Fun fact about me: I am always on the hunt for fast-growing flowers that can add some serious color to my garden before the fall rolls around. Especially at this time of year.

Why? Well, because every single time August rolls around, I start noticing the gaps. The spring annuals have lost their sparkle, all but the longest-blooming perennials are beginning to fade, and suddenly the garden feels like it's quietly winding down long before I'm ready to say goodbye to summer.

For too many years, I assumed I'd missed my chance. Once August arrived, I thought it was too late to plant anything new and I'd simply have to wait until next spring. Thankfully, that's one of those gardening myths that's wonderfully easy to prove wrong, as August can be one of the smartest times to add fast-growing flowers to the mix.

7 Fast-Growing Flowers You Can Still Plant In August

If you want to plant fast-growing flowers this month so that you have oodles of color over the autumn, you're in luck! Warm summer soil helps roots establish quickly, which means many annuals race into bloom before the first frost; in fact, gardeners in warmer USDA zones can often enjoy flowers well into October or even November.

There is a knack to it, of course, and it's this: choose the plants that don't mind getting a late start. The ones that grow astonishingly quickly from seed (or even the ones best planted as young nursery plants for an almost instant splash of color).

Before you fill your cart, though, it's worth checking your USDA hardiness zone and average first frost date. Gardeners in Zones 8–10 have a much longer planting window than those in Zones 3–5, but every region still has options for extending the season.

With that in mind, then...

1. Calendula

If I could only sow one fast-growing flower in August, calendula would be near the top of my list (especially so now that scientists have been raving about its unexpected superpowers of late).

Its cheerful orange and yellow blooms often appear in as little as six to eight weeks, making it perfect for late-season color. Better still, calendula actually prefers the cooler weather that arrives as summer fades, so it often performs better in fall than it does during the hottest weeks of July.

Winner winner, chicken dinner!

2. Sweet Alyssum

Want fast-growing flowers that spell big, bold, beautiful color for fall? Never underestimate this little plant.

Sweet alyssum quickly forms soft cushions covered in tiny, honey-scented flowers that pollinators absolutely adore. Garden centers often stock young plants throughout late summer, making it one of the easiest ways to refresh containers and borders.

In warmer parts of the country, it can continue blooming right up until winter. Bag yourself some Sweet Alyssum Flower Seeds from Walmart, then, and get sowing.

3. Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums are one of those fast-growing flowers that seem to grow with astonishing enthusiasm, with their rounded leaves and jewel-colored blooms quickly scrambling through containers, raised beds, and vegetable gardens.

Both the leaves and flowers are edible, which is no small boon in this day and age. And, from seed, many varieties bloom within six to eight weeks. Give the Sweethearts Mix Nasturtium Seeds from Burpee a go.

4. Violas

Most people think of violas as spring flowers, but I actually love planting these fast-growing flowers toward the end of summer.

As temperatures begin cooling, they burst into flower and often continue long after many summer annuals have given up. In milder climates, they may even flower through winter. That being said, though, I suggest you plant nursery-grown starts in August for the quickest display; something like the Halo Golden Yellow Hardy Violet Perennial from Walmart should do the trick.

5. Zinnias

If your first frost is still several weeks away, zinnias are absolutely worth squeezing in.

These cheerful annuals love warm soil, which means August-planted nursery starts settle in quickly and can keep flowering until frost. In warmer USDA zones, you can also sow fast-maturing dwarf varieties directly from seed, though gardeners in cooler regions will usually get the best results by starting with established plants.

One of my favorite things about zinnias is that the more you cut them for bouquets, the more flowers they seem to produce. They're also magnets for butterflies, making them one of the easiest ways to add both color and pollinator activity to a late-summer garden.

Pick yourself up a pot of zinnias from Walmart, then, and get cracking!

6. Lantana

If your summer garden is looking tired, lantana is one of the fastest ways to bring it back to life.

This heat-loving flower seems to become happier as temperatures climb, producing clusters of tiny blooms in fiery shades of orange, pink, yellow, purple and white. While other plants start struggling in late summer heat, lantana keeps flowering – often right through the first frost.

It's especially valuable for gardeners in warmer USDA zones, where it can grow as a perennial and continue returning year after year. In colder regions, treat it as a colorful annual and enjoy its long final burst of flowers. A Lantana Rose Live Starter Plant from Walmart should do the trick nicely.

7. Marigolds

If there's one flower that refuses to admit summer is ending, it's the not-so-humble marigold.

Garden centers are usually still well stocked with marigolds in August, making them an easy way to refresh tired containers, borders, or vegetable gardens. Once planted, they'll happily keep pumping out cheerful yellow, orange, and deep red blooms until the first hard frost with very little fuss.

I also love that marigolds earn their keep. They're excellent companion plants in edible gardens, attracting pollinators while adding bold color exactly when many summer flowers are beginning to slow down.

Shop Marigolds:

Now, it's important to remember that the beauty of late-summer planting is that there isn't one perfect flower for every garden. Your USDA zone, first frost date and growing conditions all make a difference.

If you're gardening somewhere with a long, hot growing season, don't overlook heat-loving favorites like angelonia, pentas, celosia and salvia. These flowers can handle the toughest weeks of summer and continue bringing color when many other plants start to fade.

In cooler climates, the smartest approach is often choosing fast-growing annuals or picking up established nursery plants rather than starting everything from seed. Marigolds, petunias, snapdragons and violas can all give you that fresh burst of color without needing months to establish.

Not to get all Ryan Gosling in The Notebook about it, but it wasn't over. And honestly? Neither is the gardening season.

Forget the classics; did you know you have a forbidden birth month flower?

Every year, without fail, I find myself looking up birth month flowers. I know perfectly well what mine is by now, but somehow I still end up reading every list I come across, nodding along as though I've uncovered a profound new truth about my personality. Then, before I know it, I'm halfway down another rabbit hole of birth month trees, birth month birds, birth month animals, birth month bugs – honestly, if someone can assign me a symbolic creature or plant based on the month I was born, I'm interested.

It's not just me, of course; we all like seeing ourselves reflected in nature. We like to believe there's a flower that captures our best qualities, a tree that shares our quiet strengths, or a bird that somehow understands us on a soul-deep level. Whether it's scientific or not hardly matters. It's comforting, it gives us another excuse to learn about the natural world, and it's fun... especially if you use it to lean into your dark side!

All 12 Forbidden Birth Month Flowers

That's right; lately I've found myself wondering about our shadow sides instead. Not the parts of ourselves we'd necessarily change, but the qualities that make us a little more mysterious, complicated, stubborn, passionate, or quietly rebellious. Every personality has one, right? So if every month has a traditional birth flower celebrating sweetness, hope, or friendship, surely there's a darker botanical counterpart waiting in the wings.

Enter stage left, then, the forbidden birth month flowers.

Some of these plants are poisonous. Some were prized by herbalists before becoming tangled up in folklore. Others have long been associated with witches, spirits, ancient myths, or whispered superstitions simply because they were unusual or misunderstood. Either way, I think we ca all agree that every last one of us deserves a flower with a little mystery...

January – Hellebore

If you were born in January, I can't imagine a better forbidden birth month flower than the hellebore.

While the rest of the garden is still asleep, hellebores are already flowering through frost and snow, earning nicknames like the Christmas Rose and Lenten Rose. They look impossibly delicate, but every part of the plant is poisonous if ingested. And, just like January babies everywhere, they survive difficult seasons not through noise or force, but through determination and staying power.

Go for something like the Frostkiss® Vibey Velvet™ Lenten Rose from Nature Hills if you want to grow your forbidden birth month flower at home!

February – Foxglove

Tall, elegant and almost impossibly beautiful, foxgloves have inspired fairy folklore for centuries. Legend claimed the tubular flowers were gloves for fairies or tiny lanterns lighting woodland paths.

The reality is rather darker; foxglove contains compounds that have transformed modern heart medicine, but the plant itself is highly toxic if eaten. So, what does that tell us about February babies? Why, that creativity is powerful – and so are you. Never underestimate imagination.

If you're going to do it, do it like Wham! would want and do it right. I love the Dalmatian Purple Foxglove from Walmart for its vivid purple blooms, if you're wondering.

March – Monkshood

March personalities are often thoughtful before they're outspoken, which makes sense, when you consider that their forbidden birth month flower is monkshood.

Its rich violet-blue flowers are among the prettiest in any perennial border, yet it's one of the most poisonous ornamental plants in the world. Also known as wolfsbane, it's been linked to myths involving witches, wolves and ancient hunters for centuries.

Buy yourself a pollinator-friendly monkshood from Walmart and watch your garden become a buzzing hotspot for bees and butterflies galore!

April – Bloodroot

I know, I know; at first glance, bloodroot looks wonderfully innocent, but don't let this forbidden birth month flower fool you.

The native beauty opens brilliant white blooms in early spring before disappearing back into the woodland. But snap the root, and a dramatic crimson sap appears almost instantly – the feature that inspired its unforgettable name and centuries of traditional use.

It hammers home the credo, then, of every April baby: never mistake gentleness for weakness. Pick up a pack of Bloodroot Native Wildflower Seeds from Everwilde, then, stat!

May – Lily Of The Valley

May is reliable, warm, and sociable – exactly the sort of personality people tend to underestimate. So, yes, naturally their forbidden birth month flower is much the same.

The tiny white bells of lily of the valley smell heavenly and look so beautifully innocent... but every part of the plant is highly poisonous.

There's a lesson in that, I guess; the kindest people are often stronger than anyone realizes. Bag yourself a Lily of the Valley Bare Roots Plant from CZ Grains, then, and channel that spectacular resilience in your own yard!

June – Belladonna

Few plants have a reputation quite like deadly nightshade. For centuries, belladonna was woven into stories of witches, cosmetics, medicine, and poison. Its glossy black berries and purple flowers have fascinated people for generations.

It makes sense, then, that it is the forbidden birth month flower for June. Because romantic, open-minded, and endlessly curious, June personalities are often drawn to mystery.

Belladonna reminds us that fascination and danger sometimes grow side by side – and that charm is a force all of its own. You can buy Belladonna Seeds from Walmart, but... be careful. Poisonous, remember?

July – Angel's Trumpet

Some flowers whisper, but angel's trumpet... well, the clue's in the name, folks! Those enormous trumpet-shaped blooms hang from the branches like chandeliers, releasing their sweet fragrance as dusk falls. And yes, every part of it is highly poisonous.

If any forbidden birth month flower belongs to July, I think it's this one. Bold, magnetic and impossible to ignore, it mirrors the warmth and confidence so often associated with midsummer personalities. Channel that and buy yourself an Angels Trumpet from Walmart, stat!

August – Oleander

If I had to crown one flower the survivor of the garden, it would be oleander.

It thrives where many plants give up, shrugging off relentless sunshine, poor soil and weeks of dry weather while continuing to flower as though nothing has happened. In warmer parts of the US, it's the shrub that keeps looking immaculate long after everything else has started to wilt... and that resilience? A trademark of August babes.

Its beauty comes with a warning, though. Oleander is one of the most toxic ornamental plants you can grow, a reminder that strength and softness can exist side by side. Pick up a Petite Red Oleander from Walmart, then, stat!

September – Autumn Crocus

There's something wonderfully confident about a flower that refuses to bloom until everyone else is packing up for the season, right?

Autumn crocus waits patiently while summer takes centre stage, only unfurling its elegant goblet-shaped flowers as the days begin to cool. It's a forbidden birth month flower which effortlessly proves that arriving late doesn't mean missing your moment – sometimes it's exactly what makes you unforgettable.

Beneath that graceful exterior lies a darker secret. The plant contains colchicine, making it one of the most poisonous flowering plants in cultivation. If you're willing to be careful, though, you can bag Saffron Crocus Corms from Amazon easily enough!

October – Castor Bean

If ever there were a forbidden birth month flower that proved beauty can be deceptive, it's castor bean. Gardeners grow it for its enormous burgundy leaves and striking scarlet seed pods, which give borders an almost tropical feel by late summer. Hidden inside those spectacular seed capsules, however, are some of the most toxic seeds found in any ornamental plant.

For analytical October personalities like yours truly, it feels like the perfect match. Thoughtful, composed and quietly unforgettable, it reminds us that appearances rarely tell the whole story. You can buy castor bean seeds at Walmart if you want to honor your floral shadow!

November – Crown Imperial

Few flowers command attention quite like crown imperial. Its fiery orange or golden bells hang beneath a spiky tuft of leaves, giving it a regal silhouette unlike anything else in the spring garden. For centuries, it's been surrounded by folklore, with one legend claiming the flowers bowed their heads in sorrow after witnessing Christ's arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane... and they've never looked skyward since.

Beneath all that grandeur lies a more mysterious side. The bulbs are poisonous if eaten, and the plant has a famously musky scent that many believe helps deter moles and rodents. Still, for determined November personalities, it feels like the perfect forbidden flower: proud, resilient and quietly unforgettable.

Try these Yellow Imperial Crown Flower Seeds from Amazon for a twist on the classic.

December – Moonflower

While most flowers close up as daylight fades, the moonflower is only just waking up.

As evening falls, this forbidden birth month flower's enormous white blooms slowly unfurl, glowing against the darkness and filling the air with fragrance before closing again with the morning sun. Catching one open almost feels like stumbling across a secret, and that fleeting beauty is exactly why I love it!

For optimistic, adventurous December personalities, moonflower is a reminder that some of life's most magical moments happen after everyone else has stopped looking. If you want your garden's brightest moments to happen after the sun has set, buy yourself some moonflower bush seeds from Walmart.

The more I researched these forbidden birth month flowers, the more I found myself wanting to grow them all. Traditional birth blooms celebrate the qualities we proudly wear on the surface. These celebrate something quieter – resilience, curiosity, independence, determination and the wonderfully complicated parts of ourselves that don't fit neatly into a greeting card.

Of course, many of these plants are genuinely toxic and should always be grown with care, especially around children and pets. But admired from a respectful distance? Why, then they remind us that the most captivating flowers are often the ones with the richest stories to tell.

And, sure, they add a little spookiness to the equation, too. What could be better?

We rely on trees to provide us with shade. But who chills down the trees when a heatwave strikes?

I planted over 200 native trees on my hillside in French Basque Country in order to give me shade in the summer and protect my house from strong winter winds. Planting trees has also filled my yard with morning birdsong all year round. So when the canicule (French for heatwave) arrived in late June, with record temperatures never before seen in France, I wanted to do the right thing for the oaks, beeches, and chestnut trees in the landscape.

Here’s a shortlist of the 5 steps I took.

1. Water Low, Long and Slow

If you are anything like me, you’re tempted to rush outside early every morning and offer your trees a drink. After all, they haven’t been watered since the prior morning, so they must be thirsty. But shallow, daily watering actually does them more harm than good.

The best way to water trees in summer is deep but infrequently at the root zone, extending it out to the drip line. Get out there early in the morning - it’s the best time of the day to irrigate since the water has sunk into the soil well before the sun is hot enough to evaporate it. Using soaker hoses makes the process easier.

Slow, deep watering at ground level is the way to get the top 12 inches (30cm) of soil moist, since that’s where most of the feeder roots are located. Do this once a week. It’s not a short process. Depending on the size of the tree, it can take between 30 minutes and several hours. A great way to get water to the lower roots is to invest in a root irrigator, like this one from Amazon. Remember, the heat doesn’t actually kill many trees; it’s a combination of heat and drought. Watering can save your trees, so don’t skip it.

2. Mulch Like Your Life Depended on It

Mulch is not just for city flower beds. Layering an organic product on the soil – wood chips or shredded bark works well for trees – protects the soil and “locks in” moisture. It also serves to regulate the soil temperature, keeping the roots cooler in the heat of summer. Use a thick layer, 2-4 inches (5-10cm) of mulch, spread to the drip line.

You’ll want to keep the mulch some 4 inches (10cm) away from the trunk of the tree. Overmulching is a serious problem, and when mulch piles against the trunk, it can cause rot. Keep the mulch flat across the base of the tree and don’t let it form a volcano shape around the tree. You can get dye-free mulch from Lowe's.

3. Avoid Stressing the Trees

Extreme heat stresses a tree, so one of your jobs is to make sure you don’t stress it any further. What might stress a tree? Fertilizer is one stresser, and that’s true even if you use an organic product instead of chemicals. Especially avoid fertilizers with high or rapid release nitrogen. That’s because all fertilizer - especially nitrogen-heavy fertilizer - encourages the tree to grow, grow, grow, at a time when it doesn’t have the resources (especially water) to do so.

Don’t start doing major pruning while the summer sun is beating down. Trees have to “recover” from pruning, and during a heatwave, they need all their energy to survive. If they have to use energy to heal wounds, it means they have less at the end of the day. Is there an exception? Yes there is. If a branch has broken and represents a safety concern to you or to the tree, prune it off without further debate.

4. Where There’s No Shade, Create Shade

My trees in France and not exotic specimens, but tough native trees, species that have lived on the lower slopes of the Pyranees for time out of mind. So adult trees know how to survive without shade if they get sufficient water. However, young trees are more delicate and may have a harder time.

If you have young trees or anything exotic that is delicate, consider creating temporary shade with shade cloth, which you can get from Amazon. Trees need at least three years to develop a sizable root system, so any tree you brought into the landscape within the last three years may need help. Use breathable shade cloth over a temporary frame to reduce their direct sun exposure. For young trees, consider twice a week deep watering given their smaller, more vulnerable root systems.

5. Watch for Pests and Diseases

In times of intense heat, your trees are not at their strongest. This means that they are more vulnerable to common tree insects and diseases. While a healthy tree can often shake off an attack, a tree weakened by heat and drought will have more trouble.

It’s up to you to monitor your landscape trees while they are baking under summer heat. Early detection is the key to saving an infested tree. Look for unusual holes in the bark, sawdust-like material on the ground near the trunk, insect activity on the trunk or leaves, running sap, or even fungal growth. Use gentle, organic treatments like Neem oil from Amazon to help the tree fight off issues.

Tree Care Essentials

Can you ever have too many flowers in your garden? It's hard to believe, but the answer may be yes. “Too many” in this context just means more than you wanted. Although self-seeding flowers may seem like a godsend the first few years, you may get tired of seeing the same darn blossoms filling your landscape year after year – especially in parts of the garden where you don't want them. Once established, they can be hard to get rid of.

Self-seeding plants do the work for you. You plant them once and then they reseed themselves and provide new blooms every year. But they often come back in even greater numbers and ultimately become hard to control or remove. You can prevent this issue by avoiding the flowers that self-seed most prolifically.

Here are five flowers that fit into that category. Be sure you love them before you plant them – because they’ll keep coming back for quite a while!

Self-Seeding Flowers You May Regret

Take a close look at this list of self-seeding flowers. If you love them and are certain you will love them forever, go ahead and plant them. Otherwise, find another flower to plant that doesn’t self-seed so freely.

1. California Poppy

This is a hard one for me to warn others about because I am totally in love with these vibrant orange and yellow papery blooms. California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) is California’s state flower and it takes my breath away to see fields and fields of these flowers in bloom.

Poppies look delicate, but they are in fact tough as nails. They bloom profusely in poor, dry soil, and when they die, they form long seed pods that scatter the tiny seeds everywhere. Their deep taproots allow them to survive even in periods of drought, but the same taproots also make the poppies hard to eradicate once established.

2. Sweet Alyssum

You may be familiar with this popular low-growing annual, with its sweet honey-like fragrance and tiny white, pink, or purple flowers. Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) creates a colorful carpet of small blooms to blanket your garden or landscape. They move from seed to flower in less than two months.

Alyssum’s finest moments occur in cooler weather – it blooms best in spring and fall. In the fall, this annual’s tiny seeds explode across the entire garden bed, sometimes falling into cracks and pathways as well. It is a highly prolific self-seeder that pops up relentlessly year after year.

3. Forget-Me-Not

Forget-me-nots (Myosotis spp.) are yet another plant that can be termed prolific self-seeders. These beautiful shade-loving flowers will create a magnificent low-growing cloud of blue flowers with yellow or white eyes in April and May. The blooms are small with five lobes and appear in dense clusters in springtime.

But forget-me-nots are more resilient than their delicate appearance may suggest. Once established, these lovely flowers look to their future. They drop innumerable dark seeds in late summer.

Their sticky seeds can travel on clothing or pets to reseed in new locations. They often drop enough seeds to reseed the original patch as well. Their valiant self-seeding efforts can create an unyielding carpet of blue in your landscape.

4. Columbine

Most of the tough self-seeding plants featured in this article look frilly and romantic at first glance. But few can equal the lyrical beauty of the ethereal and enchanting columbine (Aquilegia spp.) when it blooms from April through June.

This breathtakingly beautiful flower offers small bell-shaped blossoms with five petals nestled within five long backward-extending spurs. The petals can be red, pink, lavender, blue, yellow or white – or a combination of these shades. They have lacy, blue-green foliage that is also attractive.

But columbines bear seeds once they have flowered. As the seed pods dry out, they scatter their seeds freely. The tiny seeds can fall to the ground near the plant, but can also travel on the wind. They are quick to sprout whether they fall in full sun, dappled sun, or deep shade.

5. Johnny Jump-Up

Johnny jump-up (Viola tricolor) is a little, tricolor flower that makes people smile. The flower “faces” are cheerful shades of purple, yellow and white, and they appear on compact plants. These are also cool-weather plants, blooming best in the weather of spring and fall rather than summer.

Is Johnny jump-up a re-seeder? And how! It reseeds so freely that one small planting can carpet a bed with returning color for years. It can actually reseed and grow in virtually any location, so look for the flowers not just in garden beds, but along pathways, in gravel driveways, and even between stepping stones.

Shop Plant Control Must-Haves

Summer heatwaves happen to most gardens. It’s more a matter of when and for how long rather than if it will occur. The aftermath of a bad heatwave can be devastating – drooping plants, crispy brown foliage, and even dead plants. But you can minimize the damage with some simple rescue care during and after a heatwave.

To make your rescue efforts efficient and effective, it helps to know the plants that like heat and the ones that do not. It’s the latter that will need your immediate attention, while the former will likely bounce back on their own. If you live in an area that experiences a lot of heatwaves – though, they’re getting more common even in areas with historically cooler summers – then you need to know which plants can revive themselves quickly and which ones need special attention.

I’ll reveal the toughest heatwave-proof plants to grow in your garden and the ones that need some extra care after multiple days of high temperatures.

Heatwave-Proof Plants

If you tend to get frequent heatwaves, it’s a good idea to include more of these plants that tolerate high temperatures and recover readily without your help.

1. Coneflower

Native perennial echinacea, also known as coneflower, is very durable in the heat. Good in zones 3 through 9, coneflowers love full sun and get through hot spells with their long tap roots that reach deep for moisture. 'Cheyenne Spirit' coneflower from Wayside Gardens is a fiery multicolored cultivar that looks stunning in the summer garden.

While your coneflowers might wilt a little in the most extreme heat, they’ll likely recover by evening. Floppiness is a way for the plant to conserve energy. You can help it recover better and faster with occasional deep watering.

2. Russian Sage

Russian sage, which can grow in hardiness zones 4 through 9, is exceptionally heat-tolerant. Popular for its silvery-green foliage and pretty purple flowers, this perennial actually prefers the heat and soil that tends toward dryness. Overwatering or growing in soil that doesn’t drain well are among the easiest mistakes to make with Russian sage.

During a heatwave, it benefits from its leaf color, reflecting more of the harsh sunlight than plants with darker green foliage. As with other heat-tolerant plants, Russian sage has long roots, especially if you helped it get established with deep watering. You can water it during a heatwave, but this plant will recover regardless.

You can get a classic Russain sage plant online from Fast Growing Trees.

3. Stonecrop

Stonecrop is a type of sedum, which is a group of succulent plants that do very well during heatwaves and can be grown in zones 3 through 9. They are prized for their fleshy leaves and flat clusters of small flowers.

They’re also popular for how easy they are to grow and how forgiving they can be of summer heatwaves. 'Autumn Joy' stonecrop, which you can get from Nature Hills Nursery, is one of the most popular and widely-available cultivars.

As a succulent, stonecrop stores water in its leaves. It also only opens the pores on its leaves at night, which means it doesn’t lose water during the day. These characteristics help stonecrop thrive right through the hottest days of summer. Not only does it not need your intervention, but overwatering it can cause more harm than good.

4. Lantana

Lantana is a hot-weather plant that is only hardy in zones 8 through 11. In colder climates, you can grow it as an annual flower. Lantana is popular for its bright, colorful flowers and its ability to survive and thrive throughout hot summers.

Lantana might wilt a little in the worst heatwave, but it will bounce back quickly. You can deadhead flowers after the heat has passed to encourage fresh blooms.

Watering might only be necessary if you grow lantana in containers. If you're looking for bright orange blooms to add to your container garden, 'Lucky Flame' lantana plants from Home Depot are just the thing.

Plants That Need Help in a Heatwave

Heat-tolerant plants make summer garden care a little easier, but you can still grow more sensitive plants. They just need some extra care to survive and come back to life after a heatwave.

1. Bigleaf Hydrangea

A lot of gardeners grow bigleaf hydrangea, which is hardy in zones 5 through 9, to enjoy its copious and colorful pink and blue flowers. Unfortunately, these small shrubs don’t thrive in extreme heat. The large, thin leaves lose water rapidly in hot and dry conditions, so they tend to wilt easily.

The flower buds can also be affected by heat, resulting in a hydrangea bush with no blooms. A lot of stress from heat can even reduce flowering the following year.

So what can you do? Water your hydrangea deeply each morning during a heatwave. Provide temporary shade with a shade cloth, like this one from Amazon, if your plants are in the sun in the afternoon. Keep mulch thick around the plants to retain soil moisture.

2. Japanese Maple

Most types of Japanese maples, which are hardy in zones 5 through 9, do not handle hot, dry conditions very well. Prized for their feathery, delicate leaves, heatwaves can quickly cause leaf scorch. Newly planted trees are particularly vulnerable.

If you grow a Japanese maple, water it deeply every day or every couple of days during a heatwave. If possible, plant your tree in a spot that gets morning sun and afternoon shade. Provide some late-day shade with a patio umbrella or shade cloth if necessary during very hot, sunny days.

3. Bleeding Heart

Bleeding heart is a unique perennial with heart-shaped flowers that hang elegantly from arching branches. It grows best in zones 3 through 9 with shade and rich, moist soil. These needs mean that it will not do well during a summer heatwave or drought. Too much heat can even trigger dormancy.

The best way to save your bleeding heart from the summer heat is to be proactive. Water it ahead of and during a heatwave. Provide extra shade if it currently gets too much afternoon sun. Once the heatwave is over, remove any leaves that didn’t survive with a sharp, clean pair of pruners like these from Fiskars.

4. Impatiens

Although they are native to warm climates and only hardy in zones 10 through 11, this popular summer annual doesn’t actually do well in extreme heat. Impatiens are prized for their summer-long flowers that bloom even in deep shade.

Too much sun, heat, and dry weather can quickly kill your impatiens without intervention. Keeping them well watered is the best thing you can do for impatiens in summer. Water impatiens in the ground at least once a day and those in containers twice a day.

You can also move potted impatiens into full shade during hot and dry spells. Putting containers on a plant caddy from Amazon makes them easy to move into the shade and back into the sun once the weather cools.

Not all wilting plants are in danger in a summer heatwave. Some will bounce right back, stronger than ever. Others need emergency care. Knowing which plants are more resilient will help you focus your time and attention where they are needed most.

Is there such a thing as a good morning routine when it comes to gardening? Some might assume not, but I truly believe the opposite... especially when it comes to my roses.

Yes, if there's one plant I'll happily make time for before I've even finished my first cup of coffee (or tea, if I'm being honest – I can't deny my British roots), it's my roses. Which is just as well, because although my husband is a professional gardener, he absolutely hates hybrid roses. He's got plenty of reasons for it – and he's made them very clear over the years – which means the two hybrid roses growing in our garden were planted before the rule was instituted and are now entirely my responsibility.

I don't mind, though. In fact, I think they've become some of my favorite plants because I've had to figure them out myself. While my husband happily gets on with the rest of the garden, I'm the one checking my roses over like a doting plant mamma before the sun is only just getting itself into gear.

How Your Morning Routine Impacts Your Roses

Yes, there is no denying that checking my roses for thirsty soil, fresh blooms, and the first signs of pests has become as much a part of my morning routine as applying my moisturizer... but that doesn't mean spending half an hour outside every morning armed with secateurs and fertilizer and mulch. In fact, my rose routine usually takes no more than a couple of minutes.

I wander out with my cuppa in hand, have a look at the leaves, check the soil if we've had a dry spell, admire any new blooms (or sob internally if my tiny tearaway daughters have plucked a handful of petals for their mud kitchen again), and make a mental note if anything needs doing later.

It might sound like a tiny habit, but it's one I've come to rely on, because roses have a remarkable way of telling you exactly what they need – so long as you catch the signs early enough. A little wilting, the first few spotted leaves, or a cluster of aphids on fresh growth? All are so much easier to deal with before they become bigger problems. That's why I always check mine before the rest of my day properly begins.

The biggest lesson I've learned from shifting my morning routine to match my roses is that timing matters just as much as what you do. While you don't need to water roses every morning, checking them early in the day? Well, that gives you the best chance to spot problems and, if they do need a drink, to do it at the best time for watering plants.

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Morning is generally the best time to water roses because it gives moisture time to soak into the soil before the heat of the day arrives. If you water at the base of the plant early on, the roots can take up that moisture before temperatures climb and evaporation speeds up, and skipping an evening watering session means your leaves won't stay damp overnight (which can encourage fungal diseases such as black spot and powdery mildew).

My morning check is also when I spot the little things that can quickly snowball; aphids love tender new rose growth, and they're much easier to remove before they've colonized an entire stem. And I find it oddly therapeutic looking for yellowing leaves, damaged buds, or flowers that are ready for deadheading (is it just me who thinks of it as a mindfulness routine?).

Mind you, roses (whether we're talking about your birth month rose or just your average blooming beauty) aren't the only plants that can benefit from a shift in your morning routine...

Other Plants That Benefit From An Early Morning Check

1. Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas are usually quick to tell you when they're thirsty, and a deep morning watering is far more effective than trying to revive wilted plants in the afternoon heat, making them morning routine musts.

2. Dahlias

Dahlias also appreciate a quick early inspection. Morning is the perfect time to check for slugs and snails, spot leaves that need removing, and make sure the soil hasn't dried out during a hot spell.

3. Sweet Peas

If you grow sweet peas, there's another reason to head outside before your bowl of oatmeal (or porridge, if you're me!). Morning is the ideal time to pick flowers while they're at their freshest, and regular harvesting encourages the plants to keep producing even more blooms.

For me, spending a few quiet minutes with my roses before the day has even begun in earnest has become one of the easiest ways to keep them healthy, flowering, and looking their best all summer.

It also sets me up for a great day, too! Who doesn't love bouncing into their first meeting knowing that they've already ticked something off their to-do list, right?

I don't think it's any secret that I have a bit of an obsession with hydrangeas. If there's a new variety to admire or an old favorite coming back into bloom, I'm probably already planning where I'd squeeze another one into the garden.

I'm just as fond, though, of flowering vines, not least of all because they are one of the easiest ways to make a garden feel like it knows what its doing. A bare wall, old fence, or even a mature tree? A sea of flowers with the right climber. I've even found myself falling down rabbit holes researching birth month vines and unusual flowering climbers simply because I love discovering plants that do something a little different.

The only problem? Many flowering vines have one spectacular moment and then quietly fade into the background. And, by the time fall arrives, they often have very little left to offer. Boo, hiss.

The Native Hydrangea You Need to Try

With all this in mind, then, imaging how excited I was to stumble across woodvamp (Hydrangea barbara, formerly better known as Decumaria barbara). It's a plant that feels like a hidden secret, as it combines everything I already love about hydrangeas with the easy elegance of a climbing vine, then finishes the season with attractive fall foliage.

Native to the southeastern United States, where it naturally scrambles through moist woodlands and climbs tree trunks using tiny aerial rootlets, woodvamp is a doozy of a climber. Especially as, unlike some vigorous vines, it clings gently to walls, fences, and mature trees, creating a soft, natural look rather than an overwhelming one.

In late spring and early summer, it produces clusters of creamy-white flowers with a light, sweet fragrance. They're a little more understated than the huge mophead blooms many people associate with hydrangeas, but I actually think that's part of their charm. The lacecap-like flowers look wonderfully elegant scattered through the foliage, and they attract plenty of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators while they're in bloom.

One of the quirks I find most interesting is that woodvamp only flowers well when it's allowed to climb. If it's grown as a groundcover, you'll get attractive foliage, but very few – if any – blooms. Give it something to scramble up, though, and it really comes into its own.

Then there's the autumn display. As the growing season winds down, the glossy green leaves often mellow into soft buttery yellow or warm tan shades before falling. It's not the fiery scarlet of a Virginia creeper, but it's a gentle, elegant finish that gives this vine another season of interest when many flowering climbers are already calling it a year.

I also love that it's beginning to be recognized under the botanical name Hydrangea barbara. For years, gardeners knew it almost exclusively as Decumaria barbara, but taxonomic revisions have brought it into the Hydrangea genus, reflecting just how closely related it is to the shrubs so many of us already grow and love. Don't be surprised if you see both names used by nurseries and botanical gardens.

The only downside? It isn't nearly as easy to find as climbing hydrangea or clematis. You'll usually have to seek it out from specialist native plant nurseries rather than your local garden center. Personally, I think that only adds to its appeal. Half the fun of gardening is discovering plants that make visitors stop and ask, "What on earth is that?"

Three More Flowering Vines That Shine Into Fall:

There are so many wonderful flowering vines to choose from, but sometimes the plants that deserve the most attention are the ones hiding in plain sight. If you're looking for something a little different, I'd always encourage you to go native, go underrated, and give woodvamp a try, if only for the cool name!

Honestly? I don't think you'll regret it.

I think we can all admit that there are some plants that put on a spectacular show and disappear almost as quickly as they arrived. I love both, of course (there’s something special about an annual that gives you a perfect burst of seasonal beauty) but the ones I appreciate most are the longest-blooming perennials. Aka the ones that keep going, forever and seemingly ever..

Yes, the real stars of the garden are the plants that are still flowering weeks after everything else has started to fade. The ones that handle the hottest days of summer, keep borders looking full, and carry the garden right through that tricky transition between summer and fall.

The trick to a truly beautiful garden is setting one up so it doesn’t need constant replanting or endless maintenance. And the best way to do this? By filling it with the hardworking perennials that quietly bloom for months, return year after year, and make the whole garden (nay, life in general!) feel more effortless.

