Texas summers are hot and dry! Many people, including myself, have failed to grow plants or have been too intimidated to garden. By May, the days reach the mid to high 90s, with June, July, August, and the beginning of September being brutally hot and dry. Summer weather can be quite predictable with clear blue skies and a bright, blazing sun that cooks the earth till all land is yellow, dusty, and screaming for relief. Many of our plants, including some weeds, go dormant during the July and August periods, making the summertime one of the hardest growing periods in Texas.
Though Texas summers pose hardships, implementing many gardening and land management practices keeps plants alive and your garden beautiful. One of those strategies includes the plants you grow during those hard months. Here is a list of six favorite summertime plants that make gardening doable for anyone, even beginners.
Okra (Burgundy)
Okra comes first on the list for many reasons. The first is okra produces a lot of fruit rather quickly for an extended period of time. You can do many things with okra, from frying, steaming, putting it in various soups, pickling, or even eating it raw. I have tried all these and there are countless recipes to try. If you don’t like okra one way, there is likely another way to enjoy.
An excellent quality is that the okra itself isn’t as slimy compared to other varieties. This variety also stays soft without getting too woody if left on the stem for too long. The results are large, tender fruits tasty enough to eat.
The second reason is okra grows like a weed in hot, dry conditions. Like all plants, okra needs some help when it is young. Make sure the little plants are taken care of until they get established. Once established, okra loves the heat and can tolerate dry conditions. During the drought of 2022, our okra grew as tall as me and produced until the freeze in mid-November. That's a lot of fried and pickled okra!
A third reason is saving okra seed for next year is super easy. Just leave a few fruits on the stem and wait till they become woody and dry. We harvested the seeds two weeks after the first freeze (Nov. 11). You can tell the fruit is ready for seed saving when it loses its color and is brittle to the touch. Peel back the outer edges of the fruit, and pea-sized balls begin to fall out. These ball-shaped seeds must be dried thoroughly before storing them in a cool, dry place for next spring.
Another reason why I like okra is their beauty. The plant grows tall with a sturdy woody stem and massive dark green leaves. When everything else is yellow and dormant, your okra will be an oasis of green.
The flowers are gorgeous, too. If you have okra plants, you will have many flowers bloom through the summer and fall. The flowers are large and easily seen with their cream-white petals and deep maroon-shaded centers against the plant's dark green leaves.
Eggplant (Galine variety)
Eggplant is another beautiful and hardy plant grown in the summertime. Like okra, eggplant will produce fruits up until the first freeze. Eggplants do not grow as tall but still grow quite large with massive green leaves, beautiful light purple flowers, and large, deep purple eggplant fruit. The key with eggplant fruit is knowing when to pick them and how to prepare them. When the eggplant begins to lose its shiny, glossy purple skin and dull a little, it's time to pick. Don't take your time, though. Once the eggplant becomes too dull and the purple coloring turns a yellowish or reddish purple, the eggplant may be over-ripe. If you take an eggplant too early or too late, your fruit will be bitter. If that happens, slice the eggplant thin and salt the slices. Leave them out for half an hour before preparing them and covering them with a ton of cheese! There are many opinions on when to harvest and many easy tips and recipes for how to eat eggplants.
Eggplant is not as hardy as okra but still durable in consecutive hundred-degree days. You will need to irrigate regularly, and keep an eye on the plants till temperatures cool in the fall.
Tomatoes (Sun Gold Cherry variety)
As a new gardener, tomatoes are the bane of my existence but a necessity in any summer garden. Most large tomato varieties, like big beefsteak and roma, have given me trouble. They require labor, including repetitive pruning and trellising, but are still doable. The cherry tomato varieties, especially sun gold, have been the easiest to grow during the summer. The heat will get to your tomatoes, but they should continue to produce throughout the summer, with a very productive period in the fall.
I like this variety because it is forgiving in the heat. You can prune and trellis repeatedly so that every plant has airflow and place a shade tarp over your plants, protecting them from the sun. You will receive healthy-producing tomatoes that taste great through the spring, summer, and fall.
Mexican Marigolds
Look for these gorgeous flowers if you want a great companion plant that adds color through the summer and fall. These plants can be direct seeded right after your last frost to give them enough time to grow and establish before the dry, hot summer temperatures become the norm. The Mexican Marigold will grow tall, reaching three to four feet, before producing vibrant orange and gold blossoms.
This plant is super hardy, taking the summer conditions like a champ with some durability against cold temperatures during late fall and early winter. To ensure that your marigolds bloom through the summer and fall, deadhead or remove the blossoms as they wilt and expire. This allows the plant to continue producing colorful blossoms.
Marigolds are great companion plants like eggplants and tomatoes. Many people believe that marigolds deter certain pests like nematodes and tomato hornworms.
Since marigolds bloom for a long time, they are great for pollinators. When the summer hits hard and other flowering plants no longer produce, the bees will thank you for the consistent food source given by your marigolds.
Native Asteraceae family
The asters are a large group of flowering plants that include sunflowers, dandelions, coneflowers, daisies, and many more. Fortunately for us, Texas has numerous native asters that love the natural soil and climate of the beautiful Lone Star state. Take some time to research and play around with many who call Texas home. My personal two favorites are the sunflower and the blackfoot daisy.
While driving down the highway in central Texas, you will find tall, healthy sunflower fields through the summer months. Sunflowers do incredibly well in our climate and self-seed prolifically. If you let your sunflowers drop their seed, you will most likely have sunflowers growing with a vengeance the following year. I love sunflowers for this reason. They are easy to grow, beautiful, and tall. If you plant them west of your other plants, they can provide cool shade from the western sun at our hottest time.
In addition to the seeds, the entire plant, from roots to the flower is edible. You can make a slaw or mashed potato substitute with the roots. Young stems can be eaten like celery. Salads are made with young leaves. Petals and entire flower heads are eaten in various ways, too.
Blackfoot daisies are fantastic for their ability to grow in arid and rocky soils. Walking around central Texas up in the hills where topsoil has eroded away, many blackfoot daisies grow happy. For this reason, ensure you have your black foot daisies in well-draining soil, preferably a more sandy soil, and mulch with gravel. For the first year, water regularly to establish.
The Luffa
Looking for a plant you can both eat and use to wash the dishes? The Luffa!
The luffa belongs to the same family as the cucumber. As a young fruit, I found it tastes like an earthy cucumber. Others say it reminds them of summer squash. If you don't eat the young fruit, let it dry out on the vine, giving it airflow and keeping it off the ground. Eventually, the green fruit will turn brown and become very brittle. You can peel away the outer skin and extract the seeds for next year's planting. The dry, spongy material of the luffa is used to wash dishes and is composted when no longer in use.
In addition to its uses, this plant does super well in the dry heat. When our other gourd family plants struggled with the elements and pests near the end of the summer, this plant was green, growing, and producing. The only thing is that it can't do cold temperatures. Once that first frost or freeze hits in November, you will have a lot to clean up since the vine can cover an impressive amount of ground.
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