Some Like it Hot: Perennial Flowers for Hot Conditions

Hot, dry summers can be brutal on perennial flower gardens. It's important to keep the gardens well watered and mulched. Sometimes you don't even know you have a hot, dry site until you try planting some flowers. Even in the North, there may be microclimates in your yard that require plants adapted to the heat. We have a Southwest facing, rock wall, raised bed and thought, since we live in Vermont, to plant regular perennials. As the plants in the bed struggled, even with extra watering, we realized the weather was telling us to do something different. It wasn't until we tried planting heat tolerant perennials, such as sedum, artemisia and salvia, that the bed looked great all summer with little care.

If you have a full sun, hot, dry soil area, try growing perennial flowers that are adapted to the heat. These will still require watering and care, especially when first planted. But overtime, they will thrive while other perennials, that need a break for the heat, will struggle. Here are some of my choices for great full sun, heat tolerant perennial flowers.

Sedums have fleshy leaves, which is a clue they can tolerate hot, dry conditions without extra care. Rock and Grow^® 'Tiramisu' sedum or stonecrop is a tough perennial with burgundy colored leaves and pink flowers. These mounded plants grow only 2 feet tall and tolerate heat and poor soil conditions. Rock N' Low^®- Yellow Brick Road sedum is an interesting variation. It has finely cut leaves, grows in an 8-inch tall mound with bright yellow flowers. It's heat, drought and salt tolerant.

Salvias are widely known as sun loving, heat tolerant annuals and perennial flowers. I like the perennials for their reliability in our garden. Living Large^™ 'Blue Sky' salvia is a later blooming salvia that grows up to 3-feet tall with violet-purple colored blooms. Deadhead the plant after flowering and it will reward you with more flowers. Blue By You meadow sage (Salvia nemorosa) is a 2-foot tall salvia with blue flowers and a nice combination of summer heat tolerance and winter hardiness (zone 4).

For something a bit different in your garden try the red hot poker perennial (Kniphofia). Native to South Africa, this plant has brightly colored, spiky blooms that last a long time in summer. Most are hardy to zone 5 and are salt and drought tolerant as well. Pyromania^® 'Orange Blaze' features 2 foot tall plants with bright orange blooms and grass-like foliage. Pyromania^® 'Rocket's Red Glare' grows a bit taller (3 feet) with peachy red colored blooms. Pyromania^® 'Solar Flare' completes the bright flower show with yellow blooms.

It's not just perennials with bright flower colors that thrive in a hot, dry bed. 'Silver Lining' Artemisia or sage brush features dissected, silver colored leaves on a 1- to 2- foot tall plant. It makes a great companion to more colorful full sun, heat loving flowers. It's hardy to zone 4 and resists browsing from deer and rabbits.