The 7 Longest-Blooming Perennials

In the market, then, for the longest-blooming perennials? Well, these are the plants I turn to when I want reliable color that lasts. They fill gaps, support pollinators, and give me that wonderful feeling of looking out at the garden and realizing there is still plenty of life and color left, even after summer has faded and fall has wrapped the world in all her mists and mellow fruitfulness.

Without any further ado, then...

1. Asters

Asters are the perennial I’m always grateful for when summer starts winding down. Just when many plants are looking tired, asters step in with clouds of purple, pink, or white flowers that carry the garden right into fall.

They’re also one of the most valuable late-season plants for pollinators. Bees and butterflies rely on those blooms when many earlier summer flowers are finished, making asters a beautiful and practical addition to any garden.

I love that they don’t demand much attention either. Give them a sunny spot and a little room to grow, and they reward you with one of the best late-season flower displays around. Try the Grape Crush New England Aster from Nature Hills for big bold purple color.

2. Catmint

If I had to recommend one easy-care plant for almost any garden, catmint would be high on my list. Its soft blue-purple flowers appear for weeks, and with a quick trim after the first flush, it often rewards you with another round of blooms.

The silvery foliage on this longest-blooming perennial looks attractive even when it isn’t covered in flowers, and the whole plant has that relaxed cottage garden feel that makes a border look effortlessly beautiful.

It’s also wonderfully tough. Catmint handles heat, tolerates dry spells, and doesn’t need to be fussed over to look good (go for something like Walker's Low Catmint from Nature Hills if you want to make your life easier).

3. Salvia

Salvia is one of the longest-blooming perennials going, which means it is obviously a plant that earns its place every single year. The tall flower spikes add structure and color, and pollinators absolutely adore them (I have some outside my window as I type, and there are bees all over the stuff!).

I especially like perennial salvias because they keep producing those jewel-like blooms through summer with very little attention. They’re the kind of plant you can almost forget about – until you notice how many bees and butterflies are visiting.

With a little deadheading, many varieties keep sending up fresh flowers, making them one of the most reliable sources of summer color. All hail salvia!

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4. Coreopsis

If you want one of the longest-blooming perennials around, absolutely look to tickseed, because coreopsis brings the kind of cheerful color that instantly makes a garden feel happier. Those daisy-like flowers can keep appearing from early summer well into fall, especially when spent blooms are removed.

Modern varieties have made these plants even better, with improved flowering, compact growth, and colors that work beautifully in both borders and containers.

It’s one of those plants that makes gardening feel easy because it gives so much while asking for very little. Opt for all things bright and beautiful, then, and try Sunshine Superman Coreopsis from Nature Hills (on offer now, no less!).

5. Coneflower (Echinacea)

Coneflowers are one of those plants that seem to improve with age. They look beautiful in full bloom, but I also love leaving the seed heads standing later in the season because they add winter interest and provide food for birds.

They handle heat beautifully once established and bring a wonderful prairie-style feel to the garden. The flowers keep coming through summer, and they’re a favorite with pollinators.

For me, they’re one of those plants that look good at every stage – from fresh blooms to dried seed heads. And I know I bang on about it constantly, but the Magnus Purple Coneflower from Nature Hills is the way to go if you hate the droop that echniacea usually falls prey to.

6. Yarrow

Yarrow is one of those underrated plants that deserves far more attention. The flat flower clusters add a completely different shape to the garden, and the blooms seem to float above the foliage.

It thrives in heat, tolerates dry conditions, and doesn’t need perfect soil to perform. Once established, it’s exactly the kind of dependable perennial that makes a garden easier to manage.

I love plants like this because they quietly do their job while other, fussier flowers struggle. And, if you want one that looks like the picture above, you need the Strawberry Seduction™ Yarrow from Nature Hills in your life.

7. Geranium ‘Rozanne’

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (aka hardy geranium) has earned its reputation as one of the longest-blooming perennials for a reason. It produces masses of blue-purple flowers and has one of the longest bloom periods of any hardy geranium.

I love the way it spills gently through a border, softening edges and filling gaps between larger plants. It feels natural rather than overly planned, which is exactly the look I often want in a garden.

It’s the kind of perennial that quietly works away for months, giving you color long after many other plants have finished. And Rozanne Hardy Geranium is 20% off at Nature Hills right now, too.

BONUS: And The Rest!

There are plenty of other perennials that deserve a mention on our list of longest-blooming perennials; agastache, for example, is a fantastic choice for sunny gardens, with tall flower spikes that hummingbirds and bees adore. Rudbeckia brings bright golden blooms and a cheerful late-summer display, while gaura adds airy majesty that seem to dance above the foliage.

Then we have penstemon, another excellent pollinator plant, and heliopsis delivers months of sunny yellow flowers with very little fuss. Which to choose, eh?

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The beauty of these plants is that they don’t just look good for a fleeting moment. The clue is in the name, folks; they earn their place by showing up year after year, filling the garden with color, and making summer gardening feel much easier.

A garden full of the longest-blooming perennials isn’t just beautiful – it’s a garden that keeps giving. Time to hop on the bandwagon, then; it just makes sense.

Most jade plants leave the store looking like small shrubs, and plenty stay that way for years. The trunk stays thin. Branches stretch toward the window and away from the room, and eventually the whole plant leans instead of standing. Summer is when that pattern either breaks or sets.

July lands in the middle of active growth for Crassula ovata, which is why so much of good jade plant care concentrates in this window. Cuts seal within days at this time of year. New shoots follow a pinch quickly, and the plant has energy to spare for thickening, not just reaching.

5 Jade Plant Tasks Worth Doing in July

None of this is difficult or time-consuming, and it doesn’t need a strict schedule. What matters is timing – the plant is growing hard right now, so it responds quickly in a way it won’t come October.

1. Water Deeply, Then Leave It Alone

Heat pushes most houseplants into daily thirst. Jade works the other way – the leaves are the water tank, and roots left sitting damp are what actually kills these plants. Soak the mix until water runs from the drainage hole, then wait until it's bone dry to the base before going again. Clay helps here. A terra cotta pot like this one from Amazon breathes and pulls moisture out through its walls, which speeds up that drying considerably. Plus it looks exactly like a paper bag, which is fun.

Skip the calendar and read the leaves. Ones that have gone slightly soft, or picked up a faint pucker along the surface, are asking for water. Firm and plump means wait. Yellowing leaves that drop at a touch point the opposite way, toward overwatering. In a hot July the gap between soakings might still stretch to a couple of weeks, and a jade left dry is in far less danger than one kept wet.

2. Move It Outdoors, Slowly

Real sunlight does things a windowsill never manages. Stems thicken, internodes shorten so growth stays compact instead of stretchy, and the leaf margins often blush red – a stress response that happens to look striking. Moving it outside is the single biggest thing you can do for jade in summer.

Rushing it burns the plant, though. A jade fresh off a winter windowsill scorches in direct sun almost immediately, and those bleached patches never green up. So the move happens in stages. Start it in full shade, give it morning sun only after a week, then find it a spot that gets sun for the better part of the day. Rain is the other thing to watch, because a plant left outside through a wet stretch takes on water faster than the mix sheds it. Bring it back indoors once nights start dropping toward 50F (10C).

3. Feed Lightly While Growth Is Happening

Fertilizer earns its place only while a plant is actively growing. July qualifies. A jade wants a fraction of what any leafy houseplant takes, so Miracle-Gro succulent plant food from Amazon goes on at half the label strength, once for the month. Water first, though – fertilizer landing on parched roots burns them.

4. Pinch and Prune for Branching

Here's the mechanism behind every sculptural jade worth looking at. A stem that keeps its growing tip keeps extending in one direction. Remove that tip and the plant tends to push two new shoots from the leaf pair just below the cut. One branch turns into two. Repeat it the following summer, and the one after – the dense, tree-like frame on an old jade is a few seasons of exactly this, nothing more clever.

Pinch soft new tips between finger and thumb, or cut woody stems just above a leaf pair with clean snips. Take no more than a third of the plant at once, and keep an eye on where the weight should end up – branches multiply from wherever the cut lands. Keep the jade cuttings too. Leave them somewhere dry and shaded until the cut ends callus over, then set them in a dry mix and hold off watering for a week.

5. Inspect the Joints and Check the Roots

White cottony specks tucked down in the leaf joints are mealybugs (Planococcus citri). Jade sits high on their host list. A cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol handles what's visible. Look again a week on, though, because the eggs come off in waves and one pass never gets them all. Heat speeds up that cycle. Something small in July has turned into something else by the end of August. Root mealybugs are nastier, hiding below the soil line where a mix like this bag of Hoffman organic cactus and succulent soil mix from Amazon and a fresh pot become the only real fix.

Tip the plant out of its container while the mix is dry and look at what's down there. Roots circling the inside wall call for repotting, and so does a mix broken down into something dense and soil-like. When repotting jade go up one pot size only, and use gritty succulent mix. Ordinary compost holds far too much water around a jade, for far too long. Handled well, July does most of the heavy lifting for you. Give a jade plant the right signals now, and the fuller, more sculptural shape people chase for years starts to build on its own.

Jade Care Essentials

Summer heat can make outdoors uncomfortable for both you and your plants – if you don’t select them carefully. Wilting ornamentals are a sad sight to see, but if your privacy shrubs are impacted, your entire landscape can start to feel endangered. That’s why it’s important to install hedging that won’t get dry and brittle under scorching summer heat.

Some shrubs for landscape hedges won’t shrivel and die in hot sunshine. You’ll want to pick heat-resistant, drought-tolerant shrubs that can take summer’s worst. To get you on your way, we’ve put together a list of our top five hedge shrubs that will keep on protecting your privacy during any and all heatwaves this summer.

5 Best Privacy Shrubs that Can Take the Heat

Which shrubs will stay happy and healthy during the hottest sunshine of summer? Pick varieties with dense, heat-tolerant foliage. If the plants thrive in the hot sun, they won’t wilt or shrivel as temperatures rise. The best choices will be drought-resistant evergreen shrubs.

1. Wax Leaf Privet

Wax leaf privet (Ligustrum japonicum), also called Japanese privet, is a large evergreen shrub native to eastern Asia. Its natural shape is compact, but it can grow to 12 feet (4m) tall and 6 feet (2m) wide while remaining dense and upright. Some describe it as having a “giant meatball” shape, considered a top choice for medium-size screening. Fast Growing Trees has a 'Texanum' wax leaf privet variety that will grow into a lovely hedge.

These shrubs are extremely resilient and thrive in a full sun location. It is not just heat tolerant, but also drought and salt spray tolerant. All in all, it’s a tough privacy plant with dark green foliage and white spring flowers that appear on new growth. It thrives in USDA hardiness zones 7-10.

2. Yardline Viburnum

You might not expect such a tough plant to be so lovely. Yardline viburnum (Viburnum awabuki) is a heat-tolerant, sunshine-loving upright evergreen shrub. It is a four-season beauty, with shiny, dense, leathery leaves year-round, plus white flower clusters in spring and bright red berries in fall and winter, making them very popular with wild birds.

Yardline is a narrow, low-maintenance shrub, growing to 12 feet (4m) tall but only 2 feet (1m) wide, a great space-saving choice for hot regions in USDA hardiness zones 7-10. It likes well-drained soil and is extremely drought-tolerant once established. The Viburnum awabuki 'Chindo' variety can be found at Fast Growing Trees.

3. Bottlebrush

If you’d like a flowering evergreen shrub for a heat-tolerant privacy screen, consider bottlebrush (Callistemon spp.). It’s native to Australia, and thrives in USDA zones 8-11. This large shrub is a favorite for its unusual, brush-like flowers in shades of red or pink that appeal to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

Despite its ornamental value, bottlebrush is highly tolerant of both heat and drought, although it does need irrigation until it is established. It requires a full sun site and sharp drainage. It not only shrugs off the heat and provides flowers even in the hottest weather. Find bottlebrush shrubs from Fast Growing Trees for a unique and low-maintenance addition to your landscaping.

4. Carolina Cherry

A Carolina cherry (Prunus caroliniana) is also called Carolina laurelcherry, Carolina cherry laurel, and Cherry laurel. It is evergreen, native to the hot lowlands of the Southeastern United States. This ornamental tree is extremely popular with southern homeowners since it needs minimal care and thrives in full sun environments.

The Carolina cherry tree is both drought and heat tolerant. Like almost every other drought-tolerant shrub, a Carolina cherry does require watering until it is established. This smaller evergreen has bright, dark green foliage that looks gorgeous in a landscape. Add to that the creamy white, fragrant flowers that appear in spring, followed by attractive black berries that contrast beautifully with the foliage.

This sun-loving plant is hardy in USDA zones 7a through 10 b, attracting wild birds and pollinators too. Carolina cherry laurel starts can be found at Walmart for a great price.

5. Texas Sage

Tough Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens) asks very little and gives a lot. This evergreen is native to the South and thrives in the warmer zones, USDA hardiness zones 8 through 11. Its leaves are silvery-gray and help the plant reflect light on hot summer days. They also hold onto moisture during droughts.

Texas sage grows to 8 feet (2.5 m) in both directions, thriving in intense sun even in the poorest soil. Then - surprise! The shrub burst into bloom after periods of rain or humidity. Get ready for these phenomenal purple blooms when you purchase Texas sage shrubs from Fast Growing Trees.

Every garden has those plants that everyone talks about. The ones that show up in magazine spreads, Instagram posts, and “must-have” lists year after year. And while I understand why some plants become favorites (look, I’m just as guilty of falling for a beautiful allium) I think there are a few underrated perennials that deserve far more attention.

Don’t get me wrong; alliums are incredible. I love their perfectly round flower heads standing above the garden, and honestly, I think they can look even better once the flowers have faded and those dried seed heads are catching the light. They add structure, texture, and that slightly unreal, almost alien look that makes a garden feel like a designer was involved in the planting plans.

But there’s another perennial I’ve come to love even more for the way it performs with so little fuss. It gives me those same dramatic globes of color, brings in pollinators, handles challenging summer weather, and asks for very little in return. In short, it’s one of those plants that makes you wonder why everyone isn’t growing more of it (seriously folks, why?).

The Underrated Perennial I Love The Most

I hate to admit my ignorance, but I first discovered this underrated perennial completely by accident. I picked up a few plants (no flowers, just optimistic stems) on a whim at a neighbor’s charity plant sale. There was no looking at the labels; I was just doing my bit to help their fundraising efforts.

As such, I had no grand plan for these plants; I just liked the look of them and thought they were worth trying. That small impulse purchase turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made for my garden.

Also known as African lily, agapanthus is one of those perennials that quietly earns its place year after year. In summer, those tall stems rise above the foliage with clusters of rounded flowers that look like they’re floating above the garden.

Mine? Mine produce beautiful white and purple globes that hover above the beds, creating exactly the kind of impact I love in a garden. They have height, movement, and a slightly exotic feel (read: that extra-terrestrial vibe I mentioned earlier) but they’re not difficult or demanding. They just... they just get on with the job of looking beautiful.

Honestly, one of my favorite things about agapanthus is how little attention it needs once established. It doesn’t require constant watering, it copes brilliantly with heat, and it keeps looking good through the kind of summer conditions that can leave more delicate plants struggling. I can count on one hand how many times I have tended to mine this year; the thick, strappy foliage has even stayed attractive in a steady run of very hot, very dry weather, and the flowers continue to provide that wonderful burst of summer color.

Need another reason to fall for this underrated perennial? Well, agapanthus is also a brilliant pollinator plant. Bees and butterflies are regular visitors when mine are in bloom, which adds another reason to love them. There’s something especially satisfying about planting something that looks beautiful while also giving wildlife a helping hand.

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Agapanthus works beautifully in borders, but it’s also fantastic in containers. In fact, growing it in a pot can make it even easier to manage, especially in colder areas where you may want to protect it over winter (mine is in the border, but I am aware I am lucky enough to live in a slightly easier USDA planting zone than most).

So, while I’ll always have a soft spot for alliums, I think agapanthus deserves to share the spotlight. It delivers that same dramatic shape and summer presence but with a level of toughness and reliability that makes it feel almost effortless. And if they can look this good in my frying pan of a garden right now? Then you absolutely need to give them a go, stat!

With over 41,000 fires having burned more than 3.9 million acres across the United States so far this year, many folk are turning to the idea of firescaping their home gardens. Traditionally, we’ve planted thick borders of flowering shrubs and perennials around our houses. Beautiful? Yes. Flammable? Very. And there’s a new approach that is far more fire-resistant, and you still get flowers.

The US Fire Administration (USFA) recommends reducing combustible vegetation near your home to create a defensible space to slow or stop wildfires. It cites Zone 1 – the ground immediately around your home, up to 5 feet away – as the most critical area to reduce risk to the home during a wildfire. Have a think about this part of your yard and, if it's packed with woody shrubs and perennials that could fuel flames, it might be time you considered firescaping this area with the water-filled foliage of sedums instead.

You see – and I was so shocked when I discovered this – up to 90% of ignitions from wildfires are caused by embers, according to USFA. So, siting the water-filled, non-flammable leaves of sedums in the area immediately around your home makes good sense. And what do you know, sedums are one of the most low-maintenance plants on the planet, and they’re pretty as well as practical. Firescaping is a part of landscaping design we're expecting to see boom this summer as there's no telling how long this heatwave weather will last for, and sedums are such a smart and easy solution.

What is Sedum?

Sedums, commonly known as stonecrops, form a huge group of succulent plants with thick leaves and stems that store lots of water. They fall into two types: low-growing, spreading groundcover plants, and taller clumping varieties – and it’s those low growers we’re interested in here.

There are hundreds of sedums to choose from, with clusters of tiny, star-shaped flowers in white, yellow, pink and purple, typically in summer through fall, that pollinators adore. The foliage is just as attractive as the flowers, many with striking colors from lime green and burgundy to deep bronze. Spreading into a resilient mat, the foliage brings fabulous texture, too, and some varieties are evergreen, depending on your zone.

Why is Sedum Fire-Resistant?

Sedums evolved to flourish in semi-arid climates so their ability to store moisture means these plants can go months without rain. That high water content is also very helpful when it comes to resisting ignition and, planted en masse, can help to slow the spread of flames.

Their drought-tolerance plays a crucial part in their ability to resist fire, too, because stonecrops can thrive even through a hot, dry summer. Because sedums are groundcover plants that act as a living mulch, they lock moisture in the soil and keep it cool, too, further increasing their resilience. And that’s an important factor, because even the most fire-resistant plants become highly combustible in a drought-stricken, dried-out state.

Another factor that makes sedum so fire-resistant is that it lacks combustible oils and resins that many evergreen trees and fragranced shrubs contain.

While there’s no one plant that’s considered the most fire-resistant, because of variations in growing conditions across the US, sedum is right up there in most climates. And while there’s no standardized measure of plant flammability, because of its resilience as well as its ability to hold moisture, sedum is widely considered to be one of the most fire-resistant plants in America, and recommended by safety organizations and fire chiefs for fire-conscious landscaping.

Which Sedum is Best?

Low-growing sedums are better for fire resistance than taller sedums which have woodier stems. There are sedums for indoor as well as outdoor growing, as well as annual and perennial types, so do read the label or online description when shopping to ensure you're buying a hardy plant that last year after year in your zone. So the best sedum for you is the one that will naturally thrive year-round in your garden, because a happy plant will be full of moisture.

Also, choose what you love, because then you’re more likely to grow more of it! And all these sedums are super-easy to dig up, divide and replant to create free plants, so you can increase your firescaped area without spending a fortune.

It’s best to buy plants as you need to be super-patient to raise sedums from the dust-small seeds.

Best For Foliage Color

Best For Flowers

Best For Foliage Texture

How to Plant Sedum to Maximise Fire Resistance

All sedums need to flourish is well-draining soil and at least six hours of direct sunlight a day. Happily, creating those well-drained conditions marry well with a non-combustible environment. Mix horticultural grit or sand into your soil if the drainage needs improving, and use pea gravel rather than bark as a mulch, and growing sedums couldn't be simpler.

Sedums are so drought-tolerant, you can even create a fully firescaped Zone 1 with paving or gravel punctuated with planting pockets of potting soil. This creates the ultimate low-maintenance, fire-resistant foundation planting. For a modern look, consider adding angular metal edging to contain the spreading sedums in neat geometric shapes.

Another creative idea is to pair sedum with gravel and rocks and pebbles of different sizes to create a dry river.

It’s a smart move to use these succulent plants around highly combustible garden areas, too, such as decking and wooden summerhouses. Sedum can also be used to create living roofs, further helping to slow fire, and forms great groundcover to suppress weeds in any well-drained border.

To maximise fire resistance, clear any dead material – the thatch – from plants every spring. Keep weed free and, while sedum is one of the most drought-tolerant plants you can buy and survives on minimal water, it’s wise to irrigate occasionally through very dry periods in peak fire season to keep those leaves plump with moisture.

You’ll also need to keep your sedum plants watered to begin with, while they grow roots deep enough into the ground to source their own moisture supply.

Clematis plants are serious climbers. Indeed, they might be the showiest of climbers. This rapid-growing, vigorous vine climbs up trellises, pergolas and fences, up to 30 feet (10m) high, using twisting leaf petioles and twining growth. If your garden includes a climbing clematis, you’ll know that it helps to create an enchanting three-dimensional flowering space. So the last thing you’ll want to do is compromise the vitality of your climbers – which is why you need to check a few things now.

Now, as long as you have planted yours in an appropriate site, clematis care is not all that complicated. These plants prefer to have their head in the sun and feet in the shade, as the saying goes. And for most of spring and early summer, this can happen without too much fuss. But as the summer weather heats up this month, all vines (including clematis) need targeted attention to keep them growing happily.

Taking 20 minutes this week to attend to your Group 2 and Group 3 clematis vines is not just about keeping up appearances. The little things you do now will directly determine how long those velvety petals can hold on during midsummer heat spikes, the intensity of their colors, the size and health of the blooms, and the shape and mass of their growth. Here’s how to ensure that your queen of climbers continues to be the star of your summer show.

How to Help Your Clematis in July

The heat in July can sometimes feel closer to oppressive than delightful. Our favorite plants also feel the heat, and, unlike us, they can’t escape to the cool of the shade. Clematis, in particular, requires a full sun location to thrive, which means it’s stuck in the heat without so much as sunglasses. So it’s counting on you to ride to the rescue by tackling these key tasks in July. First, make sure you know your vine's specific pruning group or class, as this is the key to unlocking its full blooming potential.

Group 1 spring-bloomers like Clematis montana and C. alpina have finished their flowering and are quietly settling into vegetative growth. July belongs to Group 2 clems (early summer flowerers like Nelly Moser) and Group 3 (late summer bloomers like Jackmanii and C. viticella). For Group 2 clematis types, what you do in July can determine whether you see a secondary flush in late summer. For Group 3, this is peak performance season, which relies on regular care and support.

The nature and degree of your clematis care in July will depend on your USDA hardiness zone and growing setup. In warmer regions (zones 7-9), moisture retention and root cooling are top priority. In northern zones (zones 4-6), long daylight hours will drive rapid stem elongation that requires structural checks. Container-grown clematis suffer heat stress faster than ground-planted vines. Soil temperatures can spike rapidly, drying out delicate roots within a single afternoon.

Whether you’re growing in the ground or in a container, be sure to give your soil a quick onceover before getting stuck into these clematis steps. Check soil moisture levels with a digital probe, or by dipping your finger two inches into the root zone. A moisture probe like the XLUX Moisture Meter Probe, available from Amazon, can help you avoid piling undue stress onto delicate roots. Once you have a basic read on these levels, get cracking with these simple checks for happy clems in summer.

1. Give Your Clematis Regular Water

Vines dry out faster than rounded shrubs, since they can’t rely on their own shade. Think of a hydrangea shrub: the big leaves cast shade on the interior of the plants, keeping it cooler. A clematis doesn’t have that luxury. Since its roots thrive in moist soil, regular watering is a must. In July, you’ll want to give vines a deep watering. Do this early in the morning, to maximize absorption and reduce evaporation.

Clematis feeder roots reside in the top 12-18 inches (30-46 cm) of soil, making them vulnerable to drying out during heatwaves. For Group 3 varieties, water stress can cause buds to crisp up and drop before opening. To simplify the process of regular watering, you can use a soaker hose or some kind of drip irrigation. The Gilmour Flat Soaker Hose from Amazon can deliver deep moisture without splashing the foliage.

Direct your hose or drip line at least 6-12 inches (15-30 cm) from the main stem base. Soaking the crown directly can invite the risk of clematis wilt. Water deeply at the base 2-3 times a week. Try not to neglect this vital task, or else your clem will likely drop her lower leaves, and prematurely terminate flower production.

2. Protect Clematis Roots with Mulch

Those clematis roots are the key to keeping your plant thriving. Watering deeply is important, but you can also lock in that moisture with a good mulching. Place a thick layer of organic mulch around the base of the vine to protect the roots from extreme heat. Chopped bark or compost works well for this task.

A team favorite for organic root protection is Back to the Roots Organic Premium Mulch from Amazon, which protects from heat spikes, and locks in moisture. It also keeps down weeds that might steal nutrients or water from the vine. When mulching Group 2 and Group 3 clematis, leave a 2-inch (5 cm) gap around the main stems. Don't pile mulch up against stems, as this can trap moisture and encourage collar rot.

As an alternative to mulching, you could add some groundcover plants around the base of your clematis. Shorter perennials can also provide natural shade and keep soil cool. For container-grown clems, consider shallow-rooted companions like hardy geranium (Rozanne) or lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) to shade soil organically.

Failing to mulch or provide some groundcover during midsummer forces the plant into survival mode when heat strikes, stalling stem growth and causing flowers to shrink drastically. So don’t neglect this vital step: a protected root zone preserves moisture and nutrients and supports healthy growth through to the end of summer.

3. Feed Your Clematis Vine

You need to get the timing right with feeding. You don’t want to stress the clematis by fertilizing the plant during a heatwave. But clematis plants do need fertilizer every few weeks to keep up their vigorous blooms. So keep an eye on the weather. When a day or two of cooler weather is predicted, apply a phosphorus-rich liquid fertilizer. Follow up by watering well, try to do this every 2-4 weeks.

Avoid high-nitrogen lawn or general fertilizers. High nitrogen fuels leafy green stems at the expense of flower buds and results in soft foliage that attracts aphids. Instead, focus on potassium (potash) and phosphorus blends similar to a tomato or rose feed. For low-maintenance feeding, gently add a little granular feed, like Jobe’s Organics Rose & Flower Granular Fertilizer, available from Walmart, to the topsoil.

A little seaweed can also help. Feeding with Neptune’s Harvest Organic Fish & Seaweed Fertilizer, available from Amazon, gives a gentle potassium boost as well as other essential minerals to drive flower production. Group 2 clematis benefit from a liquid feed immediately after their first main flush ends. This fuels the stem growth needed for their second late-summer show. Group 3 clematis plants need bi-weekly potassium feeds through July to sustain their massive bloom displays.

Always water your plant with plain water an hour before applying liquid fertilizer to prevent root burn. And if you’re experiencing intense heat, hold off on feeding until temperatures drop. Stressed plants can’t process nutrients well.

4. Give Your Clematis a Haircut

The heat of summer is never a wonderful time to prune, but consider giving your vine a clip here or there in July. If you have a reblooming clematis (Group 2), deadhead the wilted blossoms. Use clean, sterilized pruners and snip off the old flower heads above the first pair of live leaves or buds. If your clematis has completed its blooming, now is a good time to give the vine a light trim. Take out the dead wood and shape the vine. But avoid anything that feels like heavy pruning.

If you don’t already have a pair of gardening scissors or snips, Fiskars Micro-Tip Non-Stick Pruning Snips from Amazon help you to slice in fiddly spaces without harming plant tissue. For a sturdier grip on older stems, the Corona ComfortGEL Bypass Pruners from Lowe’s are comfortable and great for light shaping.

Left untouched, spent clematis flowers spend significant energy forming decorative, feathery seed heads. By snipping off faded blooms, you redirect that energy back into shoot development and bud formation. It is key for Group 2 plants such as Nelly Moser, Miss Bateman, or Niobe clems. Do this now, and fresh shoots will emerge in a few weeks, bearing a second wave of blooms by late August or September.

Remember, Group 1 clematis plants set their flower buds for next spring during late summer. So any heavy pruning performed after July will cut off next spring's flower display. When cutting, also remember to wipe blades before and after use, even for light trims. Use isopropyl or rubbing alcohol to avoid the risk of spreading pathogens.

5. Control New Clematis Shoots

Clematis vines are well known for having growth spurts in summer, and all those vigorous new shoots need to be tied in and supported. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a tangled mess of vine. In July, Group 3 clematis can put on several inches of growth in a single day. If left unguided, searching stems will wrap around each other, forming a dense, tangled birds' nest of growth. This reduces light penetration and airflow, increasing the risk of fungal diseases.

Check vines every week in July for loose shoots, and fasten straggly or wayward shoots. Jute twine, like the Nutscene Heritage Green Jute Twine from Amazon, is a gentle way to keep growth in check and won’t bite into the stem. Tie the stems loosely in the direction you want them to grow. Try figure-of-8 loops to allow the stems to grow without restraint. Consistent training creates an evenly distributed canopy, allowing for the best sun exposure and resulting in a wall of flowers from top to bottom.

Shop Clematis Essentials

By the time July rolls in, clematis groups 2 and 3 are working in overdrive, either opening their main flush of summer blooms or gearing up for a secondary late-season show. You don't need a shed full of gadgets to keep them thriving – just a few well-selected tools and organic boosters will do the trick and keep your favorite climber growing at its best. A well-placed feed, precise deadheading, and a cool root zone are the secrets to prolonging those velvety blooms well into fall. Here are the simple, high-impact essentials to keep your clems lush and lovely.

Plant Care Trio

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Used coffee grounds are often recommended as a natural fertilizer for many houseplants. But do orchids like coffee grounds? The answer isn’t a flat no. It depends almost entirely on which orchid is being discussed and how the grounds reach it.

A spent filter full of coffee grounds feels wasteful in the bin, which is probably how this idea got started. There’s real nitrogen in there. There’s organic matter too, along with years of internet advice insisting that acid-loving plants will thank you for the trouble. Orchids occupy an odd position in that conversation.

Two of those assumptions don’t survive much scrutiny, and the stakes are higher when fertilizing orchids than they would be when using coffee on tomato plants. It's important to understand that orchid roots evolved for conditions nothing like garden soil, and the medium in a typical pot serves a purpose that has little to do with nutrition. Get that part wrong, and the nitrogen content stops mattering.

Why Coffee Grounds Might Help Orchids

First up, I cannot overstate this: all types of orchids cannot rely on coffee grounds alone. They still need a specialist orchid fertilizer to provide the balanced nutrients they require. I like to use Better-Gro Orchid Plus 20-14-13, available from Amazon, which is urea-free.

But what if you're looking for a natural top-up? The nutrients in coffee grounds are genuinely there. Used grounds contain around 2 percent nitrogen by weight, with smaller amounts of potassium and magnesium alongside. They also add organic matter and hold moisture. Soil microbes break them down over time into something a plant can eventually take up. For a vegetable bed or home compost pile, that’s a decent contribution from something free.

The acidity claim is where the reasoning goes sideways. Brewing pulls the water-soluble acids out of the beans and into the cup, leaving spent grounds close to neutral, at around pH 6.5 to 6.8. Anyone using them to lower pH is banking on a property the grounds gave up in the machine. Whatever they do for an orchid, acidifying the medium isn’t it.

Are Coffee Grounds Suitable for Every Type of Orchid?

The answer hinges on one key distinction. Moth orchids (Phalaenopsis species) are epiphytes, as are Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, and Vandas. In the wild, they cling to tree bark, with their roots hanging in moving air. Those roots are covered in a spongy layer called velamen, which soaks up water in bursts and then needs to dry out. Orchid bark mix in a pot is an attempt to recreate those airy conditions; providing nutrition is not its primary purpose.

Terrestrial orchids play by different rules entirely. Bletilla striata, the hardy ground orchid, grows in ordinary soil outdoors in USDA zones 5 to 9. Lady’s slippers (Cypripedium species) and ladies’ tresses (Spiranthes species) also grow in the ground. Their roots encounter organic matter much as those of other perennials do, making this a very different conversation from the one happening in a bark-filled pot.

Nearly every argument about coffee grounds and orchids comes down to two very different types of plant being discussed as though they were one.

Why You Shouldn't Add Grounds Straight to Orchid Bark

Wet coffee grounds behave like silt. Sprinkled into a pot, they filter down between the chunks and pack into the gaps, turning an open medium into something that stays damp long after it should have dried. A bag of orchid bark, such as this Rosy Soil mix, which contains biochar and mycorrhizae to improve plant health, is coarse for a reason, and filling those spaces defeats the whole design.

What follows is fairly predictable. Fungus gnats (Bradysia species) can breed in the damp organic layer, while white, fuzzy mold may spread across the surface within a couple of weeks. Roots that need air remain wet instead and can begin to rot from the outside in. Caffeine residue is another unknown: it has been shown to inhibit root growth in a number of plant species, and it is not well established where orchids fall on that list.

The Safest Way To Use Coffee Grounds for Orchids

For epiphytic orchids in bark, a heavily diluted and thoroughly strained coffee-ground “tea” avoids the problem of solid particles clogging the mix. It is still an experiment rather than a dependable part of orchid care, however, as its nutrient strength is impossible to judge and traces of caffeine may remain. I don't recommend it, but if you're determined to try it, then only use it very occasionally on already-damp roots, discard it if it smells sour or fermented, and flush the pot with plain water at the next watering. A specialist orchid fertilizer should remain the plant’s main source of nutrition.

For soil-grown orchids, composting the grounds first removes most of the risks. Around six months in a heap or a Costway dual-chamber compost tumbler from Walmart allows microbes to break the grounds down into something crumbly and stable. Much of the caffeine will have degraded, and the nitrogen has already passed through the microbial process that would otherwise need to happen in the pot.

Keep the ratio sensible while it cooks. Grounds need plenty of brown material alongside them – dry leaves or shredded cardboard – since a heap built largely from coffee can turn slimy rather than breaking down cleanly. Once finished, that compost can be used sparingly around terrestrial orchids growing in soil. It still has no business in a container of bark, no matter how well composted it is.

Can Terrestrial Orchids Benefit From Coffee Compost?

Here the answer turns cautiously positive. A hardy ground orchid in a border has real soil under it, and the microbial community that comes with it. Work finished compost lightly into the surface, and it behaves as it would around any perennial. Structure improves. Nutrients arrive slowly, and the ground holds moisture further into summer.

Restraint is the whole game, though. A thin scattering once or twice a season does it, kept clear of the crown and pseudobulbs where trapped moisture starts rot. Uncomposted grounds piled on thickly cause something different – soil microbes go after that fresh carbon and pull available nitrogen out of circulation while they work. The plant goes hungry through the exact weeks it's putting on growth. That reverses eventually, but it can cost a season of flowering first.

