Geraniums hold up pretty well during the summer. Mums bloom in the north and our plentiful around Oct. I've got 1 pot of mums blooming now but most of them bloom in the fall and during the winter but
Fl. is quite different than your climate. From Conn. 45 years ago and I always had mums every fall. Love all the different colors.
I have used water crystals in many of my pots and they do retain water quite well but here it's so hot I still water pots every 2 days at least
