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tomatofreak

What are your most heat-tolerant plants?

tomatofreak
18 years ago

OK, time for some education as this is no time for gardening, just triage. I've noticed that my pepper plants are still growing strong and producing. The salvia does well as long as it gets a drink every day. Datura is holding up well against an east-facing block wall. What do you have that you'd classify as heat-tolerant or - better yet - heat-loving?

Comments (38)

  • Garden_trolip
    18 years ago

    Right now my Yellow Dots are getting western exposure against a block wall. A little limp mid afternoon, but still blooming and re-bounding in the evening ;)

  • User
    18 years ago

    GT,
    Throw some of those yellow dots in your pond, it makes an awesome bog plant.
    Lynn

  • aztransplant
    18 years ago

    Hopbush
    Orange bells
    Mexican bird of paradise
    yellow bird of paradise
    creosote bush
    red yucca
    red muhly grass
    rosemary

    various cacti

  • bethhawthorne
    18 years ago

    definitely vinca

  • Garden_trolip
    18 years ago

    azreno, I had no idea about the Yellow Dots and the pond? I'll give it try ;)
    http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/7/7_2_201v.gif

  • RdRnnr
    18 years ago

    Some in my yard that are going strong...lantana, ruellias, all the yuccas & desert BoP, pygmy palms, hibiscus, asparagus fern, natal plum, some canna are blooming, castors, ponytail palm, euryops (if I hadn't overwatered it), chili peppers, umbrella plants, cat claw, purple heart...

  • dirt_dew
    18 years ago

    sugar cane!

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Sugar Cane?! Do tell what variety you planted, how and what you do with it.

    I forgot to list my Trumpet Vine; I think it actually loves the heat.

    Trailing Vinca in my yard begins to look a little ratty this time of year, but has been here in the same part of the yard for probably 30 years or more.

    Mint! Never gives up.

  • Easygoing
    18 years ago

    Interesting word Heat Tolerant. Many, many plants are heat tolerant. Drought Resistand would be another story. Just looking at "heat" tolerant, I would have to say the best heat tolerant plants are my:

    All my Hibisus Varieties.
    Adeniums
    Lantana
    Mimosa
    Jacaranda
    Desert Museum Palo verde
    Most all my Enlglish and Old Garden Roses.


    Easy

  • Kathleen W
    18 years ago

    Blue Palo Verde
    Chilean Mesquite
    Mexican Palo Verde
    Sweet Acacia tree (acacia baileyana?)
    Jojoba
    Cat Claw vine
    Lysiloma
    Lantana, lavender trailing
    Red Yucca
    Asparagus fern, lacy type
    Rosemary, mostly in shade (separate plant in sun is not happy)
    Hearts & Flowers
    Bay Laurel tree, potted in shade
    African Sumac
    Passiflora Frederick
    Potted Kalanchoe, large containers
    Too many cacti and succulents to list although most of the natural prickly pears are looking pretty withered right now except for those close to the patio where we water some.

    Oh how I wish I could get some mint growing, tommy! That and lavender ALWAYS croaks for me :(

  • Easygoing
    18 years ago

    I dont' have much luck with Mint or Lavendar either Kathleen. So don't feel bad ;)

    Easy

  • Teriann
    18 years ago

    Creosote bush, saguaro, bougainvillea, Blue Palo verde, Ocotillo. Non heat-loving :( all my succulents, sigh

  • Pagancat
    18 years ago

    Blooming great:
    Salvia blepharophylla
    Verbena
    Snail vine
    Guara
    Mexican hats
    Okra
    Gazania
    Ornamental peppers
    4 o'clocks
    Artemesia
    Zinnias (well, budding up if not blooming)
    Lantana
    Oleander

    Hanging in there:
    Some California poppies (strange but true...)
    Roses
    California fuschias
    Salvia gregii
    Pandorea (Sandpaper vine)
    Salvia coccinea
    Spanish lavender

    Looking rough:
    Sunflowers
    Salvia leucantha (Mexican bush sage)

    I think the heat today was just plain evil - I surprised everything didn't fall over.