Signs Coffee Grounds Are Harming Your Orchid

The medium tells you first. Bark still wet several days after watering has lost its drainage, and a white or gray bloom across the surface confirms it. A sour, fermented smell from the pot says the same thing. Small dark flies rising when the plant gets moved point at gnats breeding in there.

Roots give the clearest verdict, and a clear pot makes them visible. Healthy orchid roots look plump and silvery green when wet. Anything brown and soft has drowned, and a root that collapses under light pressure is past saving. Above the pot, watch for leaves turning yellow from the lowest ones upward, or a plant that stops producing new growth entirely for a season. At that stage, repotting an orchid into fresh medium beats waiting to see whether it recovers.

Coffee Grounds Aren't a Substitute for Orchid Fertilizer

Orchid feeds are formulated around a limitation that explains this entire question. Many are urea-free because urea needs soil bacteria to convert it into a usable form, and a pot of bark simply doesn't hold enough of them. The same microbial gap that rules out urea rules out coffee grounds even more firmly.

For epiphytes in containers, a weak solution at every other watering covers what the plant needs, with an occasional plain water flush to clear accumulated salts. Anyone determined to use spent grounds should compost them properly and spread the results around terrestrial orchids outdoors. Moth orchids on a windowsill do better with something formulated for the job.

Orchid Essentials

A great solution for heatwave summers, low-growing groundcover plants act as a living mulch to lock moisture into the soil and protect roots from extreme temperatures. And groundcover doesn’t need to be boring! These fabulously flamboyant flowering groundcover plants will bring months of beautiful blooms to borders, and keep your garden full of color into fall.

If it’s been a while since you looked at groundcover plants, you’ll be astonished to discover some dazzling new varieties that combine all the benefits of traditional groundcover with the ornamental delights usually only seen in far taller plants. There’s even a groundcover hydrangea for goodness sake!

So forget the usual fodder of forgettable groundcover and try a showstopper instead. Here’s my pick of the most eye-catching groundcover plants to keep your soil cool and your borders packed with blooms into fall.

1. Groundbreaker Hydrangea For a Sea of Blooms

• Zones 5-8
• Full sun to partial shade
• Grows 12-16" tall and 24-32" wide

Let’s start with the plant most likely to cause serious neighbor envy, shall we? Because if you plant this groundcover carpet of color-changing hydrangea blooms, expect everyone to ask what is! The fabulous new Groundbreaker series of hydrangeas brings all the beauty of the perennial blooms we all know and love to ground level. The world’s first-ever spreading groundcover hydrangea, this plant grows out instead of up, only reaching 12-16 inches high yet spreading up to 32 inches wide. Well-branched stems mean lots of conical flowers, and the blooming period lasts a whopping 100 days.

Launched two years ago, Groundbreaker hydrangeas only became available to buy in the United States in July 2026, and they’re proving hugely popular. And no wonder: growing panicle hydrangeas is straightforward to begin with, but these have been bred to be especially low maintenance.

So if you want one, you’d better be quick as these beautiful hydrandgeas are selling out fast. At the time of writing, all three Groundbreaker hydrangea varieties are available from Plant Addicts. Groundbreaker Blush Hydrangea has large white flower panicles in midsummer that gradually develop blush pink tones. Groundbreaker Ruby Hydrangea also blooms white but its flowers deepen to a rich ruby red, while Groundbreaker Greeny Hydrangea transitions the other way with blooms opening a bright lime green then gradually softening to a creamy white.

2. Drift Rose For Three-Season Color

• Zones 4-11
• Full sun to partial shade
• Grows 1-2' tall and 3' wide

The series of Drift roses are a cross between full-size groundcover roses and miniature roses, so while they’ll bring abundant color to a border, they won’t take over. These rebloomers produce wave after wave of flowers from spring till late fall and are self-cleaning, which means you don’t need to deadhead. They’re super-easy to look after, too, being highly resilient against common rose issues including black spot and powdery mildew.

There are all sorts of fabulous colors to choose from, and some have transitioning tones. In fact, the only downside to these low-maintenance roses is that they only have a mild scent, or no fragrance at all.

Nature Hills stocks a great selection of Drift roses. Popcorn Drift blooms a golden yellow and transitions to cream, while Coral Drift, Peach Drift and Apricot Drift also have color-shifting blooms in a variety of warm tones. Sweet Drift is a ravishing pink with around 30 petals on each flower, while Pink Drift has simple single blooms that are better for pollinators. Red Drift holds its bright scarlet color even in a hot summer.

3. Blue Waterfall Bellflower for a Designer Look

• Zones 4-8
• Partial to full sun
• Grows 6-10" high and 24-36" wide

There are lots of good things to say about this pretty plant, but perhaps its finest asset is that it’s often employed by landscape designers, so instantly brings a professional look. While Campanula poscharskyana ‘Camgood’ is typically housed in a pot or a hanging basket, its trailing stems make excellent groundcover, speedily spreading around larger plants.

And this little perennial is sure to attract attention with its ice-blue star-shaped flowers that last through summer into fall.

While this perennial grows quickly, it doesn’t run out of control, and happily thrives in pretty much any soil, as long as it gets at least 5 hours of sunlight a day. The small, bright green heart-shaped leaves are super-pretty, too. Blue Waterfall Bellflower plants are available from Plant Addicts.

4. Firewitch Dianthus For a Small Garden

• Zones 3-9
• Full sun
• Grows 4-8" high and 1' wide

Yes, small gardens need groundcover too! Firewitch dianthus makes for brilliant groundcover in a small garden as it’s incredibly well-behaved but works hard to form a dense, weed-blocking mat of pretty silvery-blue leaves. With a flurry of pink flowers all through spring and summer – and fall, if you shear off faded blooms – Dianthus gratianopolitanus was bred to give maximum color for minimum effort.

What’s more, the spicy, clove-like scent of the flowers is a wonderful addition to hot summer days, while the foliage is evergreen in most climates.

Each plant spreads to around a foot wide so, depending on the size of your border, you’ll need to add a few, and single and multi-pack Firewitch Dianthus plants are available from Fast Growing Trees.

5. Silvery Sunproof Liriope For Rippling Leaves

• Zones 6-11
• Partial shade
• Grows 1-2’ high and wide

This variegated monkey grass forms clumps rather than spreads, so it makes excellent groundcover to underplant a border of bigger perennials or shrubs where controlling a more vigorous plant would be tricky. This drought-tolerant plant can even cope in dry shade once established, so it won’t mind a jot that trees and shrubs are sucking most of the moisture out of the soil.

The striped leaves are evergreen in most climates and, in midsummer, purple flower spikes add to the show and last through fall. Liriope ‘Silvery Sunproof’ plants are available from Nature Hillsand are tolerant of pollution so will thrive roadside, and is even rated as Firewise in several states. While monkey grass typically needs partial shade to thrive, this variety tolerates sunlight far better than most others.

6. Cool Wave Pansies For Instant Cheer

• All zones
• Full sun or partial shade
• 6-8" high and 24-30" wide

These little gems light up a tired border and don’t be fooled by the dainty, delicate appearance – they're tough cookies and bloom for months on end. In fact, this is one of the longest-blooming pansies available. While pansies are typically planted in patio pots and hanging baskets, this is a trailing variety so spreads to form groundcover in a border and quickly but politely fills gaps between bigger perennials. Pansies can be planted in summer in zones up to 9, so put this on your list of July garden jobs.

How Cool Wave pansies behave will depend on your climate, but they’re an excellent way to bridge the summer-to-fall gap in all zones. In zones 5 through 11 they’ll survive the winter: in zones 5-6, they’re dormant through winter but bounce back in spring; in zones 7-9, they’ll bloom pretty much continuously through all four seasons; in zones 10-11, wait for the intense heat of summer to pass before planting for endless cool-season flowers. In cooler zones 4 and below, treat these beauties as annuals and plant afresh each spring.

Pansies prefer cooler conditions and will fade in hot temperatures so, in a hotter zone, plant in a partially shady spot that doesn’t bake in the midday sun; in cooler zones, it’s fine in full sun.

Pansies can be challenging to grow from seed so it’s best to skip straight to the good bit with young plants. Cool Wave Morpho pansy plants are available from Burpee in a striking purple-blue and yellow combo, and the color intensifies as temperatures drop. Cool Wave Raspberry Swirl pansy plants are also available from Burpee, with a pretty mix of rosy, golden tones.

7. SunSparkler Dazzling Dynamite Sedum for Low Maintenance

• Zones 4-9
• Full sun
• Grows 4-8" tall and 1-2' wide

If you want to add color to a border without upping the workload, Sedum ‘Dazzling Dynamite’ should be your go-to solution. This well-behaved low-growing perennial is extremely heat- and drought-tolerant once established, and while pollinators love it, deer typically don’t touch it. That burgundy-red foliage is vibrant enough on its own, but when topped with bright pink flowers through summer and fall, SunSparkler Dazzling Dynamite Sedum is a real showstopper.

Unlike some sedums that fade in summer heat, this keeps its color well, and Dazzling Dynamite plants are available from Nature Hills. The succulent leaves slowly spread to form a dense mat, even on poor soil, making this one of the most low-maintenance groundcover plants you can get.

Groundbreaker Hydrangeas are a brand new type of hydrangea that bring a sweep of showstopper groundcover blooms to your garden. Just launched in America this July, these plants are selling out super-fast – and no wonder! The conical flowers last for 100 days and slowly change color for a sweep of multi-toned petals, and well-branched stems make for abundant blooms. And this striking summer show returns year after year for very little effort.

Growing out rather than up, Groundbreaker Hydrangeas only reach 12-16 inches high but spread 24-32 inches wide. Being a panicle hydrangea makes it low-maintenance to start with, but these resilient, reliable bloomers are particularly easy to grow. Unlike trad hydrangeas, these plants don’t need staking and are straightforward to prune, too, even for beginner gardeners.

Suitable for zones 5-8, this low-level beauty can be grown in borders, containers, and as path edging. Its neat size makes it ideal for compact gardens and urban yards and, as quick and clever ideas for container gardens go, it's a winner! Those horizontal-habit stems will cascade from a tall planter or large hanging basket, too. Already one of the biggest garden trends of 2026, because Groundbreaker Hydrangeas are so versatile as well as hassle-free, these perennials make great gifts – for yourself as well as family and friends!

What are Groundbreaker Hydrangeas?

Groundbreaker hydrangeas are the world’s first groundcover hydrangea series. Bred from panicle hydrangeas in the Netherlands by Dutch breeder, Alex Schoemaker of Living Creations, this breeding breakthrough is an entirely new, innovative form of the popular shrub we all know and love. The Schoemaker family has been growing hydrangeas for six generations, and Alex specialises in Hydrangea paniculata. His goal? To develop new formulas with stronger stems, more colors and longer lifespans.

The low-growing habit of this hydrangea series first came about by chance during the pursuit of these objectives, when a particularly short plant cropped up among many, many hybrids in the test fields. In time, three cultivars of this new hydrangea form were developed, all with the trademark cone-shaped flowers of Hydrangea paniculata but with that groundbreaking groundcover habit.

Groundbreaker Blush Hydrangea

Blush was the first Groundbreaker hydrangea to be bred in 2017, and was launched in 2024, becoming available to UK gardeners in 2025. Large white flower panicles bloom in July and gradually develop deepening blush pink tones, and the plant grows 12 inches high and 24 inches wide.

Groundbreaker Greeny Hydrangea

Greeny followed, with flowers opening a bright lime green and petals gradually softening to an elegant creamy white. A little larger than Blush, Greeny grows to 16” high and 32” wide.

Groundbreaker Ruby Hydrangea

Ruby was released for the 2026 season. This stunner’s blooms emerge white and slowly transition to a rich ruby red, and it grows to 16 inches high and spreads to 28 inches wide.

Where to Buy Groundbreaker Hydrangeas

While it takes many years to bring a new plant to market, US availability has lagged behind that in Europe because of import restrictions, but plants finally became available in July 2026.

Only released through a few speciality retailers, Groundbreaker Hydrangeas are pretty hard to get hold of, making them the hottest botanical ticket in town right now. At the time of writing, all three varieties – Blush, Ruby and Greeny – are available to preorder for October shipping from Plant Addicts. But you’d better be quick if you want one!

While it’s galling to have to wait a few months to get your hands on such a fabulous plant, a fall planting is far less stressful for any shrub, but particularly a hydrangea that likes to stay hydrated. The benefits of planting a hydrangea in fall are plentiful, but first and foremost, you’ll give your new hydrangea plenty of time to make itself at home and sink its roots deep into the ground before it faces the stress of summer heat, next year. A strong root system means a far more bountiful display of blooms, too.

How to Grow Groundbreaker Hydrangeas

Groundbreaker Hydrangeas are one of the easiest to grow when it comes to essential hydrangea care. These plants need full sun or partial shade, with a minimum of four hours of sunlight a day, and well-drained soil. This is easily achieved in the ground by mixing compost into the soil before planting, either homemade or a product such as R&M Organics Premium Compost, available from Amazon. In a container, use an all-purpose moisture control potting mix such as Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix, available from Walmart.

While plants will need regular watering while they establish, mature plants will only need irrigating during prolonged dry periods. Plants in containers will need more regular watering.

Most hydrangea care happens in spring. Like all panicle hydrangeas, Groundbreaker blooms on new wood. This means it needs a hard-prune in March – exact timing will depend on your zone but do it before the first buds break. Pruning is simple: all stems should be cut to 8 inches above the ground using a pair of bypass hand pruners such as Fiskars All Steel Bypass Hand Pruners from Lowe's.

Minimal feeding is needed, but a light liquid seaweed fertilizer such as TPS Seaweed Fertilizer, available from Amazon, in early spring can be beneficial. A yearly natural mulch in March will provide all the necessary nutrients and help to keep moisture in the soil and insulate roots from temperature extremes.

Hardy down to -22, Groundbreaker hydrangeas are suitable for zones 5-8, where they don’t need any winter protection. For full groundcover, plant in staggered rows at plant width intervals, or further apart if you want separate mounds.

Trends come and trends go, and we’re not just talking heel heights and skirt lengths. Today, social media can bounce the popularity of a vehicle, a child’s toy, and even a species of dog in hours, and lots of folks will head out in search of one. And yes, this applies to garden plants as well. Garden trends and flower trends appear in a flash, only to get whisked away when something else blows into the limelight. Remember when manicured landscaping was all the rage? How about living walls?

Hyper-trendy ornamentals are often bred for viral shock value rather than real-world hardiness. When a temperamental trend-plant crisps up in a heatwave or succumbs to summer humidity, you’re left with a patchy border and plenty of disappointment. Chasing novelty requires constant intervention, and relentless fussing. So why not catch your breath and make some room for the plants that resonate beyond the trends – those flowers, perennials and shrubs that are always… just right?

We are here to advocate for the elegance and endurance of the forever classics that effortlessly outlive flash-in-the-pan trends. These timeless garden icons have done the heavy lifting in countless yards for years, and refuse to be categorized or treated as fads. While these “oldies but goodies” might appeal to trend-lovers for their vintage luxury, they are both a practical and a lovely choice for growers in any decade. Offering multi-season beauty, natural weather tolerance, and permanent curb appeal, it’s time to meet the anti-trend plants.

Grow Anti-Trend Forever Plants

For growers who have jobs, kids, friends, relationships, places to go and things to do, there’s a lot to be said for the garden classics. Timeless plants have survived generations of fluctuating weather patterns, shifting soil dynamics, and pests. They often offer deep root systems that cope with short droughts, and reliable flower power that attracts native pollinators year after year. So by stepping off the trend treadmill, you swap high-maintenance anxiety for effortless, multi-seasonal beauty.

Can you plant these classics during the height of summer in July? You bet, provided you give them time to establish. Depending on your growing zone and local climate, midsummer heat means root systems need a little support ahead of autumn. Before planting, check your site’s moisture retention and drainage with the help of a good soil meter tool, like the XLUX Soil Moisture Meter from Amazon.

Heavy clay holds excessive water, while overly sandy soils let nutrients wash straight through. A little perlite or coarse sand can help improve drainage, while sprinkling organic matter (such as aged compost) in the planting hole can cushion young roots against thermal shock. After planting, add a 2-inch (5 cm) layer of organic mulch such as Back to the Roots Organic Premium Mulch from The Home Depot to suppress weeds and regulate temperatures. You’re then ready to meet the lush and lovely plants that have stood the test of time.

1. Old-Fashioned Bleeding Heart

The trending gift for Valentine’s Day is the heart-leaf hoya (H. kerrii), a single, plump green succulent that, over time, develops into a vine of succulent hearts. It’s cute, but it doesn’t have the style or history of an old-fashioned bleeding heart. Ask your grandparents if their childhood garden included these flowers (Lamprocapnos spectabilis, formerly Dicentra spectabilis). This unusual and eye-catching plant was called the finest hardy perennial of the 19th century.

Today, this dainty ornamental is a favorite of the perennial shade garden. It’s easy to grow, blooming profusely in early spring and early summer, with heart-shaped flowers dangling from arching stems. Plant old-fashioned bleeding hearts in a part-shade location in zones 2-9. Pair its soft, weeping silhouette with structured companions like broad-leafed hostas, Japanese painted ferns, or astilbe. You can buy Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart from Nature Hills as live plants.

Plant in partial to full shade, keeping it sheltered from afternoon sun. You can add Down To Earth Organic Crab Meal (4-3-0) from Amazon for a slow-release soil amendment that builds resilience. The flowering season ends when summer warmth rolls in. Cut back the leaves and stems as they wither, and reduce watering as the plant goes dormant, and you will see these enchanting hearts again next year.

2. Oakleaf Hydrangea

Oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia) is not one of those trending hydrangeas that shoots up in a matter of months or has neon shades, like Let's Dance Rave. Instead, this native deciduous shrub grows slowly, topping out at 4-8 feet (1.2-2.4 m) tall with long-lasting flower clusters. They appear snowy white, fading to antique rose. For extra wow factor, the leaves are shaped like oak leaves. Unlike other hydrangeas which can flop in the heat, the oakleaf is a uniquely tough North American native.

These varieties just need well-draining, acidic, nutrient-rich soil. Water well in June and add a thick layer of mulch to keep the soil moist. An organic feed, such as Espoma Organic Holly-Tone Fertilizer from Walmart, helps to keep foliage lush and healthy. This shrub handles drought and heat far better than trendy mopheads once established in zones 5-9. For the timeless lacey look, try Snowqueen, Snowflake, or Proven Winners Gatsby Glow Ball Oakleaf Hydrangea from Fast Growing Trees.

3. Purple Coneflower

I’ve noticed a trend this year for soft pastels. Faded Petal, a blush-gray hue, was named as Garden Media Group’s 2026 Color of the Year. But I say, go for bright purple! Gardeners of old loved purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) for all the reasons they are considered easy-care perennials today. As species plants, they are hardier than recent hybrids, and give wildlife better access to nectar and seeds. Flowers appear in midsummer and last right through the growing season. They may not be trendy, but they are tough and pretty.

You can buy American Beauties Native Purple Coneflowers from Plant Addicts for large tufty orange cones flanked with bubblegum purple petals. These classic perennials just need a site with direct sun and well-draining soil in zones 3-8. Water well if the weather is dry. A little Down To Earth Organic Fish Bone Meal (3-16-0) from Lowe's can also help forge deep root development for continuous midsummer blooms.If you deadhead early flowers in June, it encourages extra blooms later in summer. Leave some late fall seed heads intact for wintering goldfinches.

4. Common Lilac

Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) has been part of cottage gardens for centuries, so it makes sense that it isn’t considered trendy. Rather, it’s an old-fashioned and long-lived flowering shrub, beloved for its fragrant blooms. The species plant can grow to 16 feet (5m) tall and 12 feet (4m) wide, with soft purple flowers blooming in May. Hardy across USDA zones 3-7, a well-sited lilac bush routinely outlives the gardener who planted it. You can buy Common Purple Lilac from Fast Growing Trees as live plants for a generous, low-maintenance bloomer that butterflies adore.

These shrubs just need 6-hours a day of direct sunshine and loamy, well-draining soil. If it is hot, give them a deep drink from time to time. If you’d like to improve ground conditions, you can buy Wakefield Premium Biochar Soil Conditioner from Lowe's to improve aeration, balance drainage, and prevent nutrient leaching. Just don’t prune late in the summer or fall, or you’ll accidentally be cutting off next spring’s exquisite floral display. Instead, prune within two weeks after blooming finishes.

5. Peony

Calling peonies (Paeonia spp.) old-fashioned classics is a bit of an understatement. They are among the oldest species of plants and have been grown in Asian gardens for thousands of years. After the colonists brought the first peonies to America, their popularity grew quickly, and by the early 20th-century, they were adored by many. These days, there’s so much to love about a peony. Producing heavily scented blooms, from silk-like singles to lush, ruffled doubles, they bring unmatched luxury. And the plants belong in your will, since they can live longer than their owners. If you’re stuck for choice, you can’t go wrong with hot pink Paeonia ‘Kansas’ or fluffy mammoth ‘Sarah Bernhardt’, both available from Plant Addicts.

Peony plants require little maintenance, if you plant them in a proper location. They just need at least six hours of sun, shelter from winds, and deep, fertile, moist soil in zones 3-8. Peonies bloom from late spring through early summer. Don’t cut back green foliage right after flowering finishes, but let the leaves stand to gather energy for next year's display. Peony foliage can be susceptible to powdery mildew and botrytis blight. Spray a little bio-fungicide, such as Arber Organic Bio-Fungicide Concentrate from Walmart, to keep leaves in good shape through fall.

6. Nasturtiums

With succulents trending as easy-care filler plants this year, you aren’t likely to see photos of nasturtium on Instagram. But these old-fashioned classics are as vibrant and long-flowering as they come. My grandmother grew nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus) in New Jersey, her grandmother grew them in Poland, and now I grow them in San Francisco and France. This cottage garden classic with its bright bugle blooms, can grow almost without any effort. The seeds are big, they germinate within a week, and they flower through fall. Oh, and they reseed readily in zones 9-11.

For an elegant, classy twist on the conventional (very lovely) tones, there are some lovely heirloom options, such as salmon soaked Vesuvias, available from Eden Brothers as seeds. Or, if you can’t decide on one color, opt for Supernova Mixed Nasturtiums, available from Burpee as seeds, for a rainbow of abundant petals. Nasturtiums delight in poor, lean soils where other ornamentals struggle. Where soils are compacted or heavy clay, just add a few scoops of coarse sand, or Hoffman Western Desert Sand from Walmart, into the planting site.

7. Lavender

Graceful, understated, instantly identifiable, and effortlessly elegant, lavender (Lavandula) is like the Audrey Hepburn of your yard. It doesn't rely on gimmicks, just structured foliage, silvery stems, and fragrant flower spires that delight the local bees and butterflies. For compact borders, pathway edging, and cold winter hardiness, English lavenders (L. angustifolia) like Hidcote and Munstead are perfect. If you have muggy midsummers, grow lavandins (L. x media) like Phenomenal, which is resistant to winter dieback, root rot, and humidity, while producing oil-rich flower wands that fill the air with scent. Buy Southern Living Phenomenal Lavender from Fast Growing Trees.

Thriving across zones 5-10, this Mediterranean native loves lean soil. Plant it in full, unshaded sun and sharply draining soil. If your ground is heavy clay, mix in some coarse sand. Cut back stems by one-third after blooming to maintain a tight, bushy mound, but avoid cutting into old woody stems. To keep your plants thriving year after year, just sprinkle a small handful of a gentle all--purpose feed like Espoma Organic Plant-Tone Plant Food from Amazon around the base. Pair with coneflower or ornamental grasses for a sunny border that never goes out of style.

Shop Anti-Trend Essentials

Selecting resilient, time-tested perennials and shrubs midsummer is just the beginning of an epic love affair that can last a lifetime. And now is a great time to start with these plants. By skipping delicate trend-plants in favor of proven, weather-hardy classics, you can cultivate an inviting, high-end layout that matures beautifully with every passing year. So why not establish your yard's forever style today?

Timeless Trio

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There's something uniquely annoying about an old tree stump, isn't there? It's too solid to dig out yourself (unless you're feeling particularly dedicated), professional stump grinding isn't cheap, and every time you look at it, it seems to become even more of an eyesore.

If you've searched for ways to get rid of one, you've probably stumbled across every trick in the book. Drill holes and fill it with Epsom salt. Burn it. Cover it with plastic. Grow a new tree from it. Wait for nature to take its course (only another decade or so!).

I should know; I briefly considered all of them when trying to figure out what to do with my own pesky tree stump. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars trying to make the stump disappear, though, I had a thought: why not make it into something I actually wanted to look at?

How I Hid My Tree Stump

Rather than paying through the nose to remove my old tree stump, I decided to embrace it instead... and, no word of a lie, it's since become one of my favorite parts of my garden.

Now, I know that some people transform their old tree stumps into benches, or fairy gardens, or decorative sculptures. Mine wasn't nearly big enough for such grand designs, tragically. Instead, I planted evergreen vines around the base and simply let them do what they do best: climb.

Within a couple of seasons, the stump had almost completely vanished beneath glossy green foliage. And, instead of a dead reminder of the tree that used to be there (RIP, tree; I still miss you), it has become a lush pillar of greenery that looks like it has always belonged.

Now, the unexpected bonus wasn't how good the stump looked; it was who moved in. Every summer, toads make their way beneath the curtain of green leaves, where the old stump stays cool and damp even during hot weather.

I'll occasionally catch one peeking out from underneath the foliage before disappearing back into its shady hideaway. It's not just a toad abode, though; the dense evergreen cover also provides shelter for insects and spiders, while the decaying wood beneath continues to support fungi and countless beneficial organisms.

What was once a dead feature has quietly become a living ecosystem. And, even in the middle of winter, when much of the garden has gone to sleep, the stump stays green, giving the space a little structure and a wonderfully overgrown, Secret Garden feel.

Now, I garden in the UK, where English ivy is easy (and non-problematic) to grow, but there are plenty of alternatives if you're gardening in the US. Something like creeping fig in warmer regions, Virginia creepers (available as bare root plants from CZ Grain Stor) or even a stunning Climbing Hydrangea from Nature Hills if you're happy to wait for it to establish can create a similarly , leafy effect.

If you don't want a permanent climber, annual vines can also disguise a stump for the growing season. Or you could go ultra fancy and try growing your birth month vine over your own personal stumpery.

It should go without saying that there are times when stump removal makes sense. If the stump is diseased, causing safety issues, or sits exactly where you need to build a patio or plant a new tree, removing it is probably the right call.

Shop Vines & Creepers:

If it's simply ugly, though? Well, I think hiding it is often the better solution. After all, professional stump grinding can be surprisingly expensive, especially for larger stumps. Leaving the stump in place means you avoid disturbing the surrounding soil and nearby plant roots, while allowing the wood to decompose naturally over time.

By covering it with evergreen planting instead, you're solving the cosmetic problem without creating waste... and you're adding habitat at the same time.

Truth be told, I originally planted the ivy because I didn't want to pay for stump removal. Now, even if someone offered to remove the stump for free, I wouldn't say yes. And every time I spot a little toad tucked beneath the leaves on a warm afternoon, I'm reminded that the garden seems to agree.

Who doesn’t love the big, colorful blooms of hydrangeas? From rounded mopheads and delicate lacecaps to elegant panicles, their varied flower forms make a striking addition to the garden. Knowing how to dry hydrangea flowers allows you to enjoy their impressive blooms for even longer.

Many gardeners leave the flower heads to dry on the bushes for fall and winter interest, but you can also cut and preserve them to display indoors. Knowing when and how to harvest the blooms is a useful part of hydrangea care, as the timing can affect how well they retain their color and shape.

Learning how to dry hydrangea blooms is actually very easy. Some flowers take better to drying than others, and they can last a long time if you do it right. You can use all types of hydrangeas for drying, but the mopheads and panicles with changing colors turn into the most striking specimens when dry.

There are several ways to dry flowers at home, including air-drying, drying them in water, and using silica gel. Each method is relatively simple and produces slightly different results. Follow the instructions below to discover the best way to preserve your hydrangea blooms.

When to Cut Hydrangeas for Drying

There is a right time and a wrong time to cut hydrangeas for drying. These prolific bloomers look their most spectacular when they are brightly colored at their peak in the garden. But this is not the best time to dry them, as they contain too much moisture. Drying them at this stage will result in wilted, shriveled flowers.

The best time to harvest hydrangeas for drying is later in the season. Aim for about six weeks after the blooms open. The flowers should already feel a little dry and papery. If your flowers don’t seem totally dried out, just give them more time.

Choose a dry day, and harvest flowers later in the day when they are naturally drier.

What You Need

How to Dry Hydrangeas in Water

It might seem counterintuitive, but drying hydrangeas in water is the best way to preserve them. Unlike other flowers that degrade in water, hydrangeas hold their shape and color well.

Water-drying hydrangeas takes a little more time than air-drying, but many find that the results are better. Here's how to do it:

1. Timing is critical when drying hydrangeas in water. You must wait till the blooms have been open for several weeks and are beginning to get papery. Many hydrangeas will slowly change colors, from white to dusky pink, for example. It’s when the color change begins that it is ready to undergo the drying process.
2. Cut the blooms in mid to late morning after all the dew has dried from the plant. Pick the best-looking blooms because drying will exacerbate any imperfections. Allow 12 to 18 inches (30–45 cm) for the stems, and cut them at different heights, so the flowers are spaced out as they dry. Cut above a node at a 45-degree angle. Drop the stem in a bucket of water, if desired, while the other boughs are collected.
3. Once inside, strip the leaves from the hydrangea blooms as they don’t dry well. Fill each vase with enough water to cover about two to three inches of the stems. Insert the stems and arrange them so there is ample space between blossoms. They should not touch. Stagger the heights, if needed, to allow sufficient air space.
4. Place the vases where you can enjoy the blooms as they dry, but keep them out of direct sunlight.
5. Allow the water to evaporate and the hydrangeas to dry. It should take two or more weeks. If the water evaporates and the flowers do not feel stiff, add more water and continue to let them dry naturally. When the flowers feel papery and stiff, they are ready for display.

How to Air Dry Hydrangeas

Air-drying hydrangeas is the simplest and quickest method, although the finished blooms may be more fragile and lose more color than those dried in water.

Simply cut the stems to different heights, remove the leaves, and arrange the flowers loosely in a vase without adding water. Avoid crowding the blooms, as good air circulation helps them dry evenly and prevents moisture from becoming trapped between the petals. Place the vase in a cool, dry spot away from direct sunlight, which can bleach the flowers.

Alternatively, tie the stems together in small bunches and hang them upside down to air-dry on a rack, like this wooden adjustable drying rack from Amazon. This can help keep the stems straight, although the flower heads may lose a little more of their natural shape. Depending on the conditions, the hydrangeas should feel dry and papery within one to two weeks.

Using Silica Gel for Drying Hydrangeas​

Silica gel is a good option if you want hydrangea flowers to retain more of their original color and shape. It draws moisture from the petals and supports the flower head as it dries, retaining more color and structure than when air drying. Bear in mind, large hydrangea blooms can use a considerable amount of silica gel, so buy it in bulk, like this Unuast Store 5 lb tub from Amazon.

Here's how to do it:

1. Cut the stems short, remove the leaves, and place a layer of silica gel in the bottom of an airtight container.
2. Set the flower head on top, then carefully pour more silica gel around and over the petals until the bloom is completely covered.
3. Seal the container and leave it undisturbed for several days, checking the flowers according to the product instructions.
4. Once dry, lift the bloom out gently and brush away any remaining crystals with a soft paintbrush.

This method works especially well for individual flower heads intended for arrangements or crafts, although it requires more materials than air- or water-drying. The finished flowers are often very delicate, so handle them with care.

Should I Spray Dry Hydrangea Flowers?

You don’t have to spray hydrangeas after drying them, but doing so will help them last longer. Use a light mist of hairspray to fix the petals and flowers and prevent them from dropping.

Better still, a UV floral preservative, like Krylon UV Floral Protectant Spray, prevents color fading. Your dried blooms won’t last forever, but you can extend their lifespan by doing this.

Can I Dry Hydrangeas in the Microwave?

If you're in a rush, you can dry hydrangeas in the microwave, but it’s not the best method. To do it, place flower heads or individually removed flowers in a microwave-safe container. Heat the container on the lowest setting and check the flowers at 30-second or 60-second intervals.

Ways to Use Dried Hydrangeas

Knowing how to dry a hydrangea flower properly means you can create beautiful displays for fall and winter. A simple and conventional way to use dried hydrangeas is in arrangements in vases, with or without other flowers.

If you use care not to damage them, you can also use dried hydrangeas in other types of displays. Use them in tablescapes or on mantels. Lay them on the surface or around candles. Tie dried flowers to presents. Fill bowls with them to decorate a table.

You can even use hydrangeas in wreaths or garlands. Handle them carefully to avoid damage and to help them last longer.

The right peony care in July will have a huge impact on how well your plant flowers next year. Now your peony is done flowering for this summer, it gets busy making and storing the energy it needs to grow the next set of glorious blooms. Help your plant with this task, and you’ll be richly rewarded with even more beautiful ruffles of petals next spring.

Once July's glorious show of opulent petals is over, it’s all too easy to forget about your peony plant for the rest of the summer. And without targeted midsummer care, your peony will still flower next year. But, with the right nurturing, you’ll support your plant to grow the biggest, blousiest blooms, ever. The right summer care is especially important this year, as there’s no telling how long this heatwave will last, and heat-stressed plants will prioritise basic survival over another season of bountiful blooms. And why miss this opportunity when giving your peony the care it needs in July is quick and easy?

July peony care isn’t complicated, but these four simple tasks will help your plant through the stress of high summer temperatures, and allow it to focus on storing the fuel it needs for fabulous flowers next year.

1. Prune Spent Flowers to Grow Stronger Roots

The vast majority of peonies begin to form seeds in leathery pods as soon as flower petals start to fade. This uses lots of energy that could be put towards growing a bigger root system to provide for more abundant flowers next year. So, your first priority when it comes to summer peony care is to snip old blooms off. Use a sharp pair of bypass pruners to deadhead peonies – and do sharpen the blades first if you haven’t for a while, because clean cuts are easier for the plant to heal – to snip off the stem just above the first healthy leaf below the faded flower.

To avoid pests and fungal disease, it’s best to put snipped flowers in the trash rather than letting them drop to the ground.

Intersectional (Itoh) peonies and a few modern hybridized peony cultivars are sterile so don’t produce seeds, but it’s wise to still deadhead these both to keep your plant tidy and avoid disease.

