South Texas Summer is here, officially! Stay cool and garden on! Some plants need more love during the Summer, but lots of others don’t even start thriving and looking their best until temps stay above 90. Here are a few standouts to plant right now.
Firebush (Hamelia patens)
Blooms all summer, top hummingbird plant, easily pruned/shaped, and grows 6-8’ tall – perfect for a fence line. Loves heat and can handle cold too.
Esperanza (Tecoma stans) – all varieties
Loves summer temps and blazing sun. Classic yellow-blooming varieties that grow 6-8’ tall, or the pictured Sparklette variety that stays 3-4’ tall with golden-yellow trumpet flowers with red throats. Blooms all Summer and into the Fall, and the lightly fragrant blooms attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees.
Duranta (Duranta erecta)
Starting to bloom all over town with consistent summer temps. Can be treated as a shrub or pruned up into a beautiful small tree. Hummingbirds and bees love it.
Firecracker plant (Russelia equisetiformis)
Lives up to its name with big sprays of bright red blooms. Prefers high temps and works well in rock beds or spilling over raised planters.
Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) aka Dwarf Poinciana
Thrives in the hottest parts of summer, requires little water, feeds pollinators, and pairs well in the landscape with other tropicals and desert plants too. People in the Caribbean and South America have used the leaves of the plant to treat kidney stones, Malaria, and bronchitis.
Carmen Salinas says
Loving our firebush! Do you sell All purpose plant food 7-4-4 ?
Jesse says
Hi Carmen – we love organic Plant Tone by Espoma which is 5-3-3 and performs very well in our area.
Joann Van Horn says
I have recently planted esparanza and duranta, and pride of barbados is still in its container with a saucer so I can keep it alive. I’ve got some lantanas and I wish I had more – they’re so pretty! One of my new bottle brush bushes has a handful of blooms – I was so excited, I’ve been waiting for a sign that they’re flourishing (15 gallons/day)! I always have periwinkles – my kind of plant – keeps blooming no matter what! And makes new little plants. I’m learning as lot from these garden news. I see a beautiful esparanza with a red throat so I’ll have to find a spot for one of those too!
Jesse says
Hi Joann – this is an awesome update! Glad to hear you’re enjoying the Garden News and that your plants are thriving. 🙂