August heat can be challenging but beautiful Liberty Sunflowers bring your summer garden to life! Unlike traditional single-stem varieties, our plants offer more blooms, multiple branches, and a nonstop display of color that lasts from now until October. Each flower measures about ten inches across, and you can expect to see open blooms and buds on each plant. Because Liberty Sunflowers produce very few seeds they make great mess-free cut flowers to brighten an indoor arrangement. Flowers last for seven days or more in a vase, while outdoors the plants just keep blooming and blooming. Harvesting only makes them bloom more generously—if you remove a spent flower you’ll get two more behind it. Plant your Sunflowers in the sunniest location possible and prepare to be visited by birds, bees, and butterflies that are attracted to the abundant nectar!
Buddleia blooms take summer bouquets to another level—these bright, billowy flower spikes bring height, color, and texture to the party. You’ll be able to reach them easily for cutting since our dwarf butterfly bushes stay very short. They can be planted where the soil is least desirable and in spots where you’d like to see over them, because they only grow about waist-high. Our Buddleia have an open and loose style of habit so we often treat them more like large perennials than shrubs. Their branches leaf out early in spring and quickly start to bloom around May, continuing the display until eventually being shut down by frost. You can plant Buddleia in full sun or partial shade, and remember: their strong roots can handle tough and compact soils. Be prepared for lots of beautiful blooms and butterflies!
Canna hits the sweet spot for summer: the plants are short but the flowers are big. There are lots of green shoots from the base with plentiful blooms in bright, tropical colors of mango, yellow, and rose. If you’re looking for extra drama there’s even a bronze leaf scarlet. Our Canna loves the sun and looks great in a standard garden or on the deck or patio—it’s also a nice size to use in pots. Keep in mind that Canna height is strongly influenced by the amount of water a plant gets over the season. If you’d like it to stay on the small side stick with your routine, and if you want it to grow taller try giving it more water.
Unlike the tropical variety our hardy Hibiscus is a perennial so it will come back again next year. It still has a tropical look, with exotic dinner plate-sized blooms that get noticed. These flowers are large when you take the plant home and get even bigger once it’s settled into the garden. Be bold and plant three Hibiscus together in a triangle pattern—the result is a massive, eye-catching display that will be the talk of the neighborhood! Hibiscus is available in three colors: red, pink, and white. It grows about chest high and is very hardy.
Covered with vibrant flower clusters, Lantana is a great plant for color in hot summer weather. It thrives in full sun and heat, and can handle almost any water situation, even when it’s very dry. Each ball-shaped cluster puts on its own show with a mix of multiple colors, including shades of red, yellow, orange, and pink. These Lantanas grow about 10 to 12 inches high and wide, a good size for filling hanging baskets or pottery. Use them in summer garden beds, too!
Salvia is the go-to for a dark, true blue flower when the lavender-blue of other blooms lacks the intensity you’re going for in a design. These dramatic spikes jump out against their gray-green foliage background. One of the most effective ways to use this plant is en masse, creating a deep blue sea in the garden. Fill a nice long border with Salvia and put some shorter bright red begonias down front. Tuck in some dusty miller for a patriotic theme or go in a different direction with some yellow rudbeckia or magenta impatiens. Vivid colors pop against the deep blue, and chartreuse foliage makes an eye-catching accompaniment as well—try pairing Salvia with some of the lime green coleus varieties. Now drama is one thing, but a plant has to be able to last the summer and this one goes the distance. These spiky blooms are tough, standing up to heat, humidity, and drought—they even handle poor soil. Yes, this classic low-maintenance beauty is a great choice for our hot New England summers.
