In bloom in June

Arum lily

A white funnel around a yellow spike. It grows wild in wet ground in South Africa and is a florist staple elsewhere.

Ornamental onion

Purple globes on bare stems, standing above the border in the gap between spring bulbs and summer flowers.

See also: Wild Garlic, Allium giganteum

Lily

Large trumpets and turned-back petals in summer borders. Wild lilies flower in mountain meadows and woods across Asia.

See also: Lilium speciosum, Lilium davidii

Copper pod

Upright sprays of yellow flowers that carpet the pavement below. A common avenue tree in Indian and Southeast Asian cities.

Jacaranda

Violet-blue trees and fallen petals along the streets of Pretoria, Sydney and Buenos Aires in spring, and Mexico City and Lisbon.

Amaltas (golden shower tree)

Long hanging chains of yellow flowers in the hottest weeks before the monsoon. Kerala's Vishu flower and Thailand's national flower.

Gulmohar (royal poinciana)

A wide, flat crown covered in scarlet in the hot season. From Madagascar, now on streets across the tropics.

See also: Delonix, Illawarra flame tree

Pride of India (jarul)

Upright sprays of crinkled mauve flowers on a roadside tree in India and Southeast Asia, from the hot season into the rains.

Laburnum

Hanging yellow chains in late spring, often trained over an arch to make a tunnel of flowers.

Hawthorn (may blossom)

White blossom that thickens hedgerows across Britain and Ireland in late spring, with a heavy, musky scent.

See also: Common hawthorn

Elderflower

Flat cream heads on hedgerow bushes in early summer, picked to make cordial.

See also: Elder

Southern magnolia

Plate-sized, lemon-scented white flowers among glossy evergreen leaves. The tree of the American South.

Illawarra flame tree

An Australian tree that drops its leaves and covers itself in small red bells, often beside flowering jacarandas.

See also: Illawarra flame tree

Ceibo (cockspur coral tree)

Deep red flowers on a riverside tree. The national flower of Argentina and Uruguay.

Champa (champak)

Slim yellow to orange flowers with a rich, fruity scent, offered in temples and worn in the hair in South and Southeast Asia.

Kadamba

Scented orange balls the size of a golf ball, opening with the Indian monsoon. A tree tied to stories of Krishna.

Pohutukawa

Crimson brush flowers on coastal trees in northern New Zealand at Christmas, which is midsummer there.

See also: ʻŌhiʻa Lehua

Rhododendron

Big trusses of flowers on evergreen shrubs in woodland gardens, and wild on Himalayan and Chinese mountainsides.

See also: Catawba rosebay, Common rhododendron

Damask rose

The rose of rose water and rose oil, picked at dawn in Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran and around Taif in Saudi Arabia.

Bottlebrush

Red brushes of stamens at the branch tips. Australian, and common in parks across India and the Mediterranean.

Mock orange

White four-petalled flowers with an orange-blossom scent on an arching shrub in early summer.

Rose

The main flush comes in early summer and many kinds repeat until frost. In the Indian plains roses are best in winter.

See also: Dog rose, Souvenir de la Malmaison rose

Gardenia

Creamy white, thick-petalled flowers with a strong sweet scent on a glossy evergreen bush.

See also: Cape jasmine

Oleander

Pink, white or red flowers on a tough roadside shrub around the Mediterranean and across India. Every part is poisonous.

Cape plumbago

Pale sky-blue clusters on a sprawling South African shrub, used for hedges in warm climates.

See also: Cape leadwort

Lantana

Small heads that shift from yellow to orange and pink, loved by butterflies. An invasive weed in India, Africa and Australia.

Hydrangea

Blue, pink or white mopheads through summer. In Japan they belong to the June rains and to temple paths.

See also: Mountain hydrangea

Lavender

Purple rows on the plateaus of Provence from late June, and on farms from England to Tasmania.

See also: Lavandula pedunculata

Fuchsia

Hanging red and purple flowers like small lanterns, in baskets and in hedges along the Irish west coast.

See also: Fuchsia

Raat ki rani (night-blooming jasmine)

Thin greenish-white tubes that look like little by day and scent a whole lane after dark.

