Beat the Heat
OUR HOT WEATHER FAVORITES
Things are heating up in Hampton Roads… and there are plenty of plants that like it hot! Fill your garden with a pop of color, using plants that love the heat. These plants will last through the summer months and perform even better under sultry, hot conditions. They’ll not only survive the heat, but they’ll look good doing it.
LANTANA. Available in annual and perennial varieties, this plant is abundantly covered with bright summer blossoms. The shrubby plant comes in garden varieties bearing white, yellow, gold, orange, and red flowers; usually the older flowers in each cluster are a different color than the younger ones.
HIBISCUS. These glorious plants with impressive large flowers make showy accents; available in shades of red, pinks, oranges, and yellows. With plenty of warmth, water and fertilizer, you can be assured of a profusion of blooms and vigorous growth all season long. The brightly colored blossoms will also attract hummingbirds to your porch or patio. Although flowers last just one day, many are produced at one time to create a stunning show of color.
SUNPATIENS. One of America’s favorite garden flowers, the Impatien, is now even better! SunPatiens flourish in full sun, high heat and high humidity making them perfect for Hampton Roads’ summers. Now you can have a burst of color in both sun & shade with Sunpatiens.
PORTULACA. Sometimes called moss rose, is a popular drought-tolerant annual that loves those hot, dry days of summer. These plants are low-growing spreaders with thick succulent leaves and vibrant, cup-shaped flowers. Flowers come in a wide range of jewel-tone colors, including neon pink, red, orange, and yellow
ANGELONIA is also called summer snapdragon, due to it’s salvia-like flower spires that reach one to two feet high. Available in beautiful colorations in purple, white, or pink. It’s the perfect plant for adding bright color to hot, sunny spaces. This tough plant blooms all summer long with spirelike spikes of blooms.
GOMPHRENIA. This one is truly one of our hot weather favorites! It quickly grows to form a full, dense, landscape specimen, eventually reaching up to 3-4′ tall and 1-2′ wide. Tons of strong, tall stems are topped with exploding bursts of full, large 1′ blooms in hot pink tipped with bright yellow. A showstopper in the garden and conversation piece when cut for a mixed bouquet.
MANDEVILLA. We love this tropical flowering vine! This exotic plant bears showy, trumpet-shaped flowers in shades of pink, yellow and white on twining vines with puckered, oval leaves.
ZINNIAS These gorgeous flowers come in an amazing array of shapes and colors. Zinnias are highly attractive to butterflies that you can always count on having these fluttering guests dining in your garden every afternoon. These blooms add a wonderful structure and color to any summer landscape ~ a real must-have!
