With the summer heat, those with a penchant for gardening and outdoor plants are getting their plants ready.

Guthrie County Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Master Gardener Barb Gigar says that for non vegetable/fruit plants there’s one category of vegetation that does best.

“Perennials tend to do better than annuals in the weather conditions, right? Because they’ve been there a while and they’re more adapted. Finding perennials that are well suited to our climate. Things that are native or are cultivars of some of the native plants, and there are an awful lot of them, work really well.”

Gigar says that some of the more common perennials for Iowa are butterfly milkweed, peonies, goldenrod and yarrow. She adds that another thing to consider when thinking about the health of your plants is how much sun it likes, explaining there are plants that like full sun, part sun, part shade and a few other categorizations.