Award-Winning Plants Will Keep Your Garden Beautiful Until Frost
The arrival of June is when gardeners in the South double down on making sure they have selected plants that, barring an unprecedented weather event, will bloom until frost.
Award-Winning Plants Will Keep Your Garden Beautiful Until Frost
The arrival of June is when gardeners in the South double down on making sure they have selected plants that, barring an unprecedented weather event, will bloom until frost. That totals out to a 150-days plus. If they bloomed all of May too, then we could round that up to 180 days or more, which means a half of a year.
That is a tall order for a Georgia summer, but The Garden Guy has three plants to recommend that not only will bloom into December, but will bring in hummingbirds and butterflies until you see the frost on the pumpkin so to speak. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that these three plants have been perennial in my zone 8a landscape for the last four years.
 Luscious Marmalade lantana attracts |  Luscious Royale Cosmo lantana sizzling and Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo petunia. |  Luscious Citrus Blend attracts a |
Luscious® Lantanas
There are 12 selections in the Luscious lantana series and despite being listed as hardy to zone 9a, mine have been coming back in my garden which is just northwest of Columbus, GA. I expected catastrophe after December’s Arctic blast, but this was simply not the case.
Picking a favorite is hard but I love Luscious Marmalade. The orange is so vibrant and plays so well with blue companions. I also love Citrus Blend, Royale Red Zone, Citron and Golden Gate. Luscious Royale Cosmo is incredible. It is a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colors and you would swear it had an innate ability to choose its colors to work with companions. I’ve had several species of butterflies visit it and it for sure is a hummingbird favorite.
 Rockin Blue Suede Shoes salvia brings in a Ruby-throated hummingbird and a bumblebee. |  Rockin Blue Suede Shoes salvia with Luscious Royale Cosmo lantana. |  Rockin Deep Purple salvia brings in a Ruby-throated hummingbird. |
Rockin’® Salvias
This is another surprise from the standpoint of both hardiness and size. Rockin’ Playin’ the Blues is a Salvia longispicata x farinacea hybrid that is expected to be perennial in Zone 7a and warmer. It has been a surprise for its proclivity to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. But then again, it was the winner of Dallas Arboretum’s Best Pollinator Friendly perennial award.
The real surprise may be the Rockin’ salvias that look to be Salvia guaranitica hybrids. The three colors are Deep Purple, Blue Suede Shoes and Fuchsia. These are all listed as Zone 9 and warmer perennials but over the last four years, all of mine have returned. It was shocking how quickly they recovered from 11-degree lows.
My Rockin’ salvias actually started blooming in April which points out another plus or minus and that is the enormity of their size—all over 4 feet and one over 6 feet tall. These are definitely the hummingbird champs but it is amazing to see how they are also favorites of swallowtails.
 Augusta Lavender heliotrope in a magical setting with Luscious Citron lantana and Truffula Pink gomphrena. |  Augusta Lavender heliotrope brings in an assortment of butterflies including the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. |
