Begonia
Calling all shady people! This is a good choice for your garden if you don’t get a lot of sun but want a lot of color. These waxy-leafed plants mound really nicely and are great in borders or mixed in your containers. They’re pretty low maintenance, too, since you don’t have to deadhead spent blooms to keep them showing off all summer.
Allium
Also known as “onion flower,” these strong-stemmed perennials acutally have a really pleasant scent—only the bulbs may remind you of their garlic and onion cousins. These dense balls of color are usually purple or white and are best suited for the back of your garden, as they’re quite tall. They also make excellent, modern looking bouquets.
Black-Eyed Susans
What did Susan do to deserve such a name? Also known as “Rudbeckia,” these blooms range in color from bright yellow to deep orange with variations in between. These perennials bloom up to 4 feet wide on hearty stems, and they’re great for mixed arrangements.
Bougainvillea
If you’re lucky enough to live in a warm climate where these flowers are perennial, have a Mai Tai for us! Hardy in Zones 9b and 10, the rest of us will have to wait until our garden centers have these hot magenta and purply pink blooms in stock to add shocking color to our container gardens. This papery flower loves to climb, so place it near a fence or trellis. It also looks great spilling out of a large container.
Clematis
These Queens of Flowering Vines like at least six hours of sun, although you can find varieties that are adapted to more shade. These perennials love to climb up an arbor or trellis or even cover a fence or column with proper support. To promote reflowering, you can cut the vine back by half for another late-season blooming.
Coleus
Okay, this is cheating a little bit. While Coleus do technically bloom, the foliage of this annual is available in SO many color combinations, it may as well be considered a full-time flower. They’re available in a mix of sun- and shade-tolerant varieties, making them a favorite of ours. Plus, they’re easy to cultivate. Simply pinch the stem back under leaf node, stick it in water, and in a few weeks, you’ll have new roots. Pinching back your coleus will keep them show-worthy all season.
Coneflower
Also known as echinacea, this bee- and butterfly-loving plant gives a carefree look to your garden beds. They’re a good one to keep around for sure-fire pollination of your other favorite blooms—or simply to attract pretty butterflies!
Coreopsis
Coreopsis are one of the least fussy flowers to put in your bed. Members of the daisy family—as you probably noticed from the petals—these bushy plants produce masses of flowers for a long season. Coax continuous bloomage by deadheading old stems consistently. You can find these plants in shades of yellow and pink, but garden centers may have newer varieties in white, salmon, and burgundy.
Dahlia
One of the foremost flowers of summer, dahlias have one of the biggest variety range in size and color of almost any other flower. Their strong stems make them excellent in arrangements and a showstopper planted en masse. Here’s a pro tip for bringing them inside: Place freshly cut stems in hot water (160º) and let the water cool to room temperature to extend the life of your bloom.
You can find petite varieties called “lollipops” or “pompoms” with blooms 2-inches wide or “dinner plate” varieties of up to 15 inches. They’re not well suited to extremely hot climates (sorry southern Florida and Texas!), but they are perennial in Zones 8-11. Gardeners in Zones 2-7 can plant the tubers in early spring and treat them as annuals or dig them up and store them for winter.
Daisies
This friendliest flower is a carefree showstopper in your garden. The white Marguerite Daisy (shown here) or more common Shasta Daisy has pure white flowers that come in full speed ahead with summer’s heat. Plants can be cut back after flowering to encourage new growth and more blooms.
Delphinium
Also known as Larkspur, these tall spires have a stately presence in your garden beds. They like full sun, and if you cut back the stems of the first bloom, you can often get a second showing from these perennials.
Endless Summer Hydrangea
Hydrangea are the it flower of summer. There are many different varieties of the ball-shaped perennial, but this variety is a surefire winner. It can tolerate sun to part shade and you can coax it to bloom blue in more acidic soils or pink in more alkaline soils. Or you can just throw caution to the wind and see what nature gives you.
Geranium
Oh the colors! The distinct scent of the leaves! The pinks and corals and reds and whites! A classic summer staple, geraniums are great in hanging baskets, container gardens, planted right into your garden beds, and even tabletop displays. A rule of thumb: The smaller the vessel, the more water the plant needs to keep the soil moist. Remove spent stems to encourage new growth and enjoy the fireworks of flowers all season long.
Gerbera Daisies
Calling all Anne Geddes fans! This is the cheerful flower made famous by smiling babies in the 1990s! These annuals come in various electric colors ranging from pink, yellow, orange, and white. They don’t shy from the sun, and without direct light, the plants will get leggy and the blooms are less vibrant.
Gomphrena
Okay, hear me out: This isn’t a traditional garden bed showstopper, but these ping-pong shaped balls add playfulness to a garden. They’re great as punctuation in a cut arrangement. When they dry, they don’t lose their color, so you can remember your lush garden long into the winter doldrums.