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    That 'thud' you heard was *me* - outside at noon checking on plant babies!

    So far, these are doing great:

    Wonderful pomegranite
    Snail vines (bring on the heat, we love it!)
    Bower vines
    Ficus elastica (that I planted on South side of house)
    Fig tree (loaded)
    Ficus nitida - no sunburn, yet...
    Feathery cassia
    Japanese hopseed (though they look a little stressed)
    Hall's honeysuckle - in shade, no blooms :-(
    Every d****d palo verde sucker that springs up
    China berry 'shrubs' - come up from trees taken out!

    I don't want to see the next water bill, even though the yard is irrigated...

  • usha
    18 years ago

    Agree with above. will add little johnny, natal plum and sky flower. Pencil cactus also looks good in intense heat.
    Established cannas also seem to not get much sunburn and look good in summer.
    Kathleen10...rosemary looks good in intense heat. I wonder if yours is not getting much water!!

  • Kathleen W
    18 years ago

    usha,

    You are right, rosemary likes the sun. I was not in my right mind when I wrote that :) Actually it's planted on the north side of the house nearly under the overhang and it does look great. But at this time of year, almost all of it is in full sun.

    The other rosemary plant I was thinking of when I wrote that which is not doing so good in the sun is a slip from that 17 yr old mother plant I just described. It's only been in the ground about a year and is about 4-5 pieces each a foot or foot and half long. It's not so happy with full sun - maybe because it's still just a baby :)

  • dirt_dew
    18 years ago

    I do not know what variety of sugar cane I have. A Vietnamese lady gave me some sections with a joint on each end. I planted at a 30° angle with the upper end just above the ground. Each joint can send out new roots and/or new shoots. It likes water. It will soon take off and grow fast.
    You can cut off a piece and chew on the end.
    You can make tea with it. You can cook it in soups and sauces. Sugar cane is loaded with nutrition.
    It is ornamental and tropical looking. I have had some up to 18' tall. Mine has never bloomed.
    I chop some in the compost bins on a regular basis. When they make the "pure cane sugar", they remove everything but the white sugar. White sugar is high calories without the vitamins and minerals. What they have removed is molasses! The fresh sugar cane gives your compost a KICK. It increases the microbiotic action immediately.
    Bananas thrive on the result.

  • clarizonya
    18 years ago

    I am at higher altitude than you Phoenix and Tucson area people, but it has been around 100 for at least 2 weeks here. These are some things that are doing welll for me that I didn't see in the lists above:

    desert willow
    chaste tree
    purple robe (tree)
    gallardia (blanket flower)
    echincea (purple cone flower)
    morning glories (especially scarlet runner)
    mexican salvia
    blue salvia
    various agaves

  • Pagancat
    18 years ago

    Don't know why I only put blooming plants.

    Until today, I would've added my Artemesia 'Powis Castle' & 'Limelight'. When I got home at noon even my artemesias and ornamental pepper plant were wilted; I've never seen them do that before. And the pepper is at least 3 years old with a trunk with a 3-4" circumference.

    Wah! Somebody make it stop!

    Clarizonya (cute name!), unfortunately the last 10-15 degrees seem to make all the difference in the world to my plants -and certainly to me. I *wish* it were 100 again!!!!

    WAHHH!

