August

Quotations for Gardeners, Walkers, and Lovers of the Green Way
Poems, Quotes, Folklore, Myths, Customs, Holidays, Traditions, Verses
Celebrations, Sayings, Poetry, Quips, Lore, Links, Recommended Reading
Gardening Chores for the Month of July


Compiled by Karen and Mike Garofalo

 

Quotes     Links     Recommended Reading     Gardening Chores     Photos     Weather  

Months     Index     Blog     Summer     June     July     September     Walking     Earth  

Water     Spirituality     Flowers     Seeing     Trees     Simplicity     Work     Home    

 

 

"Summertime
And the living is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Oh, your daddy's rich
And your mama's good lookin'
So hush little baby now
don't you cry

One of these mornin's
You're gonna rise up singin'
Then you'll spread your wings
And take to the sky

But til that mornin'
Ain't nothin' can harm you
With your daddy
And your mammy
standin' by."
-  George Gershwin and Dubose Heyward, Porgy and Bess  

 

"All your renown is like the summer flower that blooms and dies; because the sunny glow which brings it forth,
soon slays with parching power."
-  Alighieri Dante

 

"The collision of hail or rain with hard surfaces, or the song of cicadas in a summer field. These sonic events are made out of thousands of isolated sounds; this multitude of sounds, seen as totality, is a new sonic event."
-  Iannis Xenakis

 

"What wondrous life is this I lead!
Ripe apples drop about my head;
The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine;
The nectarine and curious peach
Into my hands themselves do reach;
Stumbling on melons, as I pass,
Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass."
Andrew Marvell, Thoughts in a Garden  

 

"My life is like the summer rose
That opens to the morning sky,
But ere the shades of evening close
Is scattered on the ground - to die."
-  Richard Henry Wilde

 

"And hate the bright stillness of the noon
without wind, without motion.
the only other living thing
a hawk, hungry for prey, suspended
in the blinding, sunlit blue.

And yet how gentle it seems to someone
raised in a landscape short of rain—
the skyline of a hill broken by no more
trees than one can count, the grass,
the empty sky, the wish for water."
-  Dana Gioia, California Hills in August 

 

Seeds and Cuttings
Hydrofarm Hot House Seed Starter 11-by-22-Inch   
Secrets of Plant Propagation: Starting Your Own Flowers, Vegetables, Fruits, Shrubs, and Trees 
Hydrofarm Jump Start Indoor Grow Light System 
Plant Propagation A to Z: Growing Plants for Free  
Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners  
Hydrofarm Germination Station with Heat Mat  
American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual    
Burpee Seed Starter: A Guide to Growing Flower, Vegetable, and Herb Seeds Indoors and Outdoors
Plant Propagator's Bible
The New Seed Starter's Handbook
RION MLT3 Mini Lean-To Greenhouse
Seed Sowing and Saving: Step-by-Step Techniques for Collecting and Growing  
Saving Seeds: The Gardener's Guide to Growing and Storing Vegetable and Flower Seeds
Seed Sowing and Saving: Step-by-Step Techniques for Collecting and Growing More Than 100 Vegetables, Flowers, and Herbs

 

                                    

 

 

"Open the window, and let the air
Freshly blow upon face and hair,
And fill the room, as it fills the night,
With the breath of the rain's sweet might.
Hark! the burthen, swift and prone!
And how the odorous limes are blown!
Stormy Love's abroad, and keeps
Hopeful coil for gentle sleeps.

Not a blink shall burn to-night
In my chamber, of sordid light;
Nought will I have, not a window-pane,
'Twixt me and the air and the great good rain,
Which ever shall sing me sharp lullabies;
And God's own darkness shall close mine eyes;
And I will sleep, with all things blest,
In the pure earth-shadow of natural rest."
-  James Henry Leigh Hunt, A Night Rain in Summer

 

"In summer, the song sings itself."
-  William Carlos Williams

 

"August rushes by like desert rainfall,
A flood of frenzied upheaval,
Expected,
But still catching me unprepared.
Like a matchflame
Bursting on the scene,
Heat and haze of crimson sunsets.
Like a dream
Of moon and dark barely recalled,
A moment,
Shadows caught in a blink.
Like a quick kiss;
One wishes for more
But it suddenly turns to leave,
Dragging summer away."
-  Elizabeth Maua Taylor 

 

"In August, the large masses of berries, which, when in flower, had attracted many wild bees, gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue, and by their weight again bent down and broke their tender limbs."
-  Henry David Thoreau

 

"Summer is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."
-  John Ruskin

 

"The moon is at her full, and riding high,
Floods the calm fields with light.
The airs that hover in the summer sky
Are all asleep to-night."
-  William C. Bryant

 

"As in the bread and wine, so it is with me.
Within all forms is locked a record of the past
And a promise of the future.
I ask that you lay your blessings upon me, Ancient Ones,
That this season of waning light
And increasing darkness may not be heavy.
So Mote It Be!"
-  Faille, Lammas Ritual  

 

"Oh, the summer night,
Has a smile of light,
And she sits on a sapphire throne."
-  Barry Cornwall

 

