20 Tough Plants for Full Sun & Heat That Thrive All Summer
Every garden has its challenges that you'll need to tackle. For many people, full sun and high heat are among those challenges. Long term, you can create a lower maintenance landscape by choosing durable plants that are well-suited for sunny, hot gardens. Check out this list we recommend of the 20 best plants for full sun and heat.
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Successful gardens come in many forms, but to truly thrive, it’s important to understand the challenges of your garden’s conditions and choose plants well-suited for them. For many gardeners, long summers with intense heat and humidity are a major concern.
The good news is there are plenty of tough, durable options, including full sun plants and annual plants for full sun, that can handle these conditions with ease. Consider the annuals, perennials, and shrubs listed below if you face long, hot summers filled with many sunny days.
ANNUAL PLANTS FOR FULL SUN
Common Name: Caladium
If you live in the South, Caladiums are probably already a staple in your garden—and for good reason. They absolutely adore heat and humidity. Not only can they handle high temperatures, they actually thrive in them, making Caladiums ideal for climates with intense summer sun.
One of the things that makes Heart to Heart® Caladiums stand out from many other caladiums is their vigor, performing beautifully in both the North and South. If you’re looking to add a splash of the tropics to your Michigan garden, Heart to Heart Caladiums are just the right choice.
The second unique feature is that, in addition to growing well in partial to full shade, about half of the Heart to Heart varieties will thrive as full sun plants just as easily as they do in the shade. Keeping the soil consistently moist helps them perform their best in sunnier conditions. With nearly 30 varieties in the series, you’ll find a wide range of colors, sizes, and leaf shapes. Many of these are annual plants for full sun, making them ideal for mass landscape plantings, front-to-middle border accents, mono baskets, or combination containers on patios and decks.
12–24” height. 12–24” spread. Some varieties prefer shade only, while others handle sun or shade. Annual except in frost-free zones where they will overwinter.
Common Name: Egyptian star flower
If you live in a hot climate and have never tried Pentas, you don’t know what you’re missing - especially with our Sunstar series. Sunstar Pentas feature extra-large flower clusters - some nearly the size of hydrangea blooms - atop well-branched plants. They offer excellent summer durability, blooming reliably through high heat and humidity, and perform beautifully as both bedding and container plants in hot climates.
These medium-sized varieties are well-suited for the middle of garden beds and work equally well as thrillers or fillers in combination planters. Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds are drawn to their bright, colorful blooms, adding movement and life to your plantings. Sunstar Pentas are available in four vibrant colors: Red, Rose, Pink, and Lavender.
Uses: mono patio planters, combination recipes, pollinator gardens, in-ground beds
18-22” height. 16-24” spread. Part sun to sun. Annual except in zone 11.
Common Name: fan flower
This Australian native is as tough as they come. Fan flower has been grown for nearly 30 years in North America, but for a long time, the varieties available bloomed sparsely and had long, awkward branches. Our modern, refined Whirlwind fan flowers are packed with color and have a beautiful shape. They love heat, don’t mind low humidity or moderate drought, and don’t need much plant food to thrive. Bees will thank you for planting Whirlwind fan flowers.
Uses: upright containers, pollinator gardens, mass plantings in landscapes
8-14” height. 18-24" spread. Sun. Annual except in zones 10-11.
Common Name: Euphorbia
Diamond Snow® Euphorbia is similar to Diamond Frost®, but features double flowers and a denser, more compact habit. If you’ve grown any of our Diamond Euphorbias, you know that despite their delicate appearance, they are exceptionally tough plants. These full sun plants provide a reliable mass of bright white blooms all season in upright containers and also shine in landscape beds.
Like all our Euphorbias, Diamond Snow® thrives in heat and humidity and tolerates periods of drought, making it a low‑maintenance choice for summer gardens. For combination recipes, we recommend Diamond Frost®, whose airy stems weave easily among companion plants. By comparison, Diamond Snow® forms a denser, more defined block of color, making it ideal as an annual plant for full sun in patio planters, garden beds, or mixed combinations.
Uses: patio planters, garden beds, combination recipes, bright shade gardens
12-18” height. 12-18” spread. Part sun to sun. Annual except in zones 10-11.
