08/01/2003

By CAROL SAVONEN, OSU Gardening Expert

Do you sense a lack of color in your late summer garden? By mid- to late July, many of spring and early summer's brilliant blooms have gone to seed. Yet autumn is quite a way off.

If you want to learn to avoid a drab late summer garden at home, August and September are good months to pay close attention to beautiful flower gardens around your area. Make note of what catches your eye. There are still many flowers in bloom and some will blossom long into the fall.

(File Photo)

"Sustainable Gardening: The Oregon-Washington Master Gardener Handbook" covers late blooming perennials and many other facets of gardening in the Pacific Northwest, including how to:

• choose plants that will thrive in your yard;

• grow healthy and productive vegetables, fruits, flowers, shrubs, trees and lawns;

• propagate and prune plants successfully;

• diagnose and solve plant problems;

• prevent and manage weeds and pests;

• make and use compost; reduce use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

The 526-page loose-leaf volume also includes chapters on basic botany, soils, fertilizers, how yard care affects water quality, home orchards and berry crops, houseplants, weed management, entomology, landscape design, plant identification and more information than ever on non chemical controls for garden diseases and pests. The pages of this guide are designed to fit into a larger size three-ring binder that the owner provides.

"Sustainable Gardening: The Oregon-Washington Master Gardener Handbook," EM 8742, is available by mail for $29 per copy plus $5 shipping and handling. Send your request and check or money order payable to OSU to: Publication Orders, Extension and Station Communications, OSU, 422 Kerr Administration, Corvallis, OR 97331-2119. Or preview it on the web at: http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/edmat/em8742.pdf