"There's a time each year
That we always hold dear,
Good old summer time;
With the birds and the trees'es
And sweet scented breezes,
Good old summer time,
When you day's work is over
Then you are in clover,
And life is one beautiful rhyme,
No trouble annoying,
Each one is enjoying,
The good old summer time."
-  Lyrics by Ron Shields, In the Good Old Summertime  

 

How to Support this Website

 

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
-  William Shakespeare  

 

“The streets lie, the sidewalks lie, everything lies
You can try and read it but you're gonna get it wrong...all wrong
The summer evenings burn and melt and the nights glitter but you're gonna get it wrong
And it's gonna sink its teeth into your flesh and pull you to the bottom.”
-  Henry Rollins

 

"Once upon a Lammas Night
When corn rigs are bonny,
Beneath the Moon's unclouded light, 
I held awhile to Annie...
The time went by with careless heed
Between the late and early,
With small persuasion she agreed
To see me through the barley...
Corn rigs and barley rigs,
Corn rigs are bonny!
I'll not forget that happy night
Among the rigs with Annie!"
-  Robert Burns  

 

"I celebrate myself, and what I assume you shall assume,  For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.  I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease ... observing a spear of summer grass."
-  Walt Whitman

 

"'Lughnassad' means 'the funeral games of Lugh', referring to Lugh, the Irish sun god. However, the funeral is not his own, but the funeral games he hosts in honor of his foster-mother Tailte.  For that reason, the traditional Tailtean craft fairs and Tailtean marriages (which last for a year and a day) are celebrated at this time.  As autumn begins, the Sun God enters his old age, but is not yet dead.  It is also a celebration of the first harvest. The Christian religion adopted this theme and called it 'Lammas', meaning 'loaf-mass', a time when newly baked loaves of bread are placed on the altar.  An alternative date around August 5 (Old Lammas), when the sun reaches 15 degrees Leo, is sometimes employed by Covens."
-   Wiccan Holidays, Lughnassad (July 31 - August Eve)  

 

"Let your children be as so many flowers, borrowed from God.  If the flowers die or wither, thank God for a summer loan of them."
-  Samuel Rutherford

 

 "O Spirit of the Summertime!
 Bring back the roses to the dells;
 The swallow from her distant clime,
 The honey-bee from drowsy cells.

 Bring back the friendship of the sun;
 The gilded evenings, calm and late,
 When merry children homeward run,
 And peeping stars bid lovers wait.

 Bring back the singing; and the scent
 Of meadowlands at dewy prime;—
 Oh, bring again my heart's content,
 Thou Spirit of the Summertime!"
-  William Allingham 

 

The Dry Gardening Handbook: Plants and Practices for a Changing Climate by Oliver Flippi
Drought Resistant Planting by Beth Chatto 
Xeriscape Handbook: A How-to Guide to Natural Resource-Wise Gardening by Gale Weinstein
The Low-Water Flower Gardener by Eric Johnson
Western Landscaping Book by Kathleen Bresnel
All About Dry Climate Gardening by Ortho 
Plants For Dry Climates: How To Select, Grow, And Enjoy  by Mary Duffield 
Landscape Plants For Dry Regions: More Than 600 Species From Around The World by Warren Jones 
Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Region  

 

                             

 

"When summer gathers up her robes of glory, and like a dream of beauty glides away."
-  Sarah Helen Power Whitman

 

"Fairest of the months!
Ripe summer's queen
The hey-day of the year
With robes that gleam with sunny sheen
Sweet August doth appear."
-  R. Combe Miller

 

"The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
All on a summer day:
The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
And took them quite away!"
-  Lewis Carroll 

 

"Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you."
-  Langston Hughes   

 

"When in still air and still in summertime 
A leaf has had enough of this, it seems 
To make up its mind to go; fine as a sage 
Its drifting in detachment down the road."
-  Howard Nemerov, Threshold 

 

"Blessed be the Harvest,
Blessed be the Corn Mother,
Blessed be the Grain God,
For together they nourish both body and soul.
Many blessings I have been given,
I count them now by this bread.
Guardian of the East, I pray for your indulgence.
Hear me now as I request your aid in the cycle of life.
As your winds blow through fields of ripened grain,
Carry loosened seeds upon your back 
That they may fall amidst the soil
That is our Mother Earth."
Lammas Ritual   

 

Writing and Being: Embracing Your Life Through Creative Journaling   
Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You
Journal to the Self: Twenty-Two Paths to Personal Growth    
How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook  
Visual Journaling: Going Deeper than Words  
Nature Journaling: Learning to Observe and Connect with the World Around You
Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within  
Mixed-Media Nature Journals: New Techniques for Exploring Nature, Life, and Memories
Creative Wildfire: An Introduction to Art Journaling - Basics and Beyond  
Inner Journeying Through Art-Journaling: Learning to See And Record Your Life As a Work of Art  

 

                             

 

 

"As for me, I know nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under the trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love,
Or sleep in bed at night with any one I love,
Or watch honey bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon...
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown,
Or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring...
What stranger miracles are there?"
-  Walt Whitman 

 

"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
    Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
    Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn."
-  Michelle L. Thieme, August's Crown 

 

"How sociable the garden was.
We ate and talked in given light.
The children put their toys to grass
All the warm wakeful August night."
-  Thomas Gunn, Last Days at Teddington

 

Ah, Sun-flower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done:
Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow
Arise from their graves, and aspire
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.
-  William Blake

 

"And now the cordial clouds have shut all in,
And gently swells the wind to say all's well;
The scattered drops are falling fast and thin,
Some in the pool, some in the flower-bell.

