Top ten plants for June gardens

Another group of pretty, flowering perennials, this cultivar flowers for months on end during the summer. What’s more they make great cut flower with their large, soft blue flowers appearing on the end of long, slender stems. For the best results, cut the stems back after flowering to encourage repeat blooms.

• Flowers in summer
• Hardy
• Grows to 60cm tall
• Well-drained soil
• Full sun
• Exposed

Next is a disease-resistant perennial that produces purple flowers above clumps of grey-green leaves between the early and high summer months. Its lance shaped foliage provides attraction at the start of the season, making it a great front of border plant.

• Flowers in summer
• Hardy
• Grows to 45cm tall
• Moist but well-drained soil
• Full sun or partial shade
• Sheltered

This trouble-free plant is a great choice for soil that is permanently moist as it will cope with full sun or shade. The tiny white flowers on this cultivar splay out like sparklers and turn red as they age. An added bonus is that in the autumn the leaves turn rusty orange in colour.

• Flowers in summer
• Hardy
• Grows to 90cm tall
• Moist but well-drained or poorly drained soil
• Full sun or partial shade
• Exposed or sheltered

This slow-growing, hardy tree is ideal for the small to medium size garden. Unsurprisingly, it gets its common name from the branches that naturally grow horizontally in tiers making it the perfect focal point specimen. The bright green leaves have distinctive creamy-white markings which turn red-purple during the autumn months. During this time of the year, it produces clusters of white flowers.

• Flowers in summer
• Hardy
• Grows to 1.5m tall
• Moist but well-drained or well-drained soil
• Full sun or partial shade
• Sheltered or exposed

This deciduous shrub is perfect for the smaller garden as it’s fast growing but only reaches height and spread of around 1m, forming a low spreading mound as it grows. During June, its leafy stems are full of pretty clusters of small, white flowers. If you want to improve its shape prune immediately after flowering.

• Flowers in spring
• Hardy
• Grows to 1.2m tall
• Moist but well-drained or poorly-drained soil
• Full sun or partial shade
• Exposed or sheltered

This deciduous shrub has a more upright, tiered branch growth habit than other viburnum cultivars making it a good choice where space in the border is limited. Pretty, white, lace cap-like flowers appear late spring to early summer. Following this are bright fiery leaf colours during the autumn months. Not only does it look great, but it needs little or no pruning, so it won’t demand much.

• Flowers in spring
• Fully hardy
• Grows to 1.5m tall
• Moist but well-drained or well-drained soil
• Full sun or partial shade
• Exposed or sheltered

The fiery flowers of ‘Moerheim Beauty’ make them a great addition to flower borders. Pair them with red-hot-pokers for more fiery height. Also great for pollinators, they are a welcome plant in wildlife gardens. Increase your stock of plants by dividing the plants in spring.

• Flowers in summer
• Fully hardy
• Grows to 90cm tall
• Moist but well-drained or well-drained soil
• Full sun
• Exposed or sheltered

Next is a delicate looking flowering perennial that’s a classic cottage-garden style plant. With their masses of dainty, dangling flowers, they are available in a wide range of colours. They happily self-seed around the garden and ‘Ruby Port’, as the name implies, has very attractive deep red flowers.

• Flowers in spring
• Fully hardy
• Grows to 75cm tall
• Moist but well-drained soil
• Full sun or partial shade
• Exposed or sheltered

Peony flowers are very beautiful and the plants very easy to grow once established. ‘Coral Charm’ has a lovely flower shape, producing slender stems topped with semi-double flowers. Not only do they look great in the garden but can make great cut flowers to bring the beauty of the blooms indoors.

• Flowers in spring
• Fully hardy
• Grows to 90cm tall
• Moist but well-drained soil
• Full sun or partial shade
• Sheltered