Rainfall: 6:25 inches

Favorite blooms this month:  African daisies, Blue Daze, Cat whiskers, begonias, butterfly weed, calibrachoa, caladiums, coreopsis, cosmos, curcumas, gazanias, gaillardias, gauras, gerberas, gingers, heuchera, honeysuckle, impatiens, lantana, lavender, marigolds, Mona lavender, orchids, pentas, purslane, salvias, shrimp plant, strawflowers, zinnias.

Blooming shrubs: bottlebrush, cannas, crinums, firebush, frangipani, gardenias, gingers, heliconias, ixora, lantana, lion's ear, pinwheel jasmine, plumbago, golden dew drops, hibiscus, roses, jatropha, oleander, society garlic, shrimp plant, tibouchina, tithonia, verbena.

Herbs: Anise, bay, basil, bay laurel, borage, chives, dill, fennel, ginger, lemon balm, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, sweet marjoram, tarragon, and thyme.

Bulbs: African iris, agapanthus, amaryllis, bulbine, canna, crinum, day lily, gladiolus, gloriosa lily, kaffir lily, Louisiana iris, society garlic, rain lily, and walking iris.

Houseplant and Patio Plant Care:

• Time to prepare foliage plants for Fall; reshape and trim to encourage new growth.
• Transplant root bound and poorly drained foliage plants.
• Check for mealy bugs, scale, and mites; control with natural soap or oil insecticides.
• Make cuttings of your favorite plants.]
• Feed indoor plants with a slow-release fertilizer.
• Indoor plants accumulate dust like furniture, rinse with water or a mild soapy solution.
• Move light-starved plants outdoors to a shady location.
• Enjoy orchid and bromeliads indoors when in bloom, then move them outside to a shade location.
• Divide clump-forming plants like Spathiphyllum and Sanseveria.
• New plants will be showing up in garden centers. Add to your collections.

Landscape Care:

• Feed landscape shrubs and trees with slow-release fertilizers, if allowed.
• Thinning out excessive growth can help many shrubs avoid disease issues.
• Remove weeds before blooming to prevent seasonal reseeding.
• Replenish mulch to control weeds. Mulch should be applied a 3" - 4" around shrubs and trees, keeping it away from the trunks and base of plant.
• Check potted plants for drainage issues. Do not let plants sit in water.
• New plantings may need daily hand watering to become established.
• Use slow-release fertilizers to feed plants for several months.
• Use palm fertilizers with minor nutrients to ensure health of palm trees.
• Keep vines from climbing through shrubs and trees. Use arbors and trellises for ornamental and flowering vines.
• Do not prune Azaleas, camellias, and gardenias any more this year.  They are forming buds now.
• Keep palms healthy by only removing brown, dead fronds, old flower heads, and fruit.
• Avoid trimming shrubs back to the same height each time. Allow a little new growth to remain.
• Complete pruning of poinsettias, bougainvilleas, and wisteria this month.
• Edge walkways and drives to keep the landscape attractive.
• Good time to divide your overgrown plants like African and Apostle irises, bromeliads, daisies, daylilies, and ferns.

Lawn Care:

• Walk yards on regular basis to look for disease and insect issues.
• Turn off irrigation system. If your lawn cannot go one week without irrigation - you have a spoiled lawn.
• Make sure mandatory irrigation shut-off device is working.  Set irrigation device to 1/2 inch rainfall.
• Still not time for fertilizing your turf.  Wait for it...
• If turf grass is chlorotic (yellowing), no need to put down nitrogen during summer. Apply iron-only product. Iron applications are not included in the turf fertilizer ban.
• Try to not use herbicides for weed control when temperatures are over 85 degrees!
• Season for chinch bugs and sod webworms is here! Apply a natural control if needed.
• It's still a great time to plant turf, sod, plugs or seed.
• Mow frequently and at recommended height.
• Sharpen mower blades every 5 mowings.  Dull mower blades rip grass not cut them.
• Do not scalp your lawn! Mow at proper heights, even if you want to mow less. Mowing your grass too short stresses turf, leading to disease and insect issues.
• If you have a weed problem, bag your clippings, and throw away.
• If you don't have a weed problem, leave grass clippings on your turf on lawn or under shrubs for an extra nutritional fertilizing, courtesy of Mother Nature.
• New lawns are susceptible to fungal issues, apply a fungicide to help reduce decline.
• Mushrooms are common in lawns during the rainy season, remove as needed.  They will lessen as soil dries.
• Walk your yard on a weekly basis. Look down, look up, look under. Notice anything that flutters up, look for holes or chewing, check shrubs and trees for oozing.
• Mushroom, fairy rings are common during rainy season, no need to do anything - when the area dries, they will disappear. Lawn fungi are poisonous.

Fruit and Vegetable:

• Warm winters encouraged growth and fruiting of mangoes and lychee; prune after harvest.
• Check pineapples: fruits are ready to pick when fragrant and turn yellow to orange.
• Feed bananas and figs monthly but lightly; keep soil moist and mulched.
• Give grape, apple, and peach plantings a summer feeding.\
• Keep raised beds and vegetable gardens weed free.
• Till soil lightly for planting.
• Remove plastic from solarization after treatment and plant immediately.
• Enrich sandy soils and old garden sites with organic soils, organic matter, and manure.
• Test soil acidity and adjust pH if needed before planting in ground and containers.
• Transplants started in July should be ready for garden planting in mid to late August.
• Plant quick growing warm season vegetables mid-August through early September.
• Seeds of melons and pumpkins must be planted early August.
• Grow vegetables in large containers with a good potting soil if you have limited space.
• Give tomatoes an extra-large container and keep moist to prevent blossom-end rot.
• Where possible, plant nematode-resistant tomato and other vegetable varieties.
• Open wide, 8-inch or deeper holes in nematode-infested soils, and fill with fresh pest-free soil.\
• Begin staking or trellising taller growing crops when young.
• Mulch new plantings to conserve water and promote better plant health.
• Groom, use, and feed herbs monthly; shelter container-grown herbs from summer rains.
• Feed sweet potatoes monthly and check for ready to harvest potatoes in 100 days.
• Feed citrus with one-quarter pound of citrus fertilizer per inch of trunk circumference.
• Apply a minor nutrient spray and insecticide to citrus at each flush of new growth.
• Mints in containers that stop growing may only need dividing and more fertilizer.
• Clean containers between crops and add fresh potting soil.
• Plant flowers that attract pollinators among vegetables to obtain better fruit set.  African blue basil, borage, chives, hyssop, and lavender are great!
• Check the labels for vegetable best varieties for disease and pest resistance. It's on the seed packet.

Best Management Practices:

• Don't neglect your vegetable gardens. Check daily.
• Check irrigation systems once a month for proper direction and adequate application.
• Keep track of rainfall received with rain gauge and weather conditions in journal.
• Before purchasing any plants, know your site conditions for sunlight, soil moisture, and pH.
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