Perennials that flower without a break from June until at least August, so the border stays colourful all summer. Each plant page gives the exact flowering time and colour.
60 plants from our verified database, by name. A plant is only listed when the data this list relies on is not in doubt. How our data is made
Stachys monieri 55 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A long-lived perennial that makes a dense cushion of glossy, dark green, scalloped leaves, above which tight rosy-purple flower spikes stand for weeks…
Astilbe × arendsii 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A splash of colour for shady, damp corners: feathery plumes in white, pink, red or purple rise above ferny foliage in early summer. Plant it only…
Salvia greggii 75 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
A small-leaved, aromatic subshrub that carries red, pink, white or purple lipped flowers from early summer until frost and copes very well with heat…
Gypsophila paniculata 90 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
In summer its much-branched, wiry dome turns into a cloud of tiny white or pale pink flowers, which makes it ideal for hiding the gaps left by…
Platycodon grandiflorus 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A long-lived, bushy perennial whose puffed-up, balloon-like buds open in summer into blue, white or pink starry bells. Plant it in sun or part shade…
Acanthus mollis 1.5 m × 90 cm after 10 years
An architectural perennial with large, glossy, deeply lobed leaves and tall summer spikes of white and purple flowers held in spiny bracts. Give it…
Gaillardia aristata 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
From early summer until the first frosts it carries yellow, orange and red, often two-toned daisy flowers, and it shrugs off heat and drought. Most…
Geranium sanguineum 30 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A tough ground-covering perennial that forms a low mound of finely cut leaves, dotted with magenta-pink flowers from late spring into summer, and…
Campanula carpatica 25 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
Carpathian bellflower is a low, cushion-forming perennial that is covered for weeks from early summer with upward-facing blue, purple or white…
Dianthus carthusianorum 50 cm × 25 cm after 10 years
The pink of dry grasslands: thin, wiry stems rise in summer from grassy evergreen tufts and carry tight heads of small magenta flowers that…
Nepeta × faassenii 50 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
A loose mound of grey-green, aromatic foliage that carries clouds of lavender-blue flowers from May to September and is a favourite of pollinators.…
Nepeta × faassenii 'Walker's Low' 75 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
This grey-green catmint brings lavender-blue flowers and plenty of pollinators to sunny borders, path edges and rose plantings. Once established it…
Astilbe chinensis 60 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A perennial with ferny, dark green leaves that sends up stiff, feathery pink or lilac plumes from midsummer, later than the garden hybrid astilbes. It…
Achillea millefolium 80 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
A tough native perennial with finely cut, aromatic foliage and flat flower heads that bees and butterflies visit all summer; garden cultivars also…
Dianthus plumarius 30 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
An old cottage garden favourite: its grey, grassy leaves form a dense cushion all year, and in early summer it is covered in fringed, clove-scented…
Veronicastrum virginicum 1.5 m × 75 cm after 10 years
A tall, slender perennial with whorls of leaves on strong, straight stems, topped in summer by thin, candelabra-like spikes of white, pale pink or…
Helichrysum italicum 60 cm × 90 cm after 10 years
A silver-grey evergreen subshrub with needle-thin leaves that give off a strong curry scent in sunshine and after rain, and mustard-yellow flower…
Hemerocallis 'Stella de Oro' 40 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low, dense daylily that keeps producing lightly scented golden yellow flowers in flushes from early summer to autumn, so it is rewarding as an…
Lysimachia punctata 90 cm × 1 m after 10 years
A vigorous, upright perennial covered in bright yellow flowers for weeks in summer and asking for almost no care. It looks best in sun or part shade…
Lavandula angustifolia 60 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
An evergreen, grey-leaved, scented subshrub covered for weeks in early summer with purple, blue, pink or white flower spikes that bees and butterflies…
Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' 60 cm × 1 m after 10 years
'Hidcote' forms a compact mound of silvery foliage topped with fragrant, dark-purple flowers that attract bees. It works well along sunny borders,…
Achillea filipendulina 1.2 m × 75 cm after 10 years
A tall, stiff-stemmed perennial whose flat, golden yellow flower plates last all summer and keep well cut or dried, while its spicy-scented, ferny…
Lysimachia ciliata 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
In gardens it is nearly always the purple-leaved form that is grown: small lemon-yellow star flowers open above the dark foliage in summer, which…
Veronica longifolia 90 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
An upright, clump-forming perennial that carries long, slender lilac-blue spikes above narrow toothed leaves in summer; there are white and pink…
Gaura lindheimeri 1 m × 60 cm after 10 years
An airy, long-flowering perennial whose thin, swaying stems carry butterfly-like white or pink flowers from early summer until the frosts. It takes…
Agastache × hybrida 80 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
An upright perennial with anise and mint scented leaves that carries dense flower spikes from midsummer to the frosts and is among the best plants for…
Rudbeckia hirta 70 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A fast-growing, bristly-leaved coneflower with large golden yellow, orange, rusty red or two-tone flowers around a dark centre, which open in the very…
Astrantia major 70 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Great masterwort is a loosely bushy perennial for cool part shade: its white, pink or wine-red flower heads, each ringed by papery bracts, last for…
Geranium × hybridum 50 cm × 70 cm after 10 years
This record covers the garden cranesbills sold by cultivar name: loose mounds of cut leaves with saucer-shaped blue, purple, pink or white flowers,…
