As spring wears off and summer heat picks up, most gardeners find it rather tiring to work in the garden.
Bring color and texture to your garden with plants that bloom year after year.
Here’s our top 10 favorite summer blooming perennials:
1. 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.
2. Hydrangeas
Nothing can beat these perennials when it comes to filling up your garden with a profusion of long-lasting blooms starting from spring. The large flower heads keep coming all through summer and continue to adorn the plants long after the blooming season is over.
3. Shasta Daisy
Shasta Daisies will always brighten up your day! This classic perennial has large white blooms that last until early fall. Shasta daisy thrives in well-drained, not overly rich soil. Choose from different varieties for different heights – short ones are perfect for borders and tall ones create a dramatic backdrop. A perfect low maintenance plant and makes great cut flowers!
4. Coneflower
Flowering all through summer and into fall, its flowers can be harvested for making an herbal tea. In fact, all parts of the plant have medicinal properties. Coneflower is deer resistant and attracts butterflies. Plant in full sun.
5. Black-eyed Susan
Black-eyed Susan produces stunning golden yellow daisy-like flowers throughout the summer months and well into the fall. It blooms from July to September, is deer and rabbit resistant and attracts butterflies. Plant in full sun, and be sure to remove spent blooms for more flowering.
6. 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. It’s a great border plant and likes well-drained soil.
7. Ornamental Onions (Allium)
Ornamental onions produce purple globe-shaped flowers on the end of long straight stems. The pretty flowers are excellent for growing in clumps or along borders in cottage gardens. These purple flowering perennials are bulbs that can be planted every fall. They start producing flowers at the end of spring, and they last until the end of summer.
Ornamental onions are also excellent for cut flower displays or to use in dried flower arrangements.
8. Phlox
Phlox are perennial favorite among wildflowers. They are compact, low-maintenance, and long-blooming. They are known for their spicy vanilla-clove fragrance and purple-pink flowers that bloom in summer. It’s great for cutting or tall borders. Plant in sun to part shade. Phlox attracts butterflies.
9. Coreopsis
Coreopsis flowers throughout the summer and is a perennial plant that blooms every year. Growing in full sun, coreopsis plants have a bushy growth habit and produce a horde of dazzling yellow flowers.
10. Bee Balm
Bee balm, known by its botanical name of Monarda, is a beloved perennial not only for its beautiful whorled blooms but for its fascinating fragrant foliage.
The colorful flowers develop on the end of the square-stemmed stalks above the main foliage and bloom in mid-summer. It prefers moist, rich soil and a sunny location. Its fragrance attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.