Ed Reschke / Getty Images)

No autumn bird habitat is complete without dense evergreen structure, and Rocky Mountain juniper tree (Juniperus scopulorum) stands as one of the best choices for cold-weather shelter as well as food. Bluish cones contain nutritious seeds for cedar waxwings, thrashers, warblers, robins, bluebirds, and northern mockingbirds. Added to which, the thick, aromatic foliage is an impenetrable windbreak against gales and offers roosting spaces away from hawks and cats. You can currently buy Skyrocket Rocky Mountain Junipers from Trees.com for a 20% discount. They will quickly develop a columnar shape that is ideal for privacy screenings and vertical accents.

Thriving in full sun and well-drained, lean soil in zones 3-7, this juniper reaches 10-15 feet (3-5m) tall. A 2-inch (5cm) layer of natural wood mulch, such as Vigoro Premium Brown Wood Shredded Mulch, available from The Home Depot, helps to protect these evergreens from drying winter winds. Spread around young root crowns to keep moisture levels steady and insulate roots against ground freezes.

Trees.com Skyrocket Juniper

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Prairie natives need better PR, I've decided. Especially as it is a truth universally acknowledged that any garden designer worth their salt will tell you to look to the Mediterranean when the brief is a garden that can cope with heat and drought.

It's easy to see why, of course; lavender, salvia, rosemary, sage and their sun-loving companions have evolved to thrive in hot, dry landscapes, and they've been giving gardeners a blueprint for drought-tolerant planting for generations. The silver foliage helps reflect the heat and limits water loss, while the tough stems and deep roots allow many Mediterranean plants to keep going when other perennials are wilting.

They look beautiful, smell wonderful and, once established in the right conditions, can be remarkably undemanding. But there's another answer to the problem of hotter, drier gardens – and it's one that comes from a landscape that a) looks very different indeed, and b) is a lot closer to home.

The Prairie Native You Shouldn't Sleep On

Yes, there is one particularly striking prairie native making waves right about now, but, weirdly enough, I first spotted somewhere I really wasn't expecting to find it: in the middle of Sussex.

I'd gone to Wakehurst, Kew's wild botanic garden, and found myself standing in front of the magnificent American prairie they'd somehow been recreated in the English countryside, with towering grasses and wildflowers stretching out across the landscape.

It was beautiful, but it didn't really look like a traditional British garden. There was something wilder and more elemental about it, as though a little piece of the American Midwest had been dropped into Sussex. And among all those plants, there was one prairie native that stopped me in my tracks: rattlesnake master.

(Image credit: bgwalker/Getty Images)

With its blue-green leaves radiating from the base and globes of greenish-white flowers held high on branching stems, it looked almost like a cross between a yucca and an alien allium. It was architectural, slightly otherworldly, and completely unlike anything I'd normally expect to see in a sunny perennial border.

There's more to the appeal than just that, though; those strange little flower heads are packed with tiny blooms, providing pollen and nectar for an impressive range of pollinators, from bees to butterflies to birth month bugs.

It's also worth noting that Wakehurst's American Prairie was designed as a living experiment in climate-resilient gardening, using plants from North American prairie communities to explore how they might perform as our own climate changes. And, if you're in the market for flowering perennials that thrive in 95°F heat, this little beauty is definitely one of them.

CZ Grain Rattlesnake Master Plug Plant

Working well in containers or beds, this prairie favorite has been making waves in the UK as gardeners look for more drought-tolerant plants.

If you've fallen for this prairie native's strange good looks as well, the good news is that rattlesnake master isn't particularly difficult to grow. All it wants (all it really really wants) is full sun and plenty of room for the basal foliage and its tall flowering stems.

In terms of planting, it needs things well-drained and can tolerate the likes of sandy, rocky and clay soils. And, while you should water regularly while establishing it, it becomes wholly drought tolerant once mature and doesn't need the constant moisture that many garden plants do.

That's... well, that's it; you can just leave it to do its thing (and should; the flowerheads can be left standing after flowering for added winter structure).

