Bloom Day - Hot Colors for the Hottest Month

I guess anywhere in the northern hemishpere, August is going to be the hottest month. For this month's Bloom Day I thought I would feature hot colors, which are my favorite. I usually try to plant a good number of annuals to carry me through our long summers, and they have to be able to take the heat. For foliage color, I always plant Margarite Sweet Potato Vine, Sun Coleus and Purple Setcresia (which has been perennial for me lately). For flower color I usually plant a few of the same things every year, but I always try something new with varying degrees of success.

Impatiens are a given for shade, but I am getting tired of their relentless need for water, and these are just under the porch roof and get very little rain.

One annual that has made my plant-every-year list is Profusion Zinnia. Once they kick in, they bloom non stop, without deadheading, until they are pulled out in the late fall. This one is Profusion Orange and ...

... below is Profusion Fire.
I can not say enough nice things about Lantana. I wrote a small article for the company E-newsletter on the plant and read more than anyone would care to know about the topic. Even though it is highly invasive in some parts of the world, that is not a problem in areas that have a winter. The first one I bought was reliable Miss Huff, which is very hardy for us, but give her plenty of room.
New Gold is sold as an annual and last year I had three, and this one came back.
I am not sure which one this is.
Here is a whiskey barrel I planted at work with Confetti Lantana, Purple Angelonia, Chili Willi Peppers, Angelina Sedum, Creeping Jenny and a thornless Opuntia.
This is Tiki Torch Coneflower and it is the first Coneflower I have bought in years. When all of the new varieties were coming out, I tried several and all of them died. The species comes up voluntarily for me every year and they take a lot of abuse and still thrive. I told myself that I would not plant another named variety, but when I saw this color I forgot all about that. My apologies to Benjamin in The Deep Middle for showing yet another Coneflower cultivar. If you follow the link you can read what he had to say about the topic back in March. Here is a Dahlia that has come back for me twice.
Hypericum does not normally rebloom for me, but this one is putting out again.
I also rely on houseplants and tropicals to fill in the late summer gap. This is just a Crown of Thorns, but it is the only red flower that my camera could capture without excessive saturation. What is it with red flowers and digital cameras?
Not so much hot as warm is the Pat Austin rose. This was a warranty return from customers who bring back way too many plants. I told them there was nothing wrong with it and if they had given it more water it would have been happier. I took it home just to prove them wrong. I hope they read my blog.
Thanks once again to Carol at May Dream Gardens for organizing a fine mid-month party. Pay her a visit and see what other gardeners are growing.