One afterthought: the pattern of plants sitting around in summer and exploding towards fall is something that I have observed often – even in plants that are said to be heat loving. My current idea about that is that the heat will lead to a downregulation of photosynthesis as other factors are not working (as a lack of water depending on the gear the plant runs in. The more transpiration is needed, the more continuous the water needs to be accessible) – so we get photorespiration, or a large consumption of assimilate in the warm root system. In fall the consumption in the night drops and you see this incredible burst in many species.

This is what makes me think that we need deep soils where the roots can hide from the heat, if they want to. And in these cases “dispersed (!) shade” of Agroforest may be a solution.