Shop Prairie Plants:

Clovers Garden Purple Coneflower

Purple coneflowers are an obvious choice for hot weather planting, but they are a beautifully reliable (or a reliably beautiful) one, too!

Everwilde Farms Everwilde Farms - 1000 Big Bluestem Native Grass Seeds

This tall prairie favourite can grow up to eight feet tall, with rich purple seed heads that catch the light beautifully.

Clovers Garden Black Eyed Susan

You can add an instant pop of color to any prairie planting scheme with a slew of Black-Eyed Susans.

Lavender will always have its place. So will salvia. Rattlesnake master, though, represents something that our gardens are going to need more of: plants that can cope with difficult conditions without sacrificing beauty or wildlife value.

And, after seeing rattlesnake master thriving in that surreal little slice of American prairie in the middle of Sussex, I'm beginning to wonder whether the future of the dry garden might look a lot less Mediterranean than we think...

Now is the perfect time to put a few plans in place to make sure your garden looks good for the next few months and sails into fall with style. A pretty autumn-blooming vine here, a refreshed hanging basket there, a DIY run of stepping stones to keep your lawn looking good once the rain arrives and a sprinkling of fast-to-flower bulbs, and your garden will look a thousand dollars come October. And you’ll have achieved it on a shoestring.

Acting in August means plants have time to settle their roots into the ground before flowering, and you can take advantage of late-summer sales. The weather is warm enough for freshly-planted additions to grow strongly, and for you to enjoy spending a few hours over the weekend in the garden. Wait another month before you start thinking about your fall garden, however, and you’ll have to pay more for an instant upgrade.

All these ideas are quick, easy and don’t cost a fortune: which will be best to bring late-season style to your garden on a budget?

1. Bury Bulbs in Your Lawn For Flowers in 8 Weeks

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Most fall-flowering bulbs need to be planted in spring, but get Crocus sativus into the ground in September and it quickly blooms in 6-10 weeks for blooms in October to November. The flowers are small, reaching just 3-6 inches high, but they’re the most beautiful azure blue color that’s a wonderful contrast to the fiery tones of fall.

You can buy 20 Croscus sativus bulbs from Jackson & Perkins for $17.95 and, by burying them in your lawn or the front of a border, create drifts of fall flowers very cheaply. You’ll have stopped mowing your lawn by the time the bulbs flower, and they’re hardy in zones 3-8 so will bring blooms for years. You can dig up and separate the clumps every 3-4 years, too, for free plants and lots more flowers.

2. Refresh Hanging Baskets With Cheery Pansies

(Image credit: Getty Images)

After the heatwave summer we’ve had, your hanging baskets will be looking pretty tired by now, but it’s a quick and easy job to freshen them for flowers all through fall. The Plentifall series of pansies flower most profusely through fall, winter and spring in zones 6 through 8, but cope with chilly temperatures down to zone 3, so simply find them a sheltered spot in colder zones for lots of blooms. The 1” flowers are edible for attractive garnishes on sweet or savoury dishes, too.

Plentifall pansies have a trailing habit so will spill from a hanging basket, growing 8-10 inches high and 18-24 inches wide. Burpee is currently offering four plants for $13.95 with three varieties to choose from: Plentifall Lavender Blue Pansies have pretty blue to deep purple petals; elegant Plentifall White Pansies have dainty yellow and purple centers; Plentifall Frost Pansies fall between the two with a range of pale tones from white to lavender.

There are so many creative ways to turn cheap bedding plants into fabulous garden details, so as well as refreshing hanging baskets, consider using Plentifall pansies to add some other accents to your fall backyard.

3. Forage for Natural Accents

(Image credit: Emma Kendell)

Topping patio pots or borders with a pinecone mulch brings so much texture and autumn style to a garden, and doesn’t cost a penny. It’ll help insulate the soil, too, helping to protect roots from below-zero temperatures once winter arrives.

Another way to use foraged materials as fall garden decor is to wind colored yarn or twine around sticks pushed into the soil.

