What's Blooming in June: Zone-by-Zone Guide

June is when gardening stops being a promise and becomes a payoff. The tentative early blooms of spring are gone. In their place: roses at full throttle, perennials stacking up in every border, and annuals finally earning their keep. This is the month where gardens across the country look their best.

Zones 3-5: The big show begins

If you garden in cold zones, June is your month. This is when the season peaks, and you should be outside every single day because it goes fast.

Peonies are the headliners. Those massive, fragrant, ruffled blooms in pink, white, and red are at their absolute best in early June. If you only grow one perennial in a cold-zone garden, make it a peony. Bearded iris overlaps with peonies, offering every color except true red. Together, peonies and iris make June in zones 3-5 unforgettable.

Lupine sends up dramatic multicolored spikes. Foxglove towers in the back of the border with spotted bell flowers. Catmint starts its long bloom season now, billowing in lavender-blue mounds. Coral bells send up airy wands of tiny flowers, and dianthus covers itself in spicy-scented, fringed petals.

Clematis is hitting full stride on trellises and fences. And mock orange fills the garden with scent from arching white-flowered branches.

Zones 6-7: Peak everything

June in zones 6 and 7 is the gardening equivalent of having the whole buffet in front of you. Everything is blooming.

Roses are the month's defining plant. June is their peak flush. From hybrid teas to climbers to the disease-resistant Knock Out shrub roses, every style is at its best. Pair them with lavender, which is just opening its fragrant purple spikes.

Coneflower starts its long summer run. Daylilies open their trumpet blooms in every warm hue. Bee balm launches its shaggy flowers that hummingbirds fight over. Shasta daisy adds that classic white-and-gold meadow look.

Delphinium sends up towering spires of true blue. Yarrow opens flat-topped clusters in yellow, pink, and red. Astilbe lights up every shady spot with feathery plumes. And blanket flower starts its nonstop show of fiery bicolor pinwheels.

Hydrangeas are opening their first enormous mophead blooms. Butterfly bush starts its long arching wands. Oakleaf hydrangea displays white cone-shaped blooms. Annuals are finally earning their place: zinnias, cosmos, and marigolds planted last month are starting to bloom. Karl Foerster feather reed grass sends up its narrow, vertical plumes.

Zones 8-10: Summer in full swing

By June in warm zones, spring is a memory. The garden belongs to heat lovers now.

Crape myrtle is the tree of the month. Its crinkled flower clusters in pink, purple, red, and white will last for months. No other flowering tree gives you this much bloom for this long. Roses are still going but starting to slow in the heat. Give them a deep watering and they will rally for a fall flush.

Lantana is hitting its stride and will not stop until frost. Trumpet vine opens fiery orange-red trumpets that hummingbirds love. Daylilies, coneflowers, and bee balm are well into their bloom cycles. Zinnias and cosmos planted from seed in April are blooming hard.

What to do in June

Deadhead spent flowers on roses, daylilies, and dianthus to keep new blooms coming. Shear catmint after its first flush and it will rebloom in a few weeks. Stake delphiniums before they get tall enough to flop.

This is prime time to plant annuals in zones 3-6. The frost risk is finally past. In zones 7-10, plant heat-loving perennials and shrubs, just water them thoroughly until established.

Walk your garden every evening this month. June changes fast. A peony that was not open at breakfast will be fully unfurled by dinner. Browse our Pollinator Powerhouses collection for plants that attract every butterfly in the neighborhood, or see the Nonstop Color collection for plants that bloom all the way through fall.

See what's blooming near you

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