Much of the work necessary in the ornamental garden in late summer is the same as that for mid-summer but the quantity of work is probably, on balance, less in this season. The daylight hours will now be perceptibly reduced and those plants which need a long day length will have reached their peak and be going over. To compensate, the short-day plants of autumn will be starting to show colour in their buds and even to open the first flowers; dahlias, early-flowering chrysanthemums and Michaelmas daisies are examples. Annuals will definitely be getting straggly and less floriferous, biennials will have long since finished, so you will have to rely on the bedding plants and half-hardy annuals for the display from seed-grown plants.

Although the days are getting shorter, the weather may still be very hot and also wet, with frequent thunderstorms. This will mean fast growth for some plants, including weeds, and quite a lot of tying up and restoring after battering by heavy rain, summer gales and possibly hail. If conditions are wet, look for the spread of grey mould on many-petalled flowers such as dahlias and on plants in the greenhouse, where humidity will be considerable.

However, with dry weather now, the fungus disease which can be a great problem on all sorts of plants is mildew and in some gardens rust is also a disease which can be troublesome. The major outdoor pest at this time of the year and in autumn is the earwig and indoors whitefly may have built up large colonies unless you have been very watchful.

Some sowing and planting for winter and spring displays in the greenhouse can be done in late summer and the gardeners who have been fallowing soil for a new lawn for seed can finish preparing it, apart from producing a final seed-bed tilth. Annuals will give an earlier display next summer if sown in autumn and soil for these can also be prepared sometime in late summer.