I had to talk myself off the ledge repeatedly through the last half of July and into early August. The trigger? A garden that looked pooped and a gardener that felt the same. With the right plants and tactical tricks, though, the beds and borders can carry on right through fall. Garden designer Katherine Tracey helped me with advice on how achieve that.

Ready to tune up your garden with a longer view into autumn with some tweaks now and some long-range plans and planting for coming years? Kathy of Avant Gardens retail and mail order nursery in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, also helps clients design and refine their landscapes, creating spaces she describes as intimate but not fussy, like her home garden, using a wide palette of perennial plants. ![]()
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