Top 5 Shrubs for the Heat🔥 

THANK you! We're seniors and want to have bushes that need very little maintenance. (Water, pruning,...etc). I watched your videos years ago and chose Rose Creek Abelias for up against a brick wall, next to a driveway that gets intense Summer afternoon heat and you were spot on. They are thriving with practically no attention in Marietta GA, zone 7B. I always look to you first on youtube. ❤

I have many of these plants and can attest that not only do they survive our weeks of 90+ degree temps in south central Pennsylvania (Z6), they also make it through our winters, when we have overnights below freezing for weeks on end, and even single digit. My Sunshine Ligustrum is in full sun all day, near a street, hasn't been touched since I planted it, and doing great. I've had Abelias in north-facing deep shade and 90% sun with no problems. They flower but it's really the foliage I go for. The Marvel Mahonia is doing great in mostly shade with moisture, but the flower cluster was so big it broke off from the weight! Several Viburnums doing well in sun/shade. The Callicarpa at my old house got the most attention of anything in my front yard because of the iridescent purple berries. After the birds finished them off in late winter I cut it almost to the ground. Have Clethra in full sun and mostly shade. Another one not mentioned in this video but bulletproof and no maintenance where I live is Nandina.

Just found your channel Jim! Thrilled to find someone who gets southern heat. We garden in zone 7A. It’s been a long hot summer. Revamping my landscape for next year based on your recommendations. Thank you. Your yard is gorgeous.

Very nice …but I have to say I’m jealous of your heat Zone lol. I’m in hardiness Zone 9a In central Florida but it’s heat Zone 10. Our Limelight Hydrangeas are all currently crispy brown since the end of July, even with only 3 to 5 hours of direct morning Sun 😞

I have 5 Rose Creek Abelia that I'm going to plant along the driveway. I first saw them at the VA hospital in Wilmington in the middle of the parking lot, in the summer heat! It caught my eye right away and I knew I'd have to have it!

Great information as always! Thank you Jim!

SO helpful!!

Great suggestions for the hot, southern summers

Always so much good stuff. Your channel is like an encyclopedia of plants. If I could only start to actually retain some of the information. In time I guess. Beautiful as always and certainly one of the most active gardens around - always bees, butterflies and birds.

Great info!

Thanks for showing some that work in zone 6!

Loving your garden. Mixes of great bloomers. I’m in zone 9 in central California.

Thank you Jim for this excellent video they always help 🪴🌺🪴

Thank you

Great info! Im in 9b with long hot summers.

I planted 3 abelia after watching another of your videos. They have grown quite a lot in just a couple of months already. I’m very pleased with them and appreciate your videos so much!

Thanks for putting the hardiness in you chapter titles. most of those plants will not grow in my climate .. but it's nice to find some that do.

Surprised to see that Abelia will bloom in shade. I thought they had to be full sun. Awaiting the tree crew coming today to remove our old ailing - and leaning toward the house - maple tree. So sad to see it go, but it has become dangerous. Excited to see how much more sun I will now have out front. I plan on putting in some abelias along with a few groundcover roses I have rooted. As always, thanks for the list.

I have the cestrum in my garden and it definitely can take the full sun and humidity without any problem. It is kind of awesome that it can be over 6ft tall and not require kid gloves for care

Helped me figure out why some of my shrubs are doing well while others aren't. In 6b, 7a and my 1st year Encores are barely hanging on in this 90 plus heat! Thanks for all the info you provide!

I love these abelia shrubs but have still not got one. I'm a sucker for anything variegated and this dwarf one could be the one. I'm gonna go looking for this one tomorrow !

I've found that in South Carolina the best time to plant is October or march

Planning to start my own RU-vid channel similar to yours down in Charlotte, NC (7b, 8a) I've been subscribed for some time now and wanted to say thanks for the inspiration.

Gorgeous shrubs. Thanks for letting us know which ones are truly tolerant of high heat in the Southeast. Do the blooms of all Mahonia varieties have the same fragrance? I only have 'Soft Caress' at this time, but plan to have more varieties.

I'm not familiar with Viburnum nudum, but I'm sold on it now. Your Abelias are stunning!

I just planted 4 abelia, the variegated like yours, and 3 are in the shade about 85% of the day and they are doing amazing. I also like that they are evergreen!

I have flirt nandina, reblooming red azelea,chinese fringe flowers, distylium, yoshino cryptomeria, crape myrtle, Carolina Sapphire in our new landscaping. ALL are based on having watched this channel. Your channels has helped me tremendously to be a successful gardener in zone 7A east TN having come from a zone 5 in Chicago. Thank you for all you do!

I find the best for summer heat and sun are nandina, ligustrum (privet), loropetalum, and china girl hollies.

Thank you fort this vidéo, kind of new subscriber (1 month or 2), greetings from France, going to check about your old vidéos about sunshine ligustrum which i want to purchase

bougainvilla! It seems to thrive best on hot reflective walls in full sun

Number 1 is amazing. I wish I had them, beautiful?

