No matter how much you’ve longed for warm days after shivering all winter long, our new climate reality may make you appreciate winter’s chill.
Scorching summers and dangerous droughts might make you despair, wondering how you’ll beat the heat and ever grow a gorgeous garden.
With climate change producing prolonged periods of extreme heat and drought, what’s a gardener to do?
Everyone adores Rudbeckia. Those classically cheerful, brilliant blooms fill gardens with low-maintenance joy.
From blanketing landscapes in vibrant colors to filling cutting gardens for beautiful, bountiful bouquets, rudbeckia makes an ideal addition to hot, sunny gardens.
Plus, these pretties attract bees, butterflies, and beneficial predatory insects to your garden, helping to keep aphids, thrips, and whiteflies at bay.
And, if you enjoy backyard birding, keep your eyes peeled for feathered friends enjoying a snack of rudbeckia seeds in the fall and winter.
Luckily, newer introductions focus on extended flowering, larger blooms, diverse colors, better branching, and more compact plants for smaller spaces.
This compact, upright, domed-shaped beauty blooms from late summer until the first frost. The golden-yellow flowers with arched petals pair beautifully with other heat and drought-tolerant perennials and annuals for a stunning summer show.
Bred to resist Septoria Leaf Spot with the foliage remaining clear even in humid conditions.
With big bursts of 4- to 6-inch blooms that cover the entire plant, Amarillo Gold brightens hot, dry gardens all summer long. The pretty golden flowers with green center cones bloom earlier than many rudbeckias—and keep flowering throughout fall.
Growing only 12 to 18 inches, it’s the perfect choice for containers or smaller gardens.
Beautiful 5-inch, golden-yellow flowers with a light-green center cone cover this branching rudbeckia. The long stems make Prairie Sun an excellent choice for cut flowers, while the 3-foot-tall plant blends beautifully into mixed beds or thrills in container gardens.
Prairie Sun plants become a forceful focal point in any large container.
Lantana makes a gorgeous addition to hot, dry gardens, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to the pretty clusters of petite flowers. By mid-summer, though, many varieties begin to set seed and need pruning to keep the plant flowering throughout the season.
Bloomify™ to the rescue! The first certified sterile lantana series, Bloomify™ plants keep flowering all summer long—even in intense heat and drought. Unlike some varieties that take over garden beds with tall, lanky branches, this pretty, mounded lantana plays nicely with other plants in the garden.
Gardeners love fan flowers for colorful displays in hanging baskets and containers because they look great even in extremely hot conditions. Older varieties can also be a little wild and rangy, with sparse flowers on leggy plants. They often require pinching but new fan flower varieties are easier to maintain.
Surdiva Scaevola has a compact plant habit that sports large flowers with vibrant colors. The brilliant blooms provide a stunning display, whether used as a ground cover, spiller in a container, or singular showpiece in a hanging basket.
This series was bred and selected for its profusion of flowers that attract butterflies. The compact size means it will look great in a hanging basket or in a container.
Continous blooms from spring to late summer this series is tolerant of rain and drought, with downy mildew resistance.
This compact series has numerous branches, each with a strong flower plume, as well as secondary blooms, which give a long show of color in the garden without fading.
Not only does Flamma have exceptional heat tolerance but also stuns with its early flowers that won’t fade. Looks great in both beds or in containers.
Mandevilla plants thrive in the summer heat, displaying their exquisite, tropical funnel-shaped flowers all summer long.
You’ll love the tropical staycation feeling it evokes, and hummingbirds will appreciate the profuse blooms as they swoop in for a drink.
A great pollinator magnet for hot, dry, sunny climates. Soft peach flowers are held on mauve calyxes which hold their color after the plant stops blooming, extending interest into fall.
Resist to deer, these fragrant flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
This heat and drought-tolerant perennial produces a pleasing sage fragrance and attracts bees and butterflies while offering deer resistance to your containers and garden.
Bluesette has a controlled, smaller habit and bursts into flower early in the season.
With its heat and drought-tolerance, anigozanthos makes a great addition to liven up summer gardens.
Clusters of fuzzy flowers add texture to the garden, while the beautiful blooms make long-lasting additions to bouquets.
Founded more than 100 years ago, the National Garden Bureau educates, inspires, and motivates people to grow home gardens. National Garden Bureau members are horticultural experts, and the information shared with you comes directly from these experts to ensure your gardening success.
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3 comments. Leave new
Wonderful news and suggestions for deer resistance
Good selections of various plants
Need to get some of these flowers for drought.