Summer Dry August 2021 Newsletter

Greetings!

On hot August afternoons we may abandon our tools early and head for the
hammock with a glass of iced tea. Fortunately, except for deep watering, which
even mature trees may need following a record-dry winter, most gardening
chores are best postponed until cooler weather and shorter days. Now is the
perfect time to relax in the shade with a view of the garden and refine our
plans for fall._

_~Saxon Holt and Nora Harlow _

Blog Post: Teucrium

| If you’re looking for a deer-resistant plant that checks all the boxes, you
may want to consider Teucrium, a stunning plant in the mint family. Among its
other standout features (as if being beautiful and deer-resistant weren’t
quite enough):

* It’s available in a wide range of sizes.
* It’s pollinator friendly.
* It boasts purplish pink flowers from late spring to summer.

Read more about teucrium characteristics and maintenance tips on our blog
post!

 Grasses & Lavender

| Ornamental grasses are mid-summer showstoppers with flowering perennials in
summer-dry gardens. Here, two cool-season bunchgrasses, giant feather grass (
_Stipa gigantea_ , in flower) and New Zealand wind grass ( _Anemanthele
lessoniana_ ), are stunning combined with English lavender ( _Lavandula
angustifolia_ ).

 August Summer-Dry Gardening Tip

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Don’t be in a rush to tidy up your late-summer garden. An acceptably neat
appearance can be achieved by cutting back a few of the most prominent plants
and leaving the rest for wildlife. Mulching the ground around plants past
their prime also results in a well-kept effect. The following provides many
birds and beneficial insects with much-needed winter food and shelter:

* Dried seed heads
* Withered stems
* Leaves
* Fruits

 Scroll the #summerdry Hashtag

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You may see a few ads for socks, face cream, sake, or sneakers, but most of
what comes up will be gorgeous photos and useful information about summer-dry
plants, gardens, and natural habitats. The tag @summerdry.gardens takes you
directly to our Instagram site.

Follow us on Instagram @summerdry.gardens where we post inspiring pics and helpful tips — or add a summer-dry image on your own IG account and tag us! We love to see what your garden looks like, too.

In the midst of tumultuous climate change, we realize it’s all the more important that gardeners be stewards of the land, attuned to the local environment on behalf of all creatures. Every small act we do adds resiliency.