LADYBUG SAYS...GRUELING SUMMER DEMANDS DURABLE PLANTS

Flowers everywhere! Flowers overflowing gardens, in beds, in containers. Flowers everywhere! This is a dream garden, but not this year. Our gardening scene is not as those pictured in the mail order catalogs, but one of survival of the fittest of the flowers that have endured our torturous summer.

In spite of continual watering some of the annuals look brown and crunchy, more like a new bran cereal than the way they are pictured. We need durable plants for a grueling summer.

Possibly we need to pursue more durable plants for the garden, so we do not blame ourselves for the brown crunchy plants. The weather seems to be changing and we need to look for tougher plants that will take the weather Nature throws at them.

The National Garden Bureau offers suggestions of several plants that are recommended for enduring our scorching summers. Since this is practically the end of the gardening season, we shall try to report on many of them.

Possibly the most enduring of all summer annuals is vinca, which are truly heat tolerant annuals. Native to Africa, their waxy lush foliage grows rapidly in full sun. Recently new cultivators have been introduced and should be available at garden centers in the spring. One of the biggest pluses of this plant is their reseeding. One entire bed here came up on its own. Pretty In rose is an outstanding new introduction.

Portulaca or Moss Ross is definitely a hardy annual. It has distinctly round, fleshy leaves like succulants. Native to South America, portulaca plants need little water once established. Their tissue paper like petals close at night. Flower colors are scarlet, pink, fuchsia and cream. We recently noticed a large bed of portulaca at a commercial institution.

Petunias are one of our most popular annuals and they will thrive on drought conditions once the plants are established. Native to Argentina, petunias are available in a rainbow of color choices for bedding plants or hanging baskets, with new ones being introduced every year.

Fibrous rooted begonias are native to the tropics and once established are durable and need less water than most other annuals. Reliable bloomers in full sun, their colors are pink, rose, red and white with bronze or green foliage.

Marigolds are easy to grow and unsurpassed for their versatility. Vegetable gardeners prize them for their unique ability to repel pests from the vegetable crops. There are many, many varieties including Snowdrift, the culmination of decades of white marigold research by Burpee.

Salvia is both heat resist and drought tolertant, blooming in full sun. It used to be there was only the red, but now there are many colors, including white, which has not bloomed as profusely as the red here.

Sunflowers are sometimes planted by squirrels or chipmunks. These native North American flowers are heat and poor soil tolerant, and easily grown from seed. They grow from one foot to 10 in height. Sunflowers are the "in" flower in bouquets for interior decorating this year.

Coreopsis, sometimes called Pot of Gold, is native to North America and come in yellow or red daisy like flowers. Easily grown, they often reseed.

Children are attracted to the plumes of celosia, because the flowers do not look like ordinary flowers. They grow easily from seed and will reseed. Heights vary from six inches to four feet. Their plumes are great for drying for winter arrangements.

Zinnias are native to Mexico and prefer hot and dry weather once they are established. A wide range of colors and heights are now available. They catch the essence of summer and make a showy splash of radiant color. Flowers range from a dainty two-inch to a whopping seven-inch wide. Some have quilled petals, some are ruffled, and still some plain. They make outstanding cut flowers.

Cosmos, also native to Mexico, range in height from a dwarf form of 12 inches to a bushy six feet tall. Very heat and drought tolerant, they prefer infertile, but well drained soil for prolific blooms. Cosmos are available in a wide range of colors from yellow to scarlet, to pink, rose and white.

Nicotina or Flowering Tobacco, a native of South America, is one of my favorites, but this summers' heat was too much for them. Last year their pink, rose, red, lime and white blooms were held above the lush green foliage, but this year they had the brown, crunchy look of bran cereal.

Others that are said to be drought resistant are cleome, (spider plant), butterfly weed, globe amaranth, yarrow and morning glory.