When the summer sun shines down on your garden, do your trees enjoy the light and heat, or do they gradually wither and fade? In part this depends on the length of your summer drought, but it also depends on what kind of trees you plant.

Tree Species That Can Survive the Summer’s Heat

When you’re looking for new trees for your garden, what species should you choose? If your region historically experiences a long drought in the summer months or if you’re currently in a prolonged drought, you need to be careful with your tree choice, or your new tree may not succeed. When you’re considering a new tree, think about your overall climate as well. If you live in a place with severe winters, a semi-tropical tree won’t be suitable.

Here are some trees that don’t mind drought and heat:

• Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) is a common street tree
• American Elm (Ulmus americana) is an excellent shade tree
• Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) is slow-growing and drought tolerant
• Schubert Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana ‘Schubert’) also bears fruit
• Maple (Acer campestre ‘Elsrijk’) many different maple trees are fairly drought-tolerant
• Gleditsia (Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis ‘Sunburst’) unique and beautiful foliage

When you’re looking for trees that resist drought, look for trees with smaller leaves and waxier leaves. These characteristics help your trees maintain moisture levels. Look at the first species that appear in your area after a site is disturbed. These species are generally tough and able to withstand hot, dry conditions.

Plan New Plantings Carefully

In the spring and summer, we’re often outside, and we tend to plant annuals in profusion. Those gorgeous bedding plants aren’t meant to last more than a season. However, when you’re planting a new tree or shrub, you’re planning for many years of enjoyment. This means that you need to avoid the summer months and plant at the right time so that your tree can establish easily. Fall is a good time to plant your perennials. Get your plants into the ground before it freezes, and plan to plant at the tail end of the dry season, when rain and snow will give your tree some moisture and let it establish itself before spring.

Landscaping Solutions for Your Summer Trees

When it’s a baking hot summer, your landscaping needs to support your landscape plantings. If you have a yard that’s naturally contoured, watch where the water flows and plant your trees there, as long as the area is not waterlogged. This area will maintain the most moisture, even in the heat of the summer. If you have a flat yard, consider contouring it so that water flows toward key landscaping plants and settles into the soil above or around the plants.

Use your drainage system to your advantage. When it does rain, direct your drain water into the garden. Make sure that your gutters are flowing clean after the spring so that as much water as possible can make its way through those gutters and toward the garden plants.

Once you have that water, hold it in the soil using mulch. As summer approaches, add mulch around your trees to keep the moisture in once you’ve watered. Add mulch such as leaves in the fall, so that your soil becomes complex and holds a lot of water, prolonging water supplies when they are scarce.

Do you want to make sure that your gutters and downspouts are a low-maintenance and productive part of your landscape? Consider adding a gutter cover to make sure the water flows easily, no matter what the season. Visit Lednor Home Solutions. We’ll make sure that your landscaping is ready for everything that autumn brings. Contact us today for an estimate.

Written by Del Thebaud