Azalea and dogwood blossoms in April, roses in Could, our gardens faithfully bless us with times to celebrate no matter of the period. But what, you may be asking yourself, is truly worth celebrating throughout the steamy pet dog days of summer.

For me, it is a decide on team of herbaceous perennials, non-woody vegetation that die-to-the-ground in the wintertime and gloriously spring back to daily life in late spring. That said, a single perennial especially grabs my interest through mid-summer heat: Hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos). Like Sleeping Beauty, this remarkable, and underutilized, perennial takes its sweet time waking up in the spring. But by the time peak summertime heat arrives, it is producing impressive supper-plate sizing flowers that visually have the backyard.

Massive tropical hibiscus bouquets turn heads and are the talk of the neighborhood from mid-July by way of early tumble. While their tissue-thin flowers dwell only a day or two, they are immediately and continually changed by newcomers. This morning, I was greeted by around a 50 percent-dozen large new bouquets on a solitary plant. And I thoroughly assume this explosive “wow, glimpse at me” greeting to proceed for numerous far more months.

In spite of their tropical glimpse, hardy hibiscus is chilly-hardy in the course of Oklahoma. They also are extended lived. The beauties in my perennial garden were planted eight yrs back, and they present no symptoms of allowing up. They also are amongst the simplest of perennials to grow.