Gardening Zone 6a Summer Flowers (2024)

With summer in full swing, the pollinators are loving my gardening zone 6a summer flowers right now. Wait until you see what’s blooming this month!

We’ve had so much rain here in my New Jersey garden.

I live in gardening zone 6a and the weather has been all over the place this summer!

One week its super hot and humid.

Next week its cooler and rainy.

It’s been great not needing to water my flowers as often though.

Usually, it’s so sunny, hot, and humid that I spend half of July watering my container gardens.

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But the new drip irrigation system that I’m using for my outdoor planters has saved me a ton of time.

It’s been so awesome!

With all the rain we’ve had in the northeast, my summer garden flowers look amazing this year.

And the pollinators are visiting the beds in droves.

If you want to see lots of hummingbirds, butterflies, birds, and bees visit your garden, be sure to plant these summer flowers in the fall.

My Gardening Zone 6a Summer Flowers

Because of all the rain, my summer flowers look gorgeous this year!

And I can’t wait for you to see the new cutting garden by the shed.

That flower patch looks so lush and beautiful right now!

But first, let me show you what’s happening in the front yard gardens.

Because there’s so much to see!

My Gardening Zone 6a Summer Flowers in the Front Yard

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know how much the front yard cottage garden has been a labor of love.

I’ve been honing this garden for several years, tweaking it with annuals and perennials to keep the blooms coming throughout the growing season.

In my gardening zone, tall phlox, bee balm, coneflowers and black-eyed susans do particularly well.

I also love sedum autumn joy, joe pye weed, and knockout roses.

But this year, I added a bunch of zinnias and cosmos that I grew from seed in my basem*nt.

Originally they were meant for the backyard cutting garden in front of my shed, but I grew so many, they didn’t all fit back there!

So there I was all spring long, squeezing them in.

Ah the life of a gardener.

We’ll make it fit!!!

I’m often asked how I keep deer from eating my flowers.

They are a real menace in my neck of the woods where gardening is concerned, so I am very proactive with a number of tactics.

One of which is to plant things they tend to steer clear from.

Globe Thistle (Echinops) shown above, is a great deer resistant plant.

The flower head is spikey, the foliage is sharp and deer are not fans of that so they will typically leave those plants alone.

In addition to planting things deer don’t like, I also use THIS spray repellent and THIS granular barrier.

I have seen zero deer browsing this year with this two prong method so I will keep doing this moving forward.

If you try it, let me know if it works for you too!

Wanna see this garden live?

Check out my latest YouTube to see my front yard cottage garden in action and learn more about these gorgeous summer blooms.

Woodland Garden in the Side Yard, Gardening Zone 6a

An extension of my front yard cottage garden is this smaller woodland garden on the eastern side of my home.

It gets shaded from several trees, but in some spots, I get enough dappled light to grow a few plants that like a little more sun.

In this garden, I’m growing ostrich ferns, cranesbill, hostas, oak leaf hydrangea, rhododendron, joe pye weed, tall phlox, bearded irises, zinnias and shasta daisies.

I love all the layers as you peek into the backyard over the fence, don’t you?

The Front Yard Well Garden

When we built our addition 15 years ago, we had to move our well to accommodate the new septic system in the backyard.

After the well was relocated a few feet from the original location, the yard was so ripped up.

Instead of trying to grow grass here, my husband encouraged me to grow a garden.

So I did.

Originally, it was a cluttered mess of divisions, but over the years, I’ve been reigning in the design.

I added some taller specimen plants and evergreens to give the garden some structure, texture and color while the perennials grew and changed.

Zebra grass, smoketree and a juniper help anchor the perennials in this garden.

I also added some smaller shrubs like beautyberry and a limelight hydrangea.

This garden also houses a few peonies and my david austin roses, as well as some zinnias and cosmos that I grew from seed.

Because I grew way too many flowers from seed in the basem*nt, I wound up stuffing the extras in wherever I could.

Next year, I’ll grow a little less.

But I’m not gonna lie, I’m still going to stuff the beds.

Let’s face it, I’ll probably still start too many flowers too because much like food, my eyes are bigger than my stomach.

LOL!

Last year, I added a few varieties of David Austin Roses.

And I’m really thrilled they all came back and bloomed this year.

In this garden, I have ‘Ebb Tide’, ‘Charlotte’, ‘Tranquility’, and ‘Lady of Shallot’.

To learn all about rose care, CLICK HERE.

As this garden blooms, one of my favorite plant combinations is the limelight hydrangea with the black eyed susan and ‘Benary Giant Wine’ zinnias.

I also love how they look with my tall phlox and smoke tree.

Garden Design Tip: When planning a garden, it’s really important to not only consider the flowers and bloom time, but also the foliage.

Because that foliage can really take the color of a garden through the entire growing season.

My Gardening Zone 6a Summer Flowers in the Backyard

After remodeling our home 15 years ago and running around with my kids from activity to activity, the backyard gardens were sorely neglected.

They weeded over.

I didn’t love the garden shed. (CLICK HERE to see why).

My vegetable garden was a hot mess.

And I just didn’t put the time in back here that it needed.

It happens.

But over the last two years, I’ve really been focusing on the backyard gardens.

And I have to say, the backyard might contain my favorite gardens now!

(Shhhhh don’t tell my front yard gardens though).

The raspberry harvest died down but the blueberries are having their best year ever!

We are still harvesting loads of blueberries daily.

I have two blueberry bushes that I planted about 20 years ago.

Usually the birds eat a majority of them.

But this year, there are so many that these bushes just keep producing!

Chris has made a few pies from the harvest too.

And let me tell you, they are delicious!

Highlights from the Cutting Garden

For me right now, the shining star out of all my gardens is the cutting garden.

I don’t know if that’s because I started it all from seed and I’m amazed at the progress.

Maybe it’s the 2 year garden shed remodel. (CLICK HERE to see what it looked like a few months ago).

Or maybe it’s because it looks so beautiful.

But WOW!

I’ve learned so much from this garden this year.

And will definately make some tweaks for next.

I had no idea how some of these flowers would grow, so now that I know, I will plan the bed out a little better.

Some of my favorites from the cutting garden are the zinnias, sunflowers and cosmos.

The larkspur and snapdragons are really beautiful too.

You can get a closer look in the video below.

Summer Gardening Ideas

• The Basics of Deadheading Flowers
• Mosquito Repellent Plant List
• How to Release Ladybugs in the Garden
• How to Care For Plants While On Vacation
• The Best Summer Blooming Flowers
• 7 Ways to Keep Deer From Eating Your Garden Plants

Come See What’s Happening in My Friends’ Gardens

I love to drop by and see what’s growing in my friends’ gardens across the nation.

Let’s drop by and see what’s happening in their gardens.

My good friend Kim from Shiplap and Shells shared some cutting garden tips from the pacific northwest.

If you are growing a cut flower garden, you want to check these out!

My good friend Mary from Life at Bella Terra is starting to divide her irises and shares some great tips from her home in Arizona.

And my good friend Chas from Chas Crazy Creations has been harvesting lots of veggies from her garden and chats about the best time to pick them.

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