I love the variegated abelia. I live near Richmond, VA (7a). Do you know if a variegated abelia will be an evergreen in my zone? I believe in cooler zones they can be a simi evergreen but I don’t know where the cooler zone starts for them and if 7a falls into that area or not. Thanks for all of the amazing videos.

I got one. For heat. Carolina Safire.

Abelia radiance looks very similar to the lemon one! We love ours in our full sun garden bed in TX zone 8a

Hi Jim. If you have a side yard, approximately 20 ft wide and you want to plant one beautiful plant for some privacy for the backyard, which would you plant? You have so many great ideas! Thought you were the most knowledgable person to ask. Thank you for all you do!

Hi Jim I went to add the Mahonia to my list and just double checked the zones and they're stating zone 7-9.

Funny, my Miss Lemon looks much darker or more yellow than yours. I have some wild branches that need trimming.

This is a helpful channel as I’m in Nashville woods, also 7b, but with deer pressure. My soft caress mahonia has really browned, can they be cut back and resprout?

Just found your videos and they are great! I’m in Dallas area with black gumbo clay. How do these shrubs do in this soil or do I need to amend it? Thanks for any info

Is there a dwarf variety of sunshine legustrum?

My two abelias have let me down and I’m so sad. We’ve had 3 digit heat here in zone 8b and my plants get all day sun. Just too much for them, I guess. I’m thinking I better stick with natives,

Jim, that Night Lights Chamaecyparis is beautiful, and it's hardy in my zone, but I've never ever seen it in garden centers. Was that shrub hard to find in your area, or did you buy it from a specialty nursery? Yellow foliage shrubs are among my favorites because they really seem to brighten an area in the landscape. Have a great Labor Day weekend! ~Margie

Your hydrangea looks so fresh and bright still. Mine starts to look aged and turn brown right after July :(

Have you heard of the griselinia littoralis used in the U.S.?

I need help my garden burns I am in Killeen tx 76542 is 100 plus and I love gardening my zinnias are burn !! Ido t have srubs I love your garden I don't have shade in my yard

Does anyone know what the pink ball flowers are? I saw white balls earlier.

I planted a clethra late last summer here in central MS zone 8b. Am still waiting on flowers. When should I expect it to bloom? Interestingly I have a pieris planted Feb 2021 that is currently putting on flower spikes.

I have Mahonia in full sun and in mostly shade and it does well in both, too. Although slower growing in shade, it means I don't have to prune it at all. Just the standard Oregon Grape Holly, not a cultivar, not sure if that matters.

Looking at your channel, but live in California Central Valley between Merced and Sacramento. Using your zone system, what would our zone number be?

There are almost too many Abelia choices. I just finished as article covering 90 cultivars and we then found 2 more from Europe. Alot of the better, non-invasive (sterile or seedless) ones are nearly impossible find in the retail market but they are coming.

Because of the viburnum borer catapiller, I stay away from viburnum in the Midwest.

I have a gardening question for your next Q&A session: I recently had a soil test done for my perennial border. Phosphorus level is very high (105 ppm) and the Potassium level is low (21 ppm). Nitrogen is not tested. How do I fertilize?

Will limelight hydrangea take full sun? I moved to zone 9a in FL. I've only had terrible hydrangea experiences in zone 7 with endless summers and dont want to get burned again :)

Can you name some that are common to find in most nurseries, Home Depots and Lowes..

I love the Sunshine Ligustrum, and if I lose one more Pittosporum Tenufolium, Silver Sheen, I will change them out. 😥 Thank you! 💚

9a 104 degrees and 85 humidity?

So I went online to find the Cestrum Parqui and only once I got to the cart did I realize the nursery I was ordering from is maybe 10 minutes from me! Pick up in store is the best kind of free shipping. Have you been to Plant Delights nursery on Saul's Road?

My variegated Abelias aren’t doing as well as yours. Mine seem small and woody. Now a lot of leaf structure. What could be wrong? Zone 8b full sun. Thanks

I was surprised you didn't mention nandina. I have several varieties and love them all!

What perennials can you recommend that are deer resistant? Are Viburnum deer resistant? That's one of my favorites that you mentioned in this video. Zone 8b, South Carolina. Thanks!

Would all these plants do well in large pots?

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I live in a zone 6a area, when you say a plant can grow in a zone 6 does that qualify me to be able to grow that plant? I know it sounds like a silly question, but I’m not sure if a 6a or a 6b qualifies in a zone 6 area. I suppose I could look it up and see what the temperature ranges are for each zone? Is a zone 6 different than an a or b. I’m old and it gets confusing ☹️🌺💚🙃

What happened to your Chinese Fringe tree? Thought it might make this list...

Where should a man in the triangle find some V. Nudum and C. Parqui??

I thought beauty berry was native to japan named after their queen

Your full sun isn't close to houston full sun. No rain for 5 weeks. None of this works here

Not even a 'runner up' mention for butterfly bush? Not a lot of plants that perform well in 16 hours of full sun and 100F temperatures but butterfly bush certainly does. I get leaf burn on my sunshine ligustrum in all day sun here in Dallas, they perform much better for me with some afternoon shade and look fantastic in part sun locations.