  • Carrie_AZ
    18 years ago

    Gosh I hate this time of year. The flowers that are hanging in there are all in pots with morning sun and afternoon shade:
    Salvia
    Globe amaranthus (an everlasting)
    Coropsis
    Vinca minor
    Vinca major which is a climber does well in a pot.
    All colors of Lantana
    Sweet alysium in the shade
    Foxglove under the shade is hanging on, It even has a flower stock coming out of it. I am hoping it will hang on until the fall, I have to water it everyday, it was an experiment, now I know to plant the seed in the fall.
    miniture roses
    All my 72 roses doing pretty good but they are in the shade by late afternoon

    That is all I am dealing with it is just to hot to do anything outside. It is a little hotter here where I live, today was 123F I live 2 1/2 hours outside of Phoenix by Lake Havasy city.
    Carrie

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Dear Lord, Carrie, you are in the belly of hell. How on earth is sweet allysum surviving there? I haven't had one live past April, I think. Every bloomin' one I set out as a transplant croaked.

    I almost dread going out to check on anything this time of year. WHERE is the RAIN???

  • pepe85323
    18 years ago

    My tepary beans are doing real well. My corn, squash and mellon are doing OK. My hot pepper are mixed some well and some barely hanging on.

  • usha
    18 years ago

    TF..my sweet allysum(white) had been in a pot on the patio since fall. It is thriving undershade and I have been told that it is frost tender perennial.

  • sharonlf
    18 years ago

    I live in Lake Havasu City and it reached 125 on my thermometer today! Nothing in pots is doing well at these temperatures except for my plumeria and asperagus ferns.The plumeria get some early morning sun and then are in light shade the rest of the day. The asperagus ferns get more sun but are still hanging in there. My vincas have about had it even though they only get early morning sun.

    These plants n the ground are doing well:
    All palms
    All lantana
    Persimmons
    Red Yucca
    Bougainvillea
    Hibiscus
    Rangoon Creeper
    Creeping Rosemary
    Myrtle
    Deer Grass
    Little John
    Ruellia
    Snail Vine
    Incense Passion Vine
    Mexican Flame Vine
    Pink Knockout Rose
    Michelia figo (Banana Shrub)

    Once it started getting past 120 I have had to give the Ruellia and Mexican Flame vine more water but as soon as I do they perk back up. The banana shrub is in shade all day but is doing very well....no wilt at all. I was so worried that it wouldn't suvive. I am so excited about the Knockout rose and will plant more next year. It gets sun to filtered sun all day. My Black-Eyed Susan vine gets sun during the hottest part of the day and wilts conpletely. It comes back in the evening, but it sure can't take the heat. My big failure this year is my Ensete ventricosum Maurelli (red banana). It did well until it started getting past 110 regularly and then the leaves fried. If I can baby it through the summer I will try it with more shade next year.

  • bortukan
    18 years ago

    sonoran yellow bells (no flowers now, but growing FAST!)
    baja fairy duster (flowering now)
    "flame" anisacanthus (var. wrightii) (flowering now)
    chuparosa (no flowers now, but growing well)

    These four plants are growing fast right now in spite of practically every possible disadvantage: newly planted (in March), in full sun, clay soil under nasty gravel reflecting lots of heat! (I do water them every 5 days, since they are new.) Many thanks to the people on this forum who recommended them for this rough spot.

  • Carrie_AZ
    18 years ago

    tomatofreak, No kidding us gardeners out here are lucky to have anything still growing, but man we have great winters don't we. The Sweet alyssum(white & purple) that is growing is in the shade, in the ground, and I water it everyday, deep watering. It starting by the alyssum that was in my hanging pots in the spring, they dropped seed on the ground and they bloomed, the sweet alyssum is in a corner in the shade and is covering the whole ground, it is making a great ground cover. It has almost covered a whole corner. I think it is that I keep the ground damp and it is in the shade.
    Carrie

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Carrie, I did find one white allysum alive and thriving. Oddly, it's in a hanging basket. All the others in the baskets died a long time back, so I don't know this one's secret.

    I have to add another plant to my list. It's my Japanese eggplant. This one plant seems to ignore the heat and keep on growing. By itself, it has produced enough eggplants to contribute to some tasty dinners.

    About 3 tomato plants are hanging on; hope they'll produce come fall. All peppers still doing well - and producing.