Related: Drought-Tolerant Landscaping Ideas
SUNCREDIBLE® Yellow Helianthus
Common Name: sunflower
This everblooming sunflower has a tall, well-branched, bush-like form that makes it perfect for the back of the bed, planted as an annual screen, lined along a fence, or grown in a large container. The blossoms measure about 4” across and do not need to be deadheaded to continue blooming from spring to frost. If you prefer, you can tidy them up by removing spent flowers, and the more you cut for bouquets, the more blooms you'll have. Suncredible® Yellow sunflowers bloom far more prolifically compared to the type you grow from seed. They are great for pollinators like bees and butterflies, too.
Uses: back of the bed, pollinator gardens, cut flower gardens, large patio planters
24-36” height. 20-32” spread. Sun. Annual.
See more fall flowers.
Common Name: sweet potato vine
Sweet Caroline sweet potato vines offer rich foliage colors, a variety of leaf shapes, good vigor and a well-behaved habit. Their vigor allows them to mix well in combinations without overwhelming the other plants in the container. They also perform beautifully as a dense and evenly spreading groundcover in sun and shade conditions. Whether you grow them in cool northern sun or hot southern climates, you’ll notice they have superior color retention in full sun compared to older cultivars.
Sweet Caroline Medusa™ Green, pictured in the container recipes above, features unique palm-shaped leaves that are unlike any other sweet potato vine. The plant's shape is more mounded and less trailing with overlapping leaves. One university trial manager told us she didn't know she could ever love a green sweet potato vine, but she loves Sweet Caroline Medusa Green.
Uses: annual groundcover, recipe combinations, hanging baskets, patio planters
6-16” height. 20-36” spread. Part sun to sun. Annual except in zone 11.
Sweet Caroline Upside™ Ipomoea
Common Name: climbing sweet potato vine
These climbing sweet potato vines will climb their way into your heart and stay there all season. Available in two colors, Sweet Caroline Upside Key Lime and Sweet Caroline Upside Black Coffee, these vigorous annual plants for full sun will twine up a trellis, obelisk, fence, or other support in a single season. When planted in containers without upright support, they spill gracefully over the edges with long, trailing stems. These full sun plants also perform beautifully in the landscape, where they can grow as an annual groundcover. Thanks to their resilience in heat and humidity, these versatile vines are an ideal choice for adding bold color and texture to summer gardens.
3-6’ height. 1.5-3’ spread. Part sun to sun. Annual except in zone 11.
Common Name: Lantana
This series of landscape-sized lantanas features a broad range of flower colors on large, densely branched, mounded plants. You can expect all Luscious lantanas to bloom non-stop all season without deadheading, as they set little to no seed. This series is perfect for people looking for low maintenance, heat and drought tolerant, long-blooming, pollinator-friendly, deer resistant flowers.
Luscious Royale Lemon Tart™, which is relatively compact golden yellow Lantana. Luscious Citron™ is a softer shade of yellow and a larger plant. It's perfect for adding a large splash of color in the landscape without needing to use too many plants. The third newest addition to the series is Luscious Basket Tangeglow™. Tangeglow is a unique golden yellow and orange plant with a bit of red. It has a somewhat horizontal growth habit which lends itself well to planting in hanging baskets, although it still works well in patio pots and landscapes as well.
Uses: pollinator gardens, large patio planters, middle of the bed filler, low maintenance gardens, beyond the hose planting areas
20-30” height. 20-30” spread. Sun. Annual except in zones 9-11.
Common Name: Salvia
The Rockin' salvia collection is filled with large, bushy cultivars that are an absolute magnet for hummingbirds, bees and butterflies. Most are selections of Salvia guaranitica, which means they form robust plants topped with long spires of large, two-lipped blooms in shades of blue, purple and magenta. One member of the Rockin' series called Playin' the Blues® is a cultivar of Salvia longispicata. It stands up to four feet tall and bears narrow spires of bright violet blue flowers that bees love to feed from all season. All Rockin' salvias thrive in heat and can tolerate some drought stress once established.
Uses: middle of the bed filler, thriller in patio planters, pollinator gardens, low maintenance gardens
Size varies by variety, but is generally 2-4' height. 24-30” spread. Part sun to sun. Annual except in zones 9-11.
