The Best Plants for Hazy, Hot, Humid St. Louis

You’re back from vacation and heat still has a stranglehold on St. Louis.  You’ve got clothes to wash, a car to clean out and piles and piles of mail to sort through.  You’ve got so much catching up to do, you actually forgot about your containers and hanging baskets outside.  The kid down the street watered them for you while you were gone, but you’ve been so busy, it slipped your mind.  Slowly walk outside, chanting a silent prayer that they’re still alive. Uh oh…a few are clinging to life, but the majority have passed to the other side. 

As if you didn’t have enough to do, now you have to repair or replant all your containers.  Don’t fret; the plants that did survive can be used again.  The ones that didn’t can be added to the compost bin and can serve to teach you what annuals are the best for our St. Louis summers.

First of all, you need to know where to buy nice plant material when it’s 100 degrees outside.  A few of the nurseries that never let me down are Ahner’s on Manchester Road in Des Peres, Summer Winds on Clarkson Road in Ellisville, and Dauster’s on Creve Coeur Mill Road in Maryland Heights.  All three nurseries take care of their annuals, trimming and fertilizing them all summer long. 

OK, back to the matter at hand- your baskets and containers.  If the foliage is crispy and dead at the roots, I suggest yanking it and placing it in the compost bin.  Plants that lost a lot of foliage, but are still green at the roots, might snap back with a hard pruning.  Remove most of the foliage, leaving 4 to 6” of green growth.  If you have empty pockets in the container, dig out some soil and pop a new annual in place of the dead one.  If you have a container that is mainly dead, but has one last holdout that managed to survive, remove the entire plant from the container and, using your hands or a pruning saw, cut away the survivor.  Save it for another planting. 

You’re staring at this unbelievable mess in front of you.  Empty hanging baskets.  Half-filled containers.  Dead and dying plants.  Plants hacked away from their pots and sitting, naked, on your patio. 

Go ahead; feel sorry for the whole lot that lost their lives to the heat.  Shed a few tears, wipe your eyes and move forward. 

Grab your keys; I am going to steer you towards the best plants to bring home to have you feeling good again.  I’ve already told you where to go to purchase plants, point your car in the direction you prefer and drive. 

While you’re shopping, don’t forget the potting soil.  I suggest Miracle-Gro “Moisture Control” potting mix.  It has fertilizer and water-retentive polymers mixed into some great soil.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this very thing happened to me.  I knew I could learn from my watering mistakes so I jotted down the plants that tolerate “HazyHotHumid” and unreliable watering. 

The plant that survived (and actually thrived) was Elephant ears.  It didn’t matter if they were ‘Lime Zinger’ or ‘Black Magic’ or ‘Colossal.’  Nary one perished.  My Mandavilla vine didn’t miss a beat.  Another surprise was Sweet Potato Vine.  Whether it was in a container, window box or hanging basket, they all survived. 

Ditto for Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost.’  Dusty Miller, Sun Coleus, annual Plumbago and ‘Senorita Rosalita’ Cleome pulled through.  Dicondra ‘Silver Falls’ looked as good as the day I left for vacation.  A big disappointment was my beloved ‘Supertunias.’  My favorite color, Vista Bubble-gum Pink, resembled twigs. 

As you can see, the list of great heat-tolerant plants is long.  Pick a “Pillar,” such as Mandavilla vine or Elephant Ear, a “Spiller” like Sweet Potato Vine or Dichondra ‘Silver Falls,” and a “Filler” like ‘Senorita Rosalita’ Cleome, Dusty Miller, or any of the Sun Coleus and you’ve got it made. 

Fill the container or hanging basket with good soil, carefully chosen plants and a dose of liquid Miracle Gro and you’ll be off to a great start, even if you forget to water them once in a while.