Things are beginning to quieten down in the garden, but you cannot relax completely, especially with maintenance. Fresh weed seeds are still germinating and the lawn requires regular cutting, but most of the additional tasks like planting and staking are over for a while and the garden can be more easily enjoyed.

It is so easy at this time of the year to overlook colonies of seedling weeds and not regard them as important when, in fact, they will creep up on you and create a problem next spring if allowed to flower and seed.

All plants require regular manicuring, especially those that are still flowering freely. Roses, dahlias and early chrysanthemums benefit enormously from having faded blossoms removed.

In the case of larger-flowered dahlias and chrysanthemums it is advisable to reduce the flower buds to the strongest individual on each stem in order to produce a sizeable well-formed flower.

Tuberous begonias are, in many cases, getting past their best. The quantity of blossom is in decline, but the leaves are still plentiful.

In order to ensure strong healthy tubers for winter storage, allow the foliage to remain. Do not be tempted to cut it back for the sake of tidiness, for, as with bulbs which have finished flowering, begonias benefit from the leaves returning nutrients to their tuberous winter store.

If there are signs of mildew on the foliage, spray immediately with a systemic fungicide. Mildew appears as white powdery spots which eventually spread over all the leaves and cause the edges to become brown and crisp.

Mildew also appears on other flowering plants at this time of the year, especially Michaelmas daisies and clematis. Even if there is no evidence of the disease, it is wise to spray now to prevent an outbreak. This is also the best time of the year to take cuttings of shrub roses. Remove pieces of healthy stem of the current season's growth which are about the size and length of a pencil. Strip off the leaves and cut the base beneath a leaf joint.

Cuttings like this can either be placed in deep pots of an equal parts peat and sharp sand mixture in a cold frame, or directly in a good friable soil in the open ground. Push the cuttings into the rooting medium or soil up to about half their length. Rose cuttings take some weeks to root, but if left undisturbed, can be carefully lifted in the spring as well-rooted young bushes. These can either be potted up for growing on, or in many cases, planted in their permanent positions.

Where shrubs have been layered earlier this summer, investigate to see whether they have rooted. If so, it is wise to detach them from the parent plant and to pot them up before the weather deteriorates.

Rooted layers that are potted now will have an opportunity to make a good rootball before the winter. Ideally, they should be over-wintered in a frame or sheltered corner of the garden.

WHAT'S NEW

Origama is a dwarf seed raised aquilegia with blue, purple, yellow and white flowers.