You may have noticed that some of the bedding plants you added in the spring look tired and played out now (petunias often falter in the heat of midsummer). Perhaps insects or diseases have caused damage, or the bedding plants you selected simply have not done as well as you expected.
Despite the heat of midsummer, area nurseries maintain a great selection of warm-season bedding plants. It’s well worth adding new ones to your landscape now — they will bloom until October or November.
If you don’t feel like getting out in the heat and preparing a bed, that’s OK. But don’t ignore a played-out flower bed that looks bad and detracts from the appearance of your landscape. Pull out the unattractive bedding plants and any weeds and then apply at least 4 inches of mulch. An empty, mulched bed is more attractive than a bed full of sad flowers and weeds.
To minimize effort and still have colorful bedding plants, consider planting in large containers. Planting a container involves nothing more than putting it where you want it, filling it with potting mix and then planting it with colorful, blooming plants. This provides instant color for your deck, patio, balcony or porch.
In intense heat, pay careful attention to watering as the soil in flower beds and containers can dry out rapidly. Check beds every few days if the weather is dry.
When the soil feels dry, irrigate deeply and thoroughly (a soaker hose works well in flower beds, as it’s best to keep the foliage and flowers dry to minimize diseases). Keep plants well supplied with water but do not water too frequently and keep the soil constantly wet. This promotes root diseases (we often see this when periwinkles are kept too wet).
Serenita Raspberry Angelonia, a warm-season bedding plant, is seen in a garden of Louisiana Super Plants in City Park.
STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
What to plant now
Angelonia (Angelonia angustifolia) is tough and dependable. An excellent selection of colors and sizes has been developed, and you should find a nice selection at your local nursery. Plant angelonias in sunny, well-drained locations.
Blue Daze flowers can sometimes appear purple-blue or lavender.
LSU AgCENTER PHOTO
Blue daze (Evolvulus glomeratus) is a low-growing bedding plant that loves summer heat and sun. This pest-free plant has grayish foliage and clear, blue flowers that add a cool note to the garden. The plants stay neat and attractive all summer. Blue My Mind is an excellent variety.
Torenia Kauai Rose 1
A great bedding plant for part shade to shade, the wishbone flower, or torenia (Torenia fournieri), provides a tremendous display of blue, purple, lavender, rose, pink or white flowers over a long period. The Louisiana Super Plant selection Kauai series torenias are especially recommended.
The Summer Wave and Catalina torenias are vigorously spreading, low-growing plants that create a ground cover of color. They come in a variety of colors and are excellent choices for hanging baskets or draped over the sides of pots.
Lantanas bloom throughout Louisiana’s hot, humid summers.
LSU AgCENTER PHOTO BY OLIVIA McCLURE
The common lantana (Lantana camara) is available in a variety of sizes and colors, and they are among the best plants for summer color. Irresistible to butterflies, lantanas combine constant flowering, drought tolerance, heat tolerance and ease of care. The Bandana series lantanas are Louisiana Super Plant selections that are especially compact and floriferous.
Pentas are a good choice for planting now.
Pentas are another excellent choice. The Butterfly and Lucky Star pentas are Louisiana Super Plants selections and both come in a variety of bright colors. Pentas stay in continual bloom all summer into fall with flowers in shades of white, pink, rose, lavender and red, and they are great pollinator plants.
Large flower heads on tall stalks make zinnias excellent cut flower selections.
PROVIDED PHOTO BY ELENA FENNEL
The narrow-leaf zinnia (Zinnia angustifolia) is usually a brilliant in-your-face orange, but it also comes in yellow and creamy white and loves hot, sunny areas. This drought tolerant plant is low-growing, continually covered with single daisy flowers, and it looks particularly nice cascading over the edge of raised planters.
The narrow leaf zinnia was hybridized with the garden zinnia (Zinnia elegans) to produce zinnias that are disease resistant, low growing, come in many different colors and may have single or double flowers. Look for Profusion zinnias and Zahara zinnias.
Heat-tolerant begonias can be planted now.
Ellis Lucia
Along with torenias, begonias are also a great choice for shade. BabyWing begonias are Louisiana Super Plant selections that are vigorous and bloom prolifically. Coleus, caladium and impatiens are additional plants that provide abundant color in partly shaded conditions.
More choices
LOWER GROWING (2 feet or less): Mexican heather, ornamental pepper, ornamental sweet potato, coleus, celosia (Dragon’s Blood and Intenz), impatiens, periwinkle, dwarf cosmos, wax begonia, dwarf pentas, dwarf globe amaranth, Victoria and Evolution salvias, marigold, portulaca, blue daze, purslane, zinnia, wishbone flower, caladium, balsam, gaillardia, celosia, lantana, scaevola
TALLER GROWING (over 2 feet): Butterfly weed, rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), angelonia, firebush (Lime Sizzler is a Louisiana Super Plant selection), shrimp plant, cleome (Senorita Rosalita is a Louisiana Super Plants selection), Fireworks gomphrena, melampodium, four o’clock, cosmos, hardy hibiscus (Luna series is a Louisiana Super Plants selection), sunflower, salvias, cigar flower, Mexican sunflower (tithonia).
This is also a great time to plant tropical plants in the landscape. Planting in midsummer will allow tropical plants, such as bird of paradise, tropical hibiscus, tibouchina, brugmansia, ixora, jatropha, gingers, elephant ear and others, to grow and establish over the hot months into fall. This makes them more likely to survive freezing temperatures during winter.