What’s Blooming in Late June: Flower Combinations to Try

Late June is a magical time in the garden. Early bloomers are fading, high summer stars are waking up, and with a little planning, your planting can hit that sweet spot where color, structure, and texture all overlap.

I recently visited the Kumpula allotment gardens, where I’ve had the joy of designing the planting areas at the entrance square. After the rain, everything looked fresh, the light was soft, and the flowerbeds looked abundant, relaxed, and full of rhythm.

If you're thinking about how to keep your garden blooming through early summer into midseason, here are some combinations and design notes you might find helpful:

1. Structure + Softness: Alliums and Peony Buds

Tall globe-shaped alliums paired with rounded, soon-to-open peony buds will create contrast in both form and timing. Alliums bring vertical energy just as peonies are gearing up. Plant them in clusters to guide the eye and build anticipation.

Try this: Place peonies as your “anchor” plants, and let alliums weave between them to create a gentle visual rhythm.

2. Repetition with Variation: Stachys and Geraniums

Big betony (Stachys macrantha) brings texture and lots of flowers, while hardy geraniums—both robust hybrids and finer forms like smaller G. sanguineum—fill in at the base. The color palette stays cool and cohesive, but the texture play makes it interesting.

Try this: Place several types of hardy geraniums and big betony in front of taller perennials. It’s an easy, low-maintenance mix that fills gaps and blooms for weeks.

3. Seasonal Flow: Salvias Beginning, Grasses Catching Light

Salvias were just starting to flower—a sign of the shift toward midsummer. Behind them, ornamental grasses quietly glowed in the late afternoon light after the rain.

Try this: Think beyond bloom. Pair salvia’s saturated color with the movement and light-catching quality of grasses like Deschampsia or Molinia to keep your border dynamic even when flowers fade.

4. Layering for Longevity

What stood out most was the sense of continuous bloom. Some plants were finishing, others just arriving—but together they felt intentional. This kind of layering takes some observation, but once you tune into your garden’s timing, it becomes second nature.

Start with this:

• One early bloomer (e.g., allium)
• One midseason (e.g., salvia or peony)
• One late bloomer or textural element (e.g., grass or sedum)

Plant them close enough to overlap, but not compete. That’s where the magic lives.

Gardens don’t need to be packed with flowers to feel alive. Sometimes it’s the spaces between—the echo of one bloom fading as another rises—that make a planting sing.