2. Clear Dead and Damaged Leaves to Avoid Disease

Peonies are susceptible to several fungal diseases, which stress the plant. A diseased plant will use up valuable energy fighting the infection, affected leaves won’t be able to photosynthesize, and left untreated, some fungal diseases can even kill it. Fungi are able to lie dormant over winter, too, directly affecting next year’s blooms.

While botrytis blight, often called peony blight and gray mold, usually attacks in spring, you may spot powdery mildew on peonies in summer, with leaves looking like they are dusted with fine white flour. If peony leaf blotch, often called peony measles, went undetected in spring, you may also see this in July, too, when the small red spots will start to merge into dark, irregular patches (pictured above).

Gather up any leaves that have fallen to the ground as well as removing dead or damaged leaves from the plant, and dispose of them in the trash to avoid reinfection. It’s also important to wipe pruners with disinfecting alcohol such as MaxTite 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol from Amazon between cuts. Identifying the peony disease will determine if you need to take any further precautions.

Leave healthy green foliage in place for now as all these leaves act as solar panels through summer and into fall, photosynthesizing to produce energy that will be stored in the plants fleshy tubers, ready to power next year's growth. Wait until the foliage has died after the first frost, before pruning herbaceous peonies in late fall.

3. Water Deeply Once a Week

Established peonies are relatively drought tolerant, which makes it easy to skip over these plants in your watering round. But if you're wondering how to get bigger peony flowers next year, irrigation is a critical part of your care plan. Right now, the plant is using all that energy it’s making with its leaves to grow a stronger root system but, from next month into fall, it will begin forming microscopic, embryonic buds called ‘eyes’ just below the soil surface. These eyes will lie dormant all winter and, next spring, burst into life, throwing stems upwards with baby flowerbuds already formed.

Think of these summer months post-flowering as bud-planning time, and you’ll understand why keeping your peony hydrated now will lead to a better display of blooms next year.

However, it’s important to water peonies properly, giving your plants a weekly deep soak rather than a daily sprinkling. Irrigating deeply so water penetrates deep into the soil encourages the root system to follow the moisture downwards, making the plant more resilient; daily light watering leads to weaker, surface-level roots. Because peony roots are fleshy tubers, restricting watering to once a week at most ensures the soil doesn’t become waterlogged, when tubers may rot.

Young or recently planted peony plants that haven’t yet grown a strong root system, and peonies in containers, will need watering more often.

Water the soil rather than getting the leaves wet, to reduce the risk of fungal infection.

4. Improve Nutrients and Moisture With a Mulch

The final step of what peonies need in July is a 2-inch layer of mulch laid on the soil surface to help lock moisture in. You can use any natural material such as homemade compost, leftover all-purpose potting soil or a purpose-made mulch. The advantage of using a natural mulch is that nutrients will be washed into the earth to slowly feed the plant, and the organic matter will eventually rot down to improve the soil structure for healthy growth.

Use a bow rake, spreading the mulch with the tines then flipping the rake over to level the mulch with its flat edge.

It’s important not to swamp the centre of the plant with mulch, as a crown that’s buried too deeply won’t flower well, and organic material holding water against stems can lead to rot. Peonies have wide rather than deep root systems so spread the mulch around the plant, keeping it away from the central stems.

The Common Mistake That Could Harm Your Peony in July

It might seem sensible to feed your peony in July, to give the plant more energy to form those all-important roots and eyes, but don’t be tempted. Fertilize your peony now and you won’t be doing the plant any favors.

For a start, peonies are light feeders and the general rule of thumb is not to fertilize this plant unless you have a reason to. While it’s usual – though by no means essential – to feed peony plants in spring, once those beautiful fresh red shoots are around 2-4 inches tall, feeding in late summer can interrupt the plant’s natural cycle. Fuelling new growth at this point in the year may interfere with the plant’s preparations to go into dormancy in fall.

While some folk do fertilize immediately after flowers fade, feeding this late in the summer – even with a lower-nitrogen fertilizer – will encourage the plant to waste energy on new leaves rather than storing it in its tubers, ready for next spring. That extra foliage growth can leave a plant more susceptible to fungal disease once wetter weather arrives, too.

A natural mulch will give your peony all the nutrients it needs, without any extra fertilizer. If you’re at all worried about your peony, or think the plant is showing signs that it’s not getting all the nutrients it needs, then don't fertilize 'just in case'. Instead, test your soil to find out exactly what the problem is, with a lab-based soil test kit such as Sta-Green from Lowe’s.

Peony care in July is all about keeping your plant happy and healthy so it can put all its energy into growing next year's buds and a strong root system to support them. Deadheading, removing damaged leaves, watering deeply and mulching will ensure your peony has everything it needs to flower beautifully next spring. While you'll have to wait a while for the results, the fabulous flowers will be well worth your efforts.

Next up, give your dahlias the care they need in July to grow bigger, longer-lasting blooms. It's another quick July gardening job that has a huge impact on the quality of your flowers.

July is the middle of summer and the growing season, when temperatures soar and droughts are possible. You might be very excited by some of the dazzling nursery shrubs showcasing their finest blooms and colors. That’s understandable, but trust me, when it comes to key popular and well-loved specimens, now is far from the ideal time for planting them. Certain shrubs really struggle when transplanted now.

So how do you know which shrubs are off limits, and which are worth a punt? Well, the answer lies in their natural heat tolerance. Shrubs that are heat-sensitive are likely to struggle with summer planting and transplanting. When you drop a sensitive species into baking midsummer earth, it enters a state of high shock, dropping leaves and aborting future flower buds just to stay alive. So what you need are shrubs that are more equipped to thrive in prolonged heat.

By leaning into heat-hardy, summer-resilient options, you can bypass the drama and indulge in some satisfying new shrub acquisitions that are sure to have the neighbors’ tongues wagging. Read on, as I reveal a handful of popular specimens that are best avoided for planting now – plus, those tough and beautiful choices that will establish with minimal fuss, quickly adding vivid dynamics in abundance.

Heat Tolerant Shrubs for July Planting

The heat-hardy shrub alternatives below are all fine for summer planting, as long as you take a few steps before and after you plant. You’ll give them the best chance of establishing well if you minimize transplant stress. This means watering your shrubs deeply and regularly, especially during any dry spells. Keep watering through the growing season to help them develop strong, deep roots. A little afternoon shade is also helpful, even for plants that have good heat tolerance.

Consider your hardiness zone and existing soil conditions before planting. Before digging, check your ground temperature and hydration levels using a good soil diagnostic. A tool like the Yamron 4-in-1 Soil Meter from Amazon US gives you real-time moisture and temperature readouts at the root zone. Where conditions are especially heavy clay or sand, blend a little organic matter (such as aged compost) into the planting hole to help with moisture retention, drainage, and oxygen flow.

Immediately after planting these heat-loving shrub alternatives, it’s a good idea to spread a 2-to-3-inch (5-8 cm) layer of organic mulch around the shrub. Our team loves Back to the Roots Organic Premium Mulch from The Home Depot as a way to preserve water levels and lower temperatures. If you don’t have a commercial mulch to hand, try a homemade blend of shredded hardwood bark and composted leaf mold (just make sure the mulch doesn’t touch the main stem).

Plant during an early morning or a cloudy evening, and your lovely shrub alternatives should flourish. So, with the soil suitably prepped, let's look at the key shrubs you should avoid planting in summer, along with my recommendations for gorgeous alternatives.

1. Want Bigleaf Hydrangea? Plant Panicle Hydrangea

Bigleaf hydrangea (H. macrophylla) is well loved for its abundance of flower clusters in shades from brightest pink to periwinkle blue. However, planting one in July is a mistake, as they are sensitive to heat. Even established plants can wilt and struggle now. Bigleafs have massive, thin leaves, which evaporate quickly in July. If you do fancy planting a hydrangea now, try a panicle variety (H. paniculata), which is more heat-tolerant. Panicles bloom with cones that transition from green to white to pink to rust in tone. They thrive in full sun and tolerate drier conditions than their bigleaf cousins, with tougher foliage and woody stems in zones 3-9.

Striking panicle hydrangea varieties include Limelight or compact Little Lime erupt into giant, conical flower heads starting in mid-to-late summer, and transitioning to deeper tones that hold structural interest through winter. For a charming, dual-toned panicle that works well in a range of soil types, try Vanilla Strawberry Panicle Hydrangea from Fast Growing Trees. Topdress the base immediately at planting time with some Dr. Earth Premium Gold All Purpose Fertilizer from Walmart. This helps to gently supply the nutrients required to nurture roots as they establish.

2. Want Rhododendron? Plant Mountain Laurel

Rhododendrons (Rhododendron spp.) come in many forms, including native species, but none tolerates too much midsummer heat. They thrive in shady, cool areas with plenty of moisture, and reward you with an abundance of spring flowers and leathery leaves. Plant them now, and they’ll struggle to stay hydrated and get established. For a similar (yet tougher) native shrub with leathery, evergreen leaves and spring flowers, try mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia). Prized for its star-burst blooms, mountain laurel brings vivid structural intensity to partially shady spots.

There are some gorgeous mountain laurel options available from Plant Addicts, including vibrant Kaleidoscope Mountain Laurel and voluminous Yankee Doodle. Give it plenty of water as it gets established in July to ensure success in zones 4-9. Ensure the soil is highly acidic, loose, and rich in organic matter. For a gentle acidic lift at the time of planting, mix a generous helping of Espoma Organic Holly-Tone Fertilizer from Amazon into your planting site. This safely lowers soil pH and provides a steady boost to promote robust buds for the following spring.

3. Want Japanese Maple? Plant Ninebark

Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) can be grown as a shrub or small tree. It’s prized for its delicate, feathery leaves, which offer a rainbow of fall colors. The heat can be a problem, though. The fine leaves dry and scorch easily, and the thin roots will struggle to develop in dry, hot soil. They can make it through a hot summer, but it’s not the best time to plant them. A better option is native ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius), with ornamental value in the form of peeling bark. Certain varieties also offer rich fall color and seed pods for birds. Try First Editions Ninebark Amber Jubilee and Proven Winners Ninebark Tiny Wine from Nature Hills.

Ninebark is far more tolerant of summer heat and drought, and it’s not too picky about soil type. Hardier in zones 3-8, they just require full-sun to maintain their rich foliage colors. They are highly adaptable to poor, rocky soils where other shrubs fail. To help their root systems establish quickly in dry spells, apply a drench of GS Plant Foods Organic Concentrated Liquid Kelp from Walmart right after planting. This liquid seaweed formula delivers a soaking of trace minerals which reduce the risk of heat stress, keeping this shrub’s tones going strong.

4. Want Boxwood? Plant Inkberry Holly

Boxwood (Buxus spp.) is a garden favorite. Its dense evergreen growth can be shaped into low borders, hedges, and topiaries. Unfortunately, the shallow roots of transplanted boxwood make it vulnerable to heat and drought stress in July. Midsummer planting also invites boxwood blight and spider mites. For a stronger alternative, try inkberry holly (Ilex glabra), which thrives in zones 5-9. This native evergreen has a similar dense growth and smooth leaves. A great option for low hedges or containers is the Proven Winners Gem Box Inkberry Holly from Walmart.

Inkberry won’t tolerate drought very well, but it can handle heat and humidity better than boxwood. Plant it somewhere that holds some moisture in the soil. Varieties like 'Strongbox' or 'Gem Box' stay tight, compact, and mounded. As well as handling sun and partial shade, these shrubs love slightly acidic soil. To build excellent soil texture and maximize water retention, add some Worm Bliss Premium Earthworm Castings from Amazon into the planting hole for a gentle, non-burning nutrient foundation.

5. Want Japanese Pieris? Plant Summersweet

Japanese pieris (P. japonica) is an evergreen shrub with year-round beauty, including glossy, sometimes bi-colored leaves and cascading spring flowers. However, this shrub is tested in hot conditions, as the root system is shallow and high heat can scorch the leaves. Planted in July, it frequently succumbs to lace bug attacks and leaf drop. It’s best to plant this shrub in spring. For a compelling native alternative, summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) is hardy in zones 3-9. Although it is deciduous, it has a similar look to Japanese pieris, also with white flowers that attract pollinators.

Cultivars like Ruby Spice or Hummingbird produce vertical flower spikes from July through August, filling the yard with a heavy fragrance. For wine-soaked flowering spires, try Clethra Ruby Spice Live Plants from Wayside Gardens. Summersweet blooms reliably even in shade, making it a perfect choice for gloomier corners. Because sticky summer humidity can breed foliar issues on transplants, you might find it helps to keep some Arber Organic Bio-Fungicide Concentrate from Walmart handy. Apply as a foliar spray to keep leaves protected against powdery mildew.

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Indulging in some new shrub appreciation in summer doesn’t have to mean endless hours of stressful plant care. By picking natives and weather-resilient varieties that shrug off humidity, drought and intense sun, you can fill your borders, pathsides and porchways with immediate color that often leads to dazzling multi-seasonal interest. These curated selections establish quickly in warm soil, providing lush foliage and gorgeous blooms that keep your garden looking lush and pretty through fall.

Summer Shrub Trio

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Many people assume that flowering plants can be neatly divided into two categories: those that bloom and rebloom throughout the season, and those that only bloom once. The truth is a little more complicated. Careful deadheading of the first wave of fading flowers can trigger a rebloom on a few so-called one and done flowers.

An ornamental flower isn't just blooming to make your yard look pretty – it is flowering to reproduce by setting seeds. Once pollination occurs and seed heads form, the plant receives a signal that its seasonal work is effectively complete, causing it to transfer energy into seed maturation. By stepping in with some well-timed snips, you interrupt this cycle.

These cuts trick the plant into believing its mission is not over, driving it to develop a vibrant bonus round of fresh blooms. So don’t fret about summer’s charms fading all too soon. You can cheat the system and secure a stunning second flush of blooms with this simple, well-timed trim.

Simple Snips for Reblooming

First, it helps to know which flowers will not rebloom, no matter what cuts you make. These include peonies, oriental poppies, irises, and true lilies. With the plants you cab cut in summer, timing is key: you need to avoid trimming plants back while they’re still actively blooming. But you also don’t want to wait until the spent flowers have developed seeds to deadhead, as then it’s too late.

A good pair of sharp pruning shears is your best friend for extending summer blooms. Slicing through tender stems with dull, rusty blades creates ragged, bruised wounds that invite bacterial rots and fungal infections. For soft-stemmed bloomers, use precision shears, scissors or snips. Our team rates the Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruning Shears from Amazon for clean, surgical snips. Cut right above emerging nodes so you don’t tear surrounding foliage.

USDA hardiness zone also impacts timing. In USDA zones 3-5, trim in early July to give the second flush enough warm days to flourish ahead of late fall and first frosts. Meanwhile, in the south, summer soil conditions can be parched. Trimming in a drought can be stressful for plants. Always give your borders a deep watering 12-24 hours before you deadhead. Water again after trimming, especially on hot days. Avoid feeds with excess nitrogen, which encourage leaves rather than flowers.

1. Delphinium

Delphinium (aka larkspur) is beloved for its dramatic, tall spikes of early summer flowers. But these statuesque perennials (hardy in zones 3-7) fade way too quickly, and if left alone, they won’t rebloom. So it’s tempting to think they are true one-and-done flowers. But you can get a secondary flush if you cut the first spent flower spikes to the base, or to where you can see a side shoot forming. Do this after the flowers fade and before they develop seeds, and you’ll get secondary spikes.

While the secondary flush won’t be the same towering columns as the first wave, these bewitching blue spires will look stunning alongside late-season ornamental grasses. If you neglect to deadhead them, the plant will produce unsightly brown seed pods, rapidly declining into a tatty mound. To nourish that second wave, mix a few spoonfuls of phosphorus-rich Down to Earth Fish Bone Meal from Lowe’s into the surrounding topsoil immediately after deadheading.

2. Roses

There are a few different categories of roses, including modern types that have been bred to rebloom throughout summer. Older rose varieties generally only bloom once, though, unless you do some attentive deadheading. If you have an older variety that only gives you one flush of flowers, trim back spent blooms as soon as you see the flowers fade. You should get a small additional rebloom late in the season.

When tackling classic shrub, old garden, or hybrid tea roses, the way you deadhead matters. Rather than simply snapping off the faded flower head, follow the stem down to the first leaf axis with 5 leaflets. Make a clean 45-degree cut, one-quarter inch (0.6 cm) above this outward-facing bud. If left untrimmed, roses grow decorative but energy-consuming rose hips, shutting down future flower production. To help roses bushes bounce back from summer heat stress, treat them to a bi-weekly application of Neptune's Harvest Fish & Seaweed Fertilizer from Amazon.

3. Catmint

Catmint (nepeta) is a perennial that gives a spectacular flush of purple flowers in early summer. Hardy down to zone 3, it is a joy for low-stress gardening. But once the flowers are spent, you’re left with a mess of floppy stems. When you see the flowers fade in midsummer, cut the entire mound back to about half its height. Grasp the floppy outer stems and shear the entire mound into a tight, neat dome using sharp hedging shears. It is very forgiving and responds well to this simple trim.

If you don’t deadhead, you’ll wind up with a sprawling, messy center that looks untidy for the rest of the year. Water well after trimming for a vibrant second round. Nepeta prefers lean, poor soils, so avoid heavy fertilizers. Instead, enrich the bed with Worm Bliss Premium Earthworm Castings from Amazon. This slow-release treatment boosts moisture retention while encouraging a lush second wave of lavender-blue.

4. Coreopsis

Also known as tickseed, coreopsis is a cheerful perennial that blooms abundantly in early summer. But when the spent blooms go to seed, they look messy. Coreopsis can keep blooming well into fall and responds well to deadheading. Do this regularly, whenever you see spent blooms. Treat threadleaf varieties like catmint and shear the top third of the plant away once the first massive wave finishes.

For large-flowered varieties, use micro-tip snips to cut spent stems down to the nearest healthy side bud. You might find it helps to add some Hoffman Organic Cactus and Succulent Soil Mix from Walmart around the root zone for drainage. Follow up with a sprinkle of Dr Earth Premium Gold All Purpose Fertilizer from Amazon as the optimum foundation for non-stop color well into fall.

5. Salvia

Salvia is a popular perennial that gives a dramatic profusion of early-season flowers in shades of blue and purple. Perennial salvias (such as 'May Night' or 'Caradonna') thrive in zones 4-9, and are loved for their rich texture and high drought tolerance. Once they fade, the plant can look messy, but the show doesn’t have to be over. Right after the first flush fades, trim plants back by one-third. When deadheading, locate the main stalk and cut it down to the base, where you’ll see new shoots.

If you don’t deadhead, these vibrant spikes dry into brittle black sticks that ruin the neat look of your borders. After deadheading, water deeply and add a light feed. New flower spikes should appear in weeks. Because dense salvia clumps are highly susceptible to powdery mildew, keep the foliage healthy with a little Arber Organic Bio-Fungicide Concentrate from Walmart. This protects the new, emerging leaves from fungal pathogens without harming the local pollinators that will drop by.

6. Garden Phlox

Once the large clusters of flowers stop blooming on this hardy perennial (Phlox paniculata), it’s easy to assume that’s it. But as soon as your garden phlox looks spent, trim back the flower clusters, cutting just above the upper leaves. The second flush triggered by deadheading will consist of smaller, more delicate terminal flower clusters, extending your color window by up to four weeks.

If you leave the old heads intact, they drop inferior, non-true-to-color seedlings that can crowd out your original.Keep your deadheaded plants well-watered and add some fertilizer to encourage side shoots to develop where you’ve made cuts. To stop your phlox drying out during its secondary bud formation, dress the soil surface with a good organic mulch, like Back to the Roots Organic Premium Mulch from Amazon. This locks in vital root moisture and shields the soil from intense summer sun stress.

7. Shasta Daisies

These pretty daisies flower in spring and summer. Shasta daisies are tough in zones 5-9, but they turn a muddy brown as they fade. And once they fade, they look unsightly, and turn into seedheads if you leave them in place. Instead of letting that happen, cut spent Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum × superbum) flower stems to the base or a side bud. Do this regularly as each individual flower fades. Keep the plants watered to encourage fresh growth, and remove any foliage that goes yellow.

Slide your shears down the flower stem to where it connects to the foliage clump, making your cut hidden. Plants push out dense growth to support secondary blooms, so they are highly vulnerable to drying out. Give your Shastas a deep drink, and add a handful of Espoma Organic Chicken Manure from Walmart. This provides the slow-release nitrogen punch required to fuel fresh white blooms through to first frost.

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Spring purchased garden mums are the best choice for a colorful autumn display and the promise of a return after winter. But don’t neglect mums this summer if you want to ensure lots of blooms in the fall. Even if you dutifully pinch their growth back for a compact shape, there is more to do.

To encourage the most blooms on your chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum x morifolium), summer care is important. Preventing drought stress, providing ample nutrients, shaping your plant, and eliminating pests, plus a few other easy tasks will ensure your plants are full of flowers in fall.

Mums are offered for sale in late summer and fall, already in bud, but growing mums beginning in spring brings the best return on investment. Often the mums sold in fall are only for seasonal decorative use. So learning to grow your own mums and care for them during every month is the ideal way to get huge autumn blooms.

July Mum Must-Do Tasks

Mums planted in spring should be well established by now and receiving ongoing care for pinching, fertilizing, watering, mulching, and controlling pests. These tips will see your mums through July and beyond.

1. Pinch Plants

Pinching the growing tips on mums starts in spring when the plant is 6 inches (15 cm) tall. Pinch plants again when the newly formed side branches are 6 to 8 inches tall or every four to six weeks. Stop pruning mums by mid-July to allow buds to form. Pinching too late could delay flowering.

To pinch mums, just grasp the tip of each stem above a leaf node and pinch off half an inch to one inch (1.25-2.5 cm) of stems and leaves. Snippers or hand pruners work, too, for trimming. These Felco pruners are a favorite of our gardening experts.

Prune your mum into a rounded shape to keep it tight for fall. Pinching back the stems will force side shoots and keep the plant shorter and well branched for a compact shape with more stems for blooms.

2. Fertilize for Flowers

If you fertilize your mums in spring with a slow-release fertilizer, it should last through July. If the foliage looks lackluster now, you can apply a side-dressing of an organic fertilizer, like this one from Miracle-Gro.

Some prefer a liquid fertilizer, such as 5-10-10 or 10-10-10, which can be applied monthly in July. Follow the label instructions for the correct amount, but you will either need to mix it with water before application or apply it around the root zone then thoroughly water it in.

There are different schools of thought on what fertilizer ratio to use, so establish your own regimen on what works for your plants. If the mums are getting long and lanky, however, they are receiving too much nitrogen fertilizer. Once the buds have formed, you should stop fertilizing.

3. Water Well

Overwatering or underwatering can both sound the death knell for mums. Too much water promotes root rot and too little water results in drought stress. Water mums deeply, but wait till the top of the soil is dry to water again. Avoid wetting the leaves, which can promote fungal issues.

Consistency is key here. Keep the mums well hydrated throughout the summer to avoid drought stress, which can inhibit blooming. A simple drip irrigation system, like this one from Home Depot that Content Editor Laura uses in her garden, ensures plants get water at the base where they need it most.

4. Add Mulch

Mulching is important to moderate the soil temperature during the peak of summer heat, which often occurs in July. Mulch also helps retain an even moisture level and controls weeds. If you neglected adding mulch in spring, do it now so the summer heat does not dry out the soil too quickly.

5. Keep an Eye on Pests

Keep an eye out for pests on your mums as well as your other plants. If you water by hand, that is a good time to scout for intruders. Mums are commonly affected by aphids, which are oval-shaped, sap-feeding insects. Leaf miners are another common problem. They are tiny fly larvae that tunnel through leaves. Spider mites are the other top pest on mums. They are practically invisible, sap-feeding arachnids.

Aphids are large enough to see on the underside of leaves and new shoots, usually in groups, feeding on leaves. Damage includes stunted plants, distorted leaves, and honeydew, which is a sticky substance left on leaves. Control them with blasts of water, insecticidal soap, or neem oil, both of which you can get on Amazon. However, beneficial insects such as ladybugs and their larvae, often control aphids naturally without your intervention.

Leaf miners create noticeable winding tunnels through the leaves. They are difficult to control because they are inside the leaves. Remove the leaves as soon as you see the trails and discard them in the trash. Pick up any dropped leaves and discard in the trash.

Spider mite damage shows up as speckling on leaves from their feeding and fine webbing between stems, on flower buds, or on the undersides of leaves. To control spider mites use forceful sprays of water at regular intervals, insecticidal soap, neem oil, or a miticide. If the infestation is severe, remove the affected leaves and stems.

By following these tips, your mums should be compact, thick with healthy stems, and full of buds by late summer to fall, depending on the variety and your planting zone. Once your mums are in glorious bloom, pinch off the faded flowers and you will be rewarded with successive blooms.

If you asked me to name the hardest-working flower in the summer garden, I wouldn't even have to think about it. It would be marigolds.

Sure, they're cheerful (it's impossible not to smile at those sunshine-yellow, fiery orange, and deep gold blooms), but marigolds are also one of those rare plants that seem to excel at just about everything. They're super easy to grow, shrug off blazing summer heat, keep blooming for months on end, and happily slot into vegetable patches, cottage gardens, containers, and borders without ever looking out of place.

Honestly, I probably associate marigolds just as much with early fall as I do with summer. While plenty of annuals begin to fade when the weather turns hot or the season starts winding down, marigolds simply keep going.

Marigolds also happen to be fantastic companion plants, attracting bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects while being widely believed by gardeners to help discourage certain garden pests – including squirrels. (Results may vary depending on your local squirrel population!)

Their resilience and long bloom season have made them a staple in American gardens for generations, too, and if their résumé ended there, I'd already be sold. But new research from the University of Georgia suggests these humble flowers have another remarkable talent hiding in plain sight... and it could change the way we think about them altogether.

Marigolds Have a Surprising Superpower, Scientists Say

Researchers at the University of Georgia recently discovered that a single marigold flower contains roughly the same amount of protein as a cup of quinoa, alongside antioxidants, dietary fiber, and essential minerals including calcium, potassium, and iron.

Even more intriguingly, proteins extracted from marigolds remained stable at high temperatures and showed properties that could make them useful in future food products, from baked goods to salad dressings.

Rather than encouraging everyone to start snacking on their flower beds, the researchers see marigolds as a promising sustainable ingredient for the future. Billions of dollars' worth of ornamental flowers are discarded every year, and finding new ways to use them could help reduce waste while meeting growing demand for plant-based protein.

"What excites me most about this research is that it challenges how we think about flowers," said Fidele Benimana, a doctoral student involved in the study. "Most people see marigolds as ornamental plants, but they also contain proteins with unique functional properties that could be useful in food formulation."

Which Marigolds Are Safe To Eat?

Only certain kinds of marigolds are safe to eat. The University of Georgia researchers studied Calendula officinalis, commonly known as pot marigold, an edible flower that's long been used in teas, soups, salads, and herbal remedies.

The petals have a slightly peppery, citrus-like flavor, while the stems and leaves tend to be much more bitter. The researchers also note that some Tagetes marigolds are edible, but not every ornamental variety is suitable for eating. Which brings me to another important point: if you're planning to grow edible flowers, don't use blooms from garden centers.

Why? Well, many ornamental plants may have been treated with pesticides or other chemicals that aren't intended for food crops. Instead, grow edible varieties yourself from seed or buy plants specifically sold for culinary use; we rate the Calexis Yellow Calendula Seeds from Burpee (or, if you prefer a flame-colored hue, the Calexis Orange Calendula Seeds).

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All that being said, even if marigolds never become the next big superfood, I don't think they'll be leaving my garden anytime soon. How many other flowers can brighten borders for months, thrive through the hottest days of summer, welcome pollinators into the garden, and be so easy to grow, right?

The idea that these familiar blooms could also one day contribute to more sustainable food systems is just an added bonus. If only because it's proven once and for all that you should never underestimate a humble favorite.

I love summer gardening… right up until the moment my plants start looking like they’ve had enough. And I can't really blame them; my garden is currently hotter than a frying pan and even my oldest and most faithful plants are finding it tough to put on a brave face... other than my favorite drought-tolerant blooms, that is.

Considering this is one of our hottest summers in decades, I doubt it's just me who finds that leaves drooping in the afternoon sun, flowers fading faster than you can deadhead them, and every trip outside becoming a mental calculation of which plants need water first. Because, when temperatures climb and dry spells stretch on, even the most carefully planned garden can start to look a little tired.

The solution? Other than leaning hard into rain harvesting, slow watering hacks, and mulching, of course? Choosing plants that are built for the conditions.

These 6 Drought-Tolerant Plants Stay Lush All Summer

Some flowers seem to come alive when the weather gets hot, positively thriving in spite of blazing sunshine and long dry periods without rain. And many of them bring an extra bonus, too: they’re beloved by bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.

That’s why I always have a soft spot for drought-tolerant blooms. They’re colorful, reliable, and wonderfully low-maintenance, a holy triumvirate which means I can spend less time worrying and more time enjoying my garden.

So, if your yard has started feeling less like a relaxing outdoor retreat and more like a frying pan every summer, these are the hardworking flowers I recommend planting. Good luck!

1. Salvia

If there’s one drought-tolerant bloom that seems designed for summer, it’s salvia. With tall spikes of vibrant blooms and a remarkable ability to handle heat and dry conditions, it has been quietly replacing lavender on the block as the hot new perennial that brings instant energy to borders, containers, and pollinator gardens.

One of my favorite things about salvia is that it looks delicate but behaves like a garden workhorse. Once established, many varieties can keep flowering through the hottest months, attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds along the way.

There are hundreds of varieties to choose from, with blooms ranging from deep purple and blue to pink and red, making it easy to find one that suits your space.

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2. Coneflower

Coneflowers are one of those plants that make a garden feel instantly happier. Their daisy-like blooms add cheerful color through the height of summer, but their real superpower is how little they ask in return.

Once established, coneflowers are impressively drought-tolerant, standing tall through hot weather while continuing to attract butterflies and bees. They also offer something for the garden beyond flowering season, as their seed heads can provide food for birds later in the year.

They’re proof that a tough plant doesn’t have to sacrifice beauty. As ever and always, I recommend the Magnus Purple Coneflower from Nature Hills for those who want drought-tolerant blooms that won’t droop in the heat.

3. Coreopsis

If you want a flower that keeps the color coming in obscenely hot weather, coreopsis (aka tickseed) is hard to beat. Its cheerful yellow, pink, or red blooms seem to appear nonstop throughout summer, creating a bright display even when conditions become challenging.

Coreopsis thrives in sunshine and handles dry spells well once established. It’s also wonderfully versatile, working just as happily in cottage gardens as it does in containers or along pathways.

For me, it’s one of those plants that quietly earns its place every year because it simply gets on with the job. Go for something like the PERMATHREAD™ Red Satin Coreopsis from Nature Hills if you want satiny red blooms, yellow fall foliage, and a perennial that pollinators instantly brand the hippest, most happening spot in the neighborhood.

4. Yarrow

I have some degree of self-awareness, I assure you; I know that I write about the myriad benefits of yarrow more than is strictly necessary. And yet, while this drought-tolerant bloom might not always get the same attention as roses or hydrangeas, it deserves a place in more gardens.

With flat clusters of tiny flowers and delicate, fern-like foliage, it brings a softer, more natural look while still being incredibly tough. It can handle heat, drought, poor soil, and plenty of neglect – exactly the qualities you want when summer weather becomes unpredictable. It’s also a favorite among pollinators, adding even more life to your garden.

All hail yarrow, then! Especially when it looks as good as the Strawberry Seduction™ Yarrow from Nature Hills.

5. Sedum

Sedum is the drought-tolerant bloom I turn to when I want something that looks beautiful without needing constant attention. Its thick, water-storing leaves help it cope with dry conditions, while its clusters of tiny flowers provide late-season interest when many summer blooms are beginning to fade.

From low-growing ground covers to taller varieties that add structure to borders, there’s a sedum for almost every garden style. And as a bonus? Many varieties look fantastic even when they’re not flowering, thanks to their interesting foliage and architectural shape.

The Angelina Sedum Rupestre Plant from Burpee is widely considered one of the easiest plants to grow. Or, if you prefer something with a little more drama, go for the Steel the Show Sedum from Nature Hills; those pink blooms should see you through fall.

6. Blanket Flower

Bright, bold, and practically made for sunshine, blanket flower is exactly the kind of drought-tolerant bloom you want when your garden starts feeling the heat.

Its vibrant red, orange, and yellow blooms bring a burst of summer color, and it can continue flowering for months with the right conditions. It’s also remarkably tolerant of heat and drought, making it a favorite for gardeners who want maximum impact with minimal effort (aka me; I refuse to feel any shame over this).

The name itself feels fitting, as these cheerful flowers have a way of spreading across a garden like a colorful blanket. Something like the SpinTop® Orange Halo Blanket Flower from Nature Hills will bloom from spring til frost in Zones 5-9, in fact, making it a must-grow.

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I guess all I really need to remind you is this: a heatwave shouldn’t have to mean a tired-looking garden. In fact, by choosing drought-tolerant blooms that naturally love sunshine and can cope with less water, you can create a garden that stays colorful, supports pollinators, and requires far less maintenance through the hottest months.

What could be better, quite frankly?

Hydrangeas are native to understory woodlands, where they benefit from dappled shade and consistently moist soil. As a result, they have developed shallow roots and large, thin leaves that lose water quickly. If sited in a hot, sunny spot, they soon begin to struggle. As the upper layer of soil dries out, the shrubs can't take up enough moisture to replace what they're losing, causing them to wilt – and in serious cases, die.

There are some fairly heat-tolerant hydrangeas which I'll cover below. But if your summers are even hotter than those varieties can handle, I've also rounded up some excellent alternatives that will happily go the last hot mile.

The Most Heat-Tolerant Hydrangeas

If you love growing hydrangeas, you don't have to say goodbye just yet. As summer temperatures rise, it makes sense to select the most heat-tolerant varieties.

1. Panicle Hydrangea

Top of the list is panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata). Hardy in USDA zones 3–9, panicles tolerate more heat and direct sunshine than other types of hydrangea.

If you're considering panicle hydrangeas, start with the Limelight series. The original 'Limelight' cultivar is widely considered the gold standard for heat and drought tolerance, reaching up to 8 feet (2.5 m) tall. Need something smaller? Try 'Limelight Prime', 'Little Lime', or 'Little Quick Fire' – all excellent choices for smaller gardens in hot climates.

2. Smooth Hydrangea

Natives know how! Smooth hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens) are North American native shrubs that can tolerate some heat. Like panicles, they bloom on new wood. This means that even if old growth is killed off by heat, drought, or winter cold, they will produce new wood and flower the next season.

