So Hot! and the plants are SO Thirsty! My grass is so burned out! And my tree leaves! Burned!

Never fear...it's just that time of year. August in the northest is not only still hot, it is hot and dry. Even with some watering, my grass went brown in what seemed like just 2 days. And my sister thought my dogwood was dead.

MY GRASS

Here's my grass this afternoon. Like I said, it is going brown before my very eyes. I probably don't have to worry that the lawn will be killed unless it's had no water for 6+ weeks. Best thing is to get the sprinkler going either super early in the morning, or in the late afternoon, basically when it is in the shade, and run it for an hour or so maybe every other day. A bit of moisture in the soil will protect the grass.

TREES

This is my dogwood. Poor thing was taken for dead by my sister. But not to worry. If you see your tree leaves turn brown around the edges (or even more) at this time of year, it is really just a sign of some heat stress, or scorching. No biggie, but it is important to make sure that your trees are getting some water. Here is some more info on that subject. http://ext100.wsu.edu/gardentips/2008/12/12/plants-suffer-leaf-scorch-from-hot-weather/

Yes, gardening can be slow this time of year, but chores that can be done...

DO go around and cut off anything brown off of your plants

DON'T really do any hard-pruning of shrubs at this point; not only might you cut off all the flowering buds for next year (like azaleas which have set buds already, and viburnums, to name a few), but new growth will still be tender when first coldsnap comes and that can kill an entire branch.

DO cut off young shoots that 'stick up' and make a shrub look messy. Make the cut down inside the shrub so you can 't see the stubby cut

DON'T use electric hedge trimmers on any shrubs....EVER! (well, maybe your juniper and arborvitae...but NOT NOW! wait til Jan/Feb/Mar) and NEVER 'SNOWBALL' your shrubs - even tho it might be tempting to let your lawn-mow guy fool you into doing some work since there is no mowing to be done cuz the grass is brown.

DO remind me, in Jan/Feb, to do a demonstration of how to hand-prune your shrubs.

and DO ask me any questions you might have. Hopefully I'll know the answer :-)