Heat-loving blooms for your summer garden

By JOHN A. STARNES JR.

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 13, 2000

We can all feel the weather heating up into the statewide sauna we Floridians call summer. Anyone who has tried to bring color to container gardens or landscape with newly purchased flowers during that drab green steambath has watched them cook, then wither away.

Why do those flats of annuals seem so tempting when spring is in the air? Hey, if it's for sale at a garden shop, surely it's a wise choice, right?

Color sells, and many annuals are grown to tantalizing perfection during winter's cooler months. Buy them and plant them in the spring, and their days are numbered.

November and December are good times to plant the pansies and petunias and snapdragons and alsyssums and stocks you see in full bloom in spring just before the heat nukes them. They are frost-proof sources of winter color. For summer color, buy the increasingly available subtropical and tropical perennials that are waiting for the heat to return and hence aren't at full color in garden shops yet.

Until recently most were barely in commerce, with us plant freaks swapping them as cuttings. Big growers are realizing that many folks will quit buying plants altogether if they always languish or die. These perennials want only full sun, soil sweetened with a generous dusting of dolomite to supply minerals and eliminate excess soil acid, and a deep organic mulch to keep the soil lightly moist.

The hotter it gets, the happier they are, and yet a cool thing about them is their willingness to spring back from below the soil line after a freeze. Plant them 4 inches deeper than in the pot in which they came. Most bloom more the more you cut them, so gussy up the dinner table with an informal bouquet each week.

Just see your drab green yard as a blank canvas, and introduce cheery pockets of color between shrubs and where annuals have died. For a high-contrast composition, try placing yellows near blues, oranges near purples, and reds near green and white.

Remember, white is a potent color enhancer. Consider a continuous border around the bed of white impatiens or white vincas, which also require soil sweetened with dolomite to become low-care perennials.

The following list of my favorites that I use in my landscape clients' gardens is widely available in garden shops and nurseries, thanks to progressive growers and retailers who now "get it" about easy summer color. Most of these are quite husky when mature, so consider planting them 3 feet apart. At first, the plantings will seem sparse, but they will fill in. They have few disease or bug problems, and most will lure the movement and color of butterflies and hummingbirds into your garden.

Reliable summer perennials for Central Florida:

• Turnera: Two species, light yellow and deep lemon yellow, buttercup-like blooms on a very xeric plant. Reseeds itself.

• Bush allamanda: Big yellow bells cover a 4-foot to 5-food dense green shrub.

• Jatropha: Bright red clusters of waxy blooms cover this 8-foot very xeric shrub.

• Lantana: Small clusters of star-like blooms in reds, oranges, yellows. Low-growing.

• Perennial Verbena: Excellent ground cover covered with pink, red or purple clusters.

• Star jasmine: Sweetly scented snow white blooms on a sprawling glossy green shrub.

• Pentas: Avoid the new dwarf hybrids and get the old tall-growing red and lavender originals noted for their vigor. Perhaps the favorite of butterflies.

• Justicias (white, pink, yellow): Big dramatic spikes of blooms atop tropical-looking ribbed foliage.

• Ruellias (white, lavender, pink): 2-inch bells adorn a graceful, nearly indestructible plant. Reseeds freely.

• Scuttelaria: The unnamed deep-magenta species is stunning, the tubular blooms a rich contrast to the deep-green sprawling foliage.

• Asclepias: This refined orange or red milkweed draws butterflies like a magnet.

• Odontonema: 6-foot to 8-foot tall very bright red large spikes in fall, big tropical-looking leaves all summer. Perhaps the favorite of hummingbirds.

• Tea, China and Noisette Roses: Unlike normal grafted roses, these thrive on their own roots all summer long. Many colors, most quite fragrant.

• Salvia vanhouttii: Deep burgundy-purple flower spikes atop lime-green foliage.

• Salvia sinalowensis: Petite spikes of deep indigo blue blooms cover burgundy tinted leaves. Smaller plant, so space 18 inches apart.

• Salvia guaranitica: Remarkable 2-inch trumpets in royal purple to deep blue. Shiny, wonderfully textured leaves.

• Salvia uliginosa: Good for wet spots. Slender spikes of sky blue florets.

• Salvia coccinea: Gorgeous spikes of bright red or white blooms constantly cover this smaller plant. Space 18 inches apart. Reseeds itself freely.

• Salvia leucantha: Velvety lavender spikes rise from dramatic soft silvery-gray foliage. Good for drier areas.

• Salvia greggii: This Mexico native craves full sun and extra dolomite in the soil. Resembles miniature snapdragons in red and pink.

• Barleria species: Related to Ruellias and just as tough. Bell-shaped flowers in white, lavender, salmon, pink. Indestructible. Reseeds freely.

• John A. Starnes Jr. is an avid gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for the diverse regions of Florida and Colorado. He can be reached at: the.garden-doctor@worldnet.att.net

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