4. DIY a Water Feature to Light Up Evenings

(Image credit: Emma Kendell/AI)

Nights draw in surprisingly quickly in fall and by the end of October, the sun has set by 6pm across much of the country. A lovely way to light darker evenings on the patio is with a DIY illuminated water feature made with a solar-powered floating fountain with LEDs. All you need to is a watertight vessel such as this cheap polyresin tub from Lowe’s and a $15 floating fountain with LEDs and a built-in battery like this flower-shaped solar fountain from Amazon. Get creative and you could even make a water-feature planter to pretty-up your patio for fall.

5. Add Long-Lasting Flowers With Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Being a succulent, Sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’ is one of the easiest fall-flowering plants to grow. It's a reliable bloomer from late summer all through autumn and practically grows itself, pretty much anywhere. The blooms change color, too, opening a pale pink before morphing into a rosier pink and finally turning a rich copper. While you can remove the faded flower stems after the first frost, most folk leave the dried flat-topped flowers as winter structure.

Happy in sun or partial shade in zones 4-9, perennial Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ plants in 1 gallon pots are available from Garden Goods Direct. If you love the long display of color-change blooms, Dutch Grown stock bare root Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ for a third of the price. While bare root sedums can be planted now, they won’t flower this year, this is an economical way to add lots of blooms for fall next year.

6. Add Fall Accents to Containers

(Image credit: Future Publishing Ltd)

While there are plenty of late-season heroes that reliably bloom through summer and into fall, year after year, buying full-size, ready-to-flower plants now can be expensive. Because these plants give an instant reward of bonny blooms, garden centers and online retailers are able to charge premium prices. Wait until spring to buy them, however, and fall bloomers will be far cheaper – and will establish far better in your garden to boot as they’ll have months to focus on growing a supportive root system before the stress of creating flowers.

So what to do with your patio pots if you’re on a tight budget? The solution is to buy better-value plants that rely on features other than flowers to add eye-catching details to containers.

Frilly leaves

4 Song Bird Red Ornamental Kale Plants

As temperatures cool, the tones of the leaves become more intense, bringing vibrant violet shades to a planter.

Bright balls

Hot Pops Yellow Ornamental Pepper

This compact plant looks great tucked into a fall pot with its colorful display of yellow, orange and red round fruit.

Cascading blades

Feather Falls Carex Plant

With evergreen blades that cascade in graceful arching shapes, this ornamental grass is a texture treat.

7. Make a Foraged Wreath

It’s a quick and enjoyable task for a sunny afternoon to forage for stems to create a wreath. The advantage of doing this in August or early September is that the still-warm weather with allow the stems to dry in place and last for months. My foolproof method to create a wreath for my autumn garden is to use twine to tie small bunches of stems tegether, then attach those onto a wooden hoop with wire – the less attention I pay to making it pretty, the better it always looks!

A post shared by Emma Kendell (@tidy_wild)

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Find a spot out of the midday sun to hang your wreath so lasts for longer, bringing fall style to your yard for very little effort or outlay.

8. Make a Stepping-Stone Path Across Your Lawn

(Image credit: Getty Images)

This is a great job to do ahead of fall and winter and save your grass from being damaged as you cross your lawn in wet or frozen weather. You can often pick up end-of-line pavers very cheaply from hardware stores, or look for purpose-made stepping stones on online middleman retailers, such as this four-pack of stepping stones from Wayfair with change from $50.

Lay your stepping stones across your lawn at a comfortable stride width – and do practise walking up and down them to make sure of the distances – then use a drizzle of sand around the perimeter of each to mark their positions. Set the pavers aside then remove the turf and excavate enough soil to accommodate the depth of the paver plus around 1½ inches. Pack the holes with sharp sand then lay the paver on top so it’s a fraction below grass level, enabling you to run a lawnmower over the top.

9. Plant a Fall-Flowering Clematis

(Image credit: Sergey AND Marina / Getty Images)

One the quickest and easiest ways to zhuzh up your garden for fall is with some fencescaping to turn a boundary from boring to beautiful. And one of the quickest and easiest ways to do that is to plant a fall-flowering clematis.

