DR. RICK—IN MY GARDEN
Dr. Rick Schoellhorn (1957-2023)
has been a confirmed plant nut since the age of nine years old when he discovered growing plants from cuttings. He has traveled most of the globe for over seven years as Director of New Products for Proven Winners® before his retiremen. Rick loved to garden on his three acres in northern Florida, and worked to help Proven Winners find the best in heat and humidity tolerant plants. The most beautiful place he ever visited was Cape Town, South Africa, and his favorite plant was the genus Plectranthus. (1957-2023)
Top Plants That Will Bring Color All Summer Long in the South
 | Another plant that loves hot, full sun, all day and rewards me with mounds of golden globes all summer. Simple, low maintenance & easy. Good in landscape or containers and plays well with other plants. |
 | Sweet Caroline & Illusion® Ipomoea Ornamental Sweet Potatoes, these plants LOVE heat and humidity (Heck they were bred in North Carolina!), as long as watering stays constant and they are in full sun to light shade. They have vivid colors and great textures! They can get BIG though (I have seen them grow 30” in a week when they are happy) and if you are gardening in a small garden try the Illusion® for finer texture and more controlled growth. |
 | More great foliage colors and textures, with reduced flowering, good in full sun to part shade. Most of these were bred for full sun in Florida, so they are amazing in our climate. They flower so late most folks never have to worry about deadheading, and they are trouble free but do need regular water. |
 | Lantana has gotten a bad name in the south for being invasive. The Luscious® Series were selected for not producing seed, and since they don’t produce seed they flower even more profusely than regular lantana. They like full sun, love the heat and humidity, are easy and have reduced seed set, so they focus on flowering. Landscape or containers, they will do well for all southerners! |
 | Diamond Frost® Euphorbia Hybrid It is so rare to find plants that are amazing everywhere in the US, but Diamond Frost® is one of those.In containers it is the perfect light and airy mixer adds a froth to any mixed combo, in the ground it blooms all season and gets about 24” tall in mounds of tiny white flowers. Can’t call it perennial in my neck of the woods, but sometimes it comes back and sometimes it does not. Bulletproof and perfect for a lazy gardeners like me. |
 | Again this is hybrid using a Gulf Coast native species, so it LOVES heat and humidity, even though it is sold as an annual it has come back for many years in my garden forming a carpet of daffodil yellow flowers. Friends in my area are using it as a ground cover around their pool and it looks great! Just don’t crowd it among a lot of other plants, it needs the sun and bare ground to root and spread. |
 | Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum II Supertunia® Vista Bubblegum II |
 | Forget everything you know about Alyssum because this plant looks like one, but acts like it loves the heat and humidity! She will flower all summer long, but loves the fertilizer and water so keep her moist. Keep her happy and you will be rewarded with cascades of sweetly scented flowers that will bring back memories of your northern garden! Due to her water needs, she can be difficult to keep looking great in hanging baskets so use her in large planters (the larger the better) and in ground plantings. |
 | So rewarding, plant just after last frost, come back when they have grown 6-8” and removed the tops, they branch out fill in a provide color from March through September or until freeze. She is very easy to care for and she will show off 3-4 feet of constant lavender blooms all summer long. A lavender haze across the garden all season long. South Central and southern Florida – watch out for stem borers, north Florida and the rest of the South, no worries. |
