The arrival of summer weather evokes in the mind’s eye seas of wildflowers blowing gently in the wind. However, summer color does not have to be “wild”. Below we offer some summer blooming plants that can liven up your home’s landscape.
1) Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’
Weigla begins blooming in the spring, but will continue to offer pink flowers into the growing season. We really love this plant for its dark maroon foliage that stands out in a typically green landscape, making it a great base for a flower garden. Weigla is a full sun to partial shade-loving deciduous shrub that grows roughly 4ft tall x 4ft wide and needs very little attention once established. Added bonus: hummingbirds love the blooms and it is deer resistant.
2) Astilbe ‘Bridal Veil’
This variety of Astilbe’s fern-like foliage gives it a fine textured appearance making it an interesting look to add to a landscape. Its white flowers grow on tall plumes that shoot out of the foliage and are quite showy. The blooms can be used as cut flowers and look great with Coral Bells, Hosta, other Astilbe, and Salvia. Bridal Veil grows to about 3ft x 3ft, which is quite large for Astilbe, making it even more striking, and it attracts butterflies while being deer resistant. We really like this plant in any partial shade wooded landscape, since the white flower stands out in these darker spots.
3) Catmint ‘Walker’s Low’
This plant offers a splendid season-long bloom period, flowering from early spring through mid-autumn. Its finely textured mound of silvery green foliage surrounds beautiful bluish-purple blooms that attract butterflies and honey bees. When planted in masses it can be used as a non-evergreen ground cover along walkways and patios. It’s also perfect for rock gardens or as a cascading element over a retaining wall. Catmint is extremely versatile in the landscape, easy to care for once established, and needs water mainly through periods of drought. It grows best in full sun to partial shade and gets to about 2ft x 3ft.
4) Yarrow ‘Moonshine’
Yarrow is an extremely easy plant to grow and its bright yellow flowers match the sunny environment in which it thrives. The blooms shoot up about 2ft up from its fern like foliage in mid-June. If you deadhead it throughout the growing season it will continue to bloom prolifically. Yarrow is great as a cut flower, its showy blooms accent rock gardens and perennial borders, and it can be planted in mass for a bold color splash. The foliage stays low to the ground, allowing the flower to shine, and is easy to care for in full sun even during droughts.
5) Baptisia ‘American Goldfinch’
Caramel -colored blooms lasting from late spring through mid-summer grow out of Baptisia’s deep green foliage. They get to 3 feet in height making this an excellent choice as a lovely backdrop to low growing perennials such as salvia, catmint or geranium. Baptisia want full sun to partial shade and is beautiful around a water feature, among some boulders or as an accent to an open landscape.
6) Tricolor Beech
Tricolor Beech has been one of Sam’s favorite trees for a long time and it remains in his top 5 to this day. It has beautiful purple leaves edged with bright pink, giving this tree an extremely unique and beautiful look. It grows to about 35ft tall x 25 ft wide, and the color stands out even from a distance. It is a wonderful shade tree for most yards, but be sure to plant it far enough away from your home to ensure it doesn’t grow into the house. Water the tree regularly when first planted and during droughts as it grows. As the Tricolor Beech matures it will require less and less attention until it reaches needing none. Having a good variety of trees in a landscape, neighborhood and community is ESSENTIAL to the long-term health of any environment. The Tricolor Beech is a beautiful specimen that can add bio-diversity, especially to newly-built neighborhoods which tend to start by planting a small variety of trees.
7) Coral Bell ‘Georgia Peach’
Just like its name suggests, the light peach color foliage of this variety of Coral Bell adds a bold statement to any landscape. The leaves offer constant color to your garden and will shift to a more rosy-purple color as the season cools. White flowers bloom during the summer months and add even more of a splash of color. The foliage gets to about 14in tall x 24in wide and the blooms will get to about 3ft tall. We suggest planting it in partial light, but it can handle more sun if planted in a cooler location. Note that a full-sun spot will require more watering! Generally, needs to be watered weekly to keep the foliage looking its best. This variety of Coral Bell looks great when planted in masses and when tucked in amongst boulders or used as the front edge of a border. We often combine it with Painted Fern, Hosta and Astilbe.
Do you have a favorite summer plant? Share it in a comment.
