How to Over-Summer New Plants

When you love plants like I do, people tend to give more of them to you. This is generally not a problem and is, in fact, a very good thing. Over the years, I’ve trialed countless plants for growers, which means putting them in the ground and paying attention to how they grow and reporting on their progress. I also receive plants after attending conferences, and I tend to acquire cuttings and divisions and trimmings that will someday turn into bigger plants.

The problem with all the plants comes with timing — nearly everything arrives in late May or June, when my attention is turning to vacations and the daytime temperatures are soaring into the 80s and 90s (Fahrenheit).

It’s taken me a few years and a sad number of dead plants to get a handle on the best care for new plants, in particular shrubs like hydrangeas. I’ve learned that the care starts the minute you pull them out of the box and that, surprisingly, I don’t need to put them in the ground right away.

As part of my membership in GardenComm International, Proven Winners sent me a beautiful one-gallon Incrediball Storm Proof hydrangea to trial in my garden. When it arrived, my husband pulled it from the box, placed it in a shady part of the porch and gave it a nice long drink of water.

I could put it in a full sun location in my garden, or even in a show-off-y container, but I’m delaying planting in my landsape for several reasons:

• Daily highs are in upper 80s and 90s and we’re entering the dry season.
• Deer pressure is real. I put out repellents, but they need to be reapplied after rain and I may miss a day.
• I have a big space to garden in, but no drip irrigation. Establishing a plant in hot weather with unreliable watering is difficult.

I think of this as over-summering my plants. Instead of over-wintering where you bring tender plants inside, I set new plants up for minimal stress through summer and plan to plant them in fall when the weather is cooler and wetter.

How I Prep Plants for Over-Summering

• Give plants a thorough soaking before repotting.
• Plant in a larger nursery pot. I put the 1-gallon Incrediball hydrangea into a 5-gallon container.
• Use good quality potting mix lightened with amendments like pine bark fines, sand or horticultural grit, and compost.
• Keep in a shaded area that’s close to irrigation and protected from pests. I keep my pots by my potting bench.

This fall, when the weather cools and the bugs die down, I’ll plant the Incrediball and a few more lovelies in the ground where they’ll be able to grow and stretch their roots in a more accommodating season.

I’ll keep you posted on Incrediball Storm Proof and how she progresses through the summer.

More Garden Stories from A Cook and Her Books

3 Summer Annuals for Container Gardens

Growing Nasturtiums in my Garden

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