I am well drenched upon my bed of oats;
But see that globe come rolling down its stem,
Now like a lonely planet there it floats,
And now it sinks into my garment's hem.

Drip drip the trees for all the country round,
And richness rare distills from every bough;
The wind alone it is makes every sound,
Shaking down crystals on the leaves below.

For shame the sun will never show himself,
Who could not with his beams e'er melt me so;
My dripping locks--they would become an elf,
Who in a beaded coat does gayly go."
-  Henry David Thoreau, The Summer Rain

 

"What dreadful hot weather we have! 
It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."
-  Jane Austen  

 

 

 

 

"Birds fly in formation;
Tree leaves sway from side to side;
Clouds gather in small huddles,
discussing the weather;
Grass shoots shoot up once more,
their roots replenished;
A Phoenix nearby hums his Ode;
Tranquility is in place,
after the long bitter wait;
Alive, now, is the world."
-  J. I. Stuart, August

 

"This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet."
-  William Shakespeare

 

"Heat, ma'am! it was so dreadful here, that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones."
-  Sydney Smith, Lady Holland's Memoir

 

"Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite
Beyond it, blooms the garden that I love.
News from the humming city comes to it
It sound of funeral or of marriage bells."
-  Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

"Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat."
-  Ann Landers

 

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!"
-  Percy Bysshe Shelley  

 

"Summer's lease hath all too short a date."
-  William Shakespeare 

 

"The way to ensure summer in England is to have it framed and glazed in a comfortable room."
-  Horace Walpole

 

"August creates as she slumbers, replete and satisfied."
-  Joseph Wood Krutch  

 

"It is God in the house when the curtains lift gently at the windows, and a young child sucks his itching gums.
We do not understand the mysteries of God.
God the winter. Summer, Septembers.
Moody dark tones of fathers dying.
The splash and laughter.
Children playing."
-  Ellease Southerland 

 

"Oh that I could see to the Other Realm –
that I could learn the magic of the Ancients.
Oh that the secrets of the Druids
could be whispered in my ears
that I might know their beauty and their power –
that I might love again this land
and hear the voices of the Goddess and the God
in the trees and in the rivers."
-  Damh the Bard

 

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham 
The Solitary Druid: A Practitioner's Guide by Robert Ellison
The Druidry Handbook: Spiritual Practice Rooted in the Living Earth by John Michael Greer
Northern Tradition for the Solitary Practitioner: A Book of Prayer, Devotional Practice, and the Nine Worlds of Spirit by Galina Krasskova and Raven Kaldera 
Learning Ritual Magic: Fundamental Theory and Practice for the Solitary Apprentice by John Michael Greer
Solitary Witch: The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation by Silver RavenWolf 
Self-Initiation Into the Golden Dawn Tradition: A Complete Cirriculum of Study for Both the Solitary Magician and the Working Magical Group by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero
Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart 
Wicca For One: The Path Of Solitary Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland 
Scholar Warrior: An Introduction to the Tao in Everyday Life by Ming-Dao Deng

 

                   

 

"When on a summer's morn I wake,
And open my two eyes,
Out to the clear, born-singing rills
My bird-like spirit flies.

To hear the Blackbird, Cuckoo, Thrush,
Or any bird in song;
And common leaves that hum all day
Without a throat or tongue.

And when Time strikes the hour for sleep,
Back in my room alone,
My heart has many a sweet bird's song --
And one that's all my own."
-  William Henry Davies, When on a Summer's Morn

 

"From the great trees the locusts cry
In quavering ecstatic duo--a boy
Shouts a wild call--a mourning dove
In the blue distance sobs--the wind
Wanders by, heavy with odors
Of corn and wheat and melon vines;
The trees tremble with delirious joy as the breeze
Greets them, one by one--now the oak
Now the great sycamore, now the elm."
-  Hamlin Garland

 

"When the blackberries hang
swollen in the woods, in the brambles
nobody owns, I spend

all day among the high
branches, reaching
my ripped arms, thinking

of nothing, cramming
the black honey of summer
into my mouth; all day my body

accepts what it is. In the dark
creeks that run by there is
this thick paw of my life darting among

the black bells, the leaves; there is
this happy tongue."
-  Mary Oliver, August

 

"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy."
-  Anton Chekhov

 

"If there were no tribulation, there would be no rest; if there were no winter, there would be no summer."
-  St. John Chrysostom 

 

"August, the eighth month of the current Gregorian calendar and the third month of Summer’s rule, derives its name from Augustus (Augustus Caesar).  The traditional birthstone amulets of August are the peridot and the sardonyx; and the gladiolus and the poppy are the month’s traditional flowers.  August is shared by the astrological signs of Leo the Lion and Virgo the Virgin, and is sacred to the following Pagan deities: Ceres, the Corn Mother, Demeter, John Barleycorn, Lugh, and all goddesses who preside over agriculture.  During the month of August, the Great Solar Wheel of the Year is turned to Lammas, one of the four Grand Sabbats celebrated each year by Wiccans and modern Witches throughout the world."
Secrets of a Witch

