Guides / What to plant
What to plant in August
Harvest and heat. Thyme is at its most aromatic just as the flowers open, echinacea holds the border together, and a jade plant summering outdoors colours up in a way it never manages on a windowsill.
These are Northern Hemisphere months. If you garden in the Southern Hemisphere, the equivalent month is February.
In the garden
Blue passion flower
Passiflora caerulea
How to grow blue passion flower, Passiflora caerulea. The extraordinary flower explained, whether the orange fruit is safe, and cutting it back after a hard winter.
Border phlox
Phlox paniculata
How to grow border phlox, Phlox paniculata. Scented heads through August, beating powdery mildew by thinning the stems, and the eelworm that kills whole clumps.
Common heather
Calluna vulgaris
How to grow heather, Calluna vulgaris. Why it needs acid soil and rainwater, when to shear it, and the difference between ling and the winter-flowering ericas.
Common Jasmine
Jasminum officinale
How to grow Jasminum officinale. Why it saves its scent for the evening, the warm wall it needs in Britain, when to prune it, and the three unrelated plants sold under the same name.
English Yew
Taxus baccata
How to grow Taxus baccata. The one conifer that regrows from bare wood, why clippings kill horses, what the red berries are, and how it reaches two thousand years.
Hornbeam
Carpinus betulus
How to grow hornbeam, Carpinus betulus. The hedge that holds its leaves all winter and takes wet clay where beech fails, when to cut it, and how to tell the two apart.
Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
How to grow Echinacea purpurea. Why it hates being moved, leaving the seed heads for goldfinches, keeping stems upright without staking, and why year one disappoints.
Russian vine
Fallopia baldschuanica
How to grow Russian vine, Fallopia baldschuanica. The mile-a-minute plant, what it will and will not do to a building, and how to get rid of one.
Tiger lily
Lilium lancifolium
How to grow tiger lily, Lilium lancifolium. Growing lilies from the bulbils in the leaf axils, beating the lily beetle, and the danger to cats.
Herbs and edibles
Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum
How to grow blueberries, Vaccinium corymbosum. Why they need ericaceous compost and rainwater, planting two for cross-pollination, and the pruning that keeps a bush cropping.
Common Thyme
Thymus vulgaris
How to grow common thyme, Thymus vulgaris. Drainage, the trim that stops it going woody, harvesting when the oils peak, and why it belongs in gravel rather than good soil.
Dill
Anethum graveolens
How to grow dill, Anethum graveolens. Sowing direct because it hates transplanting, succession sowing against bolting, harvesting the seed, and keeping it away from fennel.
Fig
Ficus carica
How to grow figs, Ficus carica. Restricting the roots to force fruiting, which embryo figs to keep over winter, and the sap that burns skin in sunlight.
Olive
Olea europaea
How to grow olive, Olea europaea. Keeping one alive through a British winter, why it rarely fruits here, and the cold period it needs to flower.
Plum
Prunus domestica
How to grow plums, Prunus domestica. Why you must never prune in winter, thinning to stop branches snapping, silver leaf and bacterial canker, and the cyanide in the stones.
Redcurrant
Ribes rubrum
How to grow redcurrants, Ribes rubrum. Why they are pruned on a spur system rather than as a stool, growing them as cordons on a shaded wall, and netting against bullfinches.
Sweetcorn
Zea mays
How to grow sweetcorn, Zea mays. Planting in a block for wind pollination, testing the cobs for ripeness, and why supersweet types must be grown alone.
Winter squash
Cucurbita maxima
How to grow winter squash and pumpkins, Cucurbita maxima. Feeding a hungry plant, restricting the fruit for size, and the curing that decides whether they store.
Indoors
Jade Plant
Crassula ovata
How to grow a jade plant, Crassula ovata. Watering a succulent properly, pruning it into a tree, getting red leaf edges, and why it breathes at night.
Round-Leaf Calathea
Goeppertia orbifolia
How to grow Goeppertia orbifolia. Why tap water browns the edges, the humidity level it needs, why the leaves move at night, and the name change nobody announced.
String of pearls
Curio rowleyanus
How to care for Curio rowleyanus. Watering a succulent that dies from kindness, using a shallow pot for the shallow roots, and reading the pearls for what the plant needs.
Tree houseleek
Aeonium arboreum
How to grow aeonium, Aeonium arboreum. The summer dormancy that reverses normal watering, why a flowering rosette dies, and overwintering it in Britain.