What’s Blooming in My Early Summer Cottage Garden

My summer garden has the most beautiful flowers blooming right now. Take a look and get inspired by all that is growing this early summer in my Pacific Northwest cottage garden.

No two gardens are the same. Isn’t that what makes gardening so special?

I love seeing which perennials are blooming throughout the year in different parts of the country and the world. I have a friend who lives in Arizona who actually has pumpkins right now, and I barely have blooms on my dahlias.

As for my Pacific Northwest garden (PNW), the end of June and the beginning of July is a big transition time. Flowers like Jupiter’s Beard and Salvia have been cut back so they can bloom one more time before the season ends.

Perennial summer favorites, such as dahlias and black-eyed Susans are still not fully blooming.

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I’m a self-taught hobby gardener, not a Master Gardener. Everything I share with you on my blog is my personal opinion and things that worked for me along the way.

Triple-Digit Heatwave in June

If you didn’t hear about our 3-day triple-digit heatwave a couple of weeks ago, it really shocked our plants. They aren’t used to summer temperatures reaching much higher than the mid-eighties.

The phlox, roses, daisies, and zinnias all seemed to thrive in the hotter temperatures. They are now in full bloom. Other cooler weather lovers such as hydrangeas and sweet peas struggled a bit.

Now I am not a Master Gardener. But I do think that once the 100-degree weather hit, JUST as the sweet peas were starting to bloom, they were confused and stopped producing blooms. Things don’t heat up around here until mid or late July, which is why we can usually grow sweet peas in this area successfully.

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July’s Cottage Garden Showstopping Stars

There are definitely some flowers that have produced well above the others in the cottage garden in the first half of July. Here’s a look.

Daisies

Can we all agree that when you see a daisy it makes you smile? These early summer blooms have a knack for making you happy. They are a huge presence in my cottage garden this time of year and somewhat of a placeholder until the black-eyed Susans take over in the next couple of weeks.

Echinacea (Coneflower)

I only started with a couple of coneflower plants last year and fell in love. I added several more this season by dividing and buying a few more at the nursery. And the bees LOVE them!

I was really surprised that they bloomed so much sooner than my black-eyed Susan’s, WEEKS SOONER!

I’m working on adding more colors to my cottage garden as well. I love this white Avalanch variety.

Hydrangeas

I was certainly worried after June’s hot temperatures and blazing sunlight, but these beauties have seemed to bounce back. Draping them with a shade cloth definitely helped!

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Daylilies

Some daylilies are blooming more than others, but I was blown away by my orange daylilies. I don’t even remember planting one.

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Phlox

The established phlox that I’ve had for years has just fully bloomed in the last week or so. I planted some bare root phlox this spring and still waiting for those to pop up.

The Cut Flower Garden

Our raised beds and containers in the cut flower garden are filling out and the bees are in full force! The pincushion, love-in-the-mist, cinnamon basil, strawflower, and globe amaranth aren’t blooming yet, but here are some of the cut flowers that are ready for harvesting.

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Snapdragons

The Chantilly Mix snapdragons are the most beautiful of all the cut flowers I am growing this year…at least in my opinion.

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The colors are gorgeous and they make the most beautiful addition to any cut flower arrangement. I sowed these Floret Flower seeds in early February.

Cosmos

Cosmos are one of my favorite cutting flowers to work with. They are one of the first bloomers in the summer garden and continue to produce long through the season.

I grew varieties such as Cupcake White, Apricot Lemonade, and Double-Click Mix this year. The more you cut, the more they produce…my very favorite kind of flower!

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Zinnias

Another favorite cutting flower of mine is the zinnia. These are such a staple in any garden! I grew not only my tried and true Queen Lime variety (3rd year in a row) but planted Persian Carpet and Mazurkia for the first time this year.

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Patiently Waiting for These Summer Beauties

And then there are a few flowers that will not start making an impact on the cottage garden until mid-summer, hopefully in another week or two. These will be the blooms that transform my garden into that “magazine-worthy” outdoor space.

Dahlias

The dahlias are very late bloomers this year as well. We have just a handful of plants that have a few flowers on them, and it’s already the middle of the month.

I not only grow dahlias from tubers every year, but I also grew some in my cutting garden from seed this season. The Dahlia Bee’s Choice Mix from Floret Flowers produces a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colors. No two plants will be the same!

Flowers in this mix will be mostly open-centered types that will attract lots of pollinators. And the best part? You can save the tubers for next year!

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Black-Eyed Susans

These summer showstoppers take their time to bloom but once they do, they will be all you see in the cottage garden with their pops of yellow everywhere you look.

Did you know that I started out with just one black-eyed Susan plant and I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve divided that one plant hundreds of times in 8 years?

Thank you so much for following along as I showed you my early summer cottage garden. I hope you took a good look because, in the next couple of weeks, my garden will look COMPLETELY different. In my opinion, mid-to-late summer offers the best garden views of the year. And I can’t wait!

As always, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below. Follow me over on Instagram to see more everyday living and stories.

Happy Gardening!

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