Great Foundations How to Pick the Perfect Flowering Shrubs to Beat the Summer Heat
by Julie Thompson-Adolf
Photos courtesy of Proven Winners® ColorChoice®
Are y’all melting yet? Summer heat and humidity do give us the vapors. We watch in agony as our precious plants droop in drought, mortgaging our souls to pay the water bill to keep them happy. But there are better options. For fabulous color and multi-season interest, many shrubs will tolerate high heat, drought, and wacky soil conditions.
Choosing Foundation Plants
Before you dig your first hole, consider some design basics. Foundation plants do more than add color and interest to your house’s exterior. They reflect your personal taste and enhance or mirror the home's architectural style. A good foundation planting provides a finished, polished look and creates a welcoming vibe. But most of all, it should reflect your personality and bring you joy.
Consider the Architectural Style
When creating a foundation planting, consider the architectural style of your house. Is it formal or casual? Is it a new construction, or has it sheltered generations of families? Based on your home’s style, you’ll want to design a foundation planting that accentuates it.
Choose Your Colors
Along with the style of your home, its color also plays a part in choosing your foundation plants. Whether you prefer complementary or contrasting colors, it’s a good idea to limit the number of flower colors so the planting doesn’t look too busy. Pick your favorite color scheme, then repeat it in different forms and sizes.
Plan for Growth
Remember, your new foundation shrubs will grow. Space the plants according to their mature size, which you’ll find online or on the plant tags. Leave enough room between plants to ensure they’ll grow well without crowding. A little homework now saves headaches later.
Create Layers
For a multidimensional foundation planting, think in layers. Place larger shrubs closest to the foundation, then work outwards, adding medium-sized plants next and low-growing shrubs near the front. A well-designed foundation planting keeps the garden show going all year long.
Pick Your Plants
To help get you started, we’ve selected some of our favorite flowering shrubs to make your southern foundation planting shine.
Front of the Bed
Ground Hug® Aronia
Chokeberry
If you’d rather not spend all of your free time weeding, Ground Hug® Aronia quickly covers the ground, leaving little room for weeds to sprout. Clusters of white blooms in the spring attract pollinators, while the black-purple berries add interest in summer. As if it hasn’t already earned its keep, Ground Hug® lights up your foundation in autumn with gorgeous red-orange foliage.
Light: Full sun, part-sun
Size: 8-14’ tall, 3’ wide
Soil: Tolerates a wide range of soil pH, wet or dry soil
Water: Average; drought tolerant once established
Zone: 3-9
Lo & Behold® Series Buddleia
Butterfly Bush
Butterfly bush often gets a bad rap: in some areas, it spreads like wildfire. Although these beautiful blooms feed pollinators, gardeners get testy about buddleia appearing where they didn’t plant it. We get it. That’s why there’s the Lo & Behold® series: a compact series of butterfly bushes that look lovely, feed pollinators, and don’t invade your space.
When summer heat makes your garden look limp and lethargic, Beyond Midnight®Caryopteris bursts into bloom. This late-summer bloomer gives pollinators and your garden a great refresh, flowering profusely when many plants whimper, "Uncle!" Deep, glossy-green foliage is topped with rich, brilliant blue flowers.
Light: Full sun
Size: 2-2.5’ tall, 2-2.5’ wide
Soil: Well-drained, dry
Water: Drought-tolerant once established
Zone: 5-9
Deer Resistant
INSERT CARYOPTIS BEYOND MIDNIGHT 0356 and Insert caryoptis 8240 side by side if possible.
Back of the Bed
Sugar Shack® Cephalanthus
Buttonbush
Sugar Shack® Cephalanthus works beautifully in both formal and cottage-style foundation plantings. A cultivar of the North American native buttonbush, Sugar Shack® sports all of the plant’s great benefits—beautiful compact form, prolific, fragrant round white flowers to support pollinators, and red fall berries.
Light: Full sun, part-sun
Size: 4-5’ tall, 4-5’ wide
Soil: Tolerates alkaline, clay, wet, and dry soil
Water: Average; grows well even in boggy conditions
Zone: 4-10
Deer Resistant
El Niño™ Chitalpa
Desert Orchid
You’ll sing the praises of El Niño™ Chitalpa when you add it to your foundation planting. After all, who doesn’t adore fragrant, orchid-like blooms minus prima donna tendencies? A hybrid resulting from two North American native plants—desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) and catalpa (Catalpa sp.), El Niño boasts its parents’ best traits, with beautiful blooms that withstand harsh conditions and flower for ages.
Light: Full sun, part-sun
Size: 5-8’ tall, 4-6’ wide
Soil: Well-draining; tolerates poor soil
Water: Average
Zone: 6-9
INSERT CHITALPA EL NINO and
So, which is your favorite? Thank goodness you don’t have to pick just one! Choose your favorite, and you’ll enjoy a charming foundation planting that withstands sultry summers.
All articles are copyrighted and remain the property of the author.
By Laura Root
Photos courtesy of Jackson & Perkins
Gardeners are always thinking ahead to the next season or the next year. And, fall is the ideal time to think about spring. Flowering shrubs, perennials and spring bulbs are great choices.
Click here for an interesting article about spring bulbs.
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