“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.”
– Gertrude Jekyll
Every home has a story, and they are as vast and varied as the world is wide. But they all start with inspiration, and inspiration starts with our surroundings. That’s what home is. Family. Friends. A sense of place. An amazing view. It is all part of what makes a space a home because your home is where you truly live. As homeowners ourselves we understand that your best life begins with a home that inspires you.
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Growing flowers that bloom all summer long can fill your garden with glorious colors from late spring until early fall. Whether you plant summer-blooming perennials or annuals that bloom all summer, your backyard will be a sea of color. When planning your garden landscape, you can choose from a variety of flowers that bloom all summer. There are tall flowering plants, small flowering shrubs, or gorgeous blooming ground cover plants.
1. Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Black-eyed Susan produces stunning golden yellow daisy-like flowers throughout the summer months and well into the fall. Its spectacular flowers grow on the end of tall flower stems, making the plant excellent for creating a colorful accent. The flowers are prolific bloomers that don’t stop until the frost arrives. These sun-loving plants are grown as tender perennials or annuals.
Black-eyed Susan flowers also make for great cut flower arrangements as they keep their color for a long time.
2. Dahlia
Depending on the cultivar, dahlias produce a variety of flowers in all shapes and sizes. Dahlias generally bloom profusely throughout the summer until frost. Some of the flowers can be like small daisies, and other huge, showy double flowers can be as large as 6” to 8” (15 – 20 cm) in diameter. Dahlia plants are perennials that are generally grown as annuals.
Some of the most stunning dahlias are the ‘Arabian Night’ with black flowers, the ‘Apache’ with spiky crimson red blooms, and the ‘Andrea Lawson’ with large white pompom-like flowers.
3. Coneflower (Echinacea)
Coneflowers are some of the hardiest perennial flowers that bloom all summer long. Showy, cone-like pink flowers grace the top of long straight stems. These summer-flowering plants will grow almost anywhere and are also drought-tolerant perennial plants. Growing in full sun, you can expect beautiful flowers from late spring until the first frost.
Apart from providing shades of purple throughout the summer, there are many benefits to growing coneflowers (echinacea). The beautiful flowers attract pollinators, they make excellent cut flowers, and all parts of the plant have medicinal qualities.
4. Petunia
Petunias have some of the most striking flowers from any of the annuals that flower in summer. From all of the summer bloomers on this list, petunias have one of the longest flowering periods. The trumpet-shaped colorful flowers appear in early spring and bloom until late fall. These delightful flowers can be purple, yellow, white, lavender, or coral red.
Depending on the petunia cultivar you choose, you can grow them as hanging baskets, in window boxes, or outdoor containers. Are you looking for full-sun flowering ground cover plants? Then some petunias will transform your garden landscape into a sea of beautiful color all summer long.
5. Lavender
Lavender is a wonderful perennial shrub that flowers from spring until late summer every year. The attraction of growing lavender is more than just its pretty purple flowers. Lavender shrubs are low maintenance, don’t need a lot of water, withstand full sun, and have many medicinal uses. Many different lavender cultivars are suitable for growing in most sunny gardens if you want summer-long purple flowers.
6. Hydrangeas
Hydrangeas are showy shrubs that add pastel colored flowers to your garden all summer—right from late spring until fall. These low-maintenance perennial flowering shrubs produce huge flower heads made up of colorful flower clusters. You can grow hydrangeas in full sun or partial shade to enjoy their pink, white, red, and blue flowers from May until September. To keep hydrangeas blooming even longer, prune spent flowers to encourage vigorous blooming.
Grow colorful hydrangeas for an easy maintenance summer garden where you need shrub borders or foundation plantings.
7. Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus)
The Rose of Sharon is a large flowering shrub that produces an abundance of large, showy flowers year on year. This showy perennial bush grows to between 8 and 12 ft. (2.4 – 3.6 m) and needs little maintenance. The drought-resistant deciduous bush has dark green foliage and large trumpet-shaped attractive flowers.
8. Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata)
Garden phlox is a flowering perennial that blooms profusely all through summer until early fall. The large fragrant flowerheads are pink, rose, red, white, and lavender colors. The plant, with its lush green foliage, grows up to 4 ft. (1.2 m) tall with a spread up to 2 ft. (0.6 m). This attractive summer-bloomer thrives in full sun and partial shade.
Plant summer-flowering garden phlox as colorful border plants or grow in groups to create a flowering shrub.
9. Bee Balm (Monarda)
Bee balm produces spiky brightly-colored red or lilac flowers that look like small firework displays. The small colorful flowers create the biggest impact in your summer garden when planted in mass. The flowers bloom for around six weeks from the middle of summer until fall. These striking perennials with showy flowers help to brighten up borders, attract butterflies, and provide color late in the season.
The stiff stems of bee balm and showy small flower heads make these an excellent choice for cut flower displays.
10. Speedwell (Veronica longifolia)
Speedwell is a type of summer flowering plant that produces graceful flowers throughout the growing season. The spiky flowers come in pastel shades of blue, pink, violet, or purple. One reason why speedwell is a popular plant is that it has flowers that bloom all summer and return every year. These tall flowering plants grow up to 4 ft. (1.2 m) and their slender, wand-like flowerheads brighten up a summer landscape.
Speedwell plants are also excellent non-fading cut flowers that can help to beautify any type of cut flower floral display.
11. Butterfly Bush (Buddleja)
The beautiful flowers on butterfly bushes start blooming in mid-summer and continue until the first frost. As its common name suggests, these delightful flowering summer plants attract a multitude of butterflies. The clusters of purple, white, or yellow flowers form a cone shape. These shrubby plants grow as perennials and are evergreen or deciduous, depending on your climate. The beauty of growing butterfly bush cultivars in your garden is that they still flower when many other plants have stopped. Their stiff stems and flower clusters create attractive cut flowers for fall and winter displays.
12. Daylilies (Hemerocallis)
Daylilies are some of the easiest perennial plants to care for if you want all summer-long flowers in your yard. The showy flowers grow in a wide array of colors and don’t need much care. The plants are drought-tolerant and thrive in full sun conditions. Although the single blooms don’t last long, each plant continues producing flowers throughout the summer and fall season.
Daylilies are extremely adaptable summer flowers that grow in various conditions. They grow just as well in full sun as they do in partial shade. This plant can grow in moist, well-draining soil or continue to flower in dry soil.