 

"I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year."
-  Edna St. Vincent Millay

 

"Good weather all the week, but come the weekend the weather stinks. 
Springtime for birth, Summertime for growth; and all Seasons for dying.
Ripening grapes in the summer sun - reason enough to plod ahead. 
Springtime flows in our veins.  
Beauty is the Mistress, the gardener Her salve. 
A soul is colored Spring green.  
Complexity is closer to the truth. 
All metaphors aside - only living beings rise up in the Springtime; dead beings stay quite lie down dead. 
Winter does not turn into Summer; ash does not turn into firewood - on the chopping block of time. 
Fresh fruit from the tree - sweet summertime! 
Gardens are demanding pets. 
Shade was the first shelter. 
When the Divine knocks, don't send a prophet to the door. 
One spring and one summer to know life's hope; one autumn and one winter to know life's fate. 
Somehow, someway, everything gets eaten up, someday. 
Relax and be still around the bees. 
Paradise and shade are close relatives on a summer day. 
Absolutes squirm beneath realities. 
The spiders, grasshoppers, mantis, and moth larva are all back:  the summer crowd has returned!
To garden is to open your heart to the sky.
Dirty fingernails and a calloused palm precede a Green Thumb." 
-  Michael P. Garofalo, Pulling Onions

 

"The Chinese also have a day devoted to love. Qi Qiao Jie, or the seventh eve, is often referred to as Chinese Valentine's Day.  While the annual gift giving commonly associated with St. Valentine's Day doesn't take place, there are several charming customs associated with this romantic day for lovers.  There are two legends surrounding the origins of Chinese Valentine's Day. Both involve the position of the stars on the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar (August 11th in the year 2005).  According to the first version (my favorite), the seven daughters of the Goddess of Heaven caught the eye of a Cowherd during one of their visits to earth.  The daughters were bathing in a river and the Cowherd, Niu Lang, decided to have a bit of fun by running off with their clothing. It fell upon the prettiest daughter (who happened to be the seventh born), to ask him to return their clothes.  Of course, since Niu Lang had seen the daughter, Zhi Nu, naked, they had to be married. The couple lived happily for several years. Eventually however, the Goddess of Heaven became fed up with her daughter's absence, and ordered her to return to heaven.  However, the mother took pity on the couple and allowed them to be reunited once a year.  Legend has it that on the seventh night of the seventh moon, magpies form a bridge with their wings for Zhi Nu to cross to meet her husband."
-  Rhonda Parkinson and  Night of Sevens (Qi Xi, Qi Qian Jie)

 

 

  
Months and Seasons
Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Verses, Lore, Myths, Holidays
Celebrations, Folklore, Reading, Links, Quotations
Information, Weather, Gardening Chores
 

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

January

April

July

October

February

May

August

November

March

June

September

December  

 

 

"Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?"
-  Mary Oliver, The Summer Day

 

"Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience.
Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence."
-  Hal Borland

 

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought."
-  Wallace Stevens  

 

Lughnasadh, Lammas, Summer Festivals: Extensive Bibliography, Links, Lore, Poems, Prayers, Preparations, Crafts

 

"Pray but one prayer for me 'twixt thy closed lips,
Think but one thought of me up in the stars.
The summer night waneth, the morning light slips,
Faint and grey 'twixt the leaves of the aspen, betwixt the cloud-bars
That are patiently waiting there for the dawn:
Patient and colourless, though Heaven's gold
Waits to float through them along with the sun.
Far out in the meadows, above the young corn,
The heavy elms wait, and restless and cold
The uneasy wind rises; the roses are dun;
Through the long twilight they pray for the dawn,
Round the lone house in the midst of the corn,
Speak but one word to me over the corn,
Over the tender, bow'd locks of the corn."
-  William Morris, Summer Dawn

 

 

"Pomona was the uniquely Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards, and her festival, which she shared with her husband Vertumnus, was always on August 13th. Pomona watches over and protects fruit trees and cares for their cultivation, and Her name is from the Latin pomum, fruit. "Pomme" is the French word for "apple".  Pomona was among the Numina, guardian spirits of Roman mythology, who watched over people, places, or homes. The Numina are, in essence, the holy spirits of place, from which the word "numinous" derives. Pomona protected and inspired the abundance of the fruitful gardens and orchards. She had her own priest in Rome, called the Flamen Pomonalis. A grove sacred to her was called the Pomonal, located not far from Ostia, the ancient port of Rome."
Pomona - Roman Goddess of Agriculture and Abundance

 

 

"A life without love is like a year without summer."
-  Swedish Proverb

 

"The English winter, ending in July
To recommence in August."
-  Lord Byron

 

"Give me the joys of summer,
Of Summer Queen so fair,
With wealth of lovely flowers
And fruits and sun-kissed air!

Talk not to me of winter
With ice and frost and snow,
Nor changing spring and autumn
When howling winds will blow.

