- Perennial Hibiscus – Show-stopping dinner plate-sized blooms in red, pink, white, including varieties that mix each color on every flower. Create your own backyard tropical paradise!
- Coneflowers – This is THE classic native flower. It comes in lots of colors including in pink, neon pink, yellow, red, white, and even orange. Plus, it blooms on repeat.
- Lavender – This is a super fragrant choice for that sunny, sandy, summer beach scene with lots of long-lasting flowers.
- Coreopsis – A lacy, airy flower that reblooms with ease in the heat of summer. Keep them dry and hot for best results.
- Daylily – This indestructible rebloomer does best along roadsides, walkways, and sunny hot locales everywhere.
- False Sunflower – You can get tons of long-lasting color from this tall, narrow plant that loves to bake in the afternoon sun.
- Black-eyed Susan – These bright yellow flowers bridge the gap between summer vacation and football season. Bring the summer to a close and ring in autumn all in one great plant.
Part of the reason why people can be so nervous to plant this time of the year is the heat! To put your mind at ease, why not bring on summer with these sun-loving, and heat-tolerant annuals!
Pentas – This is the best annual pollinator! if you have a butterfly garden, this is a must-have. It produces a large cluster of flowers that butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds just love.
Gazanias – Produces large vibrant flowers, which love to dry out in between watering.
Geraniums – An old favorite that’s drought tolerant and loves the summer heat.
Persian shield – A dark purple foliage plant with a surprisingly dark purple flower.
Portulaca – A great drought tolerant plant, that’s also highly recommended as a cemetery plant.
Lantana – It produces bright clusters of flowers that thrive on neglect. Hummingbirds and butterflies love this plant.
Heliotrope – A fragrant delight, with a deliciously sweet vanilla scent.
Evolvulus – This true blue flower loves extreme heat and summer sun.
Angelonia – A great thriller plant to add to your summer containers. It’s quite fragrant and produces color from head to toe.
Scaevola – A fan-type flower, that’s also super tough. It tolerates neglect and bounces right back.
Cuphea vermillionare – Hummingbird alert! This orange cigar plant is a must-have for any hummingbird lover to have in their garden.
There are so many tropical plants to pick from to create your own special family tropical oasis. Here’s a list of our favorites
- Yoder hibiscus
- Mandevilla
- Gardenias
- Lantana
- Plumbago
- Canna lilies
- Oleander
- jasmine
- Robellini palms
- Spindle palms
- Majesty palms
- Areca palms
- Bromeliads
- Boston ferns
- Elephant ear alocasia
- Bird of paradise
- For the greenest lawn in the neighborhood, use Milorganite Espoma Summer Revitalizer or Fast Acting Iron. Love them all! All three products can be used even in the heat of summer without burning the lawn. The iron in these products gives amazing, deep green color to our summer lawns. Get your first application down in June to get a head start on the greening process. Shhhhhhh, don’t tell your neighbors about it!
- Small patch seeding only! Don’t take on big seeding projects this time of the year. If you do, you’ll have to water so much you won’t have time to enjoy your super green lawn. Only do small, manageable, bare patches of seeding.
- Keep the lawn mowed as high as you can tolerate. Never let that mower dip below 3 inches. The higher the lawn is, the less chance of burnout in the summer heat.
- You are either all in or all out. Meaning if you’re going to water in the summer months, commit to it. No piddly amounts of water will do. If you are only going to give your lawn shot glasses full of water, then do not bother at all. Just let it go dormant and take a little summer rest.
- Don’t forget those grubs. Consider a Grub Ex application in early July to take care of those new, hungry grubs that’ll try and damage dad’s summer lawn.