Geum × hybridum 60 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
A low perennial with hairy leaf rosettes and wiry stems that carry small rose-like flowers in orange, red, yellow or apricot for weeks: one of the…
Echinacea × hybrida 70 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Modern hybrid coneflowers come from crosses of purple coneflower with its relatives: the same stiff-stemmed flower with a central cone, but in orange,…
Hyssopus officinalis 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A low, aromatic, woody-based subshrub that draws bees and butterflies with spikes of blue, or less often pink or white, flowers from early summer into…
Coreopsis grandiflora 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A bushy perennial that produces large, golden yellow daisy flowers from early summer into autumn and is good for cutting too. It is happiest in a…
Lavandula × intermedia 90 cm × 1 m after 10 years
A bigger, more vigorous hybrid than true lavender: a grey-green, aromatic subshrub that carries long-stemmed, strongly scented flower spikes in summer…
Calamintha nepeta 45 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A low, bushy perennial that wraps itself in a cloud of tiny white or pale lilac flowers from midsummer until frost and is then one of the busiest…
Salvia verticillata 75 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A loose, bushy perennial with soft, hairy leaves that carries whorled spikes of smoky purple flowers from June to September, constantly visited by…
Lilium × hybridum 1.2 m × 40 cm after 10 years
Garden lilies are the showiest flowers of the summer border and are also good for cutting and for large pots. Plant the bulbs in autumn or early…
Lychnis chalcedonica 90 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
An old cottage garden perennial that carries flat domes of vivid scarlet flowers on tall, straight stems in early summer; butterflies and bees visit…
Centaurea montana 50 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A perennial relative of the cornflower: a bushy clump of grey-green, lance-shaped leaves carrying large, fringed blue flowers with a violet centre…
Campanula persicifolia 90 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Peach-leaved bellflower sends up slender, upright stems from a rosette of narrow leaves in early summer, carrying large blue or white bells. It…
Lythrum salicaria 1.2 m × 90 cm after 10 years
A native perennial of watersides and wet meadows: from midsummer into autumn its stiff, upright stems carry long, vivid purple-magenta flower spikes…
Verbena bonariensis 1.5 m × 60 cm after 10 years
Tall, airy, almost leafless stems carry clusters of purple flowers from summer until the frosts, and butterflies and bees visit them all day. You…
Persicaria amplexicaulis 1.2 m × 1.2 m after 10 years
Red bistort is one of the longest-flowering perennials: from early summer until the frosts its dense, leafy mound keeps producing slender spikes of…
Kniphofia uvaria 1.2 m × 90 cm after 10 years
Red hot poker forms a clump of long, sword-like leaves and in summer sends up thick, bare stems topped by striking torch-shaped flower heads, red at…
Centranthus ruber 80 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A bushy perennial with fleshy, blue-green leaves that carries clusters of small, fragrant crimson, pink or white flowers from late spring to autumn…
Geranium 'Rozanne' 60 cm × 80 cm after 10 years
'Rozanne' is useful for covering the ground beneath roses or softening the front of a perennial border, with violet-blue, white-centred flowers from…
Perovskia atriplicifolia 1.2 m × 1 m after 10 years
A subshrub with silvery, aromatic foliage that carries a haze of lavender-blue flowers from midsummer into autumn and is very popular with bees. It…
Geum coccineum 40 cm × 30 cm after 10 years
A low, rosette-forming perennial that carries bright orange-red flowers on wiry stems from late spring to midsummer; nurseries mostly sell the…
Leucanthemum × superbum 90 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
The classic big white daisy with a yellow centre that flowers for weeks in summer, cuts well and draws bees and butterflies. Plant it in sun and…
Scabiosa columbaria 60 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
Small scabious forms a low mound of grey-green, divided leaves and carries lilac-blue, pink or white pincushion flowers on long, thin stems from…
Achillea ptarmica 70 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
Unlike other yarrows it has narrow, undivided dark green leaves, and it carries small white flowers all summer; gardens grow the double forms with…
Veronica spicata 50 cm × 40 cm after 10 years
A slender perennial with upright spikes of blue flowers (pink or white in some cultivars) that draw bees and butterflies for weeks in summer. Give…
Oenothera fruticosa 50 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
An easy, sun-loving perennial whose bright yellow, four-petalled flowers open by day, unlike most evening primroses, and follow each other for…
Inula ensifolia 30 cm × 45 cm after 10 years
A low, dense, dome-shaped perennial with narrow sword-like leaves, covered for weeks in summer with golden yellow daisies. It suits sunny, dry, even…
Coreopsis verticillata 60 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
An airy perennial with fine, thread-like foliage, covered in starry yellow flowers from early summer into autumn. It is undemanding and long-lived…
Phlomis russeliana 90 cm × 75 cm after 10 years
Turkish sage makes a dense, weed-suppressing carpet of large, heart-shaped, felted leaves, and in summer its stiff stems carry tiers of soft yellow…
Lythrum virgatum 1 m × 45 cm after 10 years
A slender, clump-forming perennial with wand-like stems that carries loose spikes of purplish pink flowers for many weeks in summer and draws bees and…
Salvia nemorosa 60 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
A tough perennial of dry loess grasslands whose garden cultivars carry dense, upright spikes of violet, blue, pink or white in early summer, always…
Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' 60 cm × 50 cm after 10 years
Deep purple flower spikes and almost black stems work well in sunny borders, alongside ornamental grasses or in larger pots, and attract…
Lavandula × chaytorae 50 cm × 60 cm after 10 years
A hybrid of woolly and English lavender with silver-white felted leaves that look good all year and deep violet, scented flower spikes in summer…
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