Garden Tips: Flowers that can take the heat

I adore flowering annual plants and have eight large pots lining my patio. They provide delightful color all summer. However, many annual flowers are not particularly heat tolerant, and stop growing and flowering during the hottest part of summer. The trick is selecting only types and cultivars that are heat tolerant.

My top five favorite annuals that do not fail even in hot summer weather:

Despite my devotion to Wave petunias, I still like to give other petunias a try. The Charm series from Proven Winners also has excellent heat tolerance and a mounded, trailing habit. I am charmed because even though the flowers are relatively small, the plants stay covered with colorful blooms all season. This year, I am growing Rose Blast Charm with bright raspberry and soft pink bicolor flowers.

Those are my top five. What are yours?

This story was originally published July 16, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Garden Tips: Flowers that can take the heat."