And The Winner Is?
Make A Rustic Sawhorse Table For Under $40
Getty Images
Perennials
If you are looking for showy perennials that are not picky about their location, bet on a couple of these old favorites:
Lavender Definitely a summer bloomer, lavender looks and smells wonderful and is extremely resistant, year after year, to many outdoor radicals caused by drought and heat. Choose blue, purple, deep violet, or white -- it is also great for drying and crafting.
Agastache This perennial loves the sun and heat and offers lovely orange and pink blossoms with tints of lavender. It also attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. Plus, it blooms all the way into the autumn months.
Poppy Mallow This is one of the showiest pink, cup-shaped flowers in a garden. It is a spreader and thrives in hot dry areas. Several blooms will appear throughout the spring and summer months.
Yarrow One of the easiest growing perennials in a garden: Not only is it totally heat-dry tolerant, but the pests won't bother with it either. It comes in several different shades and sizes and will spread. It also makes a great cutting flower.
Globe Thistle This one is a very unusual perennial that is not seen in many gardens, but proves to be a real eye catcher with its purplish-blue tint and prickly bloom. It will grow to approximately 3-4 feet tall to show off its beauty. Globe thistle loves the hot summer months and is very easy to grow.
Annuals
These are a little bit more sensitive to the heat and dry soil effects. Considering an annual flower completes its life cycle in one season, it becomes more drought tolerant if initial planting conditions are considered so it can develop a good root system in the beginning. Here are a few reliable annuals that will last through the drought periods:
Gazania African Daisy A real showstopper that comes in many different bright colors that will stand out by themselves or in a mass grouping. They do well in large pots and make a great vase flower too.
Cosmos Very airy greens topped with a daisy like flower in purples, pinks, and white. They're carefree and fun, and will sometimes reseed by itself for the next season.
Phlox This is a longtime favorite of many and is seen growing wild in the most unusual areas. Thriving alongside a road, near the beach, or in a forest, has proven how tolerant this annual can be. However it can look amazing in a formal garden too. Several blooms atop a long stalk in white, pink, purple and blue shades make this a real summer beauty.
All of these flowers have proven themselves to be both drought tolerant and beautiful in any garden around the world. Give them a try, you will not be disappointed.
Reader comments (Page 1 of 3)
Thank you for an informative article. I am getting ready to update my flower gardens and needed this kind of information. I googled the images of each flower and they are awesome. I am planting them all. thanks again
ReplyI grow my garden indoors so I have flowers & veggies all year long. (I use multi spectrum plant lights) When I turn off plant light for the night...I put my Lavender in my closet so it'll "stink" up my clothes. I also grow "starter" plants for other peoples gardens so they may have a head start on their outdoor garden. Good luck & happy gardening folks.
I've been looking for something that I don't have to replant and repurchase every year. We built a beautiful gazebo and left an area around it for a large walkway and garden. This fits the bill perfectly.
ReplyThese all sound wonderful but i live where there is a bit more rain and the humidity is high. Would these do well here. Zone 9, i believe & SE Texas, on the coast.
ReplyThat's the problem with articles like these, it's not a glove that fits all. I live in South Florida and practically none of those will grow here. I came from California where almost anything will grow. I always thought of Florida as having beautiful flowers everywhere (because it's warm all year)...WRONG! There are very few flowers that will grow here (too hot and the sun burns everything up) and the ones that do are puny things with small flowers. I miss California, especially in the springs when all the beautiful blooms start coming up.
LOVED the article, and the picture is gorgeous. We live in West Texas with very sunny and HOT days. I wonder if I could plant all of these in the full sun? Does anyone know?
Thanks.
Thank you for article. I will do my best to locate such lovely yet resistant flowers. I love beautiful gardens and hope that when done, my garden will look a bit like the one in the photo. They look so vibrant and beautiful.
ReplyFINALLY! Thanks AOL for an article that was well written, timely, informative and USEFUL.
ReplyI'm off to the garden center, list in hand............
I agree !
Good list, but phlox only blooms in SPRING. By mid-end of May in most zones there are no blooms.
ReplyI have tall phlox(pink) and they come up every year and last all summer, right through October, And they are beautiful! I just love them.
There are two kinds of tall phlox: a spring and a late summer version. They are often planted together, hence the impression that they bloom twice or constantly.
i believe the pholx they are referring to in this article are "garden pholx". The spring time phlox are low growers. The garden style phlox grow tall and bloom in the summer and are quite beautiful and showy making for a great back of the border plant.
There are dozens of different varieties of Phlox.
Check Wikipedia and you'll find one that will bloom most or all of the summer.
Knockout Roses are the best! I live in Texas and they bloom year-round and don't require any care other than dead-heading...they grow fast and the blooms (while not fragrant) are just the right touch of color. Colors are pink and deep pink...my Mom says she has a yellow one, though I haven't seen it (and I want one if I can find it). She lives in NC and they grow well there too. On one of mine, I took the branches, stripped the leaves, twisted them and it is now a long-stemmed flower bush...very pretty. We had a tough winter this year and I lost many hibiscus and mandevilla plants...all of my knockouts survived (and continue to bloom). Good luck!
ReplyI have the knock out roses here in S Fl--------------i keep getting a lot of yellow leaves-----to much or not enough water??
Thanks
We had Globe Thistle in our Flower Beds,,, They are Beautiful,, But, the aphids, and Whitefly,
Replywere a Big Problem with them,
I have lavendar which I had in a pot for a couple of years, it was just OK. Then I put it in the ground & it took off. Now I have a beautiful lavendar bush which produces a new crop of flowers twice each summer with no signs of stopping.
ReplyVery nice and informative. But, how about another article on colorful plants that survive the cold winters at 9000 feet elevation, and are a bit deer resistant??
ReplyHow about Russian Sage, it comes up every year in the spring and blooms , The deer and most animals stay away from it because the leaves are a little fuzzy ,but if you rub them it smells heavenly.