If it looks like your region is in for intense summer heat, you should take a look at the Incrediball series. ‘Annabelle’ is a smooth hydrangea classic that has a well-deserved reputation for being heat-tolerant if provided with regular irrigation. But Incrediball is even better, an improved version of Annabelle with the same massive white blooms yet even more heat-tolerant.

Helping Hydrangea Survive Heat

You can and should take steps to help your hydrangea plants through summer heatwaves:

• Siting your shrubs properly is very important. They should be planted in a location that gets some morning sun but no full afternoon sun. This protects them from summer’s worst.
• Water hydrangeas long and well every morning early. You want the plant to be hydrated when the heat arrives. Place the hose at the base of the tree and water to the drip line. A deep root watering tool or soaker hoses, like this Hlinker 2026 Flat Soaker Hose on Amazon, work well and are great for root penetration.
• A protective layer of mulch goes a long way toward protecting your hydrangea from drying roots. Spread a few inches of organic mulch like bark, wood chips, or straw to insulate the soil. This regulates the soil temperature, keeping it moist and cool. Miracle-Gro Organic All Natural Mulch from Walmart is made from dye-free, sustainable scrap wood from lumber processes.
• Finally, set up shade protection to block any scorching afternoon rays. Container plants should literally be moved into deep shade in the afternoon, while in-ground plants can be protected – if they are exposed to sun – by shade cloth or even a patio umbrella. You can even buy plant umbrellas on stakes, like these ones from Amazon.

Flowering Shrubs to Grow Instead of Hydrangeas

For true heat-loving plants, you’ll have to give up on the idea of hydrangeas. Here are four mighty fine alternatives – plants that just can’t get enough rays.

1. California Lilac

In my home city of San Francisco, it almost seems excessive to grow California lilac (Ceanothus spp.), since – thanks to the fog – it never gets too hot. However, it's definitely one of my non-negotiable shrubs. If you're living in zones 8–10 and get hot summers, then consider growing this stunning plant, which blooms in spring and summer. You can order California lilac from The Home Depot.

I’m one of the hydrangea fans who prefer the gorgeous blue blossoms of bigleaf (aka mophead hydrangeas). Although the species is not heat-tolerant, California lilac flowers offer the same cool tones, and the plants thrive in hot, dry conditions in summer. They do not like the shade and require some 8 hours a day of direct sun to produce those unforgettable blooms. Best in a full sun location with sandy soil.

2. Butterfly Bush

Scientists call these shrubs Buddleja, but most gardeners know them as butterfly bush. These flowering shrubs have graceful arching stems topped with fragrant, nectar-rich flower spikes – most commonly purple, though other colors are available. Their blooms are absolute magnets for pollinators like butterflies.

Like hydrangeas, butterfly bushes grow fast and produce a generous mass of flowers that, in addition to putting on a spectacular summer display in the garden, make stunning indoor bouquets. They can reach around 8 feet (3 m) tall and are remarkably easy to care for.

Older varieties can self-seed prolifically and are considered invasive in some regions, so it's best to choose a sterile cultivar that won't self-seed, like Miss Violet, available from Proven Winners via Amazon, or the dwarf L'il series, like Li'l Grape, available at Perfect Plants. Butterfly bushes thrive in full sun, cope well with heat, and are highly drought-tolerant once established. Apart from a hard prune in early spring, they need very little attention. Just watch and enjoy.

3. Yarrow

Yarrow (Achillea spp.) is yet another tough native plant that is a remarkably heat- and drought-tolerant perennial. This herbaceous perennial is totally capable of holding its own in baking temperatures, blooming in summer and fall. Unlike hydrangeas, no afternoon shade is required.

You can choose from a stunning color range, but this Firefly Red Pop Yarrow from Plant Addicts is evocative of ruby red hydrangeas.

Indeed, yarrow performs best in hot, dry conditions in zones 3–9. This native wildflower produces gorgeous clusters of blooms that last all summer long and also make terrific cut flowers. You can find yarrow with flowers in pink, red, peach, white, or yellow, all of which attract pollinators and resist deer. It's one of the most reliable drought-tolerant plants to have in your garden border. Deadhead the flowers as they fade.

4. Texas Sage

Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens) offers prolific violet blooms, adding color and texture to xeriscaped gardens in zones 8–10. Pick up a pack of plug plants at Walmart. Like hydrangea, it is a rounded shrub that flowers prolifically, but that may be the only thing they have in common.

The perfect site for Texas sage? Any sun-drenched garden area. This evergreen shrub is beloved for its heat and drought tolerance, gorgeous seasonal color, and adaptability.

Native to Texas and Northern Mexico, this shrub is as heat-proof as any flowering shrub you can find. It accepts intense sun, heat, and minimal watering without so much as losing a leaf. A great low-maintenance choice for water-wise gardens, the shrub's silvery foliage is lovely in and of itself, but when filled with bell-shaped flowers that range from soft violet to deep purple, it’s a true beauty. Bees and butterflies are never far away.

One word to the wise about caring for this shrub? Don’t overwater! In fact, it’s probably better not to water at all.

Spring may be the most popular time to plant perennials, but it’s not the only time. July isn’t too late to get certain heat-tolerant perennials in the ground, help them get established, and enjoy colorful blooms that last well into fall.

If you have some gaps in your beds you want to address or just want to add more fall color to your garden, these perennial plants are our top picks for planting now.

Plus, we'll provide some expert tips to help your July-planted perennials settle into their new homes well and thrive for many years to come.

1. Coneflower

Also known as echinacea, coneflower is a native perennial that flowers through summer and well into fall. Because they tolerate summer heat well and develop strong roots in warm weather, coneflowers can be planted in July.

Purple is the traditional color for echinacea, but new varieties of coneflowers offer red, orange, yellow, white, and pink blooms. Coneflowers are hardy in zones 3 through 9, so most gardeners can grow them. They thrive in full sun and soil that drains well.

You can shop unique, colorful coneflowers from Wayside Gardens.

2. Black-Eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan, also known as rudbeckia, is another native plant that can be planted now because of its good heat tolerance. Like echinacea, it is suitable for zones 3 through 9 and loves full sun and good drainage.

Black-eyed Susan flowers from July through September and even October in some locations. The flowers are golden yellow and daisy-like with a dark center. You can deadhead spent blooms to encourage more flowering, but also let some develop seeds to support your local birds.

Get a 3-pack of beautiful black-eyed Susans from the Home Depot.

3. Stonecrop

Also known as sedum, stonecrop is a succulent that thrives in heat and tolerates dry conditions. These characteristics mean you can easily plant sedum in July without causing them too much stress. You can find many different types of sedum, but ‘Autumn Joy’ is an ideal pick for July planting. The flowers are light pink initially, transition to deep red in fall, and even last into winter.

Suitable for zones 3 through 9, sedum needs soil that drains very well. It can even grow in poor, sandy, or rocky soil. You won’t even need to fertilize sedum, which is not a heavy feeder. Just water it regularly as it develops strong roots and enjoy the flowers, which will develop quickly in the hot summer weather.

You can get an Autumn Joy Sedum online from Nature Hills Nursery.

4. Aster

Asters form a large group of daisy-like flowers that bloom in late summer and all through the fall in shades of blue, pink, purple, and white. This is a great late-season pollinator flower, and July is a good time to plant it so it can get settled in just before blooming.

Hardy in zones 3 through 8, asters shine in full sun or partial shade. They bloom best in fertile soil that drains well, but stays consistently moist. Pinch back the stems to encourage bushier growth and to prevent legginess.

Shop a wide variety of native aster plants from Plant Addicts.

5. Blanket Flower

Blanket flower is well-adapted to the heat of midsummer, so you can plant it in your garden now for showy late summer and fall flowers. These daisy-like native flowers have unique rings of color in shades of red, yellow, and orange, and are a big draw for pollinators.

Plant blanket flower in an area with full sun and well-draining soil. It’s particularly well-adapted to dry conditions and will even flower during a drought. Despite the tolerance for drought, water your new plant to help it get established. Deadhead spent flowers to encourage blooms through the fall.

Explore exciting blanket flower varieties online from Wayside Gardens.

6. Sneezeweed

Despite its common name, sneezeweed is not a known cause of hay fever or other seasonal allergies. This native wildflower is traditionally yellow, but modern cultivars come in shades of red, orange, and yellow and can be multicolored, similar to blanket flower.

Sneezeweed will establish readily even in the heat of midsummer. It provides instant blooms from July through fall with colors that match the tones of autumn foliage. Sneezeweed grows in zones 3 through 8 and loves full sun. For soil, it requires a decent amount of moisture, so plan to water your new sneezeweed regularly and frequently after planting.

You can get a sneezeweed plant online from Fast Growing Trees.

7. Russian Sage

Russian sage can be planted in July because it tolerates heat very well and will readily grow strong roots in typical midsummer weather conditions. Russian sage is a beautiful plant with silvery foliage and an abundance of light blue or purple flowers that bloom well into fall.

Although not a North American native, Russian sage is hardy in zones 5 through 9, is not invasive, and supports pollinators. Plant in full sun in soil that drains very well. Even dry or rocky soil will be adequate for this tough perennial.

Shop Russian sage plants online from Fast Growing Trees.

8. Coreopsis

Coreopsis is also known as tickseed. It grows quickly and readily in summer heat, developing strong roots and blooming right away. The flowers of this native perennial are typically shades of yellow, but you can also find red and pink types. They bloom continuously through midsummer and into fall.

Coreopsis is hardy in zones 2 through 11 and can tolerate both extremes of cold winters and hot summers. Grow coreopsis in full sun in an area with soil that drains very well. Plan to water it to get established, but it will then be very drought tolerant. You can deadhead the flowers to encourage more blooms all through fall.

Explore gorgeous coreopsis plants from Wayside Gardens.

Pro Tips for Planting Perennials in July

Because of the potential stress caused by heat and drought, July isn’t really the ideal time to put in new plants. However, it can be done successfully with a little extra care:

• Plant when temperatures are coolest. Wait for a cloudy, cooler day, if possible, otherwise plant new perennials in morning or evening to avoid the highest temperatures.
• Water consistently and deeply. The inch (2.5 cm) of water per week rule doesn’t apply to new summer perennials. They need more deep watering to beat heat stress and develop deep roots.
• Add a layer of mulch around new perennials. This will regulate soil temperature, help keep moisture in the soil, and suppress weeds.

Give new July perennials a strong start with these tips, and you’ll be rewarded with flowers that take you into fall, adding color and supporting wildlife.

Let me guess: you've got a bare fence, plain wall, or lonely pergola crying out for a climbing plant. You could spend hours weighing up the practicalities – sun or shade, fast-growing or slow, container-friendly or not – or you could take a far more whimsical approach and choose your birth month vine instead.

Now I’ll admit, I thought I’d seen every birth month trend going. Birth month flowers? Check. Birth month birds? Absolutely. Birth month trees? Of course. Birth month animals? Sign me up! But then I discovered that you can have a birth month vine, and honestly, I think this might be my favorite one yet.

Maybe it’s because there’s something wonderfully romantic about climbing plants. They don’t just sit politely in a flower bed; they scramble over old walls, soften fences, cloak brickwork in flowers, and somehow make even the smallest outdoor space feel like the entrance to a secret garden. And every vine has its own personality, which makes pairing one with your birth month surprisingly fitting.

All 12 Birth Month Vines

We’ve already embraced birth month flowers as a way to celebrate the seasons, and even birth month bugs have become a fun way to reflect different personality traits. So why not vines? Whether your climber is covered in fragrant blooms, dramatic foliage, or elegant trailing stems, each one captures a slightly different character.

Of course, no plant can truly define who you are. Think of your birth month vine in the same way you might your zodiac sign: a lighthearted way to celebrate all the wonderful qualities that make you uniquely... well, you.

So, whether you’re fiercely independent like January, adventurous like April, or endlessly optimistic like December, here’s the vine that best represents your birth month – and the special meaning behind it.

January – Sweet Autumn Clematis

If anyone can handle the vigorous nature of sweet autumn clematis, it’s a January-born gardener. This climber doesn’t do anything by halves; it grows with confidence, flowers abundantly, and quietly takes charge of whatever support you give it. Much like January personalities, it thrives when left to get on with the job rather than being fussed over. Buy your own Sweet Autumn Clematis from Nature Hills now.

February – Wisteria

Is there a more dreamy vine than wisteria? Its cascading blooms look like something from a fairytale, making it the perfect match for February’s imaginative spirit. There’s an artistic quality to both – the kind that turns ordinary spaces into something unforgettable. (And no, before you ask, I am not a February baby, so this is an entirely unbiased review).

The Amethyst Falls Wisteria Vine from Nature Hills is definitely the way to go here.

March – Virginia Creeper

Virginia creeper has a way of weaving itself gracefully through a garden, creating a calming backdrop for everything around it. It doesn't need flashy flowers to make an impression, because its beauty lies in its quiet confidence and stunning seasonal transformation. That feels like a perfect match for thoughtful, compassionate March personalities, whose greatest strengths often reveal themselves gradually.

You can buy live Virginia creepers as bare root plants from CZ Grain Store.

April – Grape Vine

April personalities aren’t afraid to climb higher, and neither is the grape vine. Fast-growing and full of life, it rewards patience with abundant fruit while bringing lush greenery wherever it grows. It’s a vine that embraces opportunity – just like the people it’s paired with. Personally, I rate something like the pollinator-friendly Lakemont Seedless White Grape Vine from Nature Hills.

May – Climbing Hydrangea

If ever there were a birth month vine that proved slow and steady wins the race, it’s climbing hydrangea. It spends its early years establishing strong roots before rewarding gardeners with breathtaking displays of lacecap blooms. May-born individuals tend to approach life in much the same way, building lasting foundations rather than chasing quick success.

Bag yourself a stunning Climbing Hydrangea from Nature Hills.

June – Trumpet Honeysuckle

Walk past a trumpet honeysuckle in bloom and you’ll quickly notice it’s rarely alone. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds all seem to gather around it, making it one of the most sociable vines in the garden.

All of that buzz and promise? Well, that feels like a perfect fit for June’s outgoing, chatty personality to me!

July – Clematis

Clematis has a wonderful habit of weaving itself through other plants, adding softness without overwhelming its companions. It doesn’t need to dominate to make an impact, and that’s exactly why this birth month vine suits the forever loving and caring nature of July personalities so well. The Sweet Summer Love Clematis from Nature Hills is a perfect fit for anyone seeking a way to honour their soul vine!

August – Confederate Jasmine

Few vines know how to make an entrance quite like Confederate jasmine. The glossy evergreen foliage on this heat-loving climber is beautiful all year, but when those intensely fragrant white flowers appear, it’s impossible not to notice. August babies usually possess that same effortless ability to light up a room.

Shop Confederate Jasmine Below:

September – Passionflower

If any vine rewards a closer look, it's passionflower. At first glance, its blooms are simply beautiful. Pause for a moment, though, and you'll notice an extraordinary world of delicate filaments, perfectly arranged petals, and intricate patterns. It's the kind of plant that appeals to people who appreciate precision and the finer details, making it a fitting match for thoughtful September personalities who appreciate the finer details.

Pick yourself up a Passiflora Incarnata Maypop Live Plant from Urban Meadow Nursery, then, stat!

October – Climbing Rose

Some plants simply make everyone happy, and climbing roses are surely among them. Elegant without feeling over-the-top, they soften walls, arches, and pergolas with timeless beauty. Like October-born individuals, they have a knack for bringing harmony wherever they grow.

Try the New Dawn Climbing Rose from Nature Hills if you want to lean into your birth month vine's wonderful energy, I say. (I'll be joining you, as a fellow October baby).

November – Cascade Rosemary

Rosemary has long symbolized remembrance and loyalty, so cascade rosemary feels like a natural partner for November personalities. It may look delicate spilling over walls or containers, but it’s remarkably resilient and quietly dependable through the seasons. It is a birth month vine that perfectly speaks to the passionate, determined, loyal winter babies among us (and it smells beautiful, too!).

Go for Blue Cascade® Rosemary from Nature Hills if you want yours studded with vivid blue flowers.

December – Hops (or Ivy)

December finishes the year with a vine that’s always reaching for something new. Whether you picture the energetic growth of hops or the adventurous spirit of ivy climbing wherever it can, both capture December’s enthusiasm for exploring the world. Always looking ahead and eager for the next adventure, these are the birth month vines for people who never like standing still. Try a Comet Hops Vine or Thorndale English Ivy from Nature Hills, and embrace the green.

Personally, I think life is too short to overthink plant shopping. Whether your birth month vine feels like a perfect match or not, if it fills your garden with beautiful foliage, flowers, or fragrance, that's all the justification I'd ever need.

If you need me, I'll be perusing the climbing roses...

When the dog days of summer arrive, your borders may start to look tired and droopy. Those plants you joyfully tucked in or started a couple of months back are losing their vigor (after all, they’ve performed well for weeks now). And perennial mainstays that have already bloomed are leaving unsightly gaps. If you want to save your borders from this noticeable slump, it’s high time for a midsummer refresh!

To give your yard a midsummer pick-me-up, you can deadhead faded summer blooming plants, shear spent perennials for a second flush, and renew mulch if needed. But for an instant facelift, replace the worn-out annuals that are buggy, diseased, leggy, or are going to seed. At this point, you need tough yet beautiful annual bloomers that thrive in summer heat and humidity, or perennial all-stars that are famous for their heat and drought tolerance.

By introducing some select established plants now, you can bypass the fragile seedling stage and enjoy a festival of color that will take you easily and cheerfully into fall. These resilient beauties hit the ground running, instantly closing gaps and turning a weary, fading border into a vibrant, texturally rich sanctuary. Meet the rescue squad that can pump out color all the way through to the first frost.

Try These 8 Summer Rescue Plants

Planting in July is fundamentally different from planting during a cool, damp spring. The soil is likely baked, which means new root systems could be vulnerable to thermal shock and moisture loss. Before planting these instant color plants, take a moment to evaluate your USDA hardiness zone and localized microclimate. Deeply sun-baked, wide-open spaces suit heat-loving tropicals, while partially shaded gaps are best for resilient options that can bloom without full-day sunshine.

To give these floral rescue workers the best start, ground-level preparation is key. You need to create a loose, highly moisture-retentive pocket, so new plant roots can anchor instantly. Gently clear out weeds and old plant roots from the vacancy. Then use a soil diagnostic tool like the Yamron 4-in-1 (Moisture, Temperature, Light and pH Meter, available from Amazon, to check your planting site isn’t too depleted from spring's heavy feeders.

If your soil feels heavy, packed down, or spent, give it a quick pick-me-up with a little aged compost, plus some perlite or coarse sand for drainage. You might also like to try a scoop of Wakefield Biochar Premium Soil Conditioner from Lowe’s to add beneficial microbes at the root level. Then check out the following summer-slump rescue plants to add instant color to your garden borders.

1. Madagascar Periwinkle

Vinca or periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) is one plant that needs its praises sung more often. These summer rescue plants love heat and humidity, and don’t need a lot of water – and their bright flowers bloom until the first frost. Perennial in zones 9-11, they are usually treated as an annual. Plant them in full sun, where their mounding, shiny green foliage can reach 16 inches (41cm) tall and 22 inches (56cm) wide. You can buy vinca seeds from Park Seed.

The number-one golden rule with vinca is to avoid overwatering, as these plants despise wet feet. Plant them in fast-draining soil alongside fine-textured partners like ornamental grasses or blue salvia varieties for a gorgeous contrast. And sprinkle some Espoma Organic Plant-Tone Plant Food from Amazon around the base for a gentle way to nourish that glossy foliage during intense August heatwaves.

2. Begonia Big Series

The Begonia BIG Series (B. x benariensis) is always in bloom and grows quickly. Its succulent stems will forgive a lapse in watering. Loose clusters of single or double flowers bloom in white, pink, red, or bicolor. Foliage is dark green to bronze on compact plants reaching 12-18 inches (30-46cm) tall and wide. Flowers are also self-cleaning, so this plant doesn’t need deadheading. It tolerates sun or shade, so you can use it anywhere the garden needs a pick-me-up. Grow as an annual except in zones 10-11. You can buy red Begonia BIG plants from Cheryl’s Greenhouse.

While these begonia varieties are highly self-sufficient, they appreciate a timely feed. Scratch a handful of Espoma Organic Chicken Manure from Walmart into the surrounding soil to give them the slow-release nitrogen required to keep those heavy, fleshy stems multiplying without snapping in summer storms.

3. Crossandra

Crossandra (C. infundibuliformis) is another great garden performer that needs more love. It sails through summer without a care, always looking pristine with its shiny, green leaves and bright orange flowers. The flower petals stack on a center spear, giving the flower layers. This rescue plant will even bloom indoors. It only needs part shade, moderate water and well draining soil. Once or twice a season, feed it with a slow-release balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food from Lowe’s for continuous blooms.

Often called the firecracker flower, it brings a vivacious splash to the garden with its overlapping fan-shaped blossoms. It is an exceptional rescue choice for brightening up awkward, humid gaps. Deadhead spent spears to keep it tidy. Hardy in zones 9-11, you can treat it as an annual or bring it indoors for winter. You can buy Crossandra by the Tropical Plants of Florida Store from Amazon as potted plants.

4. Garden Phlox

Garden phlox (P. paniculata) blooms from summer to fall on stems 2-4 feet (0.6-1.2m) tall. Its clusters of fragrant flowers remind me of hydrangea blooms. Pollinators love phlox, especially butterflies. This rescue plant just needs full sun to keep powdery mildew at bay. In hot climates, partial shade is fine. Hardy in zones 4-8, phlox prefers moist, fertile, well-drained soil. You can buy Coral Creme Drop Garden Phlox from Nature Hills.

Plant towards the middle or back of borders, pairing with spiky coneflowers or golden rudbeckia for a classic cottage look. Water deeply at the base, and feed every fortnight with Neptune's Harvest Fish & Seaweed Fertilizer from Amazon to deliver rich organic trace minerals that maximize blossom size and perfume strength.

5. Coleus

Coleus (C. scutellarioides) is perfect for instant color in a partially shady area. Heights average 1-2 feet (0.3-0.6m), and their colorful foliage is a glorious combination of green, pink, chartreuse, cream, burgundy, red, yellow, or purple. Pinch off the flower spikes as they appear, so the plant will focus on leafy growth. I often leave a few spikes on one plant for the hummingbirds. For a burgundy splash, buy Coleus ‘Dipt in Wine’ by the Plant Nook Store from Amazon as starter plants.

These plants need fertile, moist soil. They are hardy in zones 10-11, so most folks treat them as annuals. If you want to overwinter your favorite coleus, take cuttings in fall and root them in water or potting soil. To prevent lower leaf drop and downy mildew, mist the foliage with Arber Organic Bio-Fungicide Concentrate from Walmart.

6. Sunflowers

Sunflowers (Helianthus x annuus 'TMSNBLEV01') are summer icons, especially when it is hot and dry. Variety SunBelievable ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ is a great summer rescue plant, as it doesn’t set seed. Instead, it produces flowers continuously until the first frost. Its multi-branched stems grow up to 3 feet (0.9m) tall and wide. Plant in rich, well-draining soil in full sun and only water when the soil is dry. You can buy Sunflower SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl Helianthus by Monrovia from Armstrong Garden Centers, as potted plants.

What makes this hybrid an unparalleled rescue option is its non-stop branching habit. Traditional single-stem sunflowers are a one-and-done show, but this bloomer fills border vacancies in no time and keeps going. Topdress the planting zone with Worm Bliss Premium Earthworm Castings from Amazon. This improves moisture holding capacity, while releasing a steady stream of essential nutrients.

7. Coneflowers

Coneflowers (Echinacea spp.) are quintessential rescue plants for heat tolerance in high summer. Purple coneflower is great for the pollinator garden, while new forms and hybrids feature white, yellow, red, pink, orange, and multi-color blooms, many with compact forms. They bloom continuously until first frost, especially if deadheaded. Hardy in zones 3-9, they thrive in moist, well-drained soil. Buy PowWow Coneflowers from Fast Growing Trees for vibrant drought-tolerant color.

For ultra summer grit, compact cultivars like Cheyenne Spirit or Sombrero offer thick, sturdy stems. When introducing it in summer, just don’t let the rootball dry out. Add a scoop of Down to Earth Fish Bone Meal from Amazon for rapid root establishment, and keep it watered deeply twice a week until it settles into its new home.

8. Pentas

Pentas (P. lanceolata) are some of my favorite pollinator plants and my yard is never without them. Their colorful clusters of flowers bloom from spring to frost, and attract plenty of butterflies and hummingbirds. Pentas prefers moist, well-drained soil, but are drought tolerant once established, and happy in full sun or partial shade. Typically grown as an annual, these rescue plants are hardy in zones 10-11. You can buy vivid purple Pentas Lanceolata from Amazon.

Known affectionately as Egyptian starclusters, their striking flower heads are made up of dozens of tiny stars, creating a rich texture in front-of-the-border displays. Add a bit of micronutrient-dense Dr. Earth Premium Gold All Purpose Fertilizer from Walmart into the surrounding soil at planting time for seamless, gorgeous growth.

Midsummer Maintenance

To keep perennials blooming, shear back early bloomers like catmint, yarrow, salvia, and bee balm for a second flush. Some varieties, like Walker’s Low catmint, will continue to bloom whether or not they are cut back. You should also remove any dead or damaged stems you see.

Deadheading will encourage annuals like cosmos and zinnias to repeat-bloom rather than set seed. Perennials such as coneflower, blanket flower and phlox also benefit. Phlox is sneaky, though: when the petals first fade and drop off, new buds appear. So wait until you don’t see any more new buds before trimming phlox. Use a sharp pair of shears, scissors or snips for clean cuts. We love Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruning Snips from Amazon for their ability to slide between tight nodes.

A fresh sprinkling of mulch will help the plants retain moisture. Add a two-inch (5cm) layer of organic mulch, such as Back to the Roots Organic Premium Mulch from Amazon, so your rescue team stays happy, hydrated, and blooming beautifully. It’s best not to fertilize during the hottest part of summer, unless a plant is showing signs it lacks nutrition, such as yellow leaves. Revamping the yard now will carry it through summer into fall so it keeps looking lush and lovely.

Need more ideas for getting the most from your plants, indoors and out, and looking for the best seasonal expert advice delivered straight to your inbox?

Woohoo! The very first dahlia blooms are freshly out and damn, aren’t they gorgeous? But July is not the time to sit back, relax and enjoy the display. July is a hard-working month for dahlia plants, and how well you look after them now determines how many flowers you get, how fabulously big they grow, and how long into fall the display lasts.

In July, dahlias are busy growing stems, leaves, flowers and buds, which uses up a heap of energy and moisture. They’re also dealing with long, hot days – and while all that sunshine fuels growth, high temperatures stress the plants. There’s no telling how long the current heatwave will last for, making these vital July gardening jobs to keep dahlias happy and healthy all the more important.

Why? Because while your dahlia plants will probably go ahead and flower for the next month or so, even with minimal care, they’ll quickly give up blooming once the first flush is over. Nurture your plants in July, however, and they’ll continue flowering into fall with far bigger, more beautiful blooms. Thanks to this summer’s heat, many dahlia varieties are already flowering with deeper, more intense colors this year. So, take care of these vital gardening jobs in July and this could be your most spectacular dahlia display, ever. Here's what to do with dahlias in July…

1. Water Deeply

When it comes to what dahlias need in July, moisture tops the list. While it’s important not to overwater newly planted tubers as they can easily rot, now your plants are established they need plenty of moisture. In the peak of summer, if there’s no rainfall, you need to be watering dahlias growing in the ground around three times a week. Container-grown dahlias are likely to need watering daily or, in extreme temperatures, twice a day.

Water the soil at the base of the plants, rather than the plants themselves, to prevent fungal issues. Opt to irrigate first thing in the morning and you'll reduce evaporation so more of that precious moisture reaches the roots. If your mulch is thinning by midsummer, you may also want to consider re-mulching with an organic mulch such as Miracle-Gro All Natural Mulch, available from Walmart. It'll lock that moisture in the ground and keep those tubers a little cooler too.

2. Fertilize Regularly

As soon as you spot flowerbuds, or if your plant is already actively flowering, you should be feeding dahlias once every 7-14 days. A soluble feed gives plants an instant boost, which makes it far easier to control the nutrient supply. Because here’s the thing that most home-growers miss: if a flowering plant is fertilized in a heatwave, it's going to need more moisture to facilitate the extra growth the feed fuels. If you provide that moisture, great. But if you don’t, the plant is put under a lot of unnecessary stress.

In the current heatwave conditions, with plenty of states already under a hosepipe ban, it’s vital to consider this before fertilizing. It’s best to reduce fertilizing in extreme temperatures, and using a soluble feed makes it easy to adjust feeding levels week by week. And remember, while you should never under-dilute plant food, you can absolutely over-dilute it to provide a more gentle nutrient boost.

To fuel abundant flowers at this time of the year, you need a feed that’s high in potassium. Use all-round flower food such as Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Bloom Booster, available from Lowe's, or a specialized dahlia feed such as TPS Plant Food Dahlia Fertilizer, available from Amazon. If you’re growing tomatoes and already have a liquid tomato fertilizer such as Espoma Organic Tomato!, also available from Amazon, you can use that, too – it’s also high in potassium and will do a similar job.

3. Deadhead Fading Flowers

Snipping off fading blooms will keep your dahlia focused on growing more flowers rather than producing seed. Deadheading regularly, every few days, is an important part of July dahlia care and makes a huge difference to how many blooms a plant will produce. So, if you're wondering how to get more dahlia flowers, don't skip this task: the quicker you remove those spent blooms once the petals start to fade, the more energy you'll redirect.

Use a pair of bypass pruning shears such as these from Lowe's to deadhead dahlias and, if you haven’t sharpened yours in a while, get a razor-edge on those blades with a sharpener such as this $7 tool from Amazon. Trace the stem of the faded flower down and cut just above the next bud, pair of leaves or main stem. This is far easier for the plant to deal with than cutting higher and leaving a bare stem end that could rot.

The trickiest part of deadheading dahlias is knowing what’s a fully spent bloom and what’s a new bud, because they can both look very similar – and you seriously don't want to remove all the flowers yet to come! It's easy to tell the difference once you know how, though.

New buds are round, tight, feel firm when you squeeze them and may have a glimmer of color at their centre, like this:

Spent flowers are more pointed and cone-shaped, feel slightly squishy when you squeeze them, may have brown tones, and look like this:

4. Make Quick Earwig Traps

Midsummer is prime earwig season and these critters are well known for chewing holes in dahlia foliage and ruining blooms. You probably won’t spot the earwigs themselves as they’re nocturnal, but the tell-tale signs are uneven holes or ragged edges on leaves, and shredded buds. You might also see dark earwig poop, known as frass, on the leaves.

If you don't mind this damage or it's minimal, don't worry about it – earwigs are useful bugs to have in your garden ecosystem as they eat aphids, mites and juvenile snails. If you want to curtail the damage, however, it’s simple to catch the culprits with homemade earwig traps.

Stuff dampened straw or dried grass into small plant pots or plastic cups and upend these on bamboo canes pushed into the ground around your dahlias (watch out for the tubers, though). Earwigs will crawl into these cozy, dark spaces after feeding so, in the morning, it’s a simple task to rehome them, and you don't have to move them far. Though they have wings, earwigs rarely travel more than 100 feet.

5. Prune Dahlias For Huge Blooms

If you fancy growing a few fabulously big dinnerplate dahlias, then there’s an extra job to be done – but it’s by no means an essential part of summer dahlia care. Disbudding involves removing sidebuds on a stem to force the plant into putting all its energy into growing the central flower. And the results can be incredible! Disbudding dahlias also brings longer stems for cut flowers.

You’ll get far fewer blooms overall if you disbud but, if you want to grow a few showstopper cut flowers for a special occasion, or just try something different with your dahlias this year, it’s worth it. You don’t need to disbud all the stems on an established plant, so why not try it with one or two stems and leave the rest?

Disbudding is a quick and easy job. Look at a dahlia stem and you’ll typically see it has a larger central bud and some side buds either side. Simply pinch or snap off all the side buds – do this in early morning when the plant is fully hydrated and the rigid stems snap far more easily.

Give your dahlia the care it needs in July, and it will reward you by flowering abundantly all through summer and fall, till the first frost. And that’s a heck of a lot of beautiful blooms for your efforts!

Next up in the gardening priority list is to prep your peonies for bigger flowers next year. This July gardening job is quick and easy to do but is another that has a huge impact on the quality of blooms you'll enjoy.

If there's one group of plants I'll always have a soft spot for, it's evergreens. Particularly (you guessed it) evergreen perennials.

Why? Well, as much as I look forward to spring bulbs bursting into life or summer borders overflowing with blooms, I've come to appreciate that it's evergreen plants that quietly do the heavy lifting in a garden.

Think about it: they're there in every season, providing a burst of much-needed color (sometimes I think we all forget that green is a color) when everything else has died back, creating beautiful backdrops for flowering perennials, and bringing the sort of lush permanence that makes a space feel established.

Gardeners Are Obsessed With This Striking Evergreen Perennial

While plenty of evergreens are happy to play a supporting role, others are born to be the star of the show. The Japanese sago palm (Cycas revoluta) is one of them.

With its perfectly symmetrical crown of feather-like fronds (not to mention that glossy emerald hue), the Japanese sago is exactly the kind of plant that stops you in your tracks. It also happens to be older than the dinosaurs, though, so why is it having such a sudden surge in popularity now?

Well, over in the UK, this evergreen perennial was named one of the standout plants at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Sitting pretty in Tom Stuart-Smith's breathtaking Tate Britain Garden, which was designed around the power of foliage rather than flowers, the garden used texture and dramatic leaf shapes to create an almost jungle-like atmosphere.

According to Stuart-Smith, the plant has long been admired in warmer parts of Europe, including southern France and Mallorca, but has rarely been used in British gardens because it's often considered too tender.

With milder winters becoming more common in some regions, however, he believes carefully positioned cycads like the Japanese sago have an exciting future. And RHS Wisley Curator Rob Brett (who branded it it his favorite plant of the show) agrees, predicting it could become an increasingly important choice for gardeners looking to push planting boundaries.

Unlike flowering plants that have a relatively short season of interest, Japanese sago palms earn their keep all year round thanks to their evergreen foliage. They're also surprisingly versatile, pairing beautifully with ornamental grasses, palms, agaves, and flowering perennials.

Better still, they're surprisingly low maintenance; think drought-tolerant once established and slow growers, which means they maintain their magnificent shape for years with very little need for pruning and constant upkeep.

