Lantana.

if ALL that stuff dies out.. as soon as the heat of summer hits.. then you arent watering enough ..

and the solution is not a drought resistant plant .. because such do not live a few feet off the ground in cement pots that wick all moisture out of the media ...

speaking of which.. the most important thing in the pot is the media.. not the plant.. what are you using.. do you replace it every year???

soooo.. whatever you decide.. try to double your watering.. and see if you cant at least get them to live thru late summer ...

ken

if you don't want to keep up with watering, go to your local nursery and find native plants that will thrive without attention. Rhode Island summer? SMH.

Do you have irrigation pipes in that area? If you do, you can connect a line to the irrigation and run it to the pots, so they get watered regularly.

Hi

Last year was unusually dry but I do water at least twice a week during the summer. It is the bloom time fades mid summer , looking for ideas that blooming would last through fall if thats possible.

Saturn

Most potted annuals are heavy feeders and need regular fertilizer. I add a slow-release fertilizer to the soil when I pot them up, then apply a weak liquid fertilizer (organic) every one to two weeks (general gardening advice is "fertilize weakly weekly"). Deadhead ruthlessly. And water, more frequently as the summer goes on and the flower roots take up more pot space. Also, if you're not replacing or at least improving the potting soil in the pot every year, do that. If this is more work than you want to do, consider planting dwarf shrubs or conifers in your pots. You'll still have to water but no deadheading and less fertilizing.

I love lantana in pots. I get the brightly colored pink with yellow or orange. I have seen some at a neighbor's house that get nice and tall. Great summer annuals.

Yes. Lantana. We have tons of deer and they never touch lantana. Also rarely need watering

I have read where Lantana is an irratant to the skin is this accurate?

IMO the pots are too small so that is part of the reason for die back. Get pots that are a lot larger diameter and taller the a mix of taller plants, ones that tril over the edge and ones that are shorter I love seet potato vine for full sun and trailing, I think wahter ever shorter flowering plant that does well in yiur area for those and then I think someting tall like canna. I have never had an issue with squirells and my cannas . I agree a time release fertilizer , I water every AM in the summer and the roots needs room to grow so I start my annual in pots quite early and I live wher eit gets cool in the early spring so i cover mine at night for the first while . If you want that type of pot then get larger ones and use a plstic pot for a liner. any convrete or clay pot just sucks up all the water .

How often are you watering? Surprised that coleus are not thriving. I have not found lantana to be a skin irritant and I have unusually sensitive skin. You do have to deadhead them a lot if you want them to look great.

I think the scale of your pots is kind of off for the size catnip you have around the base. They seem to be swallowed up in it. I'd either get bigger pots (major investment I know) or find a way to raise these up somehow. Is there another part of your property they may look better in?

Pot is 14” in diameter and 3’ high

I water twice a week in mid summer when weather is hot

I think you are not watering enough. Twice a week could be enough watering for plants in the ground but because all sides of the pot are exposed to the air, the water evaporates very quickly. In the extreme heat of summer I water daily. I live in NYC.

I think coleus, if you water frequently, is great bang for your buck. If you pinch them back very early in the season, then they will grow explosively and will give you great fullness. I've had them in pots on a roof deck baking in the extreme full direct sunlight and they thrived.

I was going to suggest Coleus too. No waiting for blooms, thrives on heat, sun, but many of them would get taller than the requested size.

Some very long-blooming plants for sun, but none will appreciate getting too dry:

Salvia coerulea cultivars

porterweed

Pentas

Plumbago auriculata

Madagascar periwinkle / Vinca (Catharanthus roseus) cultivars

Mexican heather (Cuphea)

Lantana (but most would outgrow those pots quickly)

Zinnias

I agree about coleus , however I made the mistake of ordering Scarlett Wizard coleus for that specific area and I dont think it is good for a sunny area.

Deb I really like these and will look into them further thank you!

I have a giant pot of erigeron karvinskianus. It is a tiny, dainty plant which expands to make a cloud of little daisy blooms which will carry on flowering up until Xmas and beyond. Like a longer lasting gypsophila. Can manage on twice weekly watering whereas nearly all of my pots need daily watering from late spring onwards.

E karvinskianus sprouts out of every wall and masonry crack round here. If I have it in any pots it has put itself there. But I let it be. And I never water it. But it does need a hard haircut once in a while.