  • hawaiisam
    18 years ago

    This is a very useful thread. I tallied the votes so far and the ones with multiple successes are:

    6 votes - lantana
    5 votes - vinca
    4 votes - peppers, salvias, rosemary, cacti, palo verde, roses,
    3 votes - red yucca, palms, hibiscus, asparagus fern, snail vine, bird of paradise
    2 votes - yellow dots, orange/yellow bells, creosote, muhlenbergia, gaura, zinnia, ruellia, natal plum, canna, cat claw, passiflora, bougainvillea, artemesia, little johnny, alyssum

    All others only have one vote so far.

  • Pagancat
    18 years ago

    I take back my vote for vinca - it finally shriveled this last week... wah!

  • Havasu_Tyson
    18 years ago

    I live in Lake Havasu as well; my lantana did not make it. I also had three mesquite trees that looked to be on their way out. Not sure if it was due to the heat or something else; I decided to have them removed last week. My palms are all doing great, just take lots of water. My boxwoods get the least attention and are probably doing the best. I don't think I could kill em if I tried.

  • fleurbaby
    18 years ago

    Taking stock:

    Chinese Elm is rebounding for whatever reason
    Tecoma 'Orange Jubilee'
    Cape Honeysuckle
    bogies
    Blue Cape Plumbago (going nuts, in fact; still blooming)
    gaura
    ruellia (pink and blue)
    confederate star jasmine (2 yrs old; not in bloom but still growing, west aspect)
    blue hibiscus (rescued as orphan, finally picking up a little)
    rosebushes are surviving, barely.

    There are a couple of mounding plants out by the orange tree that I planted last year that like that spot... greenish-gray foliage with bright blue flowers, don't remember the name. Also, those little creepers that look like miniature petunias are doing all right.

    That's just the backyard. The front yard looks like h*ll but it'll just have to wait until it cools off/dries out (post-monsoon).

    Crossing fingers that all will be well. I picked up some yellow dot orphans this morning at Lowe's... we'll see how they do!

    Fleur

  • katefisher
    18 years ago

    I am impressed with those of you who have been able to keep your plants going in the heat. Our weather is not quite so hot here in Zone 7 (Northern, California - Plumas County) but its definitely summer. I am looking for a tree that will enjoy being in extreme heat. The back end of our property is basically clay/rock "soil" and is covered with white rock. I want to soften this inferno with a tree and have been thinking about Golden Rain Tree. I relish any suggestion for what might take the heat out there.

    Kate

  • cluelessnoob
    16 years ago

    Hey guys. My experice as a gardner is VERY limted. As a matter of fact this is my 1st season of having a yard of any kind, but maybe this will make my experience more valuable.

    I am in Phoenix, by South Mountain. My soil is clay 6" on top of caliche. All planting but 4 mature plants are new as of late april. Here is what have not died SO FAR YET!!

    Lantana yellow and purple. Yellow blooming nicely time after time. Purple one is smaller and does not bloom as much but seesm to be hanging in there just fine.

    Honeysuckle (Mexican/Cape? not sure). One in the afteroon shade is HUGE and doing great but not blooming. 2 in the sun are smaller and some leaves are browned and burnet but it has nice new growth and blooming for some strangest reason in the world.

    Mesquite tree. Doing fine. It lost all the leaves and some branches dried out, but seems like it rebounded fine and putting out new growth just fine.

    Boxwood beauty. In the afternoon shade. Doing fine. Growing little by little. Can not find much info about care for this plant.

    Aloe. $3 tiny thing from IKEA. It was barely visible from the gravel. Afternoon shade. Grew up nicely and now about 12" or more and putting out new leaves.

    Oleander bush. Afternoon shade. Was blooming. Not anymore, but seems to be in fine shape, however not growing visibly.

    Pink Baja Fairyduster. Has some yellow leaves but also has new growth. Seemingly doing allright.

    Penstimon of some kind. Looked almost dead for like 2 month. But now it decided to come to life and put out a bunch of new leaves. So, i suppose its not bad.