No, I will take the joys
Of Summer every time,
So to this Queen of Seasons
I dedicate my rhyme."
-  Winifred Sackville Stoner, Midsummer Joys

 

"If you saw a heat wave, would you wave back?" 
-  Steven Wright 

 

"Last summer I was staying at a house in Hampshire which was famous for the brilliance and the originality of its gardens.  There were many of them, but the most beautiful of all was a walled garden in which every flower was blue.  There were all the obvious things like delphiniums and acronitums and larkspurs, but the most beautiful blue of all came from the groups of cabbages - the ordinary blue pickling cabbage.  Set against the blazing blue of the other flowers, it had a bloom and elegance which made it a thing of the greatest delight."
-  Beverly Nichols 

 

"When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow, but the gardeners themselves."
-  Ken Druse

 

"He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put into vials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw, inclement summers."
-  Jonathan Swift

 

"A languid atmosphere, a lazy breeze,
With labored respiration, moves the wheat
From distant reaches, till the golden seas
Break in crisp whispers at my feet.

My book, neglected of an idle mind,
Hides for a moment from the eyes of men;
Or lightly opened by a critic wind,
Affrightedly reviews itself again.

Off through the haze that dances in the shine
The warm sun showers in the open glade,
The forest lies, a silhouette design
Dimmed through and through with shade.

A dreamy day; and tranquilly I lie
At anchor from all storms of mental strain;
With absent vision, gazing at the sky,
"Like one that hears it rain.""
-  James Whitcomb Riley, A Summer Afternoon

 

"This was one of those perfect New England days in late summer where the spirit of autumn takes a first stealing flight, like a spy, through the ripening country-side, and, with feigned sympathy for those who droop with August heat, puts her cool cloak of bracing air about leaf and flower and human shoulders."
-  Sarah Orne Jewett, The Courting of Sister Wisby, 1887  

 

"Under the summer sun,
thirty birds feeding
on figs.
Young tree branches
sagging so low -
ripe peaches.
Still in the shade,
on wet soil,
a black dragonfly.

An old mind
surprised by seeing
a purple fairy at sunset,
dancing to the crickets' tunes,
leaping as guinea hens screech,
wary of the bats,
hovering to say,
"Lugh's Day, Lugh's Day."

Crackling fires
glowing
under the full moon.
Peace in the Valley."
-  Michael Garofalo, Lugh's Day

 

"One summer night, out on a flat headland, all but surrounded by the waters of the bay, the horizons were remote and distant rims on the edge of space."
-  Rachel Carson

"There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart."
-  Celia Thaxter

 

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."
-  Sam Keen

 

"This is the river of the great 19th-century landscapists; of Cole, Cropsey and Church, and at the end of the summer it lies motionless under the haze as under a light coat of varnish."
-  Judith Thurman 

 

"Even with insects -
some can sing,
some can't."
-  Kobayashi Issa

 

"Let me enjoy this late-summer day of my heart while the leaves are still green and I won't look so close as to see that first tint of pale yellow slowly creep in. I will cease endless running and then look to the sky ask the sun to embrace me and then hope she won't tell of tomorrows less long than today. Let me spend just this time in the slow-cooling glow of warm afternoon light and I'd think I will still have the strength for just one more last fling of my heart."
- John Bohrn, Late August

   

"Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."
- Warren Buffett

 

"The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco."
-  Mark Twain 

 

 

"August rushes by like desert rainfall,
A flood of frenzied upheaval,
Expected,
But still catching me unprepared.
Like a match flame
Bursting on the scene,
Heat and haze of crimson sunsets.
Like a dream
Of moon and dark barely recalled,
A moment,
Shadows caught in a blink.
Like a quick kiss;
One wishes for more
But it suddenly turns to leave,
Dragging summer away."
-  Elizabeth Maua Taylor, August  

 

"A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows."
-  St. Francis of Assisi 

 

"When summer opens, I see how fast it matures, and fear it will be short; but after the heats of July and August, I am reconciled, like one who has had his swing, to the cool of autumn."
-  Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 

"Further in Summer than the Birds
Pathetic from the Grass
A minor Nation celebrates
Its unobtrusive Mass.

No Ordinance be seen
So gradual the Grace
A pensive Custom it becomes
Enlarging Loneliness.

Antiquest felt at Noon
When August burning low
Arise this spectral Canticle
Repose to typify

Remit as yet no Grace
No Furrow on the Glow
Yet a Druidic Difference
Enhances Nature now."
-  Emily Dickinson, Further in Summer Than the Birds

 

"Gently I stir a white feather fan,
With open shirt sitting in a green wood.
I take off my cap and hang it on a jutting stone;
A wind from the pine-tree trickles on my bare head."
-  Li Po, Summer in the Mountains

 

" Yes, long shadows go out
from the bales; and yes, the soul
must part from the body:
what else could it do?

The men sprawl near the baler,
too tired to leave the field.
They talk and smoke,
and the tips of their cigarettes
blaze like small roses
in the night air. (It arrived
and settled among them
before they were aware.)

The moon comes
to count the bales,
and the dispossessed--
Whip-poor-will, Whip-poor-will
--sings from the dusty stubble.

