The joys of June! The month with the longest hours of daylight. It’s a wonderful time to be out in the garden and here are ten plants that look great at this time of the year and should add summer joy and sparkle to your garden.
Lupins are the classic cottage garden plant with their majestic spires of brightly coloured flowers, which start to appear just as the last of the spring flowers fade away. This cultivar delights with its rich, burgundy/purple-coloured flowers and looks lovely planted mid-border paired with orange flowered perennials, like geums.
- Flowers from May to July
- Hardy
- Grows to 75cm tall and 80cm wide
- Well-drained soil
- Full sun
- Exposed
Top Tip
This is a great plant for your garden as hummingbirds and butterflies are greatly attracted to them! Also, deer and rabbits ignore them, which means they will cope well in a garden with the occasional visitor.
This gorgeous, highly scented, bush rose pumps out pretty, apricot, pink-coloured flowers all summer long. And, as a bonus, makes a great cutting rose too!
- Flowers from June to October
- Hardy
- Grows to 100cm tall and 60cm wide
- Well-drained, fertile, moist soil
- Full sun
- Exposed
Top Tip
This gorgeous rose will do well in a mixed border, a rose border, and in pots and containers. Also, it will live happily in all soil types, so an ideal and beautiful addition to any garden!
3. Geranium x magnificum (Hardy geranium)
There are literally hundreds of hardy geranium cultivars to choose from! They work brilliantly in plant borders as they produce vast numbers of flowers. And magnificum is indeed magnificent, producing large rich, purple-veined, deep-blue flowers throughout the summer months. Additionally, these grow above mounds of mid-green leaves, which turn bright red during the autumn.
- Flowers from June to August
- Hardy
- Grows to 60cm tall and 60cm wide
- Well-drained soil
- Sun to part shade
- Exposed
Fun Fact
This lovely flower has not only been awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit, but it also has been classified as a Plant for Pollinators!
4. Philadelphus ‘Fragrant Falls’ (Mock Orange)
There can surely be no greater highly scented summer shrub than Philadelphus and this cultivar. As the name suggests, this flower produces delicately arching stems covered in clusters of pure white, bell-shaped, super-scented flowers during the early summer months. Its delightful-looking shape makes it an ideal choice as a specimen shrub as well as one for the mixed border.
- Flowers from June to July
- Hardy
- Grows to 250cm tall and 150cm wide
- Well-drained, fertile, slightly acidic soil
- Full sun to light shade
- Exposed
Fun Fact
These plants were given the name ‘Philadelphus’ for a reason. It loosely translates to ‘extreme’, which Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus thought appropriate thanks to the intoxicating and strong fragrant the plant produces.
5. Geum ‘Borisii’ (Avens)
This brightly coloured, deep-orange flowered, herbaceous perennial will continue to sporadically flower well into the autumn after its first flush in early summer. One of the smaller cultivars available, this is an ideal choice for containers or smaller gardens.
- Flowers from May to September
- Hardy
- Grows to 30cm tall and 30cm wide
- Well-drained, moist soil
- Full sun to part shade
- Exposed
Top Tip
Ensure to deadhead this plant regularly. As this will prolong the flowering period!
6. Sesleria autumnalis (Moor grass)
Easy to grow, evergreen grasses that don’t get too large or self-seed too much are not that common, so Sesleria is the ideal candidate for planting en masse amongst flowering plants. Whilst it is best in partial shade, it will tolerate a wide range of soil types and locations. It tends to grow more during the autumn and spring, and during the summer months. Also, they send up upright stems of shimmering, silvery-grey, long-lasting flowers.
- Flowers from June to October
- Hardy
- Grows to 100cm tall and 60cm wide
- Well-drained, fertile, moist soil
- Full sun to part shade
- Exposed
Fun Fact
As the grass is evergreen, it produces year-round. The foliage is grey-green between June and October, and becomes an attractive chartreuse green in the autumn months.
7. Calycanthus ‘Venus’ (Carolina allspice)
This is a real ‘beaut’ of a shrub, producing large, scented flowers that look very much like magnolia flowers. They boast cream-coloured outer petals and dark burgundy inner ones. Fully hardy and easy to grow if they are sheltered from cold winds.
- Flowers from May to September
- Hardy
- Grows to 180cm tall and 150cm wide
- Moist but well-drained soil
- Full sun
- Sheltered
Top Tip
When pruning, cut back all the stems to a low, permanent framework. This needs to be 3 or 4 buds from the base of the plant. After pruning, apply a much around the base of the plant.
8. Thalictrum ‘Elin’ (Meadow rue)
Thalictrums are tall, airy, graceful perennials that light up shady parts of the garden for weeks on end and blend beautifully with other plants. ‘Elin’ grows to a great height and needs no staking! Its sprays of lilac flowers are delightful and continue being produced until early autumn.
- Flowers from June to September
- Hardy
- Grows to 180cm tall and 90cm wide
- Soil that stays moist
- Part sun to dappled shade
- Sheltered
Fun Fact
This variety of Thalictrum is one of the tallest types of Meadow-rue. This makes it an ideal and unique addition to a cut flower display.
9. Deutzia x rosea ‘Yuki Cherry Blossom’ (Deutzia)
This extremely beautiful, flowered shrub is unusual in that it grows to just over half a metre tall and wide. And its creamy-white, pink flowers produced during early summer look just like cherry blossom only much lower down to the ground! The leaves on this low-maintenance plant turn shades of burgundy in the autumn months before falling making it an ideal plant for containers or front of border.
- Flowers from May to June
- Hardy
- Grows to 60cm tall and 60cm wide
- Fertile, moist but well-drained, acidic soil
- Full sun
- Exposed
Top Tip
This wonderful, flowered shrub is ideal to grow in containers, on your patio, or at the front of a border. It is also low maintenance, and its unusual appearance makes it a great ground cover option.
10. Rhodochiton atrosanguineus (Purple Bells)
If you’re looking for a long-flowering climber and don’t mind the fact that it’s half-hardy and may not survive the winter unless taken into a conservatory or frost-free greenhouse over winter, then this is the vine for you. And it will flower all the way through the summer right up until October producing hanging flowers of deep, rich purple colour.
- Flowers from May to June
- Hardy
- Grows to 240cm tall and 360cm wide
- Tolerates most well-drained soil types that stay moist
- Full sun
- Exposed
Fun Fact
Originating in Mexico and receiving the RHS Award of Garden Merit, the flowers of this plant have been described in a couple of different ways. As the flowers dangle, they have been aptly described as like drop earrings and parts of them resemble a chalice shape.
These top ten plants are sure to transform your garden, this June.
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David Domoney is a Chartered Horticulturalist, Broadcaster, and Author. David has worked with a number of the UK’s leading garden retailers as a plant buyer and strategic consultant. With more than 30 years experience, in horticulture, David is as passionate about plants now as he was when he bought his first plant at a village fete.
Thank you for all the good advice . My problem is getting hold of some of these plants from my local garden centre .