Still, if you're tempted to add one to your own yard, it's worth remembering that this isn't a plant for every climate; Japanese sago palms prefer partial shade or filtered sun and thrive in moist but well-drained soil. And, while they can tolerate the occasional light frost once established, this evergreen perennial is only considered half-hardy, so gardeners in colder regions will have the best success growing them in containers that can be moved to a sheltered spot during winter.

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That being said, there aren't many plants you can grow that have survived since the age of dinosaurs. So if that means popping one in a pot on a patio or by a front entrance, you'd better believe I'll be doing it (and telling everyone about my prehistoric beauty if they even think about breathing a compliment about it in my presence).

Join me in my new Jurassic obsession, why don't you?

Who doesn't love the timeless charm of a cottage garden? Overflowing borders packed with roses, foxgloves, delphiniums and lavender have been enchanting gardeners for centuries. Yet while many traditional cottage garden favourites are undeniably beautiful, some demand regular watering, staking and plenty of attention to keep them looking their best. And when midsummer heatwaves strike, some dreamy varieties can collapse into brown, crispy disappointments.

Fortunately for us, there are plenty of resilient cottage garden flowers that deliver all the nostalgic appeal without the high-maintenance routine. These hardy perennials and flowering shrubs are tougher than they look, coping with everything from prolonged summer drought and poor soils to freezing winters and unpredictable weather. By integrating these robust, resilient cottage garden ideas into your yard, you can simplify seasonal maintenance and enjoy your displays for longer.

As our gardens experience hotter, drier summers alongside colder snaps in winter, choosing plants that can adapt to these up-and-down conditions has never been more important. So, if you want resilient cottage garden flowers that look abundant without demanding constant care, I’m showcasing a handful of my favourites that prove you don't have to sacrifice beauty for toughness.

Try These 5 Resilient Cottage Garden Plants

Whatever you choose to plant in your yard, giving new additions a thorough soak during the first few weeks and the first growing season will help them establish strong roots. It's also worth matching each plant to your USDA hardiness zone and growing conditions. If you have a sunny, free-draining border, Mediterranean flowering plants and daisy varieties will thrive. Pick the right plant for the right place and resilient cottage garden flowers will reward you with years of dependable color.

While these resilient cottage garden flowers are famous for surviving poor soil, they cannot tolerate wet feet or dense, compacted clay. If you are planting these cottage garden beauties in heavy clay soil, you risk rotting their roots before they ever have a chance to show off their heat-tolerant capabilities. Good soil drainage is key to the health and heartiness of these tough bloomers.

To ensure your soil quality and structure are at their best, take a quick reading before planting. Using the Luster Leaf Rapitest Soil Tester from Amazon is an excellent way to quickly analyze your pH and nutrient levels. For heavy clay or depleted soil, incorporate a high-quality soil amendment like coarse sand or perlite. Mixing some Back to the Roots Organic Compost from Lowe’s into your planting hole will also help to loosen the dirt, introduce vital beneficial microbes, and improve drainage.

Whether you are planting these cottage garden flowers directly in wide-open borders or styling them in patio containers, ensure your location receives 6-8 hours of direct sunlight daily to fuel those midsummer blooms.

1. Lavender

Lavender is one of the most resilient cottage garden flowers. Fragrant, colourful and adored by bees of course, it has all the romance of an old garden border, plus it is remarkably tough once established. In my new book, The Ethical Gardener, available to preorder now on Amazon, I dedicate a chapter to gardening for the future, and plants like lavender are exactly what I have in mind.

As summers become longer and hotter, with parts of North America experiencing temperatures above 100°F (37.7°C) for days at a time, it makes sense to grow plants that are beautiful, resilient and capable of coping with increasingly challenging conditions. Lavender is hardy in zones 5-9, and while we focus on the blooms, its secret weapon is the foliage. Covered in oil-producing glands, it reflects harsh sunlight and traps moisture, making lavender a master of water conservation.

Whether you prefer English, Spanish or French lavender, the growing advice is much the same. Plant it in a sunny spot with free-draining soil and avoid waterlogging at all costs. Make sure you grow it in dry, sandy, or gravelly spots. Overwatering is the fastest way to kill this Mediterranean native, so water only when the soil is dry.

Once flowering has finished in late summer (usually around August), give plants a light trim to remove the spent blooms and help prevent them from becoming woody. For exceptional drought tolerance and extended flowering, try Spanish Lavender from Amazon and Phenomenal Lavender from Nature Hills.

2. Mexican Fleabane

Fleabane is one of my go-to plants. Whether tumbling over retaining walls, weaving through cracks and crevices or softening the front of a sunny border, it somehow looks right wherever you grow it. Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) produces masses of delicate white flowers that age to soft pink, creating a dual-tone display that seems to go on for months. Buy Mixed Erigeron Flower Seeds from Amazon.

Hardy from US zone 6, it thrives in poor, dry, shallow and rocky soils, shrugs off drought once established and happily self-seeds into the smallest spaces, making it one of the most useful cottage-garden plants around. But, while it is a wonderful garden plant, fleabane is often considered invasive in some regions, including Hawaii, so check with your local government or local extension office before planting.

Plant your Mexican fleabane in full sun to partial shade. To prevent it from spreading too aggressively, shear back by half after the main summer flowering flush. Feed lightly in late spring with Espoma Organic Holly-Tone Fertilizer from Walmart for a steady, slow-release nutrient boost that supports extensive blooming.

3. Nepeta (Catmint)

Catmint (aka nepeta) is one of those resilient cottage garden flowers that more than earns its spot in the yard. It is hardy down to zone 3, easy to grow, and produces clouds of blue flowers from late spring through summer that bees cannot resist. It performs beautifully even in clay soil, as long as it doesn’t sit wet through winter.

As a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae), the foliage is highly aromatic, which is one of the things I love most about it. Plant it alongside a path or at the front of a border and, every time you brush past, it releases the most wonderful scent. Once settled, nepeta is very drought tolerant and needs little attention beyond a light trim after flowering to encourage a second flush. Buy Better Versions Junior Walker Nepeta from Fast Growing Trees for exceptional structure and flower power.

To keep its foliage looking lush and vibrant through the peak of summer, you can just give it a splash of Neptune's Harvest Fish & Seaweed Fertilizer on Amazon once every few weeks. Nepeta gets a major foliage boost from the trace minerals, keeping that beautiful silver-blue sheen vibrant all summer.

4. Shasta Daisy

What to say about Shasta daisies? With crisp white petals and golden centers, Leucanthemum × superbum brings a classic cottage-garden look to any border, flowering for weeks through summer. Typically hardy from US zone 5, these upright, sturdy perennials are remarkably resilient once established. They cope well with heat, dry spells and poor soils, provided they have good drainage. Look for 'Becky' or 'Snowcap', with stiff stems that won't flop over in storms.

Plant your daisies in a sunny spot, deadhead spent blooms to encourage more flowers, and cut plants back in fall. Shasta daisies are heavy summer feeders, so mix a few handfuls of Espoma Organic Chicken Manure from Walmart into the surrounding soil when planting to fuel heavy, continuous summer blooms.

You can buy Clovers Garden Shasta Daisies from Walmart as live plants that settle fast for elegant white blooms that hold their own until first frost. As a lovely bonus, these hardy cottage garden classics can be an effective mosquito repellent.

5. Russian Sage

Russian sage (or Salvia yangii) will keep performing in the most challenging conditions. Hardy in zones 4-9, it produces airy blue flower spikes above aromatic silver-gray foliage from early summer into fall, creating a soft haze of colour that pollinators love. Once established, it shrugs off heat, drought and poor soils with ease. You can buy live Clovers Garden Russian Sage Plants from Amazon.

Reaching up to 4 feet (1.2m) in height, this sub-shrub brings structural texture and height to the back of sunny borders. It is virtually bulletproof, resisting deer, rabbits, salty coastal air, and intense heatwaves without dropping a leaf. Just avoid over-feeding or overwatering, which can make stems weak and floppy.

In late spring, when humidity levels rise, Russian sage can sometimes fall victim to powdery mildew. To keep your display immaculate, apply a little organic remedy such as Arber Organic Bio-Fungicide Concentrate from Walmart. This safe spray destroys harmful fungal pathogens, keeping silver stems pristine all summer long.

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Creating a natural, traditional aesthetic in your backyard doesn’t need to involve breaking a sweat. These drought tolerant beauties can handle whatever summer throws at them with easy grace. Make some room for these natural wonders that deliver dreamy blooms with massive impact from now until well into fall.

To find out more about inspirational gardens and gardening, read The Garden Through Time by Thomas Rutter, available from Amazon. From Persian paradises to New York’s High Line, this volume offers practical ideas and plant selections to help you design a gorgeous, low-maintenance garden. Telling the story of 45 gardens found worldwide, it is an essential read (or gift) for gardeners looking for timeless inspiration.

“Here comes the sun,” goes the classic Beatles song. “Here comes the sun, and I say, ‘It’s all right.’” But some 60 years later, the summer sun is not always a sign of hope, and it can cause issues in the garden.

I just got back to San Francisco after some months in France. April and May were a delight but late June and early July brought a heat wave – with the highest temperatures ever recorded in the country (think 107 degrees F).

These temperatures killed off some of my favorite garden shrubs and made me rethink what to plant in the future. Let’s take stock of some traditional garden plants that struggle (or give up the ghost) in extreme heat as well as some great, heat-tolerant replacements.

1. Hydrangea (Hydrangea spp.)

I have never seen my hydrangeas looking better than they did in April and May. I have three bigleafs, (Hydrangea macrophylla) two mopheads and one lacecap variety. They were stunning in spring, totally covered with the huge flowers, and even the leaves were starting to look baked.

Hydrangeas generally prefer morning sun and afternoon shade, so I have all of my plants planted where they don’t get much direct afternoon sun, but that did not save them. After one week of 100-plus temperatures, the pink and blue flowers had turned brown or green and when I left, they were beginning to drop.

Plant instead: Pentas (Pentas lanceolata)

We’ve found the perfect, heat-proof alternative. Pentas love intense sunshine and thrive in high heat. That’s why they are so popular in Florida. And they look a bit like hydrangeas with their blossom clusters. Their star-shaped flowers are a target for hummingbirds and butterflies.

2. Peonies (Paeonia spp.)

With large, fragrant, long-flowering blooms, peonies are one of those shrubs that grace many a garden. These classic flowers need a site with mucho sunshine - at least 6 hours a day! But that doesn’t mean they will thrive in heatwaves.

The type of intense, direct hot sunshine we saw this summer does not make a peony happy. I saw my peony leaves scorch in two days, and the third day, the gorgeous petals began to fade and wilt. It’s enough to make a grown gardener weep!

Plant instead: Heat Tolerant Roses (Rosa spp.)

Most rose plants need some direct sun, but only a few, heat-tolerant roses survive temperatures of 100 degrees F for more than a few minutes. The ones that do share these traits: thick, leathery foliage; lots and lots of petals; and their own roots rather than grafted roots.

We recommend "Belinda’s Dream," said to be the top pick for the Deep South. Its huge pink flowers are intensely fragrant and don’t blink in 100-degree weather. "Julia Child" comes in next, with its continuous clusters of buttery yellow, licorice-scented blooms, even when summer heat hits news highs. Roses in the "Knock Out" family are also amazingly heat resistant. heat, their blooms may temporarily shrink or fade.

3. Astilbe (Astilbe spp.)

Many of us have astilbes in the garden since they are known to be one of the easiest perennial flowers to grow. Their flowers are unusual as well, plume-like blooms in soft shades of white, pink, purple, and red. They rise above the airy foliage on stiff stocks. I can tell you from personal knowledge that these are extremely low maintenance additions to the shade garden, requiring only moisture and damp, loamy soil.

All these positive features are negatives as the summer temperatures rise. As summers turn hotter and drier, the feathery foliage actually burns - look for brown, crispy edges on the leaves - and wilting, browning blossoms. The plants just can’t uptake water fast enough to keep its flowers looking good.

Plant instead: Russian Sage (Salvia yangii)

With its soft but dramatic spikes of lavender flowers lasting for up to four months, Russian sage offers the same type of unusual eye candy to the garden that makes astilbe stand out. But as summers swelter, Russian sage just keeps getting prettier while astilbe just cooks. Don’t even think of planting this salvia in shade! It will cause the stems to become weak, lax, and prone to flopping.

4. Bleeding Heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis)

Old-fashioned bleeding heart is both stunning and darling, with its unique, dangling heart-shaped flowers and finely divided foliage. It just makes you happy to see it in the garden - and that’s why it is so popular with gardeners.

But a bleeding heart plant needs shade - partial to full - and also moist soil. They work well in woodland settings and require consistent moisture and full protection from hot afternoon sun. Obviously, sizzling summer temperatures will not do any favors for these favorites. They won’t survive anything hotter than 75 degrees F.

Plant instead: Foamy Bells (Heucherella spp.)

Heucherella is a plant that does double duty. It displays fabulous foliage as well as darling little blossoms. Known as foamy bells, this perennial is a hybrid of Heuchera (coral bells) and Tiarella (foamflower), carrying the best traits of both. Like Heuchera, the leaves come in a wild variety of colors, sometimes streaked with intricate veining. Like its other parent foamflower, Heucherella grows tall stems with delicate frothy flowers on tall stems that dance in a gentle breeze.

Plant Heucherella foamy bells in filtered, dappled shade. Once installed, they tolerate heat and humidity, thriving in southern regions. If you choose Heucherella (foamy bells) varieties with Heuchera villosa parentage - like Heucherella ‘Sweet Tea’ - your plants have superior heat and humidity tolerance.

5. Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)

Lily of the valley is a woodland flowering plant , known for its pure white, bell-shaped pendant flowers and unforgettable perfume. It is often used as a shade-loving ground cover since it has a dense root system that will eventually crowd out weeds and create a lush carpet of green.

These plants do not do well in hot, dry areas. Harsh sun and high heat dry out their shallow root systems and kill the plants.

Plant instead: Creeping Lilyturf (Liriope spicata)

For hotter, drier summers, replace lily of the valley with hardy, heat-tolerant ground cover creeping lilyturf. These plants create a dense mat with long, grass-like leaves and pale violet or off-white flowers on short rachis. It suppresses weeds like lilies of the valley but survives intense heat waves while staying green.

6. Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus)

Cosmos are native to Mexico, which means that they generally like warm weather and direct sun. This extremely popular showy annual can grow to 2-4 feet (1m) tall on erect stems, carrying saucer-shaped, daisy-like flowers with red, pink or white petals and yellow centers. They bloom constantly from early summer to frost.

However, cosmos plants suffer in hot and humid summer climates. The flowers simply stop opening and the lovely colors fade. As temperatures climb, the plants can even wilt.

Plant instead: Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Looking for a flower that will thrive in soaring temperatures and dry soil? Look at the purple coneflowers. These North American natives also grow large, daisy-like petals with prominent, spiky center cones. But they are hardy perennials that have evolved to grow in extreme temperatures and lean, dry soil.

When your neighbors installed saplings along the property line, they were about your height and looked lovely in spring when the new leaves appeared. Now, years later, the saplings have turned into tall, mature trees with full canopies that cast long shadows over your landscape. Your patio is dark and your lawn and garden are in shade.

What’s a neighbor to do with this shade tree problem? You’ll need to act carefully in order not to get in trouble with the law or with Miss Manners. No worries, I’ll help you evaluate your options.

I worked as an attorney before I became a plant-loving writer, so all of my neighbors tend to bring me their issues and ask for advice. One of the most common neighborhood problems involves trees in one yard shading out plants and backyards across the fence. Here's what you can and can't do if a neighbor's tree is blocking all the light in your yard.

What You Can Do

The first thing I say in response is to share the bad news: in the United States, property law generally does not recognize a right to receive light, air, or a scenic view over a neighbor’s property. That means that your neighbor can grow trees as tall or bulky as they like, even if it blocks the next door view or flower garden unless a law or agreement limits this.

Keep this general rule in mind when approaching the neighbor. A threatening attitude is never likely to bring about a good result. Here are four good garden etiquette options that can help, though.

1. Check local ordinances & HOA rules.

American law generally doesn’t recognize one neighbor’s right to object to a neighbor’s shade tree. But there is no affirmative law giving one the right to grow tall trees along the property line. Given that, the general rule can be overruled by specific laws or ordinances addressing the issue.

So your first step in a tree dispute is to check out whether there are any such laws or ordinances. If you live in a community with an HOA, check the rules (termed CC&Rs) to see what it says about plants or trees in the yard. Alternatively, if you live in a city, ask at the mayor’s office or ask a local attorney if there are ordinances discussing it. Check for solar-access laws, for example.

In big cities, there are often laws preventing the installation of trees within a certain number of feet from the property boundary line. They sometimes allow one neighbor to compel restoration of a view that existed when they bought their property. If the neighbor is violating the CC&Rs or a city ordinance, you can bring it to your neighbor's attention or to the attention of the authorities.

2. Chat with your neighbor.

Friends who have had success with this option have played their cards well. First, they invited the neighbor with trees hanging over their backyard into their landscape for a discussion, thereby allowing them to experience the shade themselves. Second, they offered to pay half for pruning the trees.

If you decide to roll this way, remember to be polite and friendly. You’re trying to negotiate an agreement between the two of you, do not yell and scream. That could backfire and make the issue worse.

3. Prune branches in your yard.

In most states, you have the right to cut back a neighbor’s tree to the extent that it extends over the property line. You can trim a neighbor's overgrown shrubs if they're on your property, too. Use sharp, clean loppers like these ones from Fiskars to make the job easy.

However, you don’t have the right to step into their landscape, so stay on your own side. Nor are you allowed to cause damage to the tree. If you’d like to go this way, double check the property line. This can be tricky unless the border is marked by a fence or wall.

But don’t just think legal rights, consider your relationship with your neighbor as well. You will definitely want to talk to the neighbor first and ask if they would prefer to hire someone to do the trimming. It’s always a good idea to communicate your intentions to the owner before performing any tree work. You have a real interest in maintaining a good relationship with the people who live right next to you.

4. Document a spite fence complaint.

Some states and local governments have laws against spite fences. These are fences built for purely malicious reasons – like to block the neighbor’s view or to shade their garden. If a fence found by the court to have been built out of spite with the intent to injure the neighbor’s enjoyment of their property, they can be ordered to remove it. That's why it's always good to consult your neighbor before building a fence, too.

Trees planted in a line along the property edge can constitute a spite fence and trigger the same protection. If your area has these laws, gather evidence of the neighbor’s malicious intent and the lack of any legitimate purpose. Obviously, this is not a good way to develop a happy relationship with a neighbor, so suing over this issue should be a last resort.

What Not to Do

No matter how annoyed you are by your neighbor, do not take the law into your own hands. These two options are absolute no-nos.

1. Cut down the tree.

You could (and probably would) be arrested for trespassing, vandalism, and destruction of property. Almost everyone these days surveys their yard with computer-linked cameras, so your chances of getting caught are high. Not worth it!

2. Poison the tree.

This is also a big, fat no for all the same reasons as above. If you get caught, you can be charged with vandalism and destruction of property. Even if you don’t get caught, your karma will be terrible going forward. So talk to your neighbors and figure out a solution that will make both of you happy and bring more light into your yard.

Every summer – and I really do mean every single summer now – I notice the same thing happening in my garden. The plants that looked unstoppable in May? They suddenly start looking tired by July, with flowers fading, foliage drooping and everything seeming to slow down just when I want my borders to be bursting with color.

As hotter summers become the norm across much of the world (US absolutely included), I find myself idly dreaming about which flowering perennials will take one look at a 95°F forecast and think, 'Finally!' My time to shine!'

Basically, I want plants that like heat and full sun. I want vibrant blooms, buzzing pollinators and weeks (sometimes months) of color, even when I'm dripping with sweat and find myself subsisting entirely on ice creams.

Flowering Perennials That Like It Hot

For those who want flowering perennials that like it hot, the secret is choosing those plants that have evolved to thrive in sunshine, dry conditions and soaring temperatures (aka deep roots, silvery foliage or naturally drought-tolerant habits) as this will help them stay fresh long after more delicate plants have thrown in the towel.

So, if your borders tend to lose their sparkle once the weather warms up, these are the flowering perennials I'd plant every single time.

1. Blanket Flower

If you want a plant that looks like sunshine bottled into a flower, blanket flower is hard to beat. Cheerful red, orange and golden-yellow blooms appear from early summer right through fall, often carrying on long after other perennials have called it quits.

Native to North America, it's happiest basking in full sun and copes brilliantly with heat and dry soil. Butterflies adore it, bees can't get enough of it and you'll love how little effort it asks for in return. If you want to go super bold, the SpinTop™ Red Blanket Gaillardia from Nature Hills blooms nonstop until the first frost.

2. Coneflower

Coneflowers are one of those plants I recommend again and again because they simply never let me down. Their bold daisy-like flowers bloom for weeks on end, bringing vibrant color while turning your borders into a magnet for bees and butterflies.

Once established, they're wonderfully drought tolerant, making them one of the easiest ways to keep a garden looking lush through the hottest part of summer. Why not swerve the usual purple in favor of the Sunseekers™ Rainbow Coneflower from Nature Hills? You'll end up with orange, pink, rose, and yellow blooms all on one plant!

3. Black-Eyed Susan

Few flowers capture the feeling of high summer quite like black-eyed Susan. Their golden petals seem to glow in the sunshine, and with regular deadheading they'll keep blooming for weeks.

This tough native perennial shrugs off heat, humidity and less-than-perfect soil, making it one of the most dependable flowers you can grow. The Prairie Glow Black - Eyed Susan from Nature Hills offers a vibrant bi-colored twist to the usual uniform yellow.

4. Russian Sage

No surprises here, but if you want flowering perennials that will thrive in 95°F climes, Russian sage was well and truly made for heatwaves. Silvery foliage shimmers in bright sunshine while airy lavender-blue flower spikes seem to float above the border, creating movement and softness even on the hottest days.

It's also one of the stars of water-wise gardens, thriving where many thirstier plants struggle. If you're short on room, opt for a compact variety like the stunning Blue Jean Baby Russian Sage from Nature Hills.

5. Catmint

Look, don't underestimate catmint. It might be easygoing, but it's also one of the hardest-working perennials in the garden... especially if things are feeling hot, hot, hot. Give it a quick trim after its first flush of flowers and it'll often reward you with another spectacular display.

Bees absolutely love it, while deer and rabbits usually leave it alone – that's what I call a win-win. Personally, I will always choose Cat's Pajamas Catmint for the name alone.

6. Tickseed

Tickseed is the sort of flowering perennial that seems determined to keep flowering whatever summer throws its way. Its cheerful blooms can brighten borders for months, bringing a light, airy feel that's perfect for prairie-style planting or cottage gardens.

Once established, it's impressively drought tolerant and asks for very little beyond the occasional deadhead. The Big Bang™ Cosmic Eye Coreopsis from Nature Hills is a great way to make a splash in your garden.

7. Lantana

If you've ever visited a Southern garden in midsummer, chances are you've seen lantana stealing the show. While other flowers wilt in scorching temperatures, lantana just keeps pumping out vibrant clusters of orange, pink, yellow and red blooms.

Butterflies flock to it, it positively thrives in hot sunshine and, in warmer USDA zones, comes back year after year with very little fuss. You can grab some Clovers Garden Lantana Camara Flowers from Amazon easily enough.

Bonus: Rattlesnake Master

If your style leans a little more naturalistic, rattlesnake master deserves a spot on your planting list. Its distinctive globe-shaped flowers and sword-like foliage bring architectural drama to sunny borders, while its prairie roots mean it positively thrives in blazing heat and dry conditions.

It isn't as brightly colored as some of the other flowering perennials on this list, sure, but it's one of the very best plants for attracting bees, butterflies and beneficial insects (and it pairs beautifully with coneflowers, blanket flowers and black-eyed Susans in a heat-loving prairie-style planting, so what's not to love?).

Build A Rattlesnake Master Planting Scheme:

These plants might be built for the heat, but I’m not quite there yet. You’ll find me indoors, fan on full blast, cold drink in hand, and quietly wishing I had the same summer survival skills as the flowers in this list.

Are there any flowers that ask nothing of you but give you so much in return? Let me introduce you to the unicorn of the garden world: zinnias. Bright, cheerful, drought-tolerant, and apparently immune to the kind of neglect that kills lesser plants. Zinnias cope just fine in this heatwave weather, too.

But the best news? Zinnias are among the fast-growing, heat-loving blooms that you can still start from seed in July.

No wonder, then, that Zinnias are seriously having a moment right now. A recent Instagram video from Brianne Martin capturing their riotous summer color is a great reminder of exactly why. In the caption, she wrote, "They're one of the easiest cut flowers to grow – and once you plant them, you'll probably grow them every year."

Why Everyone Is Growing Zinnias Right Now

This extreme heatwave weather we're experiencing this summer is probably the number one reason why zinnias are having a moment right now. And as forecasts predict the hot weather looks set to continue all summer, we are all turning away from thirsty hydrangeas and astilbe to choose tough, heat-tolerant flowers that practically grow themselves.

Joe DeFrancesco from Farmer Joe’s Gardens, whose family has farmed in Connecticut for four generations and who grows zinnias commercially, puts it plainly: "Zinnias are having a moment because they deliver maximum impact with minimum fuss." His farm grows several varieties – State Fair Mix, Thumbelina, and Cut and Come Again – and he calls them "probably the most reliable summer annual we offer."

Megan Proska, Associate Vice President of Horticulture and Collections at the Dallas Arboretum, where zinnias are trialled every year in one of the most rigorous plant testing programmes in the country, agrees. "Zinnias continue to stand out as a summer annual because they're fast-growing, heat-loving, and bloom continuously with minimal care. They thrive in full sun, tolerate Texas heat extremely well, and perform beautifully in landscape beds, in containers, and cut flower gardens."

And with over 200 varieties, there really is the right zinnia for every garden, whatever zone you're in.

There's also the pollinator angle, which is driving part of their popularity as people become more considerate about planting to help their local wildlife. Shelby Lucero of Growing Spaces, who grows zinnias both inside greenhouses and outdoors, has noticed something interesting about colour preference. "Butterflies are most attracted to red, pink, and orange zinnia colours – these colours appear to glow to butterflies. Purple varieties attract bees more effectively because this colour signals a high pollen source to them."

Hummingbirds and hummingbird moths are fans too, which is the kind of garden wildlife list that makes you want to go and plant some immediately.

And while pollinators love zinnias, deer hate them. "Almost all of our outdoor flowers get decimated by the local deer population," Lucero says, "but deer don't touch the zinnias." If you've ever watched a deer methodically destroy an entire border, you'll understand why this is practically a selling point on its own.

Because they're annuals, completing their life cycle in less than one year, zinnias are extremely quick to grow, too, with some varieties speeding from seed to flower in as few as 60 days.

And did I mention that zinnias make great cut flowers?

How to Grow Zinnias Well

It's super-easy to grow zinnias, even if you're a beginner gardener. Proska's advice is straightforward: "Sow zinnias in warm soil with plenty of airflow, water at the base of the plant, and deadhead regularly to encourage flowering. Succession sowing every few weeks also helps extend the display."

DeFrancesco adds that their drought resistance, once established, is genuinely impressive. "They actually prefer lean soil and can handle neglect better than most flowers." Which is basically the dream!

For cut flowers specifically, he recommends planting tall varieties like State Fair Mix and pinching out the first blooms to encourage bushier growth. Lucero's cutting technique is precise: "Determine the desired stem length and cut them at an angle with sharp shears just above a set of leaves." These Fiskars Pruning scissors on Amazonare just the job.

Common Zinnia Mistakes To Avoid

Both overwatering and over-fertilizing are all too easy if you're growing zinnias in a bed among other more demanding flowering plants. "The biggest mistake new gardeners make is overwatering – zinnias hate wet feet and will develop powdery mildew," says DeFrancesco. Proska flags the same issue from another angle: watering the foliage rather than the base is a fast route to powdery mildew later in the season.

Giving zinnias room to breathe rather than growing plants too closely together is another good way to avoid powdery mildew, as good airflow is the best defence. If you live in a humid zone where powdery mildew is more common, then there's an even easier solution. Profusion zinnias have been bred to have strong resistance to this problem. They're self-cleaning, too, which means they don’t need deadheading, as new blooms continuously replace old ones. Eden Brothers sell a good number of Profusion zinnias including 'Profusion Apricot',, Profusion Red-Yellow Bicolor', 'Profusion Double Fire' and 'Profusion Double Hot Cherry'.

On fertilizer, Lucero is direct: "Zinnias do best in poor soil conditions. Excess nitrogen will result in more foliage growth, but fewer blooms." Less really is more here.

The Best Zinnia Varieties to Grow Now

Proska's recommendations come with serious credentials – all of the following have won an Arboretum Approved or Flameproof award in the Dallas Arboretum's trial programme, and seeds of many are available from Eden Brothers: Zydeco Series, Profusion Series, Zesty Series, Benary's Giant, Magellan Series and Zahara. Lucero's favorites, all available from Botanical Interests, are Cactus Flower Blend, Cut and Come Again and California Giants.

My personal favorite is Benary’s Giant Wine, with tall, fully double blooms in a deep magenta. Seeds are available from Eden Brothers.

Can't decide? Sow this Zinnia Crazy Blend from Amazon, with 12 different varieties.

Pick one, sow somewhere sunny, keep seeds and young seedlings watered until the plants are grown roots deep enough to find moisture for themselves, and your zinnias will do the rest.

Summer in the garden is all about flowers. If you plan your beds and containers right, you should have a profusion of color through July and August. Many of these summer beauties need deadheading to continue producing blooms. Snipping off spent flowers signals to the plant to put energy into making more.

If you feel like your entire summer revolves around deadheading in order to keep the flowers coming, there’s good news. Some flowers bloom all summer without deadheading. They either simply keep producing in spite of spent blooms or are so-called self-cleaning plants that naturally shed their flowers.

I’ve curated a list here of my favorite no-fuss summer flowers that provide non-stop color without the chore of deadheading.

Tips for Keeping Your Flowers Blooming Longer

Choosing plants that bloom continuously is only the first step to getting summer-long flowers. Even these reliable summer producers can struggle without the right care. Here’s how to ensure they keep blooming and stay healthy:

• Water your bedding flowers deeply and less frequently to encourage stronger, healthier roots.
• Potted plants need to be watered more often, even every day, when it’s not raining, as they dry out quickly.
• Use a bloom-boosting fertilizer to ensure plants have the nutrients they need to keep flowering.
• Most repeat-blooming flowers need full sun to perform optimally. This means at least six hours of direct sunlight per day.
• Use mulch around flowers to keep weeds at bay, regulate soil temperature, and keep more moisture in the soil.

Bloom-Boosting Essentials

Flowers That Bloom All Summer With No Deadheading

With the right flowers and these pro tips, you can expect an abundance of blooms all summer with minimal effort and no more deadheading.

1. Lantana

Lantana is a tough plant that flowers all summer and thrives even in very hot weather and in poor, dry soil. You can pick up a set of two mixed-color lantana live plants from Walmart to fill your garden with color this summer. The attractive clusters of small flowers are multi-colored, draw in pollinators, and naturally fade as new blooms appear.

Lantana can be an issue in some areas where it is invasive. Its toughness is what helps it outcompete native plants. If you live in cooler climates, use lantana as an annual. In areas where it will survive winter, grow it in containers.

2. Summer Snapdragon

Summer snapdragon – aka angelonia – is a perennial in zones 9 through 11 and an annual in cooler climates. It produces fresh spikes of colorful flowers all summer without the chore of deadheading. I love the blue-purple varieties, like this Angelface Blue Summer Snapdragon from Plant Addicts.

Angelonia thrives in the heat of July and August and won’t let you down even when conditions get tough for other plants.

These flowers are great for beds, borders, and containers. They need soil that drains very well and full sun. They won’t need frequent watering, but you should fertilize monthly to keep the flowers going.

3. Supertunias

Petunias have long been popular summer annuals with their large, trumpet-shaped flowers that come in a wide range of colors. Traditional petunias need deadheading to keep flowering, but the newer Supertunia varieties are self-cleaning. They’ll drop their spent flowers and keep producing more without your help.

Walmart stocks a good color range, including this four-pack of vivid watermelon-hued Proven Winners Pink Supertunia Vista Paradise.

Supertunias have a trailing habit, so they are great for borders, edges, containers, and hanging baskets. They need full sun and well-drained soil to thrive. Use a bloom-boosting fertilizer every couple of weeks for the best results.

4. Madagascar Periwinkle

Also known as annual vinca, this type of vinca is hardy only in very warm climates and is an annual in most gardens. It thrives in summer weather and continuously produces new flowers as old ones fade, so there’s no need to deadhead them.

Pick up a glorious multicolor vinca hanging basket from Lowe's.

Madagascar periwinkle is very heat and drought-tolerant and grows well along borders and in containers in full sun and well-drained soil. Unlike some repeat bloomers, this type of vinca doesn’t need a lot of feeding to keep producing.

5. Million Bells

Million bells, or calibrachoa, is yet another annual in cool climates that doesn’t require deadheading. It is naturally self-cleaning, producing hundreds of small, trumpet-shaped flowers all summer. Million bells look especially nice in containers, including hanging baskets and window boxes, as their trailing stems spill over the sides.

Plant Addicts stocks a fantastic collection of calibrachoa plants, but I have a soft spot for this Pink Lemonade variety.

Provide million bells plants with full sun and soil that drains well but stays moist with regular watering. Because they bloom so heavily, you will need to feed these plants with a bloom-specific product all summer.

6. Wax Begonias

This classic and perennially popular flower is a staple for shade gardening. An annual in most climates, wax begonia has characteristic waxy leaves and small bright flowers that persist all summer. Pick up a three-color mix from Walmart. The blooms are self-cleaning, naturally dropping as new flowers form.

You can grow wax begonias in beds or containers as long as they don’t get too much sun. Partial shade is ideal, but they’ll also grow in full shade. Use moist, rich soil that drains well and feed monthly to keep the flowers coming.

7. Impatiens

Impatiens is the other classic shade annual. Like begonias, they readily drop their spent blooms, and new ones will quickly take their place. Also like begonias, impatiens grow best in moist, rich soil and partial or even full shade. Plant Addicts stocks a lovely range of Impatiens.

For the best results from your impatiens, make sure the soil never totally dries out and feed the plants at least every three weeks with a flower-focused fertilizer. In addition to standard impatiens, look for New Guinea impatiens, which are larger plants with bigger leaves and flowers. They’ll also tolerate more sun.

8. Sweet Alyssum

Sweet alyssum blooms in summer in a carpet of tiny flowers, often white but also pink or purple. Traditional varieties stop flowering in July, but new, sterile hybrids keep going and don’t need deadheading. They put all their energy into their sweet-scented flowers. Grow sweet alyssum along edges of beds and as the “spiller” element in mixed containers.

