Search is on for plants with sunny dispositions
Q: I have a 30-inch by 20-foot flower bed along the front brick wall of my house. I want to add flowering plants/ bushes that can stand the west sun during the heat of the summer. What should I consider? Formosa azaleas? ‘Knock Out’ roses? Leon Williams, Houston
A: While the azaleas might live, you would need to provide adequate water during the summer heat. Roses would work, and there are many lower-maintenance types to consider. Nurseries that specialize in roses are filled with options.
Best results will come if you provide an organically enriched soil. Plant as far away from the house wall as possible to discourage flat-sided plants and encourage fuller, more rounded growth.
Several shrubs and perennials can take west exposure. These come in varying heights for placement along solid portions of the wall as well as beneath windows.
Abelia (Abelia grandiflora) is a durable, longflowering evergreen shrub with graceful, arching branches. The dense, glossy foliage is bronze when new; leaves become dark green, then bronze again in the fall. There are variegated
cultivars as well. Delicate, bell-shaped, pinkishwhite blooms appear spring to fall. Abelia is drought resistant once established. Mature height is 4 to 6 feet, depending on the cultivar. All tolerate pruning.
Almond verbena (Aloysia virgata) is a tall, root-hardy, V-shaped, arching shrubby perennial with sandpapery foliage and fingerlike clusters of small, white almond-scented flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. It can reach 10 feet but also tolerates pruning.
Dwarf Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra) produces small, slightly fragrant pink and white blooms and showy red fruit that’s a treat for the birds. Harvest some to make jelly; the berries are rich in vitamin C. Mature height is about 4 feet.
Chinese fringeflower (Loropoetalum chinese var. rubrum) has deep burgundy foliage and latewinter, early-spring fringy fuchsia-pink blooms. Intermittent blooms may appear at other times of the year. Tall, mediumheight and dwarf cultivars are available.
Duranta or golden dewdrop (Duranta repens) is a pest-free plant with lilac-blue, purple or white flowers and golden berries late spring to frost. ‘Cuban Gold’ is grown for its bright, chartreuse foliage and manageable 4to 6-foot height. Duranta tops may freeze in a harsh winter, but the roots are hardy and regrowth is rapid. Prune to shape/ reduce height most any month.
Hummingbird bush (Hamelia patens) produces reddish-orange tubular blooms that attract hummingbirds. The foliage becomes increasingly bronzy-red from summer into fall. Freezing temperatures may nip the top, but the roots are hardy. Mature height is 5 feet and taller, depending on the type, winter temperatures or how much you prune.
Dwarf oleanders provide billowy mounds of low-care color. Heights vary with the cultivar.
‘Terri’s Pink’ hibiscus is a root-hardy 4- to 6-foot plant that bring daily rounds of highly colorful blooms.
Plumbago carries skyblue or crisp white blooms on cascading stems until frost. Plants form 4-foot mounds.
Russelia, or firecracker fern, is a workhorse with cascading, bright-green stems and tubular redorange blooms. There also are yellow and peach forms; none is winterhardy here.
Angelonia, or summer snapdragon, is a South American native easily grown as a tender perennial available in lavender, purple, pink, raspberry and white. The multibranched plants, about 18 to 22 inches tall and eventually about 1 foot wide, are packed with small blooms spring to frost.
Coneflowers have raylike petals that surround a raised conelike center. Plants are 1 to 4 feet tall with blooms on sturdy stems extending well above the expanded clumps. New cultivars in shades of reddish orange, yellow and white join the long-popular purple coneflower.
Daylilies are easy to grow and available in many colors and shapes. Look for early, late and repeat bloomers to expand the peak season in May. Watch the Chronicle’s garden calendar for upcoming daylily sales.
Milkweed also provides months of yellow or red-orange blooms for butterflies.
Lantana, a year-round bloomer for butterflies, comes in varying heights and several colors.
You might consider various rudbeckias, or black-eyed Susans.
Summer phlox is 3 to 4 feet tall with domed white, magenta or pink blooms late spring to fall.
Rock rose, or Peruvian pavonia, has charming pale-pink blooms with maroon throats on a 3- to 4-foot shrubby perennial. The native Texas rock rose is slightly shorter, with 2-inch, rosy-pink blooms. It can sprawl and volunteers easily.
Texas tea bush, or melochia, has small pinkish-purple blooms spring to frost. Evergreen in mild winters, this native shrubby perennial has 2½-inch, blue-green, serrated, nearly triangular leaves covered in a fuzzy white pubescence and forms a 2- to 3-foot pyramidal mound.
There are numerous ornamental grasses, tall to short, that love sun. They add movement to the garden, and the airy blooms are beautiful.