Of perennials, phlox and hibiscus add the most color to my garden now.

mao

Nepeta 'Walker's Low'
Hardy Hibiscus
Sedum
Russian Sage
Gaillardia
Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Little Bunny'
Rose 'Easy Does It'
Ice Plant
Solidago 'Fireworks'

July and August is the peak of my back garden, which is planted with almost all native perennials, (except for a handful of exotics). These plants are in peak bloom in July/August -

Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal flower)
Assorted Phlox
Heliopsis, Helenium, and Rudbeckia
Echinacea still looks good
Silphium perfoliatum (Cup plant)
Assorted Monarda
Eupatorium/Joe Pye weed just starting
Agastache foeniculum (including 'Blue Fortune', 'Black Adder', and 'Golden Jubilee')

Also, a few daylilies are still blooming. And the Buddleia 'Black Knight' is gorgeous. And the annuals are just getting going!

My favorite perennial bloomer right now is probably the Cardinal flower, there are 3 patches of stunning red spires and the Hummingbirds are in heaven.

Provided they got watered enough so they don't wither: All Heleniums, all Phloxes,Helianthus decapetalus Soleil d'or, Helianthus decapetalus Capenoch Star and Morgensonne, Heliopsis Asahi, Echinaceas, Kalimeris incisa Madiva,all Veronicastrum virginicum , Helianthus Triumph de Gand, Aconitums, Lythrum salicaria, Delphiniums, all Aster amellus, daylilies, oriental lilies, Campanula lactiflora Pritchards variety and Superba, Leucanthemum Manhattan , Stina and Fiona, Echinops ruthenicus, Sanguisorba Pink Brushes and Stand up comedian, Polygonum amplexicaulis, Monarda Garden View Scarlet and Balance, Chrysanthemum Esther, Ligularias,Aster umbellatus, Achilleas, Centaurea atropurpurea, Centaurea ruthenica, Aster radula, Eryngium alpinum, Nepeta subsessilis, Cimicifugas,Aster Ahlenii, Artemisia lactiflora Elfenbein, Coreopsis verticillata Grandiflora, blue Hydrangea NOID. The rest has died in the winter(Geranium Patricia, Scutellaria incana and others)

Plumbago, and shrubs like knockout & other roses, cannas, butterfly bush, lantana. The Hydrangeas that were so pretty blue are now a faded but pretty mauve color.

Summerstar, you didn't mention anything about watering or length of time you gave your plants to settle in before deciding they weren't doing what you want. If you could give a few examples of plants that are doing well, then a few you want to replace, it would be easier to know what the conditions are like. Is the border along your house? You didn't say anything about height or color...

* Hibiscus are going to start blooming in probably another week - they'll be the stars of the garden through the rest of August.

* Echniacea "White Swan" and "Magnus" - blooming their pretty little heads off :0)

That's about it for now other than the annuals - the zinnias are magnificent this year.

Late July/August are fairly slow perennial-wise for me, but I do rely heavily on foliage effect so beds are still visually interesting if lacking in color. The blooming picks up again come late August/early September when the anemones rev up and the sedums, mums, etc. come into their glory :0)

Other great plants for Zone 7...

Echinacea 'Hot Summer' - A must have plant! Stand out beauty! Still blooming in record heat.

Echinacea 'Pica Bella'
Echinacea 'Flame Thrower'
Echinacea 'Pow Wow Wild Berry'
Echinacea 'Fragrant Angel'

All of the above, plus my clethras are beginning to flower, and the scented hostas are blooming. The queen mum of all the scented hostas, plantanginea, should be in bloom by the middle of August (also known as August Lily hosta).

Karen

Echinaceamaniac, have you tried Hot lava? What do you think about it?

I didn't have any luck with "Hot Lava." The Terra Nova hybrids don't do well here, except for "Flame Thrower." "Hot Summer" is amazing though!