Alpenrose

A low rhododendron that colours slopes in the Alps and Pyrenees deep pink just above the tree line.

Forget-me-not

A mist of tiny blue flowers with yellow eyes under tulips and along streams.

Columbine

Spurred, nodding flowers on thin stems in late spring, in cottage gardens and wild in mountain meadows.

See also: Siberian columbine, Columbine

Peony

Huge, many-petalled flowers for a short late-spring season. Tree peonies open a few weeks earlier, as at Luoyang in China.

See also: Moutan peony, Woodland peony

Iris

Three upright petals and three falling ones, in every colour. Bearded irises fill borders at the turn of spring to summer.

See also: Iris damascena, Coastal Iris

Japanese iris (hanashobu)

Wide, flat purple and white flowers grown beside water and viewed from wooden walkways in the Japanese rainy season.

Lupin

Tall coloured spires in early summer. Garden lupins have spread along roads in Iceland and around Lake Tekapo in New Zealand.

See also: Texas bluebonnet, Bluebonnet

Pot marigold (calendula)

Orange and yellow daisies that flower for months and are used in skin salves. A winter annual in warm countries.

Petunia

Soft trumpets in window boxes and hanging baskets all summer. Grown as a winter annual in the Indian plains.

See also: Petunia × atkinsiana

Geranium (pelargonium)

Red and pink heads on balconies across Europe through summer. The plants come from South Africa.

See also: Pelargonium, Meadow Crane's-bill

Foxglove

Tall spires of spotted purple bells in woodland clearings and cottage gardens. The source of the heart drug digitalis.

Delphinium

Tall spikes in blues few other flowers reach, at the back of the border at midsummer.

See also: Consolida

Cornflower

A clear blue thistle-like flower, once a weed of grain fields and now sown in meadow mixes. Estonia's national flower.

See also: Centaurea, Common knapweed

Hollyhock

Stems taller than a person, set with wide flowers, against walls and in pavement cracks in old villages.

Carnation

Frilled, clove-scented flowers in summer gardens. Grown year-round under cover for florists, much of it in Colombia and Kenya.

See also: Carnation, Fringed pink

Snapdragon

Spikes of two-lipped flowers that open like a mouth when squeezed. A summer flower in the north, winter in the Indian plains.

See also: Common snapdragon

Zinnia

Stiff, bright daisies from Mexico that like heat and flower until frost. They do well through the Indian monsoon.

See also: Elegant zinnia

Nasturtium

Orange, red and yellow spurred flowers over round leaves, trailing across paths. Flowers and leaves are peppery and edible.

See also: Nasturtium

Canna

Red, orange and yellow flowers over broad leaves in parks and traffic islands across warm countries.

Four o'clock flower

Trumpets in pink, yellow and white, sometimes on one plant, that open in the late afternoon. Gulbakshi in India.

Marigold (genda)

Orange and yellow pompoms. The garland flower of Dussehra and Diwali in India and of the Day of the Dead in Mexico.

See also: Calendula, French marigold

Clematis

Wide starry flowers on a climber that scrambles over walls, arches and shrubs. Different kinds take turns from spring to autumn.

Sweet pea

Frilled, strongly scented flowers on a climbing annual, picked every few days to keep more coming.

See also: Perennial pea

Honeysuckle

Cream and pink tubes twining through hedges, with a scent that is strongest on summer evenings.

See also: Japanese honeysuckle

Common jasmine

White starry flowers on a twining climber, scenting courtyards from Iran and Kashmir to southern Europe.

See also: Star jasmine, Arabian jasmine

Passion flower

An intricate wheel of filaments over ten petals, on a fast South American vine. Some kinds give passion fruit.

See also: Passionflower

Madhumalti (Rangoon creeper)

Hanging clusters that open white at dusk and turn pink, then red, over the next days. Common on Indian gates and walls.

Butterfly pea (aparajita)

Deep blue flowers on a thin vine. Used to colour rice and tea blue in Southeast Asia, and offered in puja in India.

Common poppy

Thin scarlet petals in field edges and disturbed ground across Europe. The remembrance flower of the First World War.

See also: Common poppy, Poppy

Daisy

The small white and yellow lawn flower of Europe, out