Common Name: Salvia
You might think this plant looks a lot like Rockin’ Playin’ the Blues, and you’d be right—with one key difference: its size. This salvia grows to about half the height, topping out at under two feet tall and about one foot wide. Its compact habit makes it easy to combine with other full sun plants in container recipes or to use at the front of garden borders.
Its true blue flowers attract bees and butterflies and bloom prolifically from spring through fall without deadheading. Like many of our annual plants for full sun, this salvia thrives in heat and humidity, and its aromatic foliage adds natural deer resistance.
Uses: front of the border, thriller in small and medium-sized patio planters, filler in large patio planters, window boxes, pollinator gardens, low maintenance gardens
14-24” height. 12-16” spread. Part sun to sun. Annual except in zones 8-10.
Get more recommendations and advice from Janey in her Best for the West series.
SUN-LOVING PERENNIALS
Common Name: coneflower
Join the coneflower craze with this collection of single flowered, brightly colored coneflowers. Their stocky habit, large flowers with horizontally held petals and long bloom time all create tremendous beauty in your landscape. These blooms are pollinator magnets and during late fall to winter, the seed heads serve as food for birds. There are currently six varieties available: ‘Orange you Awesome’, 'The Price is White', 'Frankly Scarlet', ‘Yellow My Darling’ 'One in a Melon' and 'The Fuchsia is Bright'. Stay tuned for more colors coming in this series in the future!
Uses: pollinator gardens, middle of the border, thriller in patio planters, late summer color
18-24” height. 16-20” spread. Part sun to sun. Perennial in zones 4-8.
Common Name: rose mallow, perennial hibiscus
While perennial hibiscus are fairly well known, they are still vastly underutilized plants for the landscape. Our Summerific series is incredibly heat tolerant, surviving zone 9 summers but also overwintering well in frigid zone 4. Gone are ten-foot-tall hardy hibiscus with sparse flowers. Summerific varieties range from 3 to 4 1/2' tall and produce tons of huge flowers - up to 8 inches wide - from midsummer to fall.
Here are some fabulous Summerific introductions. ’Edge of Night’ blooms with 7-8” bubblegum pink flowers with dark veining. Its jet black foliage is the darkest we’ve ever seen on a perennial hibiscus. It is really a stunning plant. ‘Valentine’s Crush’ blooms with gorgeous, vibrant red flowers on dark green foliage and ‘Lilac Crush’ blooms lavender pink with cool blue undertones. Both have flowers with thick, overlapping petals which helps them withstand summer thunderstorms better. All of these Summerific perennial hibiscus have fantastic garden presence and blooms prolifically for months. Grow them in place of shrubs to provide structure and tropical flair to your sun garden.
Uses: specimen plant, mass planting, deciduous hedgerow, pollinator garden
Size varies by variety but generally 5.5 - 5’ height. 4 - 5’ spread. Full to part sun (full sun for purple leaf varieties). Perennial in zones 4-9.
Common Name: perennial Salvia
This series includes four outstanding perennial cultivars of Salvia nemorosa, prized for their prolific blooms in late spring and early summer, with reliable rebloom through summer and into early fall. These full sun plants offer excellent landscape durability, with strong tolerance to heat and humidity but also the cold. Unbothered by deer and rabbits, they are highly attractive to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
Although they are perennials, their vigorous growth and dependable summer performance allow them to stand out alongside annual plants for full sun in mixed borders or container combinations. Profusion® salvias will light up your garden every summer.
Uses: summer color, pollinator gardens, deer resistent gardens, borders, provides summer color
14-20” height. 16-20” spread. Full sun. Perennial in zones 3-8.
Common Name: stonecrop
Rock 'N Low varieties of stonecrop make fantastic groundcovers with interesting, colorful foliage and summertime blooms that attract pollinating bees and butterflies. They thrive in heat and handle tough growing conditions with ease. Try growing them as no-fuss groundcovers in full sun gardens, rock gardens, in crevices of stone walls, or between stepping stones on a sunny pathway.
