‘The days are at their longest, and the skies are more or less cloudless, the average mean temperature being at its maximum.’
Walter P. Wright, 1937
Summer is when plants should be growing more than at any other time of the year. Walter Wright believed that ‘this, therefore, is clearly the time when the cultivator should help the plant in every way possible to develop into first-class specimens.’
And, in Walter’s time – the 1930s – what would our first job be? Dusting. He advises: ‘Let the foliage plants be sponged as often as it is necessary to keep the leaves free from dust, as nothing is more hindering to growth than allowing the foliage to be covered with an accretion of house dust.’
July also means there is no time to be lost with ‘potting operations’ including repotting to allow plants to re-establish themselves while the weather is still warm.
Top-dressing our palms is also on the list since the frequent watering necessary in warm rooms tends to wash away the soil and expose the roots.
And then, there is the application of soluble plant food (‘preferably liquid manure’) so plants can make the best of the growing season.
The Graceful Custom 