In a sunny spot, you won’t do better than the Happy Jack Purple clematis vine, available from Plant Addicts, trouble-free to grow in zones 5-9 and abundant with intensely-colored autumn flowers that turn into sculptural seedheads through winter. For a shadier spot, Samaritan Jo clematis, also available from Plant Addicts, is a surefire bet – it’s just as well-behaved and has silvery lavender-hued blooms in zones 4-9. Both these vines need cutting to a foot above the ground in spring so are easy to keep to a compact size.

10. Paint Your Shed or Fence

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Late August or September is a great time of year to paint a fence or shed as wood has dried out through summer, lower humidity helps the paint dry evenly and moderate temperatures mean it doesn’t dry too fast and crack. Painting wood now also protects it from the wet weather to come, so check the forecast for a dry spell and get cracking!

Current trends are veering towards dark colors in a matt finish that make a small garden appear bigger and create a backdrop to show off flowers and foliage. Our choice for easy application and a good finish is Glidden Fundamentals Exterior Paint, available from Walmart in a wide range of attractive colors including smart Pine Forest Green, appealing Cavalry Navy Blue and go-with-everything Stone’s Throw Gray.

Do one, two or all 10 of these budget garden ideas in August or early September and your garden will look fabulous all through fall, and you'll enjoy maximum backyard style for your hard-earned bucks.

Behr has announced Grounded, a “sophisticated olive green,” as its colour of the year for 2027.

The hue, officially labelled T27-01, “captures the restorative essence and quiet energy of nature. This organic, dimensional shade moves effortlessly between olive and moss, anchored by subtle brown undertones that bring a sense of the outdoors in,” the residential paint company explained in its press release.

Behr’s head of colour, Kayla Kratz, says that Grounded was inspired by an evolving idea of what comfort looks like at home.

“For years, comfort was often expressed through airy, open spaces and pale neutrals,” says Kratz.

But now that same desire for restoration takes on more warmth, depth and texture, with richer earth tones, natural materials and colours that feel more enveloping and connected to nature, she explains.

“That shift came to life for us in a quiet moment we kept returning to: when the sun begins to fall below the tree line, the light softens and the pace of the day seems to slow,” says Kratz. “We began calling it the ‘earth’s exhale.’”

Grounded anchors Behr’s broader 2027 Colour Trends Palette, which spans warm, sunlit neutrals to complementary deeper, forest-inspired tones. The collection is available at Home Depot Canada .

To mark the tenth anniversary of its Colour of the Year program, Behr is donating $250,000 to the non-profit housing organization Habitat for Humanity .

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Many of us gardeners adore our ferns. They are ancient, elegant plants with a 360-million-year history. Their lacy green leaves and cool spiral fiddleheads bring a quiet, wild magic to shady forest floors in the wild. Ferns bring the same timeless grace to home gardens, a serene beauty that has no need for colorful blossoms.

Ferns like shade and moisture, and August heat is not their favorite weather. You’ll need to step in during peak summer heat to prevent fern fronds from crisping, browning and dying. Care of outdoor ferns in August includes frequent watering and protection from harsh midday sun.

Let's explore how to keep them looking lush in late summer.

1. Can We Get a Drink Please?

(Image credit: Grafvision / Shutterstock)

Did anyone ever ask you what one thing you cannot live without? (FYI, my answer is my dog Delilah!) If ferns were required to answer that question, their answer would be water.

Remember that most ferns are native to forest environments. That means that the summer sunlight their soil receives is filtered through green canopies - so it stays moist a long time. And moist soil is what ferns like best.

How much water do ferns need in August? That depends. Are they growing under the green canopies of trees? Or in direct sun?

Hot summer weather can dry ferns out quickly, whether they are growing in containers or a garden bed. You’ll want to check the soil of every fern growing outdoors every single day in August. Poke a finger a could of inches into the soil. If it feels dry, water right away. You could also use a simple soil moisture meter from Amazon to make the process a little cleaner. The best time to water is in the morning. Add water to container ferns until it runs out the drainage hole. I also like to bottom water my container plants in the summer to ensure proper hydration.

