The colors of summer are starting to fade.

The August garden is slowly getting ready for the end of the summer season.

We have lost a significant amount of sunlight over the last weeks and while we tell ourselves there is lots of summer gardening left, the truth is, Mother Nature has other ideas.

The garden is in transition. The petunias are long and leggy, the impatiens have a case of mildew, and the daylilies need to be groomed. I am not ready to cut the perennials back. I hope the green leaves and late summer sunshine will build strong plants for next summer.

The roses need their last application of fertilizer.

Gardeners often tell me proudly that they fertilize heavily to get their plants through the winter. This is like giving a toddler a candy bar at bedtime. Fertilizer and pruning send our plants the signal that they need to grow and bloom instead of getting ready for their quiet season of rest. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trim a broken branch but put your roses to sleep gently.

Like roses, our perennials are getting ready for their season of rest.

Perennials are plants that die back to the ground and then grow and bloom the next season. I cut my perennials to about 6 inches. Don’t be too tidy about cleaning up the perennial border. Our pollinators will use these flowers and stems for hibernating.

Keep fertilizing your annuals. Annuals like geraniums and petunias live only one season. Many of our containers will keep going right into autumn. However, for many annuals the time has come.

I have composted three containers and at least two more will go next week. When an annual is finished blooming they are finished for the season, and they won’t come back.

What to do? Plan a family cookout, have the children over for a campfire and smores, get outside and enjoy the lovely weeks of the beautiful late summer weather still to come.

Rebecca Norton Ryan is a Penn State Extension Master Gardener and member of the Warren Garden Club.