Flowers

Outdoor fuchsias, Californian tree poppy (Romneya coulteri) and willows grown for bark effects can be pruned now.

Young rooted pieces can be taken from the outside of violet plants and the central portion of old clumps discarded.

Herbaceous perennials, such as Michaelmas daisies, can still be increased by taking side growths.

Hardy annuals can be sown outdoors this month; clarkia, asters, nasturtiums, calendula and sweet peas.

Dwarf sweet peas do not need staking. Little Sweetheart is one of the smallest, growing to 25cm. The soil for sweet peas should be well limed and the ground worked to a fine crumb. Phosphate worked into the soil (30g per sq m) will give the seedlings a good start and a sturdy root system.

Lawns that have become patchy because of grassgrub damage or the removal of weeds on a large scale can be brought back to order now with a dressing of one part superphosphate and three parts sulphate of ammonia mixed and spread at a rate of 30g per sq m. Apply this mix now and in early autumn, as growth restarts after summer. Mossy soil can be dressed with the same mixture, with the addition of a halfpart of sulphate of iron to suppress moss.

Dwarf annuals for a rockery or the front of garden beds include phacelia (blue shades), nemophila (blue), Linum grandiflorum and limnanthes (yellow). Linaria produces flowers resembling miniature snapdragons on slender stems, 15cm25cm high.