In addition to dry soil, there are other signs that your ferns need water in August. If your fern leaves are wilting or turning brown, you’ll understand immediately that the soil isn’t sufficiently moist. Dry or brittle leaves means that the soil has been dry for more than a minute.

2. Play Misty for Me

(Image credit: Manfred Ruckszio / Shutterstock)

Ferns like water on their roots, but they also like water on their lush leaves. Misting ferns helps clean dust from fronds. Outdoors you can hose down the fern’s leaves in the morning, but it also works well to use a mister. They are not expensive and can be very effective. Use a fine spray bottle with filtered or distilled water to prevent mineral spots from forming on leaves.

Mist indoor and outdoor fronds every day during August heat. It’s also a good idea to put fern containers on a pebble tray filled with water. This helps the ferns maintain high moisture.

Note: never mist fern leaves if the plant is in full sun. Indoors, you can also use a humidifier.

3. Throwing Shade

(Image credit: ImageBROKER.com / Alamy)

If you have container ferns, check their placement. Whether you have the containers inside or outside, be sure that they do not spend the heat of the day in full sun. Intense afternoon sun will scorch delicate fronds. Dappled shade or filtered light is just fine.

Positioning container ferns can be decisive when it comes to fern care. Even indoors, if a fern’s container is placed where hot sun rays hit the plant every day, the plant will not be able to survive.

What about bed-planted ferns? Hopefully, you did not plant ferns in the soil in a spot where they get lots of direct sun in summer. If you did make that mistake, add an outdoor shade cloth like this one from Amazon to reduce the heat. You might consider adding a fast-growing shade tree in the area for future years.

4. Mulch to Protect Soil

(Image credit: Carol Thomas / Getty Images)

Another way to make ferns happy in August is to spread organic mulch over their soil. Mulching ferns helps cool the soil during the heat of summer. It also traps water in the soil during hot summer days, helping to keep the soil moist.

How much mulch to use? Use a thin layer of mulch - something like organic compost or chopped leaves works well - and don’t pile it up in a “mulch pyramid” against the center of the plant. Leave space around the center of the fronds so that they don’t rot. In addition to helping your ferns with their moisture needs, the mulch will block weeds from growing around the ferns.

5. Maintenance and Feeding

(Image credit: Tatiana Terekhina / Getty Images)

August is not the best time to prune ferns, but it’s a good idea to trim off any fronds that are yellow or brown. Take these - and dead fronds - out at the base. This encourages new fern growth and also allows for better airflow.

Should you fertilize ferns in August? If you’ve been giving the ferns a light monthly fertilization, you can continue. Use a weak, diluted liquid fertilizer and not too much of it. Do not even think about heavy fertilization during August as extreme heatwaves can occur and the combo will stress the plant.

Shop Fern Care Essentials

Balanced Nutrition

Miracle-Gro Pour & Feed Plant Food

Dilute this balanced feed 1:1 with water and pour into your potted ferns for a boost of nutrition.

Retain Moisture

Back to the Roots Organic Premium Mulch

Mulch is always a good idea. This organic wood mulch will help keep that precious moisture locked in.

Easy Monitoring

XLUX Long Probe Plant Soil Moisture Meter

I love the long probe on this soil moisture meter. It makes checking the soil easy in even the most overgrown containers and beds.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s almost fall. And that means that it’s almost time for the annual fall bird migration. If you’ve been catering to the birds in your backyard all summer, now is the ideal time to give them some extra TLC.

Many of our feathered friends travel thousands of miles during fall bird migration, which can leave them exhausted and in need of food, water, and rest along the way. There are easy ways you can turn your yard into a migrating bird’s favorite pit stop – give them high-energy birdseed, grow beneficial plants, and provide them with plenty of water and places to take a break.

If you want to do your part this fall to help migrating birds or care for the birds that stick around throughout winter, Target has everything you need to equip your landscape and turn it into a wildlife haven before summer ends.

Best Deals on Bird Accessories

Below are the best deals on bird accessories for the end of summer and fall to help winged wildlife thrive all winter and into next year.

