August 2026
While landscaping can be done any time during the year, August is not one of the best times to do it. During this month summer temperatures are still with us and typically rain for our crops is usually is in short supply. Such conditions do not favor the successful establishment of plants and our ability to keep them alive. It is, however, a wonderful time to enjoy our air-conditioned homes and an opportunity to do some strategic landscape planning.
Often you hear from both those who are still working and from many elderly citizens about how they just don’t have the time to keep up their grounds anymore. Some have become involved in other endeavors which leads to less time for the upkeep of their landscape. Also, as we grow older, we tend to become slower in all that we do thus requiring more time to maintain our landscape than it did only a few years ago. Some persons with large families who once needed a big house (usually surrounded by spacious grounds) to accommodate the entire family no longer have that need. However, after the children reached adulthood, married and moved away it left the parents with a big empty house and a sprawling landscape to keep up but with no one left at home to do the necessary maintenance.
This situation is what leads many persons to want to move to a smaller home and less grounds to keep up. Here is when good landscape planning becomes important. Although some prefer to purchase a smaller existing structure, others would rather build a new house of a size that fits their needs. In either case, a landscape may be optional. When moving to an existing house and a landscape is included (but hasn’t been maintained very well), the new owners can re-design the landscape to their own specifications using whatever plants that are present. Or, all of the plants in the existing landscape can be destroyed and new plants installed.
Although some homeowners who are planning to downsize to a residence with less space choose to move to an apartment, condo or townhouse where they are not responsible for the landscaping, others who have enjoyed working with plants for most of their life are not yet ready to give up that association. Such persons will generally prefer moving to a smaller home with a small, but manageable landscape.
As you plan your new landscape, try to choose plants that have been your favorites and preferably those that don’t get too large. Should you like some of the plants in your former landscape that grew too big, look for dwarf or semi-dwarf varieties of the same species for your new landscape. Also, check for plants with more restricted lateral growth that will be a better fit for a smaller landscape.
Keep lawn areas small because they are high maintenance and use too much of your time. Ground cover plants are a better selection than plants with a low profile.
JOE W. WHITE, PH.D.
Extension Horticulturist, (ret)
LSU AgCenter