There are currently two plants in this series. ‘Boogie Woogie’ (pictured here) is a fun variegated groundcover with green and cream foliage that gives the plant a bright look all summer. In early to midsummer, the plants become sprinkled with yellow flowers. 'Yellow Brick Road' is similar in habit, but has smaller, more finely textured, solid green leaves that become totally covered in vibrant yellow flowers from mid to late summer.
Uses: perennial groundcover, rock gardens, low maintenance gardens, beyond the hose gardens, front of the border, pollinator gardens
6-8” height. 16-24” spread. Full sun. Perennial in zones 3-9.
Common Name: stonecrop
Rock 'N Grow varieties of stonecrop have a taller, more upright clumping shape compared to Rock 'N Low varieties, and they bloom later in the season from late summer into fall. We've taken great care to select only varieties that have strong stems and a tight habit that won't split open once the plants are in bloom. One of the best things about these plants- bees and butterflies will adore them as much as you do. Plus, if you leave the seed heads standing in the fall, they provide food for birds.
'Lemonjade' is unique in that it bears lemon yellow flowers instead of the traditional pink - a color that may work better with your fall color palette. 'Coraljade' has the same rich green foliage as 'Lemonjade,' but its citron green buds open to soft coral pink flowers. 'Back in Black' has near-black foliage and unique flowers with cream petals and a deep garnet red center. 'Tiramisu' forms a wide dome of bronze-green foliage topped with pink buds that open to cream flowers. 'Midnight Velvet' forms a broad dome of deep purple leaves topped with rose red flowers and dark red seed heads.
Uses: perennial gardens, rock gardens, low maintenance gardens, beyond the hose garden, pollinator gardens.
Height varies by variety but generally 16-22” height. 26-32” spread. Full sun. Perennial in zones 3-9.
Common Name: stonecrop
This collection of stonecrop includes shorter, tight dome-shaped, non-spreading varieties that grow about twice as wide as they are tall. Like Rock 'n Grow varieties, they have been carefully trialed and selected for their tight habit that won't split open late in the season. Towards the end of summer, when many other perennials are finished blooming, these stonecrop varieties come into full glorious bloom much to the delight of bees and butterflies.
‘Pure Joy’ produces a solid mound of light pink flowers that completely obscure the foliage when in bloom. It has become a garden staple for the late summer and early fall garden. Other varieties that offer the same perfectly mounded shape and prolific flowering as 'Pure Joy' include ‘Bundle of Joy’ with white flowers and ‘Pride and Joy’ which has darker pink flowers. 'Popstar' produces coral pink blooms atop blue-green foliage. ‘Bright Idea’ blooms much earlier than the others in the collection, with sunny yellow flowers that cover the dark green foliage in early summer.
Uses: pollinator gardens, fresh late summer color, front of the border plant, low maintenance gardens, flowering groundcover.
10-12” height. 16-20” spread. Sun. Perennial in zones 3-9.
SHRUBS FOR SUNNY SPOTS
Common Name: juniper
Montana Moss® juniper is a low-growing evergreen juniper that contributes appealing texture wherever it is planted. Soft-to-the-touch, blue-green foliage resembles moss or maybe even something from the under the sea. It makes an excellent edging or groundcover and pairs nicely with all colors of both buildings and plants. Deer resistant and sun-loving!
Uses: groundcover, edging plant, front of the border, mass planting
2-4’ height. 3-5’ spread. Sun. Hardy in zones 4-9. Flowering shrub.
Common Name: crapemyrtle
Crapemyrtle is a summer stunner with colorful blooms from midsummer to fall. But why wait all season for conventional crapemyrtles to do their thing when you can plant one with fabulous foliage that shines all season? Center Stage crapemyrtles delight with deep, purplish black, mildew resistant foliage and vividly colored blossoms that appear earlier in the season. Though they were bred in Michigan by Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs, each of the varieties in this series have demonstrated excellent heat tolerance in Florida trials.
Uses: hedge, specimen plant, mixed border, mass planting.
6-12’ height. 8' spread. Sun. Hardy in zones 6b-10. Flowering shrub.
Want to Learn More?
- Explore our Pinterest board of Drought Tolerant Plants.
- Watch this video featuring 5 heat-tolerant perennials.
- Learn how to keep your annuals blooming strong all summer in this article.
