Hot-Summer Garden
- • Remove suckers on rose bushes. These vigorous canes emerge from below the bud union and should be cut off as far down as possible.
- • Hydrangeas are full of giant pink or blue flowers all summer, filling the shade garden with color.
- • Fountains create the sound of moving water that is restful and cooling on the patio or in the garden.
- • Dig and divide crowded spring-flowering bulbs and tubers including daffodils, scillas, muscari, and bearded iris.
- • Sow seeds of perennials like columbine, coreopsis, delphiniums and cone-flowers now for planting in the fall and beautiful blooms next year.
Hot-Summer Garden
Give your garden some pizzazz this summer with a flower bed of hot-colored flowers. These are the warm colors found in glowing sunsets, crackling fires and brilliant fall foliage. From clear yellows to gold, orange and red, these flowers will brighten any garden bed.
Plan your flower bed with the taller plants to the rear and the low spreaders in front. In between you can plant a menagerie of medium-sized flowers. A mix of annuals and perennials will give you the most color all summer long.
For the back row, choose from tall yellow yarrow, brilliant colored zinnias and canna lilies. Achillea ‘Coronation Gold’ is a yarrow that grows to 3 feet tall with gray-green fernlike foliage on plants that thrive in a hot, dry, sunny spot. Golden yellow flowers bloom in summer on flat, upward facing flower clusters.
Bold-colored canna lilies add a tropical accent to the flower bed. Their large leaves resemble banana leaves and the lily-like flowers come in bright red, yellow and orange.
Zinnias are a gift from Mexico. Tall zinnias come in all the bright colors of red, orange, yellow and purple. A planting of mixed colors or bold ‘Big Red’ make a color statement.
In the middle of your bed, the showy banded flowers of Gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun’ will add a big splash of color with their large orange-red blossoms tipped by a ring of yellow.
Penstemon come in many bright colors from dark purple ‘Midnight’ to cheerful ‘Huntington Pink’ to bright red ‘Firebird’. The maroon foliage of ‘Husker’s Red’ has tall stems of white flowers.
Rudbeckias, also known as Black-eyed Susans and Gloriosa Daisies, are beautiful daisy flowers for the border. The petals are golden yellow, sometimes with splashes of red and all have black centers.
Potentilla is a large genus of plants that includes shrubs as well as perennials. The shrubby form, ‘Goldfinger,’ is a neat little plant with butter-yellow flowers that bloom over a long season. ‘Monarch’s Velvet’ makes a low mound with strawberry-like foliage and raspberry-red flowers with crimson centers that rise on tall stems.
For the front of the border, look to colorful spillers like calibrachoa or Million Bells. This tough, ever-bloomer loves the sun and the heat. Look for it in yellow, rose, orange or purple.
Gazanias are a must-have for the hot summer garden. Their boldly striped blooms provides a carpet of color throughout summer.
Fill in the bare spots with marigolds and zinnias of different heights and the bright flowers of petunias and you’ll have amazing color from now till frost.
Fire up your garden with the hot colors of Summer.
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