Green Horizons

Just as some people wilt in the sun and others relish heat, so it is with plants. At this time of year, what we really want are plants that shine in the garden — plants that wow the neighbors and make us look like gardening geniuses. What better choice than natives?

Summer heat and drought can be rough on colorful gardens, but native flowers, shrubs and trees are up to the challenge.

Purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata) is a drought-tolerant, trailing native that produces dozens of showy magenta flowers from June until first frost. The trailing, mat-forming stems make an excellent ground cover. One of our native warm-season grasses that stands up to heat and dry soil is sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula). Narrow, blue-gray leaves form a dense clump. Birds and small mammals eat the reddish flowers that dangle along one side of slender stems in summer. The plant turns gold in fall.

Native trees and shrubs that do well in heat and drought include black haw viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium). It produces flat heads of white flowers in spring, followed by purple-black fruit, which birds eat. The leaves develop beautiful red fall color. Another adaptable native is New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus). This compact, 3- to 4-foot tall shrub billows with delicate white flowers in May and June. Birds come to eat clusters of small black fruit in July. It grows easily on rocky soil.