Summer is here and so are hot temperatures! Although all plants need watering during a drought or if they are newly planted, many plants bask in the sunlight and love the heat. These plants can usually be watered less frequently in the heat of summer. With that said, they do still need to be watered if we have several days without any rain or if we experience drought-like conditions. Below, we are sharing twelve plants that usually take our Middle Tennessee heat like champs!

1. Ornamental Grasses

   • Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum): 'Northwind' and 'Shenandoah'

   • Fountain grass (Pennisetum): 'Foxtrot' and dwarf variety 'Cassian'

   • Blue Fescue (Festuca glauca): 'Cool as Ice' and dwarf variety 'Elijah Blue'

   
   

2. Lantana (Lantana)

Lantana is a butterfly's favorite. This annual grows very easily and is perfect for a beginner gardener to have in their garden. Lantana is beautiful in container pots as well as gardening beds, and blooms from spring until mid-fall. It comes in many colors, including yellows, golds, whites, reds, oranges, and pinks.

3. Tickseed (Coreopsis)

   An exceptional perennial with an abundance of blooms from late spring to mid-fall. It comes back year after year and attracts pollinators.

4. Blanket Flower (Gaillardia x grandiflora)

   Compact with excellent heat and drought tolerance, Blanket Flowers produce gorgeous red (or yellow, depending on the variety) flowers with golden yellow tips on mounds of green foliage; blooming from summer to fall, great for sunny beds, borders, and containers. This perennial also makes an excellent cut flower!

5. Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)

Butterfly bushes bloom profusely from early summer into late summer/ early fall when little else blooms. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has grayish-green foliage with silver undersides.

6. Stonecrop (Sedum 'Autumn Joy')

A highly desirable and popular groundcover, forming a dense mound completely covered in broccoli-like salmon-pink flowers which fade to red in early fall, succulent dusty-green foliage is prominent the rest of the season. It needs a dry and sunny location.

7. Russian Sage (Perovskia)

Russian Sage is an herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect. This is a relatively low- maintenance plant and is best cut back to the ground in late winter before active growth resumes. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

8. Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus)

   Chaste tree is an uncommon garden shrub with airy spikes of pretty lilac flowers throughout the summer, distinctive gray-green palmate leaves with silvery undersides. It can be treated like a perennial and cut back each spring, as it flowers on new wood and regrows vigorously!

   
   

   

   
   

9. Yarrow (Achillea)

   A lovely, fast-growing perennial with a mounded habit. It features ferny silvery-green leaves and bright red (or lemon yellow, depending on variety) colored blooms during the summer months! It is a perfect addition to garden beds, borders, and fresh cut arrangements.

   
   

   

   
   

10. Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)

    Black Eyed Susans feature masses of beautiful gold daisy flowers with dark brown eyes at the ends of the stems from midsummer to early fall! They make the biggest visual impact when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Their serrated narrow leaves remain green in color throughout the season.

    
    

    

    
    

11. Yucca (Yucca filamentosa)

    This showy plant has sword-like leaves with green margins radiating from the center of the plant; the tall spire of nodding bell-like flowers in summer is a daring bonus, loves dry soils and sun.

    
    

    

    
    

12. Lavender (Lavandula x intermedia)

Lavender has masses of beautiful spikes of fragrant purple flowers with blue overtones rising above the foliage from mid to late summer, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting! Lavender is wonderful for borders, containers, and massing in the garden; used for sachets and perfumes. It has attractive silver evergreen foliage. Be sure to choose a variety that is perennial in our area, such as 'Phenomenal' or 'Hidcote Blue'.