Best Choice Products Classic Bird Bath

This timeless pedestal-style bird bath comes in 10 different colors, including black, copper, and peacock blue. It’s frost and UV-resistant, meaning it stands up to years of use from backyard songbirds. But it’s made from PVC, so it’s not as heavy-duty as a metal bird bath. However, it won’t rust. A bird bath is essential to creating a bird-friendly backyard and helping migrating birds.

WoodLink Winter Nesting Bird House

For the birds that don’t migrate south for winter, you can help them out by providing a nesting birdhouse like this lovely option from Target. It’s a basic wooden box with a metal roof and predator guard around the hole that prevents unwanted critters from intruding on your feathered friends’ home. This cedar birdhouse is specifically designed to attract bluebirds, but I suspect the other birds in the neighborhood will want a peek inside as well.

Threshold Ceramic Bird Feeder

This modern, minimalist ceramic bird feeder is perfect for a small balcony or patio garden. Simply mount it from an overhang, pergola, or hook on the side of your home and fill it with a wild bird seed mix, like this one from Audubon Park. This feeder is frost-proof, so you can leave it out for overwintering birds. But be sure to empty it after rain to prevent food from rotting or water from freezing and cracking the feeder.

Shop all Birds Choice Steel Suet Feeder

This steel suet bird feeder is a bestseller for its durability and simple design. It holds two suet or seed cakes, which attract chickadees, finches, nuthatches, wrens, sparrows, and juncos. Paired with a high-energy suet block, like these ones from Amazon, it’s just what migrating birds need to fuel them on their long journey south. This particular feeder is not currently on sale, but at only $15, that’s still a hard-to-beat price.

Nature's Way Glass Hummingbird Feeder

Hummingbirds make one of the longest journeys of all the backyard birds during the Great Hummingbird Migration that takes place at the end of summer and into the beginning of fall. If these adorable little creatures were buzzing around your garden all season, now is your last chance to enjoy them. Lure them in with a hummingbird feeder and nectar mix, which is also available from Target. It will not only give you the chance of one final look at them, but will fuel them for their journey.

COOLFLY Smart Bird Feeder With Camera

You can keep an eye on the other birds in your yard with this smart feeder that attaches to your window. If you don’t happen to catch a glimpse of your winged visitors in real time, the 2K HD camera can save footage of your feathered friends straight for you to watch later and even identifies the different species that visit your feeder.

Brown edges on a hosta rarely trace back to a single cause. Scorch leaves a different signature than a foliar nematode does, and reading those signatures wrong usually means treating something that was never the problem.

Hostas put up with a lot, which is why they end up in corners nothing else wants. Then a hot spell rolls through and the margins go papery and tan. Hosta leaves turning brown is one of the most common complaints about a plant that otherwise asks little.

Not every brown leaf points to the same trouble. Some of it is nothing but weather. Some are the result of common hosta problems working quietly at the crown or inside the leaf tissue. What matters is where the brown sits, not how much of it there is.

Sun Scorch and Plain Thirst

(Image credit: Kazakov Maksim / Shutterstock)

Afternoon sun is the usual suspect. Hosta foliage has a thin cuticle — built for filtered light, not full exposure. Bleached patches show up between the veins on the side facing the sun, then the margin crisps. Roots can't replace water as fast as the leaf loses it. Blue-leaved types have it worst, and that waxy bloom doesn't hold up in heat.

Thirst does something similar but more even, browning right around the rim instead of where light lands. Shaded beds dry out surprisingly fast, sometimes. Under mature trees the surface roots get there first. A hosta takes what's left. Deep watering once or twice a week beats a daily sprinkle, which rarely reaches past the top inch (2.5cm). A soaker hose from Home Depot laid along the bed puts water at the root zone, not on the foliage.

Salt and Fertilizer Burn

Uniform brown edging with no spotting and no banding between the veins usually means salts. Fertilizer applied too heavily is the common source. Dog urine does the same on a smaller scale. De-icing salt off a nearby walk can drift in all winter without anyone noticing. Container-grown hostas show fertilizer burn soonest, because the salts have nowhere to go.

