Why do my balcony plants suddenly die in May in the UAE?

The UAE growing calendar is inverted compared to Europe or North America. October to March is the productive season here; May to September is survival. Most of what a garden centre sells as bedding colour is a cool-season annual with a five-month life, so a May collapse is the plant finishing on schedule.

You can usually tell the difference. A finished annual goes over everywhere at once — flowering stops, growth stops, and the whole plant fades over a week or two no matter how you water it. A heat-stressed plant that could be saved wilts in the afternoon and recovers overnight, or browns from the leaf edges inwards while the centre stays green.

If it is heat stress rather than the season, three things fix most of it, in this order: get the pot off hot tile onto feet or a rack, move to a pot of 30cm or more in a pale colour, and water early morning instead of midday. Small dark pots in UAE summer regularly reach root-damaging temperatures while the plant is perfectly well watered, which is why people conclude they are underwatering and then overwater.

For the replacement, choose from the plants rated for Gulf balcony summer rather than repeating the annual: vinca is the one bedding tray that flowers straight through the heat, and portulaca, bougainvillea and desert rose all hold through July.