High summer brings us many wonderful things, floral stems that bear fresh flowers at a time when the gardener is sometimes ready to give up. Some brilliant new hybrids have hit the market, setting their aim at the summer season, extending the show well beyond May and June. One such new selection comes from Hydrangea paniculata, the panicled hydrangea, this one an adorable dwarf version that only grows to three feet tall.

Arriving with a matching adorable name 'Bobo', this little cultivar flowers for many months with white flowers that age to a nice pink in fall. With its short stature, it nestles in nicely with perennials, billowing and filling in spaces between Russian sage, lilies, and cone flower. The flowers are borne on new wood so a trimming in early spring will help grow more floral stalks. Cold winters or winter damage are of no consequence, unlike the lacecap and mophead hydrangeas. Best grown in full to part sun, the panicled hydrangeas are very garden worthy.

Another new introduction is a summer flowering veronica, one of a series, a hybrid of V. longifolia named Veronica 'First Love'. Hybridized by the Dutch breeder Rene van Gaalen, his work includes summer phlox and eringiums. This particular collection of veronicas (pink, blue, and white) makes a nice show in summer, rather than spring, the typical time for veronica bloom. Low growing, only a foot tall, nestle some in with the little Hydrangea 'Bobo' and you're good to go for a nice long spell.