How to make your plot pop when the going gets hot
It seems we have skipped spring and jumped right into summer heat, and the plants chosen to enhance our patios and gardens need to reflect this reality.
Both heat and drought tolerance are becoming necessary for a long colour display right through until frost, and this is when some great new plants can make a stunning contribution.
Gaining fame are the ‘Dragon Wing ’ begonias. There’s nothing quite like them; their green leaves, shaped like dragon wings, turn a rich burgundy red in the sun and their large pink or red flowers just never quit. Ideal as spillover plants for containers or baskets, they love the heat and thrive right through the hottest days of summer. There is a white one as well, but it does not have the same attractive look or growth habit as the other two.
I’m really excited about the new ‘Canary Wing ’ begonias with their yellow foliage and red blooms. It’s an eye-popper, but being a new product, there is a limited supply this year.
Ornamental sweet potato vines (Ipomoea) are over-the-top heat lovers. Now available in a wide range of colours from the most popular hot lime ‘Margarita’ and the rich lacy black of ‘Blackie’ to the two heart-shaped varieties — the tan ‘Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Red’ and the black ‘Sweet Caroline Jet Black.’ As accent plants, they make any container pop, and they also look amazing on their own as foliage baskets. We love to mix the varieties for a striking blend of strong colours.
There are now more compact forms of sweet potato vines that play nicely with other plants; this year an upright form, called ‘Solar Power,’ is available. If you need a quick privacy screen that will do well through the heat of summer, these guys will provide it almost instantly. The first two colours of this new series, hot limeandjetblack,wouldmakea stunning contrasting combination planted together.
Another fast-growing, heatloving vine, thunbergia, often known as black-eyed Susan vine, is a fun splash of colour. Give them a wall, trellis or pole — really anything to grow on — and they will not disappoint. They grow from seed in orange or the old ‘Susie Mix’ of colours, but the versatility of propagated varieties, such as ‘Sunny Lemon,’ ‘Sunny Orange’ and red ‘Sunny Arizona Glow,’ have larger and more vibrant flowers.
The workhorse of easy, drought-tolerant colour are the portulacas. The old seedling varieties still perform best with vibrant yellows, oranges, pinks, rose, reds and bi-colours. The new ‘Cupcake’ series with flat foliage and big single blooms is truly impressive. They are at home in both containers and hanging baskets. In mass plantings, they smother the ground with colour. Interestingly, they go to sleep at night and their blossoms close.
Speaking of closing at night, gazanias also have this habit. These summer daisies provide a no-quit performance. With a vibrant colour range of hot orange, yellow, red, purple and striped varieties, nothing touches the vibrancy of these African daisies. I’ll always remember seeing the hot, dry landscape of South Africa smothered in daisy-like gazanias. I got into a bit of trouble for jumping out of a safari truck parked beside a fairly large rhino to get a closeup shot of a particularly beautiful gazania. They are a must-have summer plant.
Last year, coleus was the U.S. National Garden Bureau’s plant of the year, and have they ever caught on. In dry shade, and now with the full sun ‘Solar’ varieties, they are a go-anywhere plant. There are so many leaf forms, colours and habits, they provide choices like no other plant.
In foliage containers and hanging baskets, they are an easy-care solution for so many patio settings, and as a bonus, slugs don’t seem to like them. I’m particularly fond of the Dummen Orange Company’s coleus combinations. They’ve selected colour blends that work so well together. The Ball Horticultural Company and Proven Winners also have incredibly unique colours that integrate beautifully with other sun-loving plants.
Zinnias are usually the last plants to go in the garden because to give their best performance they need dry soil and heat. The large headed favourites, like the old cactus and dahlia flowering types, have given way to varieties with shorter, more compact stems, like the ‘Magellan’ series and ‘Short Stuff,’ a compact variety with large flowering heads.
Today, the superstar zinnias are the ‘Profusion’ and ‘Zahara’ series, and they are changing the role zinnias play in our summer gardens. They offer a wide colour selection, masses of smaller blooms, and a spreading habit for a huge colour display in the heat, and they are great used as cut flowers. Without mentioning the new petunias, geraniums, Vinca major, blue salvias, triploid marigolds and celosia, it’s nice to know there’s a wide selection of heat-loving plants. It’s still early in the planting season, so there’s lots of time to use them to add vibrant colour to all our patios and gardens.