Summer Long Flowering Bushes

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 3

• Smooth hydrangea prefers shade, but withstands the effects of full sun within USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 3. It requires constant watering to keep its leaves fresh. Smooth hydrangeas bloom through the summer, with cultivars, such as Annabelle and Ryan Gainey, producing flowers in June. These shrubs are manageable heights between 3 and 5 feet tall. Panicle hydrangea begins its blooming period later in July, but flowers well into September. These bushes grow larger than the smooth species, some to 15 feet high. In full sun, shrubby cinquefoil turns out flowers through the summer, growing to 4 feet and used as hedges, foundation plants and shrub borders.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5

• Butterflies have a close association with the summer months, so the butterfly bush flowers the entire summer attracting them into viewing range. Types like the Butterfly Heaven cultivar bloom June through September within USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5 and produce aromatic flowers. Sometimes, a severe winter results in the bush seemingly dying, but it comes back in spring. The rose of Sharon works well within USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5, blooming from June to long past the summer, sometimes into October. The Asian native takes on a vase shape as it matures in many instances, with available hybrids such as Helene, Pink Giant and Minerva.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7

• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7 is a haven for many kinds of rose bushes. Remove the spent flowers growing hybrids, such as Ausmary, to precipitate reblooming, recommends the Missouri Botanical Garden. This allows these bushes to flowers from May until the initial frost. The same is true for other rose shrubs such as floribunda rose, miniature rose, hybrid tea rose and the climbing miniature rose. June and July are the peak months for the flowers of weigela hybrids like Rumba, but they continue blooming on a lesser scale into September. Other bushes for USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7 summer flowering include crape myrtles and St. John's wort.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 9

• In warm USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 9, glossy abelia thrives and produces flowers all summer. These bushes are candidates for mass plantings, foundations and as groundcover. Choose from butterfly friendly hybrids such as Panache, Minipan and Sherwoodii for your landscape. The summer heat fails to deter the flowering of butterfly bush hybrids, such as White Ball and Royal Red. Crape myrtles, hydrangeas and multiple rose species also bloom most or all of the summer within this region.