Sweet alyssum grows best in full sun or partial shade and doesn’t require rich soil. It flowers best when watered consistently. Examples of sterile varieties for ongoing flowers include ‘Snow Princess,’ ‘White Knight,’ available as a four-pack from Lowe's, and ‘Blushing Princess.’

Have you ever heard of living mulch? A useful solution for gardeners looking to improve soil health, suppress weeds and reduce watering during the hottest months of the year, it consists of low-growing ground cover plants that create a protective green layer over the soil.

Much like traditional garden mulches (such as bark or straw), this living carpet has several benefits, not least keeping the soil cooler in summer, slowing moisture loss and reducing erosion during periods of hot and very dry weather.

In addition to this, though, many living mulch plants help improve soil over time. Legumes (or the pea family), for example, fix nitrogen in the soil, which is why it is always a good idea to simply snip sweet peas and beans to ground level in the fall and let those roots work their magic. This process can also reduce the need for additional fertilizers.

Try These 6 Living Mulch Plants

Beyond protecting the soil, living mulch plants provide valuable habitat and nectar for pollinators, helping to boost biodiversity while creating a lush look in beds and borders.

So, whether you want to protect your dry yard from soil degradation, enrich tired soil, reduce maintenance or simply fill bare patches with attractive greenery, consider living mulch the answer. It is, quite simply one of the easiest ways to create a healthier, more resilient garden.

With that in mind, then, here are six essential ground cover plants to consider this year.

1. Nasturtium

Nasturtiums are invaluable to gardeners. These fuss-free trailing plants bring months of colorful blooms while the rounded foliage (almost like water lily pads) smartly covers bare soil. They work in pots, of course, but I like using them in vegetable beds or kitchen gardens, filling those spaces between rows of carrots, lettuces or whatever it is you are growing.

If you want to try growing nasturtiums, sow seeds (available to buy via Amazon) directly where they are to grow. You can plant them most anywhere, with a preference for full sun and a decent amount of water to help them settle and establish. In warmer spots, such as US hardiness zone 8 plus, part-shade is just fine. There is no need to fertilize .

Try these 'Black Velvet' variety for a dramatic bloom display, available via Walmart.

2. Yarrow

For full sun yards, yarrow is a good living mulch plant option to consider, easily covering borders and flower beds.

Live yarrow plants are available via Walmart, and they across USDA Planting Zones 3-9, tolerating chilly winters and hot summer sunshine. It has attractive silver-green foliage that cover soil, as well as colourful flat flowers that pollinators love.

Yarrow plants typically have a dense fibrous root mat that can help to bind and anchor lighter, more sandy soils, too. For a brighter variety, try the pink 'Cerise Queen', available from Amazon.

3. Red clover

Clover is a low-growing perennial legume that fixes nitrogen in the soil, as well as carpetting vast areas of turf, beds or borders. Sure, some people might think of it as a nuisance weed, but not me. It has pretty, delicate leaves with three (or four, if you are lucky) leaflets, as well as plenty of flowers for pollinators in spring and summer.

Red clover, or Trifolium pratense, thrives in cool, moist soils and tolerates some shade. It forms a dense mat that suppresses weeds and reduces soil erosion in the summer, too. And, if you dread yard work and fear the weekend chore of mowing, clover is a good option for lawns, requiring far less water than traditional turf.

Red clover seed is available from Walmart, and can be grown down to US hardiness zone 6. It is typically not frost tender, and will produce masses of purple-pink blooms from May through September.

Remember: red clover is categorized as an invasive plant in some US regions, particularly in areas of disturbed soil. Be sure to consult the website of your local government office before planting.

Shop Gardening Essentials:

4. Wild Ginger

Hardy down to zone 3, wild ginger (or Asarum canadense, if you prefer) is a North American ground cover species that grows across much of Canada and the US.

In shady and moist environments, it can grow a little too well, forming dense mats that spread via rhizomatous growth. But, in large plots, where you have the space, wild ginger is a good option for a living mulch plants that protects the soil and doesn't require any special attention,

You can find bare root wild ginger plants at Amazon. Just remember that, in terms of how to grow wild ginger, shade is essential. Planting under large trees or shrubs is a good option, particularly if you want to cover large swathes of bare soil.

5. Purple Prairie Clover

Purple prairie clover, or Dalea purpurea, is one of those native prairie plants that quietly does a lot of hard work in the yard. This drought-tolerant perennial legume fixes nitrogen in the soil, helping to improve fertility while producing slender stems topped with vibrant purple flower spikes that pollinators adore throughout summer. What more could you want?

Hardy down to US zone 3, purple prairie clover thrives in full sun and well-draining soils, making it an ideal living mulch for hot, dry gardens where many other ground covers struggle. It has a deep root system that helps to stabilize soil, improve structure and reduce erosion over time.

If you are gardening for wildlife, this is a particularly good choice. Bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects flock to the nectar-rich blooms, while the foliage supports several native insect species. Be sure, then, to treat them to purple prairie clover seeds, which are widely available from retailers including Amazon..

6. Creeping Phlox

Creeping phlox, or Phlox stolonifera, is one of my favourite native ground covers for filling awkward gaps. Whether spilling over retaining walls or carpeting the front of your borders, it creates a dense mat of evergreen foliage that works hard all year round.

Hardy in US zones 5 to 8, creeping phlox thrives in well-draining soil and performs best with at least a few hours of direct sun each day. The more sunshine, the more flowers. Once established, it requires very little attention, making these easy living mulch plants to grow that help to shade the soil, retain moisture and reduce weed growth.

The phlox show begins in spring, when the foliage is almost hidden beneath masses of white, pink, purple or lavender flowers. This floral display lasts for several weeks, but the rather smart green foliage remains attractive long after the blooms have faded, helping to protect bare soil throughout the growing season.

What more reason do you need, then, to pick up some creeping phlox live plants from Amazon?

Whenever I walk past one of those picture-perfect front yards, I automatically assume the homeowner spends every weekend pruning, feeding and fussing over their plants. How else could the shrubs be so perfectly shaped, something always be in bloom and the whole space look so effortlessly elegant? (Jealousy, I know, doesn't look good on anyone, but I just can't help it).

The funny thing is, the more I've learned about gardening, the more I've realized that many of those designer-looking landscapes are built around some of the easiest shrubs you can grow. Honestly, they're the reliable workhorses of the plant world, quietly putting on a spectacular show while asking for surprisingly little in return.

As summers get hotter and life gets busier, that's exactly the kind of gardening I want. I'm a mum to two tiny tearaways, I have deadlines coming out of my ears, and I'm 100% more interested in plants that look like they've taken hours of careful planning than ones that actually require hours of maintenance.

Which means, yes, I've done the research for all of us. Buckle up, buttercups!

These Gorgeous Shrubs Make Your Garden Look Expensive

As it turns out, the secret to finding the most beautiful shrubs for your garden isn't choosing the rarest or most expensive varieties; rather, it's about picking easy flowering shrubs with strong structure, beautiful foliage and long-lasting seasonal interest.

So, if you're dreaming of a yard that looks as though it belongs on the cover of a gardening magazine (but have zero intention of turning gardening into a second job), then these seven shrubs are a brilliant place to start.

1. Oakleaf Hydrangea

If I could recommend just one shrub for instant curb appeal, oakleaf hydrangea would be high on the list. Huge cone-shaped flower clusters steal the show in summer before gradually aging to soft pink and tan, while the distinctive oak-shaped leaves turn breathtaking shades of burgundy, crimson and bronze in fall. And, better still? It's widely touted as the one hydrangea to plant if you want more songbirds in your garden.

Native to the US, it's wonderfully adaptable once established and thrives in partial shade with surprisingly little fuss. Even in winter, its peeling cinnamon-colored bark adds another layer of interest. And, if you go for something like this Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangea from Nature Hills, you're in for a truly stunning display.

2. Panicle Hydrangea

Is it cheating to have two hydrangeas on the list? Possibly, but hear me out, as very few shrubs make a statement quite like a panicle hydrangea in full bloom.

Massive flower heads emerge creamy white before gradually taking on blush pink and antique tones later in the season, creating months of color. And, unlike some hydrangeas, panicle varieties flower on new wood, making pruning refreshingly straightforward and reducing the risk of accidentally removing next year's blooms.

It would almost be rude not to have one, right? Especially one so pretty as this Vanilla Strawberry™ Panicle Hydrangea from Nature Hills.

3. Virginia Sweetspire

Virginia sweetspire is one of those shrubs that can and will earn its place every single season. In late spring, elegant cascades of fragrant white flowers spill from its branches, while glossy green foliage transforms into fiery shades of orange, red and purple as temperatures cool.

It's also one of the easiest native shrubs to grow, happily tolerating damp soils, periods of drought and even partial shade once established. Go for the Fountains Of Rouge™ Virginia Sweetspire from Nature Hills and watch the butterflies come a-flocking.

4. Korean Spice Viburnum

If there’s one shrub that makes visitors stop and ask what smells so good, it’s Korean spice viburnum. In spring, rounded clusters of pink buds open into intensely fragrant white flowers that perfume the entire garden, while the naturally tidy, rounded shape gives it a polished, professionally landscaped look.

Unlike many flowering shrubs, it needs very little pruning to stay attractive. The glossy green foliage looks neat throughout summer before turning rich shades of burgundy and red in fall, giving you multiple seasons of interest from one remarkably easy-care plant. Go big and bold with the Spice Girl® Korean Spice Viburnum from Nature Hills.

5. Lilac

Few shrubs announce spring quite as spectacularly as a mature lilac. Its fragrant flower clusters and graceful branching instantly make a yard feel established, as though it's been thoughtfully landscaped for decades rather than planted just a few years ago. I have one in my garden and it's one of the hardest working shrubs (no, strike that: one of the hardest working plants all round) out there.

Despite its elegant appearance, lilac is remarkably easygoing. Give it full sun and well-drained soil, and it will reward you with clouds of beautifully scented blooms each spring while asking for little more than occasional pruning after flowering. And plant the Scentara® Double Blue Lilac from Proven Winners if you want double blooms!

6. Beautyberry

Another one of my favorite shrubs, the beautyberry in my own garden completely steals the show every single time fall rolls around. Quickly, its branches become wrapped in vivid clusters of electric-purple berries that seem almost too bright to be real.

Birds love the fruit, while gardeners like myself love the unforgettable splash of color it brings just as many other plants begin winding down for the season. And, you know, the fact it barely requires me to lift a finger to keep it alive.

Go for the Pearl Glam® Beautyberry from Proven Winners if you want dark purple foliage from spring right through til frost (and why wouldn't you?).

7. Ninebark

Last but not least, ninebark is one of those shrubs that works hard all year long (aka the devil works hard, but ninebark works even harder). Depending on the variety, you'll find rich burgundy, golden or deep green foliage, clusters of delicate spring flowers and beautifully peeling bark that provides texture even in winter.

Exceptionally tough and adaptable, it's one of the easiest shrubs to grow while still delivering that same elegant look that always makes professionally designed landscapes feel so polished. Which is, let's face it, the dream, and more than enough reason to buy yourself a Tiny Wine® Ninebark from Nature Hills.

Three Easy-Breezy Shrubs To Fall In Love With:

What all of these shrubs have in common isn't just that they're beautiful (although, obviously, that plays a big part; looks really are important in the world of gardening!), it's that they provide structure.

Think about it: professional designers rely on shrubs to anchor planting schemes because they create shape, texture and year-round interest, allowing flowers and perennials to shine around them.

Choose just one or two of these dependable performers, then, and resist the temptation to overcomplicate your planting. I suspect you find that, as they mature, they become the key to your garden looking spectacular for countless seasons to come.

Self-seeding flowers carry a reputation for taking over, and some earn it. Plenty don't, though. A handful of well-mannered reseeders drop just enough seed to return each spring on their own, filling gaps without ever staging a takeover.

There's a particular kind of magic in a flower that plants itself. Set it out once, it blooms and drops seed, and come spring a fresh crop pushes up right where the old one faded. No digging, no reworking the bed — it just shows up. The catch plenty of gardeners have run into, though, is that a fair number of self-sowers don't know when to quit, turning a neat border into a tangle by the third summer.

The good news is that not all self-seeding plants behave that way. Some scatter only a modest amount of seed, come up in politely small numbers, and pull easily wherever they land somewhere unwanted. The six here fall squarely into that camp. They return on their own year after year, but stay roughly where they were put.

6 Self-Seeders That Stay Put

One thing to sort out first. With re-seeders, telling next year's seedlings from weeds come spring is half the battle. The volunteers pop up in odd spots, and it's easy to hoe out a flower by mistake. A set of plant labels from Amazon marking where each one went in saves a lot of second-guessing. Past that, most of these ask for next to nothing.

1. Columbine

Columbine (Aquilegia) is one of the better-behaved re-seeders you can tuck into a shady spot. The flowers nod on thin stems, spurred at the back, and they come in just about every color. Left to settle, a plant sheds a little seed each year — enough to keep it around, not so much that it starts crowding the neighbors.

It leans toward partial shade and soil that drains freely, and it's hardy clear down to zone 3, coming back from the same crown each winter rather than starting over from seed the way the annuals do. Volunteers lift easily while small, so a narrow hand trowel from Amazon turns relocating a stray seedling into a two-minute job. Trimming spent stems slows the sowing if it ever runs ahead of you.

2. Calendula

People mostly grow calendula (Calendula officinalis) for the petals — edible, a little peppery, decent tossed in a salad. What gets missed is how easily it reseeds. It blooms in warm oranges and yellows through the cool shoulders of the season, then drops its odd curved seed to sprout on its own the next spring.

Technically an annual, it behaves like a returning fixture across zones 2 through 11. The parent plants die off, but their offspring reliably step in. That reach into zone 2, matched only by love-in-a-mist plants here, makes it about the coldest-tolerant pick on the list.

Full sun and average soil suit it fine. Deadheading stretches the bloom but also curbs reseeding, so leaving a few late flowers to ripen keeps the cycle going without letting it sprawl. Bright and cheery calendula seeds can be purchased from Burpee.

3. Love-in-a-Mist

Wispy, thread-like foliage and papery blue flowers give love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) an almost weightless look in a border. After bloom, the flowers give way to inflated, horned seed pods that are half the reason to grow it — and the source of next year's plants.

A hardy annual, it self-sows dependably from zone 2 clear up to 11, and never really makes a nuisance of itself doing it. Full sun, soil that drains — that covers what it needs. One quirk: the seedlings hate being moved, so it's best to let them come up where they fall. If a patch gets too thick, thinning by hand is easier than transplanting anyway. Miss Jekyll double-bloom love in a mist flowers, from Eden Brothers, are heirloom, open-pollinated seeds and a wonderful addition to your pollinator or cottage garden.

4. California Poppy

By August, plenty of drought-tolerant plants look half-cooked, but California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) doesn't. It keeps pushing out silky orange cups through the hottest, driest stretch, right when most everything around it has checked out for the season. It reseeds freely in the lean, gritty soil it favors, yet stays easy to keep in check and unwanted seedlings pull with a light tug, roots and all.

Hardy in zones 6 to 10 and perennial at the warm end of that range, it's a strong pick for sun-blasted spots. It wants no fertilizer and barely any water once established. And if it ever wanders further than you'd like, a quick pass with garden snips from Amazon over the seed heads before they open keeps next season in check.

5. Sweet Alyssum

You usually smell sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) before you spot it. That honey scent carries a good distance. It grows in low mounds, tiny white or pale-purple flowers by the hundred, spilling over a path edge or the front of a bed from spring right through fall. Reseeds itself the whole while, quietly. In the warmest gardens — zones 9 to 11 — it settles in as a short-lived perennial, coming back year on year; everywhere else it returns from its own dropped seed.

That zone 11 ceiling also makes it the clear heat champion of the group — nothing else here handles a summer that punishing. It's undemanding, happy in full sun to light shade with regular-to-dry soil. Shearing it back midseason revives tired plants and keeps the reseeding modest instead of overzealous.

6. Blanket Flower

Blanket flower (Gaillardia) takes the extremes in stride — the summer that bakes a bed hard, the winter that freezes it solid, both. The red-and-gold daisies keep flowering from early summer until frost finally shuts them down, and pollinators work them the entire time. It reseeds at a measured clip. Enough to stick around, never enough to run wild.

It handles zones 3 to 10, a remarkable span for one plant, and asks only for full sun and soil that isn't soggy. Overwatering is about the one way to lose it. Leaving a few seed heads standing into fall keeps volunteers coming and gives the birds something to pick at through the lean months.

Enjoy these easy-going, re-seeding garden champions and get ready to have gorgeous beds year after year!

As summer days pass, blooms in the garden come and go. One of the biggest and most beautiful floral displays each summer comes from hydrangea bushes. These beloved flowering shrubs come in an ever-expanding array of varieties and cultivars. But no matter what type of hydrangea you have in your landscape, eventually their billowy blooms fade.

That’s when the question arises, “Should you cut off dead hydrangea flowers?” Learning how to prune hydrangeas is a vital part of growing thriving shrubs that put out tons of huge blooms year after year. But cutting back plants the wrong way or at the wrong time can hurt your hydrangeas or prevent them from blooming.

Deadheading hydrangeas in summer after they’re done flowering has its benefits, but is it really necessary? I’ll walk you through whether or not you really need to make the cut now and how to do it the right way, if you’re tired of looking at those dead brown blooms.

Why Are My Hydrangea Flowers Turning Brown?

In the middle of summer as temperatures soar, you might notice your hydrangea blooms are starting to turn brown and crispy. This could be a sign that your plants are suffering from heat stress or that it’s time to water your hydrangeas. But sometimes a hydrangea turning brown is just a natural part of its life cycle.

If the only parts of your hydrangea that are dry and brown are the blooms, then your plant is likely finished flowering for the season. In this case, there’s nothing to worry about. The question becomes whether or not you want to leave those faded blooms on your bushes or prune them away for a cleaner, tidier look on your shrubs.

Should You Cut Off Dead Hydrangea Flowers?

It’s not necessary to cut off faded hydrangea blooms in summer, but there are a few benefits to pruning away old flowers. Pruning hydrangeas can sometimes promote a second flush of flowers, depending on the type of hydrangea you have.

If you have a reblooming hydrangea in your garden, deadheading can potentially promote more blooms that will emerge in late summer or fall. But most hydrangeas are not like annuals that will keep putting out new flowers all summer long if you prune away the faded blooms.

The main benefit of cutting off faded hydrangea flowers, however, is keeping shrubs tidy. During a heatwave in the middle of summer, plants often turn brown and crispy from the high temperatures. So pruning off brown hydrangea blooms can help keep your garden looking green and lush.

If you don’t mind the look of the faded flowers on your hydrangea, then there’s no harm in leaving them on the bush. Many gardeners love the appearance of the old blooms and leave them all the way through the fall and winter to add more texture and interest into the garden during the dormant months.

You can then remove them in spring to make room for new blooms. Just be careful not to cut off fresh buds on old wood-blooming varieties like mophead hydrangeas and oakleaf hydrangeas.

How to Deadhead Hydrangeas in Summer

Deadheading hydrangeas is easy. All you need is a pair of sharp, clean pruning shears – these cult-favorite pruners from Felco are a favorite among our team of gardening experts, too. Then simply cut off the faded flowers just above where their stem meets the first set of leaves. You can save the dried hydrangea blooms for crafts, like fall flower arrangements or wreaths.

Stop deadheading hydrangeas by fall to prevent accidentally removing next year’s flower buds on old wood-blooming types of hydrangeas. Pruning plants too late in fall can also stimulate tender, new growth that is easily damaged by winter weather.

Orchids have a reputation for being fussy, but most of what they need in July is simple – it just has to actually happen. Summer is a growth season, even when they're not flowering. Behind the scenes, the plant is banking energy for its next flower spike months down the line. Get the summer care right, and that spike comes in strong. Get one thing badly wrong, and you can quietly cancel next season's show before it starts.

Good orchid care in summer comes down to a handful of small tasks and avoiding that one costly slip. None of it takes long, but you need to get into a good rhythm. Steady, moderate care beats sporadic bursts of attention.

Most houseplant orchids are Phalaenopsis (aka moth orchids), so that's the assumption here, though the advice carries to most common types of orchids. If you want to expand your collection, then other good beginner varieties include Dendrobium and Cattleya orchids – both of which are included in this well-rated five-plant set from Angel's Orchids via Amazon.

1. Get the Light Right – and Avoid the Scorch

This is it. The mistake that quietly costs people their next round of flowers. Never leave your orchid sitting in direct summer sun. The leaves scorch fast – a bleached or browned patch that never heals – and those leaves are the plant's whole engine for powering the next spike. Damage them in July, and it's not just an ugly leaf you're dealing with; it's a missing bloom cycle. Summer sun through a south or west window hits far harder than winter light; a plant that was fine there in January can start burning now.

Bright but filtered is the target. An east window is close to perfect; for anything brighter, a sheer curtain takes the edge off. A self-adhesive portable curtain, like this one on Amazon, lets you temporarily protect plants without drilling. You can just take it down once the high heat of summer has passed.

If you're not sure whether your orchid's light levels are correct, check the leaves. Grassy green is about right; dark forest green wants more; anything bleached or reddish means pull it back fast. Mine sit a couple of feet (60 cm) back from a south window behind a thin curtain, which is the sweet spot in summer.

2. Rethink Watering for the Heat

Orchids drink more in summer, plain and simple. Warmth and active growth dry the bark faster, so the winter rhythm needs to tighten up. Watering orchids on a strict calendar, though, is how roots rot – check first, every time. In a clear pot, silvery-gray roots mean it's thirsty and still-green roots mean wait. No clear pot? Lift it: light means dry, heavy means hold off.

When you water, do it properly – run it through until it pours from the drainage holes, then let it drain fully. The one rule I never break: don't leave water sitting in the crown, that central well where the leaves meet. Trapped there, it invites crown rot, which can kill a Phalaenopsis outright. A quick dab with a paper towel clears any that pools. Morning watering gives the plant all day to dry.

3. Give Them More Humidity

Most orchids come from humid, tropical places and want the air around 50 to 70 percent. Summer works against that, oddly – not the outdoor air, but the air conditioning, which pulls moisture from a room fast. Too little, and the plant shows it: leaves go slightly wrinkled, and developing buds can shrivel and drop before opening. That last one, known as orchid bud blast, stings after months of waiting.

An easy fix is a humidity tray – a shallow water reservoir with pebbles that hold the pot above the waterline, so evaporation raises humidity without the roots sitting in water. This humidity tray from Amazon does just that under a windowsill grouping. Clustering plants together helps too. Misting gets pushed a lot, but it's honestly weak and short-lived, and late-day misting leaves water pooled where you don't want it. If all else fails, use a small humidifier, like this Levoit model.

4. Feed While They're Growing

Summer is prime orchid feeding time – the plant is growing and can use the nutrients. The old grower's phrase is “weakly, weekly”: a regular diluted feed at a quarter to half label strength, not a heavy dose now and then.

A balanced, urea-free orchid food, like Better-Gro Orchid Plus, diluted to under the bottle's suggested strength, is the standard pick. Urea nitrogen isn't much use to a plant rooted in bark.

One important rule to remember: never feed a bone-dry plant. Salts on parched roots scorch them, same as on anything else – water first, or feed right after a normal watering. Once a month, flush the pot with plain water to rinse out built-up salts before they burn the roots.

5. Keep the Air Moving

Air movement is one of those things nobody thinks about until something goes wrong. In the wild, orchids grow in trees with near-constant breeze over their roots and leaves. On a still windowsill in a warm, humid room, they lose that – and stagnant, damp air is where fungal spots and rot get started. A little moving air keeps leaf surfaces dry and the setup far less welcoming to trouble.

A small fan on its lowest setting, aimed to stir the air near the plants rather than blast them, does the job. This Gaiatop Portable Clip-on Fan is ideal – clamp it to a shelf edge, and it moves just enough without drying things out or knocking buds around.

Aim for a gentle drift, not a wind tunnel; if the leaves are whipping, it's too much. A few hours a day suffices.

6. Stay Ahead of Summer Pests

Warm weather wakes up the orchid pests. The biggest summer offenders are usually mealybugs – check for their little cottony white specks tucked into leaf joints. Scale shows up as small brown bumps that scrape off with a fingernail, while spider mites leave fine webbing and a dull, stippled look.

The trick is catching them early, before a handful becomes an infestation. A once-over every week or two does it – flip the leaves, check the crown, and peer into the tight spots.

For a light case, a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol wipes mealybugs and scale right off. Bigger outbreaks want more reach – neem oil smothers soft-bodied pests and doubles as a mild fungicide. A popular organic pick is Bonide Captain Jack's neem oil. Spray it on a cool, shaded evening so it doesn't bake onto the leaves.

Move an affected plant away from the others while you sort it out. It takes no time for pests to jump between orchids sitting shoulder to shoulder.

July Orchid Care Essentials

Are you looking for a carefree summer annual with non-stop blooms for a shady area? If you haven’t tried it yet, now is the perfect time to indulge in Dragon Wing begonias to fill out hanging baskets and containers. The large, green leaves; semi-trailing stems; and pendulous flowers in red, pink, or white are ideal for container culture.

The Dragon Wing begonia series (Begonia hybrida ‘Dragon Wing’) is a garden staple that performs best in partial shade, but also thrives in full sun or full shade. If planted in full sun, it appreciates some afternoon shade in the warmer zones. While it is only hardy in USDA zones 10 to 11, dragon wing begonia is easily overwintered.

I have a shady porch that cries out for begonia varieties, and I usually alternate between dragon wing begonias and the BIG Series wax begonias. They are both trouble free and do well in any light. They simply are must-haves for shady areas where you want low-maintenance, showy blooms that keep on coming.

What Is a Dragon Wing Begonia?

Dragon wing is a cross between an 'Angel Wing' begonia and either a wax begonia or a species begonia, resulting in vigorous traits and superb heat tolerance. It grows from 12 to 18 inches tall and wide (30 to 46 cm), with fleshy stems and 5-inch (13 cm) glossy, green leaves shaped like dragon wings (hence its name). There is also a bronze leaf cultivar.

This shade-loving annual prefers moderate-to-fertile, moist, but well-drained soil. dragon wing begonias can tolerate a short amount of drought as well as juglone, the chemical produced by black walnut trees that causes nearby plants to fail.

Dragon wing begonias are fairly common at garden centers these days, but if you can't find any in person they're available online as live plants from Planet Desert or you can grow them from seeds from Burpee.

Planting Dragon Wing Begonias

Feature dragon wing begonias in containers, hanging baskets, window baskets, landscape beds, or even indoors for a stunning display of colorful flowers and glossy foliage. Choose containers with several drainage holes to ensure excess water is easily drained. If your containers don’t have adequate drainage holes, you can add them with a screwdriver or a drill.

Plant dragon wing begonias in a fertile, well-draining potting mix, like Content Editor Laura's favorite Miracle-Gro mix. Avoid heavy garden soils that may promote stem or root rot. Make sure the plant is not too deep in the soil or it may get stem rot. The crown (where the stems meet the roots) should be at the soil line.

Fertilize begonias when planting with a balanced liquid fertilizer such as 20-20-20, or with a slow-release fertilizer. They will need regular feeding to keep the blooms coming all summer and fall. An organic bloom-boosting fertilizer like this one from Espoma is a great choice.

When growing dragon wing begonias in containers and hanging baskets, one plant soon fills a 10-inch (25 cm) pot. For a 12-inch (30 cm) and wider container, start with three plants.

These flowers look stunning on their own, but if you want to add another plant, choose a spiller plant such as the delicate blooming bacopa, chartreuse creeping Jenny, silver-leafed dichondra or dusty miller, or chartreuse sweet potato vine.

Companion Plants

Dragon Wing Begonia Care

Dragon wing begonias, like all begonias, prefer moist, well-drained soil. It is important, however, not to oversaturate the plants or leave them standing in water. Water begonias when the soil is dry about an inch (2.5 cm) below the soil line.

If you're growing begonias in pots or hanging baskets, they need watering more often than those in the ground. During the heat of summer, check the pots daily for dryness. Whether in the ground or in pots, adding a layer of mulch around the plants will insulate them and help prevent moisture loss.

Feed dragon wing begonias regularly, about every two to three weeks if using a diluted liquid fertilizer and every two to three months if using a slow release granular form, but follow the instructions on the package. Formulas such as 20-20-20 work well, or for an added bloom booster, the middle number (phosphorus) can be higher, such as 15-30-15. Stop fertilizing in late summer so the plant can prepare for winter.

Since the dragon wing begonia is a sterile hybrid that doesn’t produce seeds, it focuses all its attention on flowering. Not only is that a bonus to gardeners, but these everblooming plants are self-cleaning, which means you don’t need to deadhead (cut off the faded blooms). Though little pruning is needed, you may want to trim them for shape now and then or reduce leggy stems.

Common Problems

Diseases to watch out for include botrytis blight, powdery mildew, and pythium root and stem rot. Preventing fungal diseases is key. Avoid watering the leaves and clean up fallen debris in the containers. Avoid heavy garden soil or overwatering. Ensure plenty of air flow between plant foliage.

Pests such as mealybugs, spider mites, thrips, and whiteflies can be troublesome, but a blast of water from the hose will reduce their numbers. Also, remove any heavily infested leaves. Follow that with neem oil, which you can get on Amazon, sprayed on the leaves and stems if needed.

Also note that begonias are toxic to pets and horses. They contain soluble calcium oxalates, however, most of the toxic parts are in underground roots and tubers.

Overwintering

If you enjoyed the dragon wing cultivar you chose this summer, you can overwinter begonias indoors. Cut the containerized plant back by about a third and check it for pests. A blast of water should dislodge any freeloaders. Bring it inside and place it near a bright window. Do not fertilize and water much less than you did outside.

If you don’t want to bring a container plant indoors for winter, you can take 4-inch (10 cm) cuttings to root in water or potting soil to propagate begonias to grow on next year. Wait until the threat of frost is past in the spring before moving your plants back outside. Resume watering and fertilizing and, before you know it, your dragon wing begonia will be back!

July isn’t a month we usually associate with pruning, but there are a few popular garden perennials that rely on a midsummer cut. And we're not talking deadheading here, but vital plant-shaping, health-giving pruning. Skip this essential July gardening job, and you’ll get far fewer flowers next year, and less fruit, too.

While most plants need pruning just as they awaken from dormancy in late winter or early spring, early-flowering shrubs and vines and many fruit trees need a chop in July. A midsummer snip channels all their energy into growing flowers and fruit, so you’ll get bigger crops and more abundant blooms. A quick chop now also improves air circulation through the plant and allows more sunlight in to ripen this summer’s new stems that will carry next year’s flowers.

And don’t worry, it doesn't take long. Pruning in July is a far quicker, easier task than the fundamental early-spring trim, though no less critical. Everything you need to know to do a great job is right here; I've included product links to a certain national retailer so you can see exactly which tools I'm talking about, but do support your local retailers. Do wait until this current heatwave has eased, too, as pruning puts extra stress on plants – and you! And be sure to give your plants a good water afterwards, to help them recover quickly.

What to Prune in July

1. Wisteria

This vigorous vine needs pruning twice a year. While a heavy prune in winter chops wisteria back to a strong framework, the midsummer trim is what sets it up to flower well next year.

Wisteria grows its glorious flowers on wood that was grown the previous summer. So right now, you need to channel the vine’s energy into flowerbuds, rather than leaving it to focus on all those long straggly stems (known as whips) it’s currently throwing out. Pruning a wisteria in July is straightforward: simply reduce all those whips to five buds or leaf stalks. At this time of year those stems will be soft and green so it’s a quick job with a pair of super-sharp pruning scissors like these from Amazon. If you have a mature wisteria, rather than getting the ladder out, a pair of loppers with telescopic handles like these, also from Amazon, makes life easy.

Snip off any remnants of flower stems and seedpods dangling down, too.

Forget to prune wisteria in July and all the leaves that grow on those whips will block the sunlight that’s needed to ripen the wood sufficiently for it to grow flowerbuds. This trim also steers the vine’s energy into growing the fattest buds at the base of the stems, and keeps its vigorous growth under control.

2. Mock Orange

Early July is your last chance to prune mock orange (Philadelphus) as next year’s flowers grow on this year’s stems. It isn’t essential to prune mock orange every year but a trim will help to keep this shrub healthy and a manageable size. Cut back the branches by about a third, selecting the oldest, woodiest stems to remove, and chop any dead stems at ground level.

Established mock orange stems can get pretty woody so you’ll find it easier to use a pair of curved anvil pruners such as these from Amazon. With anvil pruners, only the top blade does the cutting, rather like a knife on a bread board, whereas both blades on bypass pruners cut, like scissors do. With tough, woody branches, anvil pruners do a better job of cutting without crushing.

Another good option for removing mature stems, especially at ground level, is a pair of loppers such as these from Amazon, as the longer handles allow you to create a greater force. Powered, cordless pruners such as this well-priced pair from Amazon will make light work of it, too, slicing through stems up to 1½ inches thick.

3. Boxwood

It’s a good idea to add trimming boxwood shrubs (Buxus) to your list of July gardening jobs. Fresh boxwood growth is tender, so pruning now gives stems and foliage plenty of time to toughen up before winter arrives. It also brings the opportunity to inspect your shrub closely for any signs of damaging insects and boxwood blight, as they're often triggered by summer heat and require swift preventative measures.

All you need do is remove any stray stems that are breaking free from the shape you want in a summer growth spurt, using a pair of bypass pruning shears such as these from Amazon. Resist the temptation to shear the foliage into a neat shape, as removing that shell of sun-hardened leaves will expose softer, more easily scorched growth underneath, and you’ll likely be left with an unsightly brown – albeit still very much alive – bush.

Be sure to disinfect your pruner blades, ideally between each cut but definitely between plants, by dipping them into isopropyl alcohol like this from Amazon, to avoid spreading disease.

4. Rambling Roses

Unless your rambling rose is a rebloomer, these climbers should be on your list of plants to prune in July. Typically flowering once in June, rambling roses are vigorous growers so a trim now will keep them in shape as well as encourage lots of flowers on healthy new growth next summer.

A pair of long handled loppers like these from Amazon is your best bet to prune roses, both to reach high stems and to keep your hands away from thorns. Do wear protective gauntlet gloves such as these from Amazon anyway, as rambling roses don’t care to be pruned without a little retaliation!

Do be brutal as some rambling rose varieties can put on 15 feet of new growth in a year, creating a tangle of stems and leaving next year’s flowers well above head height where you won’t appreciate their fragrance to the full. Remove a third of the oldest stems, then trim side shoots by two thirds.

