Colorful summer plants that can take the heat
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Getting a colorful landscape that can take the heat isn't as difficult as you might think.
A good plant is gomphrena or globe amaranth. They come in various shades from lavender to reddish-violet all the way into white, and they look as good dry as they do live. These make great dried flowers, as well.
Zinnias are a great plant and look really good in beautiful colors. One of my favorite zinnias is the species zinnia or zinnia linearis, also called narrow leaf zinnia due to the foliage. It comes in orange, gold, yellow, and even a white form. These are beautiful plants that just keep going through the heat and they're virtually disease and pest free. It's a good one to last you all the way to frost.
Among the succulents, we have portulaca and purslane. It never gets too hot for these. They don't require a lot of water, either, which is a good extra feature. The blooms last a day and close up and more blooms come to follow—a good tidy plant. Again, good for a ground cover area in the bright sun or for a hanging basket or container.
Vincas or periwinkles have been around for many years. Just keep them a little on the dry side. If you over water them, you can run into some problems, but in a landscape with just slight moisture, they do well and go all summer long.
Finally, annual salvias will put up with full sun, but also with a little bit of shade and it comes in a pink and a white form as well. The red one is called "lady in red." It's one of our annual forms of salvia.
can be seen each Saturday morning. Austin Area Garden Council President
offers a journey through area gardens, like the Zilker Botanical Garden. She offers advice on what and when to plant from flowers to herbs and more.