Leaching the soil helps. Run plain water slowly through the root zone. Repeat a few times over a week or two and the salts move past the roots. Containers are easier — water until it runs out the holes, then dump the saucer. Half the labeled rate of a slow-release fertilizer covers what a hosta uses. They aren't heavy feeders.

Foliar Nematodes

Brown streaks running lengthwise between the veins, edges so sharp they look ruled in — that's foliar nematodes (Aphelenchoides fragariae). The roundworms feed inside the leaf. They can't cross a vein, so damage stays in narrow bands that widen as the season goes. Symptoms tend to surface in mid to late summer. A clump that looked fine in June can go ragged by August.

No spray reaches them once they are inside the tissue. Pull affected leaves, bag them, and put them in the trash, not the compost. Nematodes travel in films of water on the leaf surface, one more argument for low irrigation. A badly infested plant is worth digging out entirely, roots and all — the population overwinters in the crown and fallen debris. For a plant worth saving, a hot-water soak of dormant divisions gets them out, though the temperature window is unforgiving.

Anthracnose and Petiole Rot

Large tan spots ringed in dark brown, centers often dropping out to leave ragged holes, suggest anthracnose (Colletotrichum species). Warm, soggy stretches bring it on. The damage is cosmetic in a normal year, though a heavy one can strip a clump before winter. Thinning nearby growth to move air through the bed does about as much as anything sprayed.

Petiole rot is the serious one. Caused by Sclerotium rolfsii, reclassified as Agroathelia rolfsii in 2023, it yellows and browns leaves from the bottom up, with stems collapsing at soil level. Look for a white fuzzy mat at the base and tan pellets about the size of mustard seed. Infected plants come out along with a few inches (8cm) of surrounding soil.

Can Damage Be Reversed?

(Image credit: Yelena Rodriguez Mena / Getty Images)

Brown tissue does not turn green again. Once a leaf has scorched, that damage is set for the season, and no amount of watering brings it back. What can change is everything the plant puts out afterward. Trimming the worst leaves at the base with a pair of bypass pruning shears from Amazon tidies things up, provided the blades get cleaned between plants.

Correct the underlying cause and new growth comes in clean — same season for water and salt, next spring if the crown was hit. Late-season browning deserves a second look before anyone panics, too. Hostas go dormant on their own schedule, and yellowing that works through the whole clump is usually just that.

Setting Up a Better Season

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Placement does more than any treatment can. Morning sun with afternoon shade works for most hostas, and anything past midday in a hot climate invites scorch. Early spring or early fall is easy transplanting weather, and these plants re-establish fast. Where moving isn't an option — a bed hemmed in by hardscape — a temporary screen through the worst weeks helps.

Mulch two to three inches (5-8cm) deep, pulled back a hand's width from the crown, steadies moisture and holds root-zone temperatures down. Clear old foliage out in fall instead of leaving it to sit. A fair amount of what causes trouble next year is overwintering in that debris right now. Slugs (Deroceras reticulatum and relatives) chew holes that brown at the edges, and that gets mistaken for disease.

Make a note the year a hosta browns badly. The fix almost always belongs to the following spring, before shoots are up and while the plant can still be lifted. Nothing useful gets done about it in September.

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a deserted island, you’ve likely conjured images of a romantic utopia: remote, secluded, serene, with empty beaches for let-your-hair-down privacy. The ultimate fantasy, in other words. And it can be all those things, but when fantasy meets reality, it’s not without challenges.

Most private island living is off-grid, which requires managing your own electricity, heat, water and fuel. All supplies must be brought in, either by boat or plane, which can get expensive. And no neighbours can sometimes make island life feel isolating.

But if isolation is your idea of utopia, there are dozens of uninhabited B.C. islands to be had. If, however, your private island dream requires infrastructure to maintain a comfortable home solidly and smartly built that’s conveniently close to a commercial centre, Eaglet Island, just south of Gabriola, could be your fantasy island come true.

