We all worry about our plants when it is this hot.  Here are some suggestions to help them and you deal with prolonged heat.

• Cut any pretty flowers now you may want to take inside.
• Deadhead other perennials if the bloom is gone.
• Try to have a layer of mulch or leaves, pine straw or grass on root system of smaller plants (you do not need new mulch).
• Water directly on root system with hand held hose.  Sprinklers for a long time waste water and just do not do the job.
• If your foliage is perky in the morning but droopy at night, that is OK.  You would droop too.
• Plants take in water through their leaves, so you can give them a shower of water in the a.m. or at night.  Do not do this at midday or it could burn the leaves.
• Water pots every day.
• Do not fertilize right now.  It pushes the plant to bloom when all it wants is to rest.
• Remember, wet warm conditions promote fungus so take it easy with night watering where water sits a long time.

Christie lives in Manakin Sabot , Virginia where she manages a 3 acre garden. Her blogs are written from her 35 years as a personal and professional gardener.