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Heatwave haven at Red Butte Garden

Escape the heat on the shady pathways of the Red Butte Garden while appreciating the plants that thrive in the heat...including a flower that smells like powdered chocolate milk.

Summer heatwave haven at Red Butte Garden

The sun is beating down, and the city feels like a furnace. You're dying to be outside but craving a refuge, a place to escape the scorching heat...there is no better place than Red Butte Garden. You can stroll the Garden and take respite on our many benches and shady pathways while appreciating the plants that thrive in the heat.

Find information to plan your visit here. Reposted from the Red Butte Garden blog. Photos by Glenn Eurick.

Heart-leaved Houttuynia (Houttuynia cordata 'Flore Pleno')

This shade-loving groundcover can be found in and around the Herb Garden. Its scented leaves are used in some Asian dishes.

A white flower with petals arranged like magnolias against large green leaves.

PHOTO CREDIT: Glenn Eurick

Heart-leaved Houttuynia (Houttuynia cordata 'Flore Pleno')

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Pink Octopus Bellflower (Campanula 'Pink Octopus')

Bellflower? There's nothing "bell" about this flower. Pink Octopus is a unique form of bellflower that has separate, narrow, pink petals, rather than the common bell-shaped blue-flowers this genus is known for.

Flower with five waxy, long and this petals that are lavender with dark purple freckles.

PHOTO CREDIT: Glenn Eurick

Pink Octopus Bellflower (Campanula 'Pink Octopus')

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Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)

Look for this unique water plant growing in our Children's Garden pond.

Two upside-down-heart-shaped leaves curve around a purple spike with small flowers growing radially from it.

PHOTO CREDIT: Glenn Eurick

Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)

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Snowflake Dianthus (Dianthus petraeus ssp. noeanus)

In the heat of the summer this little beauty displays delicate fringed flowers.

White flowers with petals that look shredded or like fringe.

PHOTO CREDIT: Glenn Eurick

Snowflake Dianthus (Dianthus petraeus ssp. noeanus)

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Chocolate Flower (Berlandiera lyrata)

Last but not least is one of the coolest flowers in the garden. First thing in the morning the flowers smell like chocolate (more like powdered chocolate milk mix if you ask me), and fades as the day progresses. You can smell this one in the Water Conservation Garden.

A bright yellow daisy-shaped flower, with five thick petals arranged radially from a brown fuzzy center.

PHOTO CREDIT: Glenn Eurick

Chocolate Flower (Berlandiera lyrata)

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