Lantana
Mystic Spires,Indigo Spires and Victoria Blue Salvias
Sedums
Walker's Low Nepeta
Russian Sage
Spanish Lavender
Some echinaceas
Border Blue tall veronica
Phlox- Light Pink Flame
Some chrysanthemums
Various greggi salvias
Verbena bonariensis

and believe it or not, a few snapdragons

Flowering Shrubs that look great right now:
Knock out Roses
Limelight Hydrangeas ( I have several paniculata varieties but like Limelight best- I want vanilla strawberry)
Butterfly Bushes
Rose Of Sharon- I have Helene- a real beauty and Diana

Most of my daylilies look like crap but they are blooming.

In addition to those mentioned above, these are blooming now in my garden:

agastache rupestris
Chelone/turtlehead
liatris/gayfeather
blackberry lily
balloon flower
lobelia cardinalis
lobelia syphilitica
buddleia
snakeroot
stokesia
gaura

The toad lily should begin blooming in a few weeks. For some reason one of my snakeroots is blooming now while the other just a few feet away only has small buds on it so far. The bees love it.

Whoa!! Did I miss it, or was Rudbeckia missing from all the lists above?. My Goldstrum is almost at peak now with it's parent R Fulgida just getting started. Can't beat them for bright long lasting color in the late summer garden.

Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' is also great here. I cut it back and it's blooming again a week later.

Use Annual Zinnias to take up the slack when Echinaceas start fading. I like the scabiosa zinnias. Thompson-Morgan has a nice mix called 'Candy Cane.'

Sorry about the lack of info. I was looking for a broad range of flowers with no height requirement and interested in those plants that can take the sun and heat and are more drought tolerant. When the flowers are past their bloom, I would be quite happy if at least the leaves hold up and don't go crispy. An example is my Yarrow which is in a prominent place. Its foliage looks awful come the end of July. And I do water when plants absolutely need it.

The perennial bed in question is in the back of our garden against a fence line and faces south with full sun all day long. I'm looking for those plants that are still looking good in the July-August time frame and thought I'd ask here. I've been introducing many more trouble free plants as I'm certainly not getting any younger!

So . . . In the past two years I've renewed the bed by adding Goldenrod, the Salvia 'May Night', along with two new 'Ruby Star' Weigela shrubs to give variety to the bed. Last year I added four peonies and two Baptisia 'australis'.

I have the Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue' which is an okay flower, but I've had them for years and am a little tired of them.

I second the plumbago. I discovered it last year and it bloomed like crazy into September. It is a tender perennial here in northern VA and I had it in pots, but plan to try it in the garden next year. The blue color is fantastic!

What's looking best for me right now in the perennial garden are various Phlox including "David", dwarf crepe myrtle, roses, Joe-pye weed ("Gateway"), deep red Lobelia and of course Rudbeckias, especially R. triloba:

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Nice Rudbeckia! I love the dark stems. I need to add this one to my list of plants I want. Thanks!

Hands down no contest is Rudbeckia hirtas for me. I also have Rud fulgida 'Goldsturm' but it's hidden by the hirtas. They can be a short-lived perennials but they reseed like gangbusters and I have all kind of interesting babies popping up from the cross pollination. They love heat, they don't mind bad soil, and they don't seem to mind droughts, as well.

I love Rud trilobas, and all the seeds I got last year in trades ended up being Rud hirtas. Got some triloba seeds this year and I am really hoping they are trilobas. They are so cute!

There's good and bad about Joe-pye weed. I started with one (non-hybrid) plant about 9 years ago and now there are at least 50 scattered around the garden (promiscuous reseeding). One good thing is that they add flashes of yellow to the garden even after going to seed (goldfinches love the seed and I'm seeing them frequently perched on Joe-pye seedheads, enjoying a snack).

Here is a link that might be useful: Goldfinch chowing down

I have been enviously eyeing the pics of echinacea hot summer so was pleasantly surprised to see it in my local nursery. However it looked nothing like the pics posted here. Was just various shades of pink. Whereas the catalog pics look like those posted by enabled. I wonder If there are regional differences to flowering? Anyway glad I didn't mail order it.