Blog by Laurel- Summer lovin' plants!

This 100 degree weather can make it hard to enjoy your garden or outdoor landscaping. However, I wanted to give you some inspiration- there are plants out there that flourish in the heat! This heat wave will pass and soon, we'll be back to sitting on our porch or patio, enjoying the view....
Here are some great summer blooming plants. While I don't suggest you create your landscape around these blooming beauties, I do love to include some in the landscapes I design. They add softness, color, texture and just all around summer splendor!
Daylilies- who doesn't love these? They are teflon- easy to grow in shade, hard to kill, rabbits won't eat them (much), they bloom in the dead of summer and keep blooming. Oh, and they aren't susceptible to pests! How great is that? They range in size from tiny to over 3' tall. The colors??? Just look:

 I love this creamy color! 

Next great heat-loving summer lover- the Hydrangea. Now, you may not think of hydrangea as a heat lover. But it only blooms in summer, won't put on blooms until it gets warm (cool summers postpone its bloom development) and blooms it's heart out all summer. Granted, they require SHADE. Different hydrangeas require different amounts but it's always safe to provide morning sun and afternoon shade. Most do very well with enriched soil (r.e. lots of compost, every year, forever) and adequate, regular deep watering.
Hydrangeas are also a fairly good structural element in your landscape design. They are deciduous (in winter they become a pile of sticks), so they won't be green all year. But they can be large and form a hedge of sorts! Choose Hydragea paniculata (Pinky Winky, Pee Gee, etc.), Hyd. tardiva, Hyd. quercifolia (Oakleaf), Hydrangea arborescens (Limelight, Annabelle, etc)- all of these are the bigger specimens. The Endless Summer are the old fashioned beauties that turn blue/ pink depending on soil acidity. They stay small.

These are both the Limelight Hydrangea- 6'+ H and gorgeous lime green to white blooms.









Next post will have a few more wonderful summer plants: Roses and ornamental grasses!