Landscape plants that are heat-beaters are difficult to find.  Some are just too prim to withstand the really hot summers of late.  What equation should we use in determining the best for the situation?  Check your garden after an especially long, hot summer to see what not only survived, but also have potential to be the backbone of your sizzling summer landscape.

   I scouted my garden, after 100 plus degree heat, looking for these workhorses that plug away, even under the most trying conditions.  There are shrubs that survive the heat, and even seem to welcome it.  I wilted every time I stepped out, but these garden gems stay fresh.  Granted, I did irrigate during this heat wave, but there are some other unhappy plants that didn't fair so well, even with water.

   There are two exceptional landscape heat-beaters.  The first defeaters are abelias.  Back in their glory years, abelias were overused and abused.  Public landscapes that got low-or-no-care became their planting beds, giving them the nickname "gas station plants."  I have never stuck up my nose at a common plant.  There is good reason favorites return to the garden line-up year after year and generation after generation.  They look good under dreadful conditions.  They endure heat and neglect.  There are days, sometimes weeks, when we have to abandon the garden.  Our disappearance, no matter how temporary, can be deadly to a team of rookies.