The cool, cloudy and rainy days of this year’s uncommonly long spring brought us many blessings – among them, a spring superbloom, both in the natural world and in our gardens. Now we are headed into a season of intense heat and sun, and probably not a whole lot of rain. There are many stunning plants we can add to our gardens that will bloom non-stop through the summer and beyond. We still have loads of these annuals (plants that complete their life-cycle in one season), as well as choice, long-blooming perennials (plants that return year after year from their roots).
Some are regional native plants, and most of them provide food for native pollinators, honeybees, and beneficial insects! Salvia, Fuchsia and Phlox bring hummingbirds. Helenium, Aster, Dahlia and other ‘daisies’ attract butterflies and bees, Petunia and Flowering Tobacco support hummingbird moths, etc.
To set off your annual flowers, interplant with fabulous foliage plants like lime green or black Sweet Potato Vine, silvery marbled begonia, multicolored Coleus, Golden Creeping Jenny, or stunning Silver Dichondra vines!
I personally have just planted my annuals in the last couple of days …. it’s definitely not too late! Here are lists of our annuals, and of our perennials that bloom continuously through the summer!
Thunbergia, Black-Eyed Susan Vine
LONG-BLOOMING ANNUALS
Dahlia, bedding “Figaro’
Dahlia ‘Double Extreme’
Snapdragon ‘Potomac mix’
Fuchsia
Calendula varieties
Summer Geraniums
Lemon Bergamot
Salvia coccinea (Scarlet Sage)
Salvia ‘Blue Monday’
Salvia splendens ‘Bonfire’
Salvia splendens ‘Coral Nymph’
Salvia ‘Blue Victory’
Salvia ‘Victoria’
Helenium amarum ‘Dakota Gold’
Phlox drummondii
Aster ‘Blue Pompom’
Aster ‘Blue Moon Pompom’
Bupleurum, Hare’s Ears
Petunia integrifolia
Petunia hybrids
Verbena bonariensis ‘Vanity’
Verbena stricta ‘Santos Purple’
Cerinthe/Honeywort
Thunbergia alata ‘Blackeyed Susan Vine’
and more!!
Redbirds in a Tree, courtesy Plant Select
SUMMER LONG-BLOOMING PERENNIALS
Engelmannia peristenia – Engelmann Daisy
Berlandiera lyrata – Chocolate Flower
Gaura lindheimeri – Whirling Butterflies
Coreopsis lanceolata – Lanceleaf Coreopsis
Calylophus serrulatus – Prairie Sundrops
Calylophus hartwegii fendleri – Fendler’s Sundrops
Delosperma varieties – Hardy Ice Plant
‘Mongolian Gold’ Bush Clematis
Verbena bipinnatifida – Prairie Vervain
Penstemon pinifolius – Pineleaf Penstemon
Mirabilis multiflora – Desert Four O’Clock
Gaillardia aristata – Blanket Flower
Ipomopsis rubra – Scarlet Gilia
Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’
Coreopsis verticillata ‘Crème Brulee’
Scrophularia macrantha – Red Birds in a Tree
Echinacea purpurea – Purple Coneflower
Zinnia grandiflora – Prairie Zinnia
Melampodium leucanthum – Blackfoot Daisy
and more!!