5. Apple Trees

While these fruit trees have their main prune while they're dormant, apple trees will currently be taking advantage of the warm conditions to grow fresh new, straggly stems. Removing this will keep the tree’s focus on growing fruit but also improve air circulation to deter fungal disease and allow more sunlight in for a sweeter harvest.

If you spot any suckers emerging from the base of the apple tree, remove these as low as possible, ideally at the root. Get rid of water sprouts (fast-growing vertical stems that shoot up from the branches), too, snipping them off at the point they emerge.

A pair of hand pruners such as these from Amazon will slice easily through this soft growth, or use loppers like these, also from Amazon. If you’re pruning multiple trees, do disinfect blades in between with isopropyl alcohol like this from Amazon, to avoid spreading disease.

6. Lilac

Lilac should be pruned as soon as possible after the shrub has finished flowering. That’s because next year’s flowers will form on stems grown this year – wait too long to prune it, and you risk chopping off those buds. Whichever zone you’re in, your lilac shrubs will be done flowering by July, so if you haven’t pruned it already, start by snipping off all the spent flowers.

Lilac shrubs tend to bloom best on stems that are up to five or six years old – any older than this and they’ll only flower at the stem tips. So, by cutting out some of the more mature stems that are more than 2 inches thick, you’ll keep the shrub flowering at its best. A pruning saw such as this from Amazon makes light work of cutting through thick, woody stems.

Don’t remove any more than a third of growth though. Cut off any weak suckers at ground level, too, using loppers or hand pruners.

7. Plum, Damson and Cherry trees

These stone fruit trees can’t be pruned in winter or spring because of the deadly threat of silver leaf disease. Pruning in late July cuts the risk, and encourages the tree to get busy growing buds that will eventually produce next year’s fruit, rather than lots more leaves.

All you need do to prune these fruit trees in July is shorten long new leafy stems to around five or six leaves from the branch they’re growing from. Leave any new growth shorter than a handspan be.

Always Prune to the Three Ds

Whenever you’re pruning, be it summer, winter or spring, take the opportunity to remove dead, damaged or diseased stems, known as the three Ds of pruning. And don’t worry, even if you’re a beginner gardener and this is your first time pruning. As long as you don’t remove more than a third of a plant’s growth, you’re highly unlikely to kill it, and while there are a few pruning mistakes best avoided, this is a learning process and most plants are very forgiving.

Garden blooms today always seem more important than garden flowers tomorrow. But most gardeners are willing to cut back fading flowers in July to allow new, perfect blooms to grow in.

By July, a perennial garden in full bloom may be starting to fade a bit around the edges. Mainstay plants like roses, hydrangeas and dahlias may have blooms that are overblown, faded or wilting. It may be time for a haircut. Another name for a plant trim in July is deadheading. It’s a colorful term for snipping off blossoms to benefit the plant. In some cases, we deadhead to prevent or delay seed formation, but in July, the primary purpose of deadheading flowers is to get a second wave of blooms.

Grab your favorite pair of pruners (our Editor in Chief Melanie swears by her Felco 2 pruners that can be found on Amazon) and get snipping! Here are five plants to deadhead in July for repeat blooms all summer long.

1. Roses

Let’s start with the queen of the flower garden – the rose bush. Despite their difficult-to-grow reputation, most of us have roses in our garden and still get those thrills when the buds open in spring. Deadheading roses is not a universal rule. If your roses drop their blooms and rebloom after that, they are termed “self-cleaning” and do not need deadheading.

But all the others do better with deadheading, not once, not twice, but regularly throughout the summer. You will doubtless see roses fading in July, and – assuming your species is not self-cleaning – deadheading is just the thing to keep your roses looking beautiful.

Deadheading roses is not a complex garden task. Use clean, sterilized pruners and make a cut on the diagonal just above a five-leaflet stem.

2. Salvias

Unlike roses, salvias tend to spread, so, by July, you are more likely to have 30 blooms than 3. The flower spikes of this tough perennial provide a full-service dining area for a wide range of pollinators including the big three, bees, butterflies and hummers. But by July, the first crop of bright flowers are very likely on the decline.

You want the salvia “blossom factory” producing the vibrant blue and purple blossoms, and deadheading your salvia is the key. Snipping now will not just keep the blossoms coming, it will also make the plant bushier, neater, and stop seed production.

Select declining, leggy, flopping or wilting flower spikes and prune them back with a sterilized pruner. Deadhead flower spikes by cutting the stems back. You want to take off most of the stem, making the cut just above a set of leaves.

3. Hydrangeas

Are your hydrangeas reblooming? If so, you can expect more than one crop of flowers over summer, but that only works if you deadhead the faded flowers. But you don’t have to buy special cultivars to get reblooming varieties. The standard, super-popular bigleaf hydrangeas (think snowballs or lacecaps) bloom are reblooming (also called remontant) and so are mountain hydrangeas.

How does this work? These hydrangeas bloom on both old and new wood. The first flower on the wood produced the prior season. Then, once those flowers mature and fade, they bloom a second time on new, current-season wood.

Deadheading these flowers really does result in an entire new crop of gorgeous flowers. Using a sharp, clean pruner, snip off each fading blossom right above a new set of leaves. New buds will develop and mature in late summer, just as other garden flowers are calling it quits for the season.

4. Coneflowers

Coneflowers, also known by their genus name Echinacea, are staples of the perennial garden. They are so easy to grow it seems that they grow themselves. They are known as the top flowers for rank beginners since it is almost impossible to fail. These pretty, daisy-like blooms lor coneflowers, just seem eager to grow and the blooms can last most of the growing season.

Since these colorful flowers do not usually fade in July, why should you consider deadheading? It relates to their eager ways. They reseed happily, even during summer, and can overpopulate the garden. July is a perfect time to nip this problem in the bud, so to speak. Deadheading coneflowers in July will prevent them from early reseeding.

Deadhead with sharp pruners, cleaned and sterilized. Take out the stems just above the first set of leaves and snip right above them. It’s better to deadhead in July than autumn, since the birds are happy to feast on the seeds of spent flowers in fall.

5. Dahlias

Dahlias might be the most beautiful summer flower you didn't know you needed! These big, lush flowers are total showstoppers and look amazing as cut flowers too. Dahlias bloom all summer long and only stop with the first night frost. The long flowering period makes these sun-lovers extremely popular.

But you can take dahlias for flower arrangements in July - and, at the same time - prolong the already long dahlia season. If the flowers are spent, call it deadheading. Pruning wilting dahlia flowers redirect the plant's energy into putting out more blooms. Otherwise, think of it as harvesting cut dahlia stems to enjoy in your home.

In either case, you’ll want to use sharp, sanitized pruners or gardening scissors. Make a diagonal cut down the stem just above a set of leaves. This type of trim allows the plant to produce new growth from the nodes, and, from that growth, even more blooms through the growing season.

Every summer, I find myself trying to keep the house cool without relying on air conditioning. Closing curtains helps a bit (as does sitting in front of a fan with an ice cream in hand), but I much prefer solutions that work with nature rather than against it.

That's one reason I've become fascinated by those vines that cool your house down. Planted in the right spot, they do the same job as trees for shade, creating a living awning that softens harsh afternoon rays before they reach your windows while adding color, flowers and plenty of wildlife appeal to the garden.

The clever part, though? Why, that comes later in the year. As temperatures cool, these climbers naturally shed their leaves, allowing low winter sunlight to stream back through your windows just when you need the extra warmth and light.

Vines That Cool Down Your Home on Hot Days

It's an old gardening trick that's becoming more relevant as hotter summers become the norm across many parts of the US. Instead of blocking light all year round, deciduous vines like coral honeysuckle adapt with the seasons, helping create a more comfortable home while making outdoor spaces greener and more inviting.

Sold on the idea? Of course you are! For beautiful climbing plants that earn their keep, look no further, then, than these seven heat-loving vines, all of which promise plenty of natural summer shade without sacrificing winter sunshine. Perfect.

1. Trumpet Honeysuckle

A beautiful native vine that proves a practical plant can still be stunning, trumpet honeysuckle produces tubular red-orange flowers throughout summer. Not only does this create a magnet for hummingbirds, its dense green foliage helps block out the harshest rays of the sun and cool your house in the process.

Unlike other varieties of honeysuckle, many of which can be... well, if not invasive, than thuggish, this native species stays much better behaved in the garden. Try something like the Major Wheeler Honeysuckle Vine from Nature Hills, then, and get growing!

2. Climbing Hydrangea

A beautiful native vine that proves a practical plant can still be stunning, trumpet honeysuckle produces tubular red-orange flowers throughout summer. Not only does this create a magnet for hummingbirds, its dense green foliage helps block out the harshest rays of the sun and cool your house in the process.

Unlike other varieties of honeysuckle, many of which can be... well, if not invasive, than thuggish, this native species stays much better behaved in the garden. Try something like the Major Wheeler Honeysuckle Vine from Nature Hills, then, and get growing!

2. Climbing Hydrangea

Vines That Cool Down Your Home on Hot Days

It's an old gardening trick that's becoming more relevant as hotter summers become the norm across many parts of the US. Instead of blocking light all year round, deciduous vines like coral honeysuckle adapt with the seasons, helping create a more comfortable home while making outdoor spaces greener and more inviting.

Sold on the idea? Of course you are! For beautiful climbing plants that earn their keep, look no further, then, than these seven heat-loving vines, all of which promise plenty of natural summer shade without sacrificing winter sunshine. Perfect.

1. Trumpet Honeysuckle

A beautiful native vine that proves a practical plant can still be stunning, trumpet honeysuckle produces tubular red-orange flowers throughout summer. Not only does this create a magnet for hummingbirds, its dense green foliage helps block out the harshest rays of the sun and cool your house in the process.

Unlike other varieties of honeysuckle, many of which can be... well, if not invasive, than thuggish, this native species stays much better behaved in the garden. Try something like the Major Wheeler Honeysuckle Vine from Nature Hills, then, and get growing!

2. Climbing Hydrangea

If your priority is cooling a sunny wall or window, climbing hydrangea is hard to beat (I should know; I have one sprawling over my own fence!). Its large, overlapping leaves create a thick green curtain during summer, helping shield your home from intense heat. And, come fall, it drops its foliage, allowing precious winter sunlight back through.

It is slow to establish, but once mature it becomes one of the most impressive shade-producing climbers you can grow. Pick up a Climbing Hydrangea from Nature Hills, stat!

3. Virginia Creeper

Look, it gets a bad rep, but we all know that if you need coverage quickly, Virginia creeper delivers. This vigorous native vine can rapidly cover trellises, fences and walls with lush green leaves before transforming into a fiery display of red and purple in autumn. Its dense summer canopy makes it particularly useful for shading hot walls and windows, but it all comes with a caveat: keep on top of pruning! It is an understatement to say that this very enthusiastic grower appreciates a little guidance.

You can pick up Virginia Creeper Live Bare Root Plants from the CZ Grain Store via Amazon easily enough.

4. American Wisteria

For a romantic garden feel, look no further than the standout star of Bridgerton, I say! Yes, it's hard to beat wisteria trained over a pergola or arbor, and American wisteria in particular produces fragrant flower clusters that form a leafy canopy (aka welcome shade during the hottest months).

Unlike the better-known Asian varieties, this native option is far less aggressive. Try the Amethyst Falls Wisteria Vine from Nature Hills if you want a truly beautiful vine that cools down your home and keeps pollinators buzzing.

5. Passionflower

Fast-growing and full of personality, passionflower brings both beauty and function to summer gardens. Its intricate flowers attract bees and butterflies, while its vigorous leafy growth can help create a temporary living screen for fences, pergolas or sunny spots.

This vine doesn't just cool down your home on hot days, though; in colder regions, it dies back in winter, returning when temperatures rise, and allowing light to flood your home when you need it most. Buy a passionflower from Amazon, then, and enjoy.

6. Grapevine

Grapevines have been used for centuries to create shady outdoor spaces, and for good reason. Their broad leaves form an effective summer canopy over pergolas and patios, while their fabulous fall color and edible fruit add heaps of extra appeal.

Once the leaves drop, too, winter sunshine can reach your home again. Something like the Canadice Seedless Grape Vine from Nature Hills should work a treat!

7. Common Hop 'Comet'

If you want dramatic summer coverage quickly, ornamental hops are worth considering. This vigorous deciduous vine can scramble up supports and create a dense leafy screen in a single growing season.

It dies back completely in winter, making it ideal for gardeners who want summer shade without losing winter light. Just be sure to provide a trellis for clambering purposes!

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By shading windows, walls and patios during the hottest months, leafy climbers are a great way to reduce the amount of solar heat entering your home.

It's a simple gardening trick that's been used for generations, but as summers become longer and hotter across much of the US, it's one that's well worth revisiting.

The devil works hard, basically, but a well-chosen deciduous vine works even harder! Use yours to cool down your home on hot days, and you'll never look back.

Plants are no different to people: some put the effort in day in, day out with a smile on their face and zero complaints; others require fulltime management if they’re to function at all. And while there’s no escaping the full spectrum of humankind, you can sure fill your garden with low-maintenance plants that thrive on neglect, producing months of cheery flowers with hardly any help from you.

What makes any garden look truly amazing – and makes you look like an awesome gardener, too – is an abundance of flowers. And that doesn’t need to come at the cost of an equally high level of hard work from you. I only grow plants with a magic ratio of maximum blooms in return for minimal effort, and here I'm sharing some of the very easiest flowers to grow. They're all perennials so they’ll reliably return year after year, so you only need plant them once. And they’re all pretty drought tolerant so, while you’ll need to keep them well watered at first, until they grow their roots deep enough into the ground to find their own source of water, long-term they’ll thrive on neglect.

When I say I grow all these plants in my garden, what I should really be saying is that all these plants grow themselves in my garden. Apart from cutting down the old stems and pointing the hosepipe in their direction if there’s a prolonged spell of really hot, dry weather in summer, I very much leave them to their own devices. Do they sulk? Never. Do they keel over and die when I go on holiday? Nope. Can you plant them all now for easy color that'll last into fall? Hell yeah! Welcome to the world of star-performer plants that are perfect for low maintenance gardens and time-poor gardeners…

1. Salvia ‘Caradonna’

• Zones 4-8
• Full sun
• Grows 2 feet high and wide
• Flowers early summer to early fall

Purple is one of the best colors to have in your garden palette. It’s bright without being gaudy and makes the colors of all the flowers around it – blue, pink, yellow, red or orange – appear more vibrant. And Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ is one of the very best best salvia varieties to bring purple into your borders. As well as violet-blue spires of flowers, its stems are a wonderfully dark purple, and its aromatic foliage grows into a compact mound.

Pollinators adore the nectar-rich flowers, but not as much as landscape designers! And no wonder – this hard-working beauty works in all color palettes and is simple to care for, even by beginner gardeners, yet brings such a modern, stylish vibe to any garden. Deer and rabbits tend to leave it alone, too, so it really is an easy win.

This perennial sage flowers from late spring into summer – and if you trim off the spent flower spikes with a pair of hedge shears, it’ll rebloom all over again. For maximum flowers and the strongest tones, if you like to use color in your garden, just give it a sunny spot with at least 6 hours of sunshine. And the secret to keeping Salvia ‘Caradonna’ performing well for years without much input from you is simply to ensure it has good drainage, easily achieved by mixing soil improver and a handful of grit into the ground when planting.

Salvia 'Caradonna' is available from the Perennial Farm Marketplace Store via Amazon, and is also stocked by Woodies Garden Goods.

2. Geranium ‘Rozanne’

• Zones 5-8
• Full sun or partial shade
• Grows 1-2 feet high and wide
• Flowers May to October

Here’s another purple beauty that brings abundant blooms to your garden for next-to-no effort. Geranium 'Rozanne' grows a profusion of violet-blue blooms veined with purple all through summer and autumn, which pollinators love. The great thing about this hardy cranesbill is that it’ll grow pretty much anywhere, in any soil, as long as it gets a little sun. It puts up with everything the weather can throw at it, too, so this tough cookie is a great way to fill a tricky spot.

But the best thing about Geranium 'Rozanne' is that it doesn’t produce seeds. Being sterile means it puts all its energy into producing flowers from spring to fall, and also doesn’t gift you a gazillion seedlings to pull up in spring.

A perennial, it tends to grow out rather than up, but it’ll happily weave its way through other plants without smothering them. I’ve paired it with ornamental grasses in a front yard bed that gets baked by the sun all morning then is cast into deep shade all afternoon, that I very rarely water (just once so far this summer!). And honestly, it’s effortless. Its informal habit also makes Rozanne one of those easy-breezy plants often used by landscape designers to soften hard landscaping.

Proven Winners Rozanne hardy geraniums are available from Nature Hills.

3. Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’

• Zones 5-9
• Full to part sun
• Grows 3-4 feet high and 1-2 feet wide
• Flowers May to October

Here’s a plant that we should all grow more of, because it will flower from spring through fall even if you ignore it entirely! What’s more, pollinators flock to Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies', and its thin stems shift on the slightest breeze, bringing so much movement to any border. I have three plants and while they’re not the main focus of the beds, the white flowers brushed with blush pink add real depth, whirling about just above the main flush of perennial blooms.

The stems naturally form an open, airy shape, so this is a wonderful plant to bring a more romantic, informal vibe to your garden. But be warned, everyone who visits your garden will want to know what it is!

This is another sterile plant, which is why it continually flowers from late spring through fall. Gaura is super-easy to grow, and to take cuttings from, even if you’re a beginner gardener. Because this fabulous variety is relatively uncommon in the US, it sells out quickly. Plants are currently available from RedCrocus via Amazon, and are usually stocked by Woodies Garden Goods. If you’re searching for this plant at your local nursery or online, it’s useful to know that it’s recently been reclassified as Oenothera.

4. Lavender ‘Grosso’

• Zones 5-9
• Full sun
• Grows 2-3 feet high and wide
• Flowers July to September

So many of my neighbors have asked me what I do to grow such big, healthy lavender in my front garden. You see, they think I’m just growing a regular lavender and it’s my green fingers that are making it grow so tall and aromatic. And yes, it’s true that I always give lavender a gravel mulch to get more flowers, but my other secret is that this is Lavender ‘Grosso’.

This hybrid variety is a cross between English lavender and Portuguese lavender, and it produces very large, plump flower spikes on tall stems. Lavandula x intermedia 'Grosso' has a far higher concentration of essential oils – three or four times as much as English lavender – which means it’s incredibly fragrant too, which is why it’s often grown commercially.

The more sun Lavender 'Grosso' gets, the happier it is, and as long as it has well drained soil, it pretty much looks after itself. I occasionally throw the plant a bucket of water at it but more often than not, I forget. Grosso lavender is another sterile plant, so it flowers all summer long, and doesn’t produce any unwanted seedlings. Its nectar-rich flowers are adored by pollinators, too.

Lavender 'Grosso' plants are available from Burpee.

5. Japanese anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’

• Zones 4-8
• Full sun to partial shade
• Grows 3-4 feet high and 1-3 feet wide
• Flowers August to October

Yes, it’s true, a lot of Japanese anemones can be thugs in the garden, but ‘Honorine Jobert’ is perfectly polite and well behaved. It does still spread through underground rhizomes but far less vigorously than most other varieties, and has shallow roots so it’s easy to pull up if it wanders too far. Put it in a spot that doesn’t give it optimum conditions to spread – rich or loose soil – and it’s not any trouble at all.

However, ‘Honorine Jobert’ still has that wonderful wish to live that all Japanese anemones possess, making this perennial very easy to grow. Its elegant petals, a fresh white softened by the faintest touch of pink on their undersides, will refresh a tired, heat-baked garden in late summer, year after year, and continue through fall. I particularly love how the flowers dance on their wiry stems as summer draws to a close and the wind picks up. The buds are perfect little spheres, too, adding to the joy.

While this plant copes fine in full sun, because it prefers consistent moisture, it’s more low-maintenance if you grow it in a partially shady spot. Its fresh green foliage and white fall flowers brighten up the shade a treat, too.

Japanese anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ plants are available from Woodies Garden Goods.

6. Hardy Sedum Autumn Joy

• Zones 3-9
• Full sun or partial light shade
• Grows 1-2 feet tall and wide
• Flowers August to November

I grow this hard worker in a front-yard bed that I haven’t watered for two years now, and it’s thriving. So, other than cutting back the old stems, which takes about a minute, Sedum Autumn Joy takes up none of my time or effort – but it still puts on a bobby dazzler display. Its flat-topped clusters of star-shaped flowers start a pale pink in late summer, morphing into a rich raspberry then to a copper-red tone over a couple of months, bringing a heap of easy fall color. That’s a lot of flower power already, but if you want even more, you can cut a third of the stems back in May, which gives you two tones of blooms at any one time.

The stems and seedheads of sedum Autumn Joy are really robust, too, so you can leave them standing through winter. Deer and rabbits don’t touch the succulent leaves, which are a vibrant fresh green tone. Bees and butterflies love it, and it’ll grow pretty much anywhere as long as it has good drainage – while it will still grow fine in partial shade, full sun brings super-sturdy stems and the strongest color.

Generally sold as ‘Autumn Joy’, this plant goes by a handful of other names, so if you want to check you’re buying what you think you’re buying, it’s good to know that this hybrid stonecrop’s official name is now Hylotelephium x mottramianum ‘Herbstfeude’. Sedum 'Autumn Joy' plants are available from Nature Hills.

7. Aster ‘Raydons Favorite’

• Zones 3-8
• Full sun to light shade
• Grows 2-3 feet high and wide
• Flowers September to October

All aster varieties generally thrive on neglect, and ‘Raydons Favorite’ is particularly so. A lot of asters grow tall and, while they produce lots of flowers, those sprawling stems can get pretty untidy. Turns out that this aromatic aster is a little different, too, as it’s recently been reclassed as Symphotrichum oblongifolium – and thankfully, it’s a whole lot easier to grow than it is to pronounce.

What I love about this plant is that it peaks just as many other flowers in the garden are starting to fade, and powers through fall in a blaze of lavender daisies with cheery yellow centres. Deer and rabbits dislike its aromatic leaves, yet it’s a valuable source of late-season nectar for pollinators. It forms a neat, bushy mound that doesn’t need staking, and as long as it has good drainage so its roots aren’t sitting in soggy soil all through winter, will reliably return year after year.

Aster ‘Raydons Favorite’ plants are available from Woodies Garden Goods.

It's no coincidence that all these plants are commonly used by landscape designers. While their clients may have the money to pay for a swish garden design, they don't always have much gardening knowledge, so designers often reach for low-maintenance, highly tolerant plants that will survive, no matter what. So the added bonus of adding these hard-working flowering plants to your yard is that they'll bring a designer look without the associated cost.

All these low-maintenance plants can be planted now, and will bring color to your late-summer garden and into fall.

As our summers seem to get hotter every year, I've found myself rethinking the plants I grow. Instead of choosing varieties that simply survive the heat, I'm looking for ones that actually thrive in it – and reward me with color, fragrance and plenty of wildlife, even during the warmest spells.

That's why I'm always on the lookout for fragrant plants that do more than just look pretty. A beautiful perfume can completely transform a garden, especially if you spend summer evenings outdoors, and there's nothing better than catching the scent of flowers drifting across the garden on a warm breeze.

If you're searching for perfumed patio plants that can cope with rising temperatures while making your outdoor space feel like a Mediterranean escape, there is one heat-loving climber I'd happily recommend. Because, with its glossy evergreen foliage, masses of starry white blooms and an unforgettable fragrance, it's a plant that earns its place year after year.

The Heat-Loving Climber You Need To Try

No surprises here, but confederate jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) is the heat-loving climber that has been stealing the show in gardens everywhere this summer.

Although it isn't a true jasmine, its intensely sweet perfume is often compared to – and by some gardeners even preferred over – the fragrance of roses. On warm evenings, the scent drifts through the garden, making patios, pergolas and seating areas feel like an outdoor retreat.

Unlike some vigorous climbing plants, confederate jasmine (also known as star jasmine) is generally well behaved, making it easier to keep within bounds with a light trim after flowering. And it loves sunshine and warmth, making it an excellent choice for gardeners in USDA Hardiness Zones 8 to 10.

No surprises here, but this heat-loving climber grows happily in full sun or partial shade, although the strongest flowering and fragrance usually come from plants that receive at least six hours of sunlight each day.

Once established, confederate jasmine is also relatively drought tolerant. Regular watering during its first growing season helps it develop a strong root system, sure, but mature plants are capable of coping with periods of dry weather better than many flowering climbers.

If you live in a colder climate, don't rule it out entirely. Many gardeners successfully grow star jasmine in large containers that can be moved to a sheltered spot during winter.

The heavenly fragrance isn't just for people to enjoy, either, as the nectar-rich flowers attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other beneficial pollinators (including your birth month bug, probably). Its dense foliage, too, can also provide valuable shelter for small birds, making it a triple threat.

There's lots you can do with a confederate jasmine. Train it over a pergola to create a scented canopy, or let it soften a plain fence or brick wall. It also performs beautifully around entrances, and it can even be grown as an evergreen ground cover on slopes or banks where its spreading stems help suppress weeds while creating a lush carpet of foliage.

Whichever location you choose, make sure the soil drains well, as confederate jasmine absolutely loathes sitting in waterlogged ground.

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For gardeners who want maximum impact without constant upkeep, star jasmine is hard to beat. Aside from occasional watering during prolonged dry spells and a light prune to keep growth tidy, it asks for very little in return (think a spring application of a balanced fertilizer and a layer of mulch).

Honestly, it's easy to see why so many gardeners consider star jasmine one of the best climbers for warm-climate gardens. Jump on the bandwagon, I say! Once it's in full bloom, you'll understand why so many people pause to enjoy its scent every time they walk past.

In spring and early summer, rose care is all about encouraging new and rapid growth. By July, it’s more about survival. This can be a tough time for roses as temperatures soar and conditions dry. Stress can lead to reduced flowering, pests, and disease getting a foothold.

Good rose care now, during this critical period, is all about keeping them healthy in tough conditions. These simple but important July tasks will help them survive, thrive, and keep flowering through the summer. And what’s the biggest mistake you can make to halt repeat blooms? Check out task number one below.

1. Deadhead Spent Blooms

Repeat-blooming roses produce a gorgeous flush of abundant flowers in late spring and early summer. If you treat them right, they’ll do it again, but July care is critical. The biggest mistake you can make is getting lazy about deadheading or not doing it correctly.

Deadheading roses sends a signal to your plant that it’s not done making flowers yet, stimulating another round of blooms. The correct way to do this is to make a clean cut just above the first set of five leaflets. If your roses grow in clusters, cut off each individual flower as it fades.

Make sure to use clean, sharp shears to prevent disease spread and stem damage. Fiskars' bypass pruning shears, available on Amazon, are a good budget-friendly pick.

It’s better to deadhead regularly rather than waiting for all of the flowers to fade. Check on your bushes every few days and trim off any spent flowers that you see. This one simple chore will keep your roses blooming all summer.

2. Water Deeply

The next most important thing you can do to keep your roses happy, healthy, and blooming is to keep the soil moist. July in many gardens is hot with minimal rainfall. Roses need an inch of water a week, so if it’s not raining, you must provide the water.

The best way to water roses in summer is to water deeply once or twice a week rather than shallowly every day. Deep watering encourages roots to grow deeper into the soil, where it’s cooler. Water with a hose or drip irrigation – this Carparthen kit from Amazon will get you started. Avoid overhead watering, as getting leaves wet encourages fungal disease.

How frequently you give your roses a deep watering depends on several factors. Increase the frequency during very hot or dry conditions. You should also water container roses more often, possibly every day, depending on the weather.

3. Keep the Mulch Fresh

Mulch is a must-have for roses in summer. There are multiple benefits to keeping a clean, two- to three-inch (5–7.5 cm) layer of mulch around rose bushes. The first is that it keeps the soil cool, which helps reduce plant stress.

Mulching around a rose bush also helps retain soil moisture, which is critical during a hot, dry summer. Covering the soil reduces the risk of fungal spores splashing up and onto leaves during watering or rain. Finally, a good layer of mulch helps keep weeds at bay.

July is a good time to make sure the mulch layer around your roses is deep enough and clean. Add more or replace degraded mulch as needed. Always keep the mulch a few inches away from the rose stems, as piling it up there can actually contribute to disease and rot.

You can use straw or shredded bark, but coconut husk is also a good option, like Back to the Roots' Organic Expanding Coconut Husk Mulch.

4. Feed, But Lightly

Roses are notoriously heavy feeders. Fertilizing roses is important for healthy growth and ongoing flowering. You probably started feeding your roses in spring, which is the time to feed heavily to promote new growth. In July, you should keep feeding roses to keep them healthy but not so heavily that they put out a lot of new growth during hot, often dry weather.

Stick with a balanced fertilizer in July, like 10-10-10. You can also look for a rose-specific product, like Miracle-GRO Water Soluble Rose Plant Food, and follow the label instructions.

Water your roses deeply after applying the fertilizer to reduce the risk of stress. If your garden has been going through a major heat wave or drought, skip the fertilizer for now and focus on watering. You can resume feeding once temperatures ease up.

5. Keep an Eye on Pests and Diseases

Rose pests and diseases often take root more readily when plants are stressed. The stress of July heat, humidity, and dry soil means you need to keep a careful eye on your rose bushes. Look for aphids, spider mites, Japanese beetles, black spot, and powdery mildew.

If you do see pests, start with the least damaging method of control, like a spray of water, and, if needed, move on to insecticidal soaps or other pest control products. For signs of disease, tidy up by removing and disposing of any affected leaves. Clean up the ground around the roses to prevent disease spread. Move on to chemical fungicides only if necessary.

BioAdvanced All-In-One Rose and Flower Plant Care Spray provides good protection against pests and diseases.

July Rose Care Essentials

While early summer is a growth period for roses, think of July care as maintenance. Now is the time to protect your roses and encourage more flowers, not to trigger a flush of new growth. Focus on water, deadheading, light feeding, mulch, and pest and disease control to get the most out of your plants.

July can be a tough month for hydrangeas. They tend to wilt in the heat of midsummer, especially during a heatwave or drought, and on sunny afternoons. The stress can trigger a transition from robust, vibrant spring and early summer growth to fading flowers, drooping leaves, and even burnt, crispy edges.

In July, hydrangea care is all about supporting your shrubs during stressful times. The effort you put in this month will help extend the blooming season and keep your plants healthy and vigorous.

1. Water Your Hydrangeas Deeply

Inconsistent moisture is one of the biggest and most harmful issues hydrangeas face in the heat of summer. If the weather is hot and dry, institute a routine of deep watering. A good rule of thumb is to water hydrangeas once or twice a week, but I like to stick my finger in the soil to feel for moisture. If the top two inches (5 cm) are dry, it’s time to water. If you aren't sure, then buy a moisture meter, like the Yamron 4-in-1 soil moisture meter on Amazon.

Don’t rely on the wilting of leaves for a sign of water needs, as hydrangeas often wilt in the heat of the day and perk back up overnight.

It’s better to water your hydrangeas deeply and less often than shallowly and every day. Shallow watering encourages shallow, weak roots. Deep watering encourages roots to grow down, where the soil is moist and cool.

Water hydrangeas in the morning to reduce water loss to evaporation during the heat of the day. It’s best to water at the base of each shrub rather than overhead, especially if you water in the evening. Water lingering on leaves overnight encourages fungal infections.

2. Add or Fortify Mulch

Bare, dark soil around your hydrangeas acts like a heat sink. The soil absorbs a lot of the heat from the sun, cooking delicate roots underground and causing moisture to evaporate quickly. Hydrangeas tend to suffer from this heat and dryness in the summer, so take steps to reduce the effect.

The best thing you can do is mulch generously around each shrub. Two to three inches (5–7.5 cm) of mulch does several things to support healthy plants: it regulates the soil temperature, keeps it cooler, holds moisture, and suppresses weeds. All essential for growing those stunning, billowy hydrangea blooms.

Shredded bark, pine straw, and wood chips are all good options. Or, try coconut husk, like this Back to the Roots Organic Expanding Mulch. Pile up the mulch around the base of each hydrangea, but keep a few inches around the stems bare. This reduces the risk of rotting and pests.

3. Remove Faded Flowers, Carefully

Hydrangea flowers often start to look sorry for themselves in the heat of midsummer. This is a good time to do some deadheading to tidy up the plants and help them direct energy away from seeds back into overall health.

When deadheading hydrangeas, snip spent flowers off somewhere between the base of the flowers and the first set of healthy leaves. Do not remove the entire stem. For some types of hydrangeas, trimming off entire stems now can reduce flowering next year. Use sharp, clean precision pruners, like Fiskars' pruning scissors with microtips, to deadhead.

4. Protect Hydrangeas from Intense Heat

As long as you provide plenty of water and use mulch thoughtfully, your hydrangeas will survive a July heatwave. However, they are unlikely to thrive during this time. If you can protect them from the intense sun and heat of July afternoons, the flowers will retain more vibrant color and last longer.

The best way to protect hydrangeas from heat is to provide some temporary shade. If your hydrangeas are potted, simply move them into shade for the afternoon. If not, you may have to get creative to rig up some shade. Use a shade cloth, like this one from Cool Arena Store, and support it with stakes. Alternatively, use a garden umbrella, a lightweight trellis you can easily move, or portable plant screens. Just a couple of hours of relief from the hot sun can help flowers last weeks longer.

5. Watch for Summer Pests

While some plants, like hydrangeas, struggle in the hottest part of the summer, certain pests and diseases are prepared to thrive. In fact, they’ll take advantage of stressed plants and cause worse infestations and infections.

Heat, and particularly humidity, in July can trigger issues with spider mites, aphids, powdery mildew, and leaf spot in hydrangeas. Inspect leaves and stems regularly throughout the month to catch signs of problems early, when they’ll be more manageable.

If you see pests, use a stream of water to remove them or target them with neem oil or an insecticidal soap – Bonide Captain Jack's Neem Oil comes in a ready-to-use spray. Remove leaves that show signs of spots or mildew and dispose of them. Just a quick, five-minute check once or twice a week is enough to ensure pests and infections on hydrangeas don’t get out of control.

6. Skip the Fertilizer

Lastly, this is a chore you can skip in July. Hydrangeas are likely to be at least a little stressed this month, and adding fertilizer can actually increase stress. Now is the time to focus on maintaining healthy plants, not encouraging additional growth.

Skip the fertilizer and spend your time ensuring hydrangeas have enough water and mulch to stay healthy through the hottest part of the summer.

July Hydrangea Care Essentials

These few, small tasks done in July can mean the difference between faded, sad-looking hydrangeas and healthy plants with vibrant, long-lasting flowers. Hydrangeas are pretty forgiving and resilient, but they’ll reward you for that watchful July care. Instead of just surviving, they’ll thrive through summer.