Best summer flowers to plant in the garden or patio

The summer heat is frying the delicate winter annual flowers such as impatiens, petunias and pansies. With much tender loving care, you may be able to cut back your impatiens, relocate them to deep shade, and keep them alive over the summer.

Several summer favorite flowers to plant now are colorful and can live up to the challenges of the heat. Perslane and portulaca both do well this time of year. Often confused, the perslane has the larger, flatter leaves. The portulaca has the rounder, cylindrical leaves. Both flowers close up at night and open mid morning.

Pentas do well year round and are always a welcome addition to any garden. The red and pink varieties attract the most butterflies, followed by the white and purple. The red and light pink grow the tallest. The purple stays the shortest. They can last for a few years and are considered perennials.

Caladiums are grown in the summer for their showy colorful leaves. There are a multitude of variations in color. However, the nurseries only stock a few of them. They proudly show off their leaves until the autumn, when they start to decline. Do not throw them out, the bulbs revive again in late winter.