These things happen. . .the soul's bliss
and suffering are bound together

The last, sweet exhalations
of timothy and vetch
go out with the song of the bird;
the ravaged field
grows wet with dew." 
-  Jane Kenyon, Twilight: After Haying

 

"Hot town summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city."

 

"And where have you been, my Mary,
And where you been from me?"
"I've been to the top of the Caldon Low,
The midsummer night to see!"
"And what did you see, my Mary,
All up on the Caldon Low?"
"I saw the glad sunshine come down,
And I saw the merry winds blow."
"And what did you hear, my Mary,
All up on the Caldon Hill?"
"I heard the drops of the water made,
And the ears of the green corn fill."
"Oh! tell me all, my Mary -
All, all that ever you know;
For you must have seen the fairies
Last night on the Caldon Low."
-  Mary Howitt, The Fairies of Caldon Low 

 

Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun 
Secrets to Great Soil (Gardening Skills Illustrated) by Elizabeth Stell 
Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels 
Life in the Soil: A Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners by James Nardi 
Soil (True Books: Natural Resources) by Christin Ditchfield 
Soil Science Simplified by Helmut Kohnke 
Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth by William Bryant Logan 

 

                                 

 

"Sometimes I wonder what I'm a-gonna do
'Cause there ain't no cure for the summertime blues."
-  Eddie Cochran   

 

Astrological Signs:  Leo ,  July 23 - August 22

Astrological Signs:  Virgo ,  August 23 - September 22

August  Birthstone:  Peridot

 

"Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven with repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.

Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.

The dusty attic spider-clad
He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy's inmost nook.

Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes."
-  Robert Louis Stevenson, Summer Sun 

 

"mother’s parasol
I unfold the dust
of other summers"
Ernest J. Berry

 

"The frog half fearful jumps across the path,
And little mouse that leaves its hole at eve
Nimbles with timid dread beneath the swath;
My rustling steps awhile their joys deceive,
Till past,--and then the cricket sings more strong,
And grasshoppers in merry moods still wear
The short night weary with their fretting song.
Up from behind the molehill jumps the hare,
Cheat of his chosen bed, and from the bank
The yellowhammer flutters in short fears
From off its nest hid in the grasses rank,
And drops again when no more noise it hears.
Thus nature's human link and endless thrall,
Proud man, still seems the enemy of all."
-  John Clare, Summer Evening, 1848

 

"'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight,
All soft and still and fair;
The solemn hour of midnight
Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere,

But most where trees are sending
Their breezy boughs on high,
Or stooping low are lending
A shelter from the sky.

And there in those wild bowers
A lovely form is laid;
Green grass and dew-steeped flowers
Wave gently round her head."
-  Emily Bronte, Moonlight, Summer Moonlight

 

"We are all flowers in the garden of the world.
Some of us are daisys dainty and bright.
Some of us are poppys,with sweet contagious laughter.
If there was a flower for you,
Youd be a wild orchid,
So full of life,colors alive,
Sprinkled with scarlett and purple,
Explosions of colors racing through your petals."
-  Lanie Costea, A Wild Orchid 

 

"Just as I wonder
whether it's going to die,
the orchid blossoms
and I can't explain why it
moves my heart, why such pleasure
comes from one small bud
on a long spindly stem, one
blood red gold flower
opening at mid-summer,
tiny, perfect in its hour."
- Sam Hamill, The Orchid Flower

 

Understanding Orchids: An Uncomplicated Guide to Growing the World's Most Exotic Plants
Orchids For Dummies
Orchids: Resources, Poems, Quotes
Bloom-Again Orchids: 50 Easy-Care Orchids that Flower Again and Again and Again
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids
Easy Orchids: Simple Secrets for Glorious Gardens--Indoors and Out

 

"Warm summer sun, shine kindly here;
Warm southern wind, blow softly here;
Green sod above, lie light, lie light -
Good night, dear heart, good night, good night."
-  Mark Twain

 

"The serene philosophy of the pink rose is steadying.  It fragrant, delicate petals open fully and are ready
to fall, with regret or disillusion, after only a day in the sun.  It is so every summer.  One can almost
hear their pink, fragrant murmur as they settle down upon the grass: "Summer, summer,
it will always be summer.""
-  Rachel Peden

 

100 Old Roses For The American Garden    
Taylor's Guide to Roses: How to Select and Grow 380 Roses    
Roses: Quotes, Links, Notes
Complete Guide to Roses    
Best Rose Guide: A Comprehensive Selection
Orchid Delirium by Harold Feinstein
The Perennial Care Manual: A Plant-by-Plant Guide: What to Do and When to Do It by Nancy J. Ondra
Indoor Plants: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Caring for Houseplants by Grahame Clarke
The Indoor Plant Bible: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Caring for Indoor, Greenhouse, and Patio  Plants

 

                             

 

 

"I see the boys of summer in their ruin
Lay the gold tithings barren,
Setting no store by harvest, freeze the soils;
There in their heat the winter floods
Of frozen loves they fetch their girls,
And drown the cargoed apples in their tides.