    Desert prikly pear cactus. A bit whilted but seems ok.

    Purple prickly pear. Mostly lost its purpleness and somewhat whilted but seems allright.

    Ocotillo. Well..... Hummm........ Its ocotillo LOL Thorny twigs sticking from the ground. But seems like they are greenich in color under its bark and not brittle. So, i suppose they are Ok.

    Agave Americana. Somewhat dried up and not too great but probably will be OK.

    Ok, now for stuff that did not make it. Its 2 kinds of plants so far - Ice Plant fell 1st then Uonimous(?). Both in the full sun. Do not think they liked that.

    My Lemon tree looks pretty sorry with whilted yellowing leaves. Also, my 3 Italian Cypreses seem quite hanging there by a thin tread. erdict on those is to be determined.

    My mature trees (2 mesquites and polo verde) are doing just fine. Polo does not even get any water as irrigation does not extend that far, but it does not seem to mind too much. My mature agave of some kind, its in the shade, doing super good and putting out new babies.

    That is about all. I water shrubes every 2nd day and trees 1s a week. Cacti get water as i think they needed it.

    Eugene

  • stephanotis_1
    16 years ago

    Ruellia
    lantana
    vinca
    asparagus fern
    peach ginger
    bermuda grass
    purple fountain grass
    purslane
    bougainvillea
    canna
    hibiscus
    fantex ash
    giant BoP
    South African jasmine
    dichondra 'silver falls'

  • greenlust
    16 years ago

    I have clay/caliche soil in my yard. Only good side to it is hardly any weeds.
    Hibiscus, bogainvilla, orange bells, canna, rose, mexican BOP (no flowers), vinca, lantana, Arabian jasmine, cape honeysuckle, aloe, pomogranate, rosemary, gardenia (has small size leaves) grape (growing like a shrub)..still alive. yucca (spanishdagger) is struggling.

  • cluelessnoob
    15 years ago

    Bump!

  • desertmama
    15 years ago

    Hi there everyone ! I live in Bullhead City, 500 ft above sea level...gets pretty hot here in the summer, with temps topping 120-125; winter overnight lows have been known to be below freezing...close as can be to Paradise !

    Through trial and error over the nearly twenty years I've lived here, my favorite heat-loving plant has got to be the elephant bush...it looks like a succulent, very similar in appearance to a chinese jade, but with little tiny leaves...It is a very forgiving plant, never complains if it doesn't get watered regularly, doesn't complain about the heat, loves the sun...doesn't like being indoors though...and absolutely requires good drainage whether it's in a pot or the ground...

    Secondly, I love portulacas; they are considered an annual, but most of mine re-seed the next spring...they love the sun, look great hanging over pot rims, come in a large variety of colors, don't require daily watering...struggle with temps over 110, but bounce right back and bloom like crazy when the temp drops 5 or 10 degrees !

    I have two favorite trees: first is the Mexican bird of paradise TREE, not the bush...the tree has cascading yellow blooms in clusters, loves the heat, can withstand the drought conditions extremely well...they pop their seed pods and, BE CAREFUL, they'll sprout a new tree wherever the seeds happen to land !

    Secondly, my latest favorite tree is the willow acacia; I planted an eighteen incher last November; it is now October and the beautiful "baby" is now seven, yes seven
    feet tall, with weeping branches to the ground...It loves the sun; gets slow watering 2-3 times a week; it's evergreen !

    My latest purchase is a sky flower; it has beautiful delicate plumes of deep blue small blooms; it is supposed to grow to 15 ft tall, and ten ft wide; it does require water nearly every day if in the afternoon sun, but it's still in its pot, so that might lessen once it's in the ground...In looking online for additional info on this plant, I found that the orange/yellow fruit it produces is poisonous ! So I must plant it outside the fence, where my curious chow pup can't get at it !

    There's lots more, but I think I've put in much more than my two cents worth for now !

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