The couple who bought the 1.2-acre island (which they named for a resident juvenile eagle) in 1992 originally intended to construct a dock to bring in materials to build an 86-foot yacht. The plan was to use the island as a base while they lived on and explored the surrounding waterways on the yacht.

“But when they looked closer at the channel, they thought it would be too big a boat,” says listing agent Alan L. Johnson of Colliers/Unique Properties. “So they took all the materials they had carefully selected over the years for a yacht and made a house out of them on the island.”

Johnson says that over the 25 years he’s represented island properties for sale, he’s observed homes that “have been done either well or haphazardly, and he has done everything to the nth degree,” referring to the current homeowner, who he describes as an “engineer/inventor kind of guy”.

That homeowner first constructed a huge workshop which houses a 10,000-pound metal lathe which he used for myriad building projects, including a walk-in freezer and a rainwater collection system for storage in massive stainless-steel tanks.

The 52 x 13-foot dock he built, which is actually a barge, has a float plane ramp and lift. The barge, which is attached to the island by a large steel pipe, houses much of the island’s infrastructure, including cabling, electricity, water lines, and a 65-horsepower pump to siphon salt water for fire protection. (The island also has two commercial desalination plants.)

“The barge is very heavy so it doesn’t move (in bad weather), and because it’s attached there’s no need to replace chains, anchors, or ground tackle like a lot of other docks,” says Johnson.

One of four heavy-duty diesel generators uses a heat capture system to heat up a massive water tank below the house for hot water heating.

“The wood stove can also provide hot water heating, and it’s lined in stainless steel so it can burn beach wood without any salt damage,” says Johnson.

The homeowner, an inventor who developed aircraft parts, built a 26-foot aluminum boat and designed the property’s septic tank and dispersal field. He also built on the property two 60-foot-high aluminum solar panel stands that are anchored to the ground and equipped with rungs to allow for cleaning and maintenance.

And he designed aluminum gutters that pull down and flip over so they can be spray cleaned without the need for a ladder.

“The exterior of the house is concrete mesh that he also designed himself with high-density foam insulation behind it,” says Johnson. “There is no sign of any cracking or pulling away from the beams. It’s just like it was 30 years ago.”

The couple also constructed a 12 x 20-foot greenhouse over the rocky shore which produces more vegetables than they can consume.

“He designed the home so you can live there comfortably off grid with as little effort as possible,” says Johnson. But since no man is an island, he’s connected to the outside world via several point-to-point internet systems as well as Starlink.

What’s inside

Because the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home’s building materials were originally intended for the construction of a yacht, the flooring is three-inch thick fir, which was to be the boat’s planks. The five big beams that span the post-and-beam interior are cedar while other trim, handrails and accents are made of super hard gum wood and purpleheart wood.

The main level, with high vaulted ceilings, is open concept with living, dining, kitchen, pantry and bathroom that all flow together. “The kitchen countertops are stainless steel for low maintenance,” says Johnson.

Upstairs is a loft-type half floor that leads to two bedrooms with a deck off each, and the second bathroom.

“It’s a very comfortable home with beautiful views towards Gabriola in the north and Pirate’s Cove to the south, but mostly open ocean,” says Johnson. “People might worry about how to maintain this place, but they don’t have to because it’s been built so well. I’ve been on a lot of private islands and recreational properties, and I have not seen one in this price range with the accessibility that’s as interesting.”

In the neighbourhood

Located in the De Courcy Group, with its handful of permanent residents, just south of Gabriola Island and 16 kilometres southeast of Nanaimo, Eaglet Island’s only neighbours are other islands, both deserted and inhabited.

Gabriola Island, with commercial services at a variety of shops as well as at Twin Beaches shopping mall, is a 10-minute boat ride away.

De Courcy Island’s 76-acre Pirate’s Cove Marine Park, one of the province’s first marine parks, has a protected anchorage that attracts boaters.

Location:Eaglet Island adjacent to De Courcy Island

Listed for: $2,595,000

Year built: 1997

Type: Two bedrooms, two bathrooms

Size: 2,500 square feet

Realtor: Listed by Alan L. Johnson, Colliers/Unique Properties

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