Neil Sperry 
Plant it cool
Include some pastel-hued blooms in your flower beds for a soft summer garden
Special to the Star-Telegram
I've been a fan of "cooler" shades in my summer garden for many years. As much as I love bright reds, yellows and oranges, I really prefer to see them when temperatures start to fall in September and October. Until then, I find cooler pastels of pinks, lavenders, blues, soft yellow and even greens a lot more appealing.
So plan your color beds with a focus. Know the color scheme you're trying to follow. You can mix complementary shades of pinks, blues, soft yellows and purples, for example, and each will play off the others. Avoid a really strong color that might draw attention from the rest of your bed. Schedule bloom times, too, so that there will always be plants flowering as others finish up for the season.
1 Pentas are a mainstay of my summer garden. They actually do best where they're given sun until early to mid-afternoon, then a little shade for the balance of the day. You'll find red, white and lavender pentas, too, but pink types are the most refreshing. Grow them in the ground or in pots. They're terrific either way. And, the butterflies think so, too.
2 'New Blue Wonder' fan flower (Scaevola) is a comparative newcomer. It's an Australian flower that made its way to Texas in the early 1990s. It's a trailing plant that produces lovely blue flowers all summer and fall. You can plant it in beds or in hanging baskets. Keep it moist and well nourished, and it will take charge from there.
3 Lantanas are "flame-proof." There's never been a summer too hot for this venerable Southwest Texas native. As long as you keep them moist, they'll perform from now until frost. Trailing lavender lantana is handsome, as are those with blends of pinks, soft yellows and creamy white.
4 Cleome is a taller plant, although new hybrid types tend to stay more compact. Also called "spider flower," it blooms along extended, wispy stems. The flowers are light and airy, almost like spider webs dancing in the sun. They tend to reseed heavily, but most of us don't mind. A little mulch and infrequent cultivation can easily dispatch the unwanted seedlings. Use this heirloom plant toward the back of the floral garden. It grows to 3 to 5 feet.
5 Purple coneflower is the most photogenic perennial of all time. It establishes clumps, and it blooms freely from late spring well into summer. Also known by its botanical name, Echinacea, the improved forms of this native wildflower sport blooms in all shades of lavender-pink, creamy white and many others. The showy central "cones" give the plant its common name. It grows to 18 to 24 inches tall, and needs at least 8 to 10 hours of summer sunlight.
6 Brugmansia is a showy sister to our native moonflower (jimsonweed, angel's trumpet). However, the native plant is in the genus Datura and holds its white, tubular flowers upright. They open late in the day and close the next morning. Brugmansias, by comparison, produce blooms of many shades, most of them pastels, and its flowers hang downward. They're typically 4 to 8 inches long, and often stay open for more than a single night.
7 Phlox is a hot pink color. Since it must be grown in shade, however, the intensity of its color is subdued by the shadows. However, Texas A&M has identified another summer phlox variety of merit. In trials, it held up to Texas' summers as well as the old heirloom type. It was named 'John Fanick' in recognition of the respected South Texas nurseryman. It is now carried all over Texas.
As for foliar color, it can either be variegated, or a bright, cooling shade of green. Dark and medium green tones are wonderful. Be careful, however, in using yellow variegated plants; many of the gray-leafed types and even red-leafed trees tend to fade or scorch in the summer. Hollies, nandinas, cleyeras, ivies and fatsias are all examples of plants with cooling green foliage. Ceniza and gold spot euonymus, by comparison, are not.
