While many people love to plant a summer garden, the hot and humid season often feels like the most difficult time of year for plants to thrive.
So what can we do during these hot, humid and frequently drought-prone months to keep our gardens from baking in the sun?
We turn to Norman Winter, executive director of the Columbus Botanical Gardens, who knows his way around a garden.
For the past 30 years, Winter has worked in horticulture throughout the Southeast, mostly in his native Texas, where he most recently served as director of the National Butterfly Center.
What to plant
Winter’s first piece of advice is to look for plants that can tolerate heat and drought conditions.
“Right now, of course, we’ve been in some sweltering heat. And so you think about, ‘What can take a sweltering heat?’ And maybe the lack of water?,” said Winter. “You think about native plants, from the standpoint of trees and shrubs.”
Winter recommends the native Weeping Yaupon, which yields berries that feed about nine species of birds, and the Southern Wax Myrtle, a native shrub whose female plants produce blueberries that feed 40 species of birds and can be used to make bay-scented candles. Winter said he often sees the Southern Wax Myrtles used in multiples to create a privacy screen. The Sweet Bay Magnolia is another tree that thrives in this region.
species of birds, and the Southern Wax Myrtle, a native shrub whose female plants produce blueberries that feed 40 species of birds and can be used to make bay-scented candles. Winter said he often sees the Southern Wax Myrtles used in multiples to create a privacy screen. The Sweet Bay Magnolia is another tree that thrives in this region.
“Some of the flowers that are really showing out right now in the landscapes across town, of course lantanas are always showing out,” said Winter, adding that most people think of the award-winning gold lantana, but there are many multicolored ones as well. “And those are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies, they’re drought-tolerant, they’re tough. So those are great.”
Winter said he’s also seen a lot of commercial landscapes utilizing rudbeckias (also called Black-Eyed Susan or Gloriosa Daisy).
“They bloom for months and they’re blooming right now in the hottest part of the year,” he said.
For shade gardens, Winter likes begonias because they bloom all summer and have a tropical look, especially the Dragon Wing Begonia.
“It can give you that little touch of paradise or that little Caribbean feel if you had that in a shade garden, maybe with some elephant ears or bananas,” Winter said.
Vegetable gardens are in a bit of a transition period right now, but Winter said it’s not too late to start thinking about a fall vegetable garden. Plants like tomatoes will need to be planted in August for a November harvest, while produce such as broccoli and cauliflower that mature faster can be planted a little later.
Winter said the key is to calculate how long you want the plant to produce and how long it takes the produce, then count backwards from when the first frost can be expected to determine when to plant.
Caring for plants
For plants that are already established, Winter said now is the time to be pinching and pruning “to help stimulate some new growth.”
And despite popular belief, Winter said it is perfectly okay to plant shrubs and trees during the summer, or any time of year, because most plants we buy at the nursery are grown in containers, are healthy and retain their entire root system. That makes adjusting to implantation easier than if they were dug up and had severed roots.
“The key to the green thumb is how brown it gets first — soil preparation,” he said.
In addition to amended soil, Winter said plants should be planted to the same depth of the container they came in, otherwise they can suffocate.
He also advises deep watering to create deep roots.
“Here’s how it works: you water deeply, then you don’t water,” said Winter. “As that water starts to evaporate on top what do the roots of that plant do if the water’s gone right (at the surface)? They go deeper where the water is So then you’re building a tough plant.”
While there is no right time to water (“I will always tell people, ‘Water is better than not having water.'”), Winter is a morning waterer because he likes to get out and get it done early. But there is a right way to water: at the bottom of the plant.
“I like to keep foliage dry from the standpoint of disease,” he said. “When you keep a leaf wet, then you can have that fungal spore come in and germinate.”
Speak Your Mind