These boys of light are curdlers in their folly,
Sour the boiling honey;
The jacks of frost they finger in the hives;
There in the sun the frigid threads
Of doubt and dark they feed their nerves;
The signal moon is zero in their voids.

I see the summer children in their mothers
Split up the brawned womb's weathers,
Divide the night and day with fairy thumbs;
There in the deep with quartered shades
Of sun and moon they paint their dams
As sunlight paints the shelling of their heads.

I see that from these boys shall men of nothing
Stature by seedy shifting,
Or lame the air with leaping from its hearts;
There from their hearts the dogdayed pulse
Of love and light bursts in their throats.
O see the pulse of summer in the ice."
-  Dylan Thomas, I See the Boys of Summer

 

The Dry Gardening Handbook: Plants and Practices for a Changing Climate by Oliver Flippi
Drought Resistant Planting by Beth Chatto 
Xeriscape Handbook: A How-to Guide to Natural Resource-Wise Gardening by Gale Weinstein
The Low-Water Flower Gardener by Eric Johnson
Western Landscaping Book by Kathleen Bresnel
All About Dry Climate Gardening by Ortho 
Plants For Dry Climates: How To Select, Grow, And Enjoy  by Mary Duffield 
Landscape Plants For Dry Regions: More Than 600 Species From Around The World by Warren Jones 
Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Region  

 

                             

 

 

"The brilliant poppy flaunts her head
Amidst the ripening grain,
And adds her voice to sell the song
That August's here again."
-  Helen Winslow

 

Quotes     Links     Recommended Reading     Gardening Chores     Photos     Weather  

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Recommended Reading and Links


Almanac for Gardeners - Monthly Activities and Lore

August Month - Customs and Traditions  

Celebrating Lammas - School of the Seasons 

Celebrating the Jewish Year: The Spring and Summer Holidays: Passover, The Omer, Shavuot, Tishaa b'Av.  By Paul Steinberg and Janet Greenstein Potter. 

Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for all Seasons and Reasons .  By Oberon Zell-Ravenheart and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart.

Cuttings - August   Short poems by Mike Garofalo. 

Daoist Health and Spiritual Practices  

Fairies, Elves, Nature Spirits:  Lands Spirits, Alfs, Wights, Lars, Trolls, Dwarves, Sidhe, Devas, Otherworld, Little Folk, Ancestors, Ghosts  

The Green Man (Powers of Spring and Summer): Bibliography, Links, Quotes, Information, Lore, Myths, Role  

Green Way Blog

The Green Wizard    

Flowers: Quotations, Lore, Myths, Resources 

Harvest Festivals: Extensive Bibliography, Links, Lore, Poems, Prayers, Preparations, Crafts, Quotes, Notes

In Nature's Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth.  By Patricia Montley. 

July: Quotes, Poems, Lore

June: Quotes, Poems, Lore 

The Labyrinth: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotes 

 

Lammas, Lughnasadh, Mid-Summer Celebration, Harvest Festival,
Midsummer's Feast, August 1st


Lammas: Extensive Bibliography, Links, Lore, Poems, Prayers, Preparations, Crafts, Quotes, Notes

Lammas:  Preparing for the Lammas or Lughnasadh Festival on August 1st

Lammas:   The Eight Seasonal Religious Celebrations of NeoPagans   

Mabon:  Preparing for the Autumnal Equinox Celbration, Alban Elfed, Mabon on September 21st

Land Spirits, Nature Spirits:  Fairies, Elves, Alfs, Wights, Trolls, Dwarves, Sidhe, Devas, Otherworld, Little Folk, Ancestors, Ghosts  

Lughnasadh:  Extensive Bibliography, Links, Lore, Poems, Prayers, Preparations, Crafts, Quotes, Notes

The Man Who Loved Plants by Edgar Oliver 

Mid-Summer Festivals: Extensive Bibliography, Links, Lore, Poems, Prayers, Preparations, Crafts, Quotes, Notes

Months:  Quotes, Poems, Links, Gardening Chores


Moon Lore    August's moon is the Corn Moon.  

 

How to Support this Website

 


Nature Spirits:  Fairies, Elves, Alfs, Wights, Lars, Trolls, Dwarves, Sidhe, Devas, Otherworld, Little Folk, Ancestors, Ghosts  

NeoPagan Summer Festivals: Extensive Bibliography, Links, Lore, Poems, Prayers, Preparations, Crafts, Quotes, Notes

Night of Sevens (Qi Xi, Qi Qian Jie)   A Chinese holiday.  

One Old Druid's Journey - The Notebooks of the Librarian of Gushen Grove  

A Passage Through August  

Pathways in the Green Valley Blog.   By Michael Garofalo. 

Preparing for the Autumnal Equinox Celebration, First Day of the Fall Season, Mabon, Alban Elfed, Third Summer Festival

Preparing for Lammas, Lughnasa, Late Summer Feast 

Quotes for Gardeners    Over 3,800 quotes arranged by over 250 topics.   

Red Bluff, California.  Natural History Studies at our Home and Gardens.   Valley Spirit Center.  By Karen and Mike Garofalo. 