Heirloom Roses
These aren’t always the easiest flowers to grow and keep disease-free, but to the victor go the spoils. The clean, rose, and sometimes lemony scent of an heirloom rose simply can’t be beat. You can find climbers and shrub varieties from tea-sized to dinner plate-sized in any color under the sun. (Lavender is particular anomaly in our book.) Roses bloom from June through September, and if you plan it right, you can get a profusion of color and scent all season long. Search for an heirloom rose that’s been specially cultivated for disease resistance, like the Desdemona or The Lady Gardener from David Austin Roses, a family-owned British breeder.
Hibiscus
Ever wonder where that tea or bubble water flavor comes from? Apparently, it’s these blooms. Hardy mostly in tropical locations. hibiscus is commonly found in tree form at your local garden nursery when temperatures rise about 70. But gardeners in the south and southwest can also find these big, showy blooms in mound ground form. They add a bit of tropical whimsy to outdoor spaces.
Impatiens
This shade-loving favorite is probably best known for being mispronounced (there’s no “t”!). They can tolerate part sun and work well in hanging baskets, containers, and window boxes. But to really show them off right, plant them as borders in your favorite shady bed
Iris
Prepare yourself for the best scent on earth, in this writer’s opinion. The stately iris can bring a formality to your garden border, or look casual as naturalized pools tucked into your established garden. The first flowering of the reblooming variety of these perennial lovelies is in June. Reflowering can happen from July through September, but the rhizomes are a bit fickle. They like a little boost of fertilizer and water to coax them into showing you their frilly petals one last time.
Knock-Out Rose
If you want a foolproof rose, this is the one for you. They’re fairly resistant to troublesome problems like blackspot and mildew that are common in traditional roses. These bushy bombshells bloom profusely from early summer through early fall and don’t need to be deadheaded to encourage reblooming. You can find them in single- or double-petal varieties in a range of colors from white to pink to deep burgundy.
Lantana
If you want butterflies and hummingbirds, consider this annual addition to your garden. Lantana is a mounding plant that’s heat tolerant, meaning you can set it and forget it! It can also be coaxed to trail if planted in a hanging basket, container, or window box. Prune back the blooms after the first flowering to keep the plant’s shape and encourage another round of buds.
Lilies
Trumpet-shaped Asiatic Lilies like this Stargazer make great cut flowers. They come in a wide range of brilliant colors from white, yellows, pinks, and oranges, and their heady scent will have the bees buzzing around. They prefer full sun but will also flower in part shade. If you do bring them inside, make sure to trim the stamen. The orange pollen will stain clothing and fabric.
Limelight Hydrangea
This pistachio-colored variety of hydrangea gets its own entry! Found in petite- (“Little Limes”) and full-sized varieties, this cone-shaped hydrangea is a total knockout planted as a hedge or dotted into your garden bed. When your annuals start to look a little lackluster mid-summer, out comes this woody bush to revive your beds with a shock of bright green. They’re extremely cold hardy and make excellent cut branches. The only pruning needed is the old flowering stems at the end of the season and any dead branches.
Marigold
You’re probably used to seeing these in a wimpier version in your garden center, but this cousin of the chrysanthemum is available in lush double blooms like those pictured here. In shades of yellow and gold, these plants are natural mosquito repellers and great in vegetable gardens, along porches and patios, and containers.
Petunia
Large and small, this trumpet-shaped sun-lover works as ground cover or the “spiller” in your containers and window boxes. The color choices area almost endless, which make these annuals a tried-and-true summer favorite.
Salvia
Purple and red are the most common colors of salvia, which you may have heard referred to as “Mexican Sage.” These maintenance-free annuals love full sun and are another great pollinator in your garden. They love the heat and will keep blooming all summer long, drought or not.
Snapdragon
If these stalky flowers could talk… but wait! They can! squeeze the sides of the bloom and the “mouth” of the flower pops open to surprise and delight even the oldest of children. These annuals need full sun to partial shade and bloom in early spring/summer and again in late summer/early fall with even watering.
Sunflower
Sunflowers are one of the taller summer plants, so if you want to add them to your garden, pick a spot in the back of your bed or cluster them all together in one spot. They’re pretty hardy, easy to grow blooms that peak in the middle of summer through early fall. The only thing you really have to worry about is the birds and pesky squirrels stealing their prized seeds!
Vinca
Wait, didn’t you already see these flowers? Vinca and impatiens are often confused, but unlike impatiens, vinca love the sun! Not to be confused with the purple trailing Madagascar vinca, also sometimes called “periwinkle,” this annual stands up well to heat and humidity. Use annual vinca en masse in borders and beds or mix into containers or hanging baskets with other annuals.
Zinnia
Sewn from seeds thrown directly into your soil or purchased in blister packs from your garden center, these annuals are a favorite for cut arrangements during the summer. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds love their cheery colors. If you’d like to use them primarily for cut flowers, you can cut the center flower first, which will encourage more stems as it continues to grow and flower.
