By Jim Midcap
University of Georgia
All plants require water to survive. With higher temperatures, plants use even more water. But some are highly efficient in using water. Others develop extensive root systems to withdraw extra moisture during droughts.
Many plants can provide shade, foliage, flowers, fall color and fragrance to the landscape even in the heat of summer. By selecting the proper plants, preparing the site well and getting plants well established, you can enjoy your landscape with less irrigation and care.
First, select the right plants. This means plants adapted to your site as well as being heat- and drought-tolerant.
Do you have full sun, partial sun, partial shade or deep shade? Is your soil sandy and well-drained? Is it a heavy clay that stays wet after rain and hard as a brick during droughts?
Good choices
Tough shade trees that resist heat and drought include the willow oak, lacebark elm and Chinese pistache. The willow oak has a nice pyramidal shape, small leaves and small acorns. The lacebark elm has small, dark green leaves and sheds its bark in small flakes. The Chinese pistache has outstanding orange-red fall color and very few pests.Small trees adapted to our heat zone include the trident maple, crape myrtle and the Chinese fringe tree. The trident maple has great fall color and shedding bark. Crape myrtles bloom all summer long. And the Chinese fringe tree is covered with white flowers in late spring and dark green foliage all summer.
The dwarf yaupon holly, dwarf Burford holly and dwarf nandina are all heat-tolerant, dwarf evergreen shrubs. All are adapted to sun or partial shade. The dwarf yaupon tolerates wet or dry sites. The dwarf Burford has dark, glossy green leaves. Dwarf nandinas usually get red-orange fall color.
The rose-of-Sharon, butterfly bush and shrub rose can add color as well as heat tolerance. Rose-of-Sharon is a heritage plant that blooms in late summer and fall. Butterfly bushes bloom all summer and attract many butterflies. And shrub roses provide color and fragrance in spring, summer and fall.
Good start
New plantings require special care to become well established and be able to tolerate next year's heat and drought. Planting in early fall, when the soils are still warm, will enable plants to become better established by next summer.To get your plants off to their best start, don't wait to begin preparing the site properly. First, remove the existing, drought-stressed plants, tops, roots and all. Then rotary till the area as deep as you can, at least 8 to 10 inches, to break up any compacted soil.
Incorporate composted organic matter and amendments into the bed. When the temperatures first begin to drop for the fall, plant your newly purchased trees and shrubs.
Mulch the bed and keep the new plantings watered. By the time next year's heat and dry spells arrive, your new landscape plants should be established well enough to make your summertime living easy.
(Jim Midcap is a Cooperative Extension horticulturist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
