Add some of these plants to your garden before the "dog days" of summer set in next year and you will have a thriving, blooming yard to look out at from the comfort of your air conditioning!!
Gomphrena
(Gomphrena globosa)
Type: annual
Light: full sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: 1-2 ft. tall, .5-1 ft. wide
Extremely heat tolerant. Attracts butterflies. Blooms June to frost. Great cut flower, excellent dried flower. Great in a pot or in the garden. Also called globe amaranth.
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| Dee Hudson's "Buddy" purple |
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| Carolyn Sutton's "Buddy" pink |
Melampodium
(Melampodium divaricatum)
Light: Full sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: 1-2 ft. tall, .75-1 ft. wide
Blooms May to frost. No deadheading required. May reseed in optimum conditions. Sometimes called butter daisy.
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| This was my first try at growing melampodium and I became an instant fan!! Our Master Gardeners planted melampodium in the garden at the Dixie Theater. Check it out the next time you drive by! |
Zinnia
Now we're not talking about the old-timey garden zinnia! These zinnias are a low, mounding variety that have less disease issues.
(Zinnia augustifolia)
Light: full sun
Water: dry to medium
Maintenance: low
Size: .75 - 1.5 ft. tall, .75 - 1 ft. wide
Also known as narrow leaf zinnia. Profuse summer to frost blooms. Plants do not fade in summer as do the common garden zinnia. Drought tolerant. The narrow leaf zinnia was crossed with the common zinnia to produce the Profusion zinnia series; another good choice.
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| Carolyn Sutton's zinnias. |
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| My zinnias blooming since March. |
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| Narrow leaf zinnias are also part of the garden at the Dixie Theater. |
Coleus
(plectranthus scutellarioides)
Light: part shade to full sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: .5-3 ft. tall, .5-3 ft. wide
Grown for its foliage, not flowers. Foliage comes in a wide variety of colors and shapes. Also known as painted nettle.
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| Lou Taylor's coleus. |
Senorita Rosalita Cleome
Now there are lots of cleomes, but this one is special! Keep reading...
Light: full sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: 2-4 ft. tall, 1.5-2 ft. wide
This cleome is desirable because it flowers all over the plant, not just at the very top. It also isn't sticky like ordinary cleome. It attracts bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. Very heat and drought tolerant. Blooms from spring to frost. This plant was named a Louisiana Super Plant by the LSU AgCenter.
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| Donna White's cleome in the center pot, flanked by celosia to the left and painter's pallet to the right. |
Pentas
(Pentas lanceolata)
Type: annualLight: part shade to full sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: 1.5-2 ft. tall, .5-1 ft. wide
Also known as Egyptian Starflower. Attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. Try choices from the Butterfly series as they have flowers larger than other pentas.
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| Lou Taylor's pink pentas. |
Phlox
(Phlox paniculata)
Type: perennialLight: full to part sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: 2-3 ft. tall
Also known as summer or garden phlox. Magenta varieties perform best in our area. "Franz Shubert" is a reliable choice. Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.
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| Kathy Davis's summer phlox....... |
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| with butterfly!!! |
Veronica
(Veronica spicata)
Light: full sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: 10-36 inches tall
Also known as speedwell. Blooms from spring to fall. Clumping plant puts off spikes with flowers. "Sunny Border Blue" and "Red Fox" are good choices.
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| Donna White's veronica. |
Purple Heart
(Setcreasea pallida)
Light: part shade to full sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: 6-12 inches tall, 1-3 ft. wide
Grown for its foliage which is a rich purple. Likes cramped roots. Good used as a ground cover or spilling out of a pot or hanging basket.
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| Kathy Davis says, " For years I tried to keep something blooming in the dry, six inch strip of dirt between my patio and the house. One year I stuck purple heart in the gaps where flowers had died. The next year it came back! You really don't have to root it, just pinch some off and throw it down in some bare soil. Nice in containers for a "spiller". Purple color compliments every green. |
Hibiscus
Here are a couple to consider...
Light: full sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: 5 feet or taller
Keep its name in mind; this is a tropical plant and is best grown in a container that can be moved indoors during freezing temperatures. The colors are luscious and the flowers are showy. The hibiscus belongs to the same family as the okra; no wonder they love the heat!
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| Cathy Barr's tropical hibiscus. |
Type: Texas Star Hibiscus
Sun: part to full sun
Water: medium
Maintenance: low
Size: up to 8 feet tall
Can grow in regular garden soil, but will also grow in a poorly drained area of your yard. It is a hardy perennial so it will die back in the winter and begin to grow from ground level again in the spring. Large, red flowers from early summer to frost.
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| Kathy Davis's Texas Star hibiscus. |
Bromeliads
Type: tropical, semi-tropical
Sun: morning sun
Water: low
Maintenance: low
Size: varies
These plants are often given as gifts. Most people grow them as houseplants, but they can be grown in the garden in our area as long as they are taken inside for the winter. They come in many beautiful colors and interesting shapes.
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| Patricia Jone's bromeliads. She says, "I learned this trick in Australia. The Gold Coast has been experiencing drought for years and the gardeners also deal with extreme heat. The only difference is that its subtropical there and so frost is not a problem as it is for us. They use bromeliads as bedding plants. Bromeliads are quite tough and can take dry conditions, plus can grow in sun or shade. Very versatile! I simply collect then before a freeze, pop them all in a tub that I water maybe 6 times a winter, and replant in the spring.
I am going to close with a personal favorite of mine, the moon flower vine.
It is an annual vine that is easily grown from seed. Moon flower blooms at night with a large, pure white flower, but it is the fragrance that keeps me planting this vine year after year. The scent brings to mind soap or shampoo used during a cool, clean shower at the end of a hot, dry summer day. How appropriate!!
 ******************************************************************* So, there you go!! Lots of plants that are "tougher than woodpecker lips"!! Remember that many of these plants will be available at the Master Gardener Spring Plant Sale in April. Love ya'll, Shelli Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, |
1 comment:
Ohhh, beautiful!!!
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