5 Genius Plant Heat Stress Solutions to Beat the Worst Heat

When you choose native plants, you select species adapted to the heat and drought conditions of your region. It’s hard to go wrong. These plants have evolved to handle temperature extremes, dry spells, and erratic rainfall patterns. They require less water, less pampering, and they tend to bounce back faster after stress.

In the mid-Atlantic, where I practice, I often suggest:

• Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica) is an excellent, wispy grass for part-shade to full-shade conditions. I like to plant this grass under large, thirsty trees because once it establishes, it needs very little water.
• Purple Coneflower (Echinacea) grows in the driest conditions and is ideal for pollinator-friendly color.
• Serviceberry (Amelanchier) is an understory tree that I like to specify for its structure and edible berries.
• Mealy Blue Salvia (Salvia farinacea). This plant is an excellent way to add consistent color to dry, sunny beds. Although it’s a native of Texas, it thrives in the worst conditions in the northeast.
• New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus L.) is not an easy plant to transplant because it sends out deep roots. I like to recommend that my clients buy them in small #2 containers and let them grow into their new home. I want to use New Jersey Tea because it’s drought-tolerant and has a short stature. Ideal for planting under windows.

If you’re reading this blog article from a different region, a local nursery or landscape pro can guide you toward species that fit your site’s conditions.

Here is a funny story from when I first started my career. When I first graduated from the University of Texas, I looked more like a high school junior than a college grad. I had a client from Minnesota who insisted on planting hydrangeas in a west-facing planting bed on the front of the new Texas house, because that’s what she had on her before.

I was a year out of school, so I had limited knowledge of plants. However, one thing I remembered from my planting design class was never to plant azaleas, hostas, and hydrangeas where they’ll receive full sun and reflective heat from a structure. When I told my client, a middle-aged lady with decades of gardening experience, that hydrangeas wouldn’t be the best choice for the front, she smiled at me with a ‘bless your heart’ kind of look.

The only trees in front of the house were the newly planted ones we had just installed. We planted seven ‘Pink Beauty’ hydrangeas in early March. The twenty-four-inch-tall plants put on a six-inch flush of growth by the end of April. I came back to see dark, healthy leaves that made me second-guess my limited plant knowledge.

I received a call in May from my Minnesota client, who reported that her hydrangeas were wilting in the afternoon, despite her maintenance contractor having set the automatic irrigation system to turn on every other day. However, they would perk up after she provided them with additional water using a garden hose. By June, the supplemental water was no longer helping. They were all yellowing with scorched edges, just barely hanging on because of plant heat stress.

Luckily, they were able to stay alive until the first cool week in October. They had gone dormant and were just pale green stubs with a few yellowing leaves when we planted them on the side of the house that received morning sun and afternoon shade. By the following spring, all seven hydrangeas had recovered and were putting on new growth. They were smaller than when initially planted by the landscape contractor. Still, by summer, they had grown a little bigger than their original size. They made a full recovery.