{"id":190296,"date":"2026-09-12T07:19:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T12:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/?p=190296"},"modified":"2026-09-12T07:19:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T12:19:22","slug":"survivors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/survivors\/","title":{"rendered":"Survivors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Zinnia grandiflora<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few plants flourished despite this year’s brutal summer. These include Zinnia grandiflora<\/em>, above. It’s a low, spreading plant two or three inches tall with profuse yellow flowers all summer. Unlike the familiar garden zinnias, it’s a hardy perennial. It’s easy from seed and blooms the first year. Triple-digit temperatures don’t bother it, and it can tolerate considerable dryness, though it does bloom better with regular watering. It would make a good ground cover for dry places.<\/p>\n

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Melampodium leucanthum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Melampodium leucanthum<\/em>, the blackfoot daisy, also endures heat and drought. It grows larger than Z. grandiflora<\/em>, up to a foot high and two feet across. It’s easy from seed and blooms the first year. Both of these are native to southwest Kansas.<\/p>\n

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Rudbeckia subtomentosa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rudbeckia subtomentosa<\/em>, another Kansas native, continues to flourish, blooming profusely in midsummer. It’s about five feet tall. It can survive some drought, but it is definitely happier with regular watering.<\/p>\n

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Rudbeckia subtomentosa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Ceratostigma plumbaginoides<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blues are almost always welcome, and plumbago is a excellent source of the color.<\/p>\n

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Salvia “Big Blue”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Salvias are often good sources of blue. The “Big Blue” hybrid attracted many bumblebees in a sheltered, partly-shaded spot, but it was not happy out in the hot, sunny places. I can’t recommend it for Kansas.<\/p>\n

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Clematis seed head<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clematis seed heads are as interesting as the flowers.<\/p>\n

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The watcher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hawks patrol the neighborhood, circling above my yard when I mow the lawn. One will occasionally sit in the elm tree north of the house and watch as I drag the hose around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few plants flourished despite this year’s brutal summer. These include Zinnia grandiflora, above. It’s a low, spreading plant two or three inches tall with profuse yellow flowers all summer. Unlike the familiar garden zinnias, it’s a hardy perennial. It’s easy from seed and blooms the first year. Triple-digit temperatures don’t bother it, and it … Continue reading “Survivors”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[692,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-botany","category-photo-gallery"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xam3-Nvi","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190296"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190303,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190296\/revisions\/190303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shuffly.net\/zoop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}