Tropical Thoughts: Flowering shrubs for summer settings
Summer’s warm embrace offers endless possibilities for outdoor entertaining. Whether you’re planning exhilarating pool parties and backyard barbeques, or you wish to engage in more serene, romantic dinners on the patio, make sure your landscape looks inviting all summer long. Turn your garden into a luxuriant tropical paradise by incorporating exotic plants like hibiscus, Duranta repens, dipladenia, Ixora, and night blooming jasmine. Any of these sultry shrubs can add charisma to your landscape and festivities with their alluring hues and abundant blossoms.
Tropicals thrive in full sun to partially shaded areas, depending on the variety, and continue blooming long after spring-flowering plants have lost their vigor. Although most tropicals are not guaranteed to survive Louisiana winters, their incessant display of color is well worth the sacrifice. Tropical hibiscus, for example, native to southern China, performs exceptionally in our warm, humid climate. Known for their large, flamboyant blossoms and prominent eye-catching stamens, hibiscus can easily enliven landscapes with their crepe paper funnels and rumpled, double blooms. Their vivid hues of orange, red, pink, yellow, and white magnanimously decorate the shrub’s glossy, forest-green foliage.
Relatively fast growing shrubs, hibiscus average four feet in height, making them perfect for patio containers or poolside beds. For optimum performance, give them fertile, well-drained soil, taking care not to let them get overly dry. Integrate hibiscus with spring and summer flowering favorites like althaeas, ‘Frost Proof’ gardenias, buddleias, and ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome. Include also other tantalizing tropicals like dwarf allamandas, Tibouchina, and blue plumbago. Hibiscus are sensitive to temperatures below 45 degrees F, so they will need winter protection if you wish to keep them for the following spring. Move potted hibiscus indoors for a frost, or cover any in the landscape during a freeze.
Another outstanding shrub is Ixora coccinea, a semitropical evergreen native to India. This popular flowering shrub is a member of the family Rubiaceae, which also comprises pentas, Rondeletia leucophylla ‘Panama Rose’, and gardenias—reliable companions for Louisiana landscapes. Ixoras average three to four feet in height, but can be easily kept at two feet if necessary. Their oblong, leathery leaves spread to four inches in length, with new foliage opening in rich, bronze hues before turning a deep, glossy green. Throughout the growing season, brilliant shades of pink, red, orange, or yellow offer a gorgeous contrast to their dark green leaves. Tiny tubular flowers, barely two inches in length, form clusters of elaborate colorful globes, as they entice butterflies and hummingbirds with their nectar-packed petals. Line swimming pools or patios with summer flowering Ixoras, or incorporate them as accents near Texas sage, Mexican heather, ‘Cuban Gold’ duranta, and tropical hibiscus. Integrate ‘New Gold’ lantana, ‘Fireworks’ pennisetum, and ‘Profusion’ zinnias.
Consider planting Duranta repens for continuous color from spring through fall. This Brazilian beauty not only proves a much hardier shrub than hibiscus and Ixora following a severe freeze, but it is more resilient in terms of leafing out in the early spring. A fast growing shrub, Duranta averages close to six feet in height, making it a superb accent in the landscape. Its long, pendulous branches retain their fullness throughout most of the year, whether they hold flowers, berries, or merely their elusive, scalloped-shaped leaves. Depending on the variety, Duranta blooms lilac-blue, white, or purple flowers, each one only a half an inch in diameter. Flowers droop loosely in clusters from tantalizing, arching limbs and are shortly followed by grape-like bunches of golden yellow berries. Another favorite for butterflies and hummingbirds, these ‘Brazilian Sky’ flowers will no doubt be luring winged guests to your tropical Eden. Plant tree-form Duranta singly in containers to enliven patios and decks, or integrate shrub varieties in flowerbeds near ‘August Beauty’ gardenias, ‘Purple Diamond’ loropetalum, and ‘Kaleidoscope’ abelia.
Dipladenias, commonly confused with mandevillas, their popular climbing cousins, are compact flowering shrubs that exhibit slight tendencies to vine. Though the original pale pink variety reached four to six feet in height with its wanton, slender tendrils, newer cultivars like ‘Rio Pink’ and ‘Rio Red’ promise neat, well-kempt habits for use in patio pots, flowering borders, and beds. Dipladenias prefer full sunlight and well-drained soil. Large trumpets of hot pink and crimson instantly heat up sultry summer gatherings as they brilliantly resound from glossy, deep green leaves. Enliven patio planters and poolside beds with ‘Rio’ dipladenias, and heighten their show in landscapes by incorporating blue plumbago, ‘Knock Out’ roses, and compact Tibouchinas. Include also ‘Jethro Tull’ coreopsis, ‘Nanho Blue’ buddleias, and bush allamandas.
Bush allamanda, another pick for pots, grows three to four feet tall, and blooms iridescent lemony yellow flowers. Its glimmering trumpets spread almost two inches long, and cast a remarkable glow against sleek, dark green leaves. Allamandas thrive in full to partial sunlight, and prove outstanding companions for ‘Rio Pink’ dipladenias, compact Tibouchinas, ‘Lady Elsie May’ roses, ‘Fireworks’ gomphrena, purple fountain grass, and ‘Mesa Yellow’ gaillardia.
No summer setting is complete without night blooming jasmine. This stylish shrub offers refined splendor with its elegant form and elusive blooms. Averaging six feet in height, night blooming jasmines favor full to partial sunlight and fertile, well-drained soil. Their long, arching branches stretch quickly as temperatures rise, and are laden with small, creamy-white flowers from spring through fall. Its narrow, tubular blossoms are exceptionally fragrant from late night to early morning, making it ideal for incorporating near gazebos, patios, or pools. Add even more interest to your garden after dark by planting moonflower vines, Nicotiana sylvestris, and other white flowering favorites like ‘Cooler Coconut’ vinca, ‘Easy Wave White’ petunias, and ‘Heaven Scent’ gardenias. ✦
