Flowers That Take the Heat

If this summer has taught me anything in the garden, it has been what flowers can take the heat. Here where I grow, zinnias are a clear winner.

The rudbeckia did a fantastic job, and in this shot, I got bonus blooms from the compost heap.

Sunflowers were made for hot and sunny locations. They have all been beautiful! 

Marigolds and blue Victoria Salvia can also take the heat.

The cosmos were winners too; although their blooms faded fast, they were still pretty as always.

Globe amaranth takes the heat and will self-seed; it is also a nice dried flower.

I have also had tremendous success with Rocket snapdragons. I believe snapdragons usually like cooler weather, but these have outperformed any other snapdragon I have ever grown, and it has been triple-digit heat indexes for almost three months straight. They have a nice smell too.

Dusty Miller also survived, as long as I keep it well watered. It also makes an interesting dried flower.

Basil, not just for culinary use but beautiful in bouquets. 

This one was new to me: dichondra. I believe this was Silver Falls. It not just endured; it thrived. Look at it growing across the patio. 

English ivy with some afternoon shade doesn't mind the heat.

One of my favorite combinations this year was Queen Lime Zinnias with some volunteer dill that grew up with it. 

Another plant that has done fantastic that is actually in my mom's flower garden is Pentas. It has thrived in this heat.

This photo, taken with my phone because it was just too hot to take it any other way, is of euphorbia.

This was the Diamond Frost variety, and it is a great replacement for baby's breath as a filler in arrangements when you can't get baby's breath to last past spring. 

So that is fifteen plants that I will grow next summer for sure, and I will probably stop buying other things that look so pretty but will never make it through the summer no matter how much I baby them. 

We got hot here right after the end of May, and it hasn't let up yet. The weather is predicted to cool some this week. I am ready now for some beautiful 75-degree days! 

In Victory,

Sherry