It’s been a stressful mid-summer for many of our plants. The weather has been endlessly sunny, hot and breezy: perfect for people at the beach, but very drying for plants. Even plants that have been regularly watered are suffering from the lack of regular rainfall.
So the first thing you can do for helping your shrubs and trees, is a deep soaking, provided there aren’t watering restrictions where you live.
Secondly if your plants aren’t mulched, an application of compost or composted manure around shrubs or trees will help amend the soil from the top down. This keeps plants healthy without further stressing them with fertilizer. (August isn’t a good time to fertilize most plants because that could prompt growth in September, just when you want your shrubs and trees to get ready for the winter.)
Here are photos of a few other things to watch for at this time of year.