Sacred Circles:  Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotations, Notes, Construction 

The Sacred Wheel   

September: Quotes, Poems, Lore  

Summer Festivals: Extensive Bibliography, Links, Lore, Poems, Prayers, Preparations, Crafts, Quotes, Notes

Summer: Greetings, Celebrations, Rituals, Quotes

Summer  -  Quotes, Poems, Sayings and Quips for Gardeners  

Taoist Health and Spiritual Practices

Trees: Quotations, Lore, Myths, Resources 

Ways of Walking

Weather Almanac for August - Seasonal Lore

Wicca Holidays and Sabbaths 


Zen Poems

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August Weather Lore

 

If the first week in August is unusually warm,
the coming Winter will be snowy and long.

For every fog in August,
There will be a snowfall in Winter.

If a cold August follows a hot July,
It foretells a Winter hard and dry.

Dry August and war, Doth harvest no harm.   -  Thomas Tusser

Typical Weather for Our Area   Normally, in August, we have daytime high temperatures of 96ºF (36C), nighttime low temperatures of 64ºF (18C), and we get .2 inches of rain.

Our Path in the Valley Blog   Follow the seasons in the Northern California garden of Karen and Mike with their notes, links, resources, quotes, poems, and photos.

Clichés for Gardeners

Weather Lore

Weather Quotes

 

The Essential Book of Weather Lore by Leslie Alan Horvitz 
A Medley of Wather Lore by M.E.S. Wright  
Weather For Dummies by John D. Cox  
The AMS Weather Book: The Ultimate Guide to America's Weather
Peterson First Guide to Clouds and Weather
The Weather Identification Handbook: The Ultimate Guide for Weather Watchers by Storm Dunlop   
The Weather Book: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the USA's Weather by Jack Williams 

 

                                  

 

 

August Gardening Chores

Red Bluff, North Sacramento Valley, California, USA

USDA Zone 9

Typical Weather for Our Area

Red Bluff, California.  Natural History Studies at our Home and Gardens

The Spirit of Gardening

 

August Gardening Chores for Us

Water plants: take advantage of cool morning hours, use daytime shade, use mulch, water plants deeply and less frequently. 
Water in the early morning. 
Use any ditch water carefully and wisely. 
Move potted plants to areas that get some shade in the afternoon, e.g, along the east side of a fence that runs north/south. 
Water potted plants carefully on very hot days.
Mow lawns.
Prune branches of trees. 
Mulch and compost: cuttings, leaves, twigs, chips, shredded paper, garbage.
Water compost pile areas.  
Manage cutworms, larva, grasshoppers and other garden pests.
Weed around vegetables.
Use mulch to help control weeds and cool soil.
Maintain the lawn mowing equipment and power tools.
Work on carpentry projects.  
Pick and save or eat fresh vegetables and fruits.
Thin out excess fruit on trees.
Mulch with straw, chips, compost.  
Train vines on support structures.  
Read, listen to music, practice your musical instrument, relax and sleep in the shade.
Tend to and enjoy annuals in bloom.  
Maintain lawn: water, fertilize, mow, clean, plant, spray, etc..
Mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch....
Water, water, water, water ....
Harvest and preserve fruits and vegetables.
Paint outdoor art objects. 
Cut and stack wood so it can dry thoroughly. 

 

August Gardening Chores and Tips for Other Gardening Zones

Oregon State University May Tips

Earth Wise Creations May Tips - Zone 9

Top Garden Projects for May in the Pacific Northwest by Ed Hume

The Gay Gardener - May

52 Weeks in the California Garden by Richard Smaus

The Garden Helper Tips for May - Northern U.S.

Gardening Tips - May - Zone 6 - New York Botanical Garden

Master Gardeners Tips

Fifty Two Weeks in the California Garden .  By Richard Smaus.  Los Angeles Times, 1996.  ISBN: 1883792118.    

Garden Chores for the California Central Valley, Foothills, and Bay Area

Gardening Month by Month in Northern California .  By Bob Tanem and Don Williamson.  Lone Pine Publishing, 2004.  160 pages.  ISBN: 1551053659.

Northern California Gardening: A Month by Month Guide .  By Kathernine Grace Endicott.  Chronicle Books, 1996.  384 pages.  ISBN: 0811809269.   

Northern California Gardening: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Notes

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Photographs in August 


Karen and Mike Garofalo
Red Bluff, Rural Northern California

Red Bluff Home Gardens -  Photo Comparison from 1998 - 2007

Our Path in the Valley Blog   Follow the seasons in the Northern California garden of Karen and Mike with their notes, links, resources, quotes, poems, and photos.

All photographs taken by Karen Garofalo 

 

Our Back Porch - July 2006       

 

 

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The Spirit of Gardening Website

Over 3,800 Quotations, Poems, Sayings, Quips, One-Liners, Clichés, Quotes, and Insights
Arranged by Over 250 Topics
Over 15 Megabytes of Text
Over 21 Million Webpages (excluding graphics) Served to Readers Around the World
       From January 1, 1999 through March 1, 2011
This webpage has been online since June 1999
Compiled by Karen Garofalo and Mike Garofalo from Red Bluff, California
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Last Updated: May 12, 2011 

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Our Path in the Valley Blog 

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