Plants That Give Colorful Flowers All Summer Long

Some plants flower for a short period of time and others have flowers that bloom all Summer. Let’s learn which annuals and perennials bloom all Summer long!

I love summer! And being in my yard and garden during the warm months gives me such joy. Some flowers, like lilacs and daffodils are short-lived, giving you a burst of color for a short time, but some, like the ones I’m about to list, give you color most, if not all of the summer months.

Annual & Perennial Flowers that Bloom All Summer

Annuals, those plants that you plant in the spring and die outcome the first frosts, are inexpensive and can provide great bursts of color. Some good examples here are pansies and petunias.

Perennials, those that you plant once and they come back year after year, can be more expensive, but you won’t need to replace them as often. Some good choices here would be rudbeckia or yarrow.

Location and Hardiness Zone

Check out your location and where the sun hits and for how long. This is often a good way to determine what flowers that bloom all summer will work best for you. Make sure you know your hardiness zone. The US and many other areas are divided into cold hardiness zones. In the Carolinas, I sit between 6B and 7A. This means I can grow things that don’t do well farther north and also those that don’t like the extreme heat of the south.

Soil, Drainage, And Care Tags

Know your soil type and drainage conditions. All of these things will be a great help when it comes to choosing your plants. One last thing is on the plants themselves. Often times plants come with a care tag. You’ll need this to know that you can’t plant butterfly bushes two feet apart when they grow to be 6 feet wide. The same goes for that Vitex that you want under your window. At an average of 8-10 feet tall, they will cover your view in no time.

Other Considerations for Flowers that Bloom All Summer

Invasive Species

A few other things you’ll want to keep in mind are if the plant could be invasive in your zone. Lantana and Rose Of Sharon are considered invasive in my area, so be sure to check before you plant something that could take over everything.

Support Your Plants

Another thing is does it have proper support? Clematis is one vine that will bloom most of the summer, but it needs support, like a trellis, to climb on.

Hardiness

Will the plant spread all over? My Grandmother had some beautiful Cleomes, but by the end of summer they had spread their seeds ALL over the garden. The next spring we picked sprouts out of the beans and potatoes!

Don’t Forget to Deadhead

Lastly, if you want flowers that bloom all summer you’ll need to deadhead once in a while. If you’re unfamiliar with this term, it means to take off the spent flowers so that the plant can put energy into making more flowers instead of making seed heads. Some flowers, like petunias, can benefit from just snipping the flowers off. Some, like coreopsis, need to be cut back to the ground so that you don’t have single sticks just hanging out. And some, like the Knock Out roses, don’t need deadheading, but you’ll get many more flowers that way.

Leave Some Deadheads

If you choose not to deadhead, you’ll still get flowers, but not as many and this can also have benefits. You can leave roses to form rise hips and use them for food and medicinal purposes. And some plants, like the coneflowers, provide seeds for the birds to eat during the winter.

Soil and Compost

To get the best blooms, use good soil with plenty of compost. You can also feed with high phosphorus fertilizer, like a 10-15-10. This will give the plant a good root system. Good roots equal better blooms! Compost tea will really help too.

Flowers that Bloom All Summer

1. Petunia
2. Zinnia
3. Gaillardia
4. Cleome
5. Some Hydrangea (check the tag for blooming season)
6. Rose Of Sharon
7. Hardy Hibiscus (slow to start but blooms most all summer)
8. Coreopsis
9. Marigold
10. Yarrow
11. Candytuft
12. Echinacea
13. Sea Holly
14. Some Asters (most asters bloom late summer to fall, but some bloom all summer)
15. Some Daylilies (Stella de Oro is the best variety for continuous bloom)
16. Bee Balm
17. Mints
18. Dahlia
19. Canna Lily plants also have flowers that bloom all summer
20. Clover (most bloom all summer, but Crimson Clover doesn’t)
21. Roses (Knock Out roses are the best long-season bloomers)
22. Lantana
23. Some Phlox
24. Thyme
25. Some Sage (my favorite is Black and Blue)
26. Ice Plant
27. Lavender
28. Catmint
29. Snapdragon
30. Butterfly Bush
31. Amaranth (Globe, Cock’s Comb, and other varieties bloom all Summer)
32. Cosmos
33. California Poppy
34. Gazania
35. Moss Rose, Portulaca
36. Mexican Sunflower
37. Daisy
38. Clematis
39. Dianthus
40. Geranium

There are many more flowers that bloom all summer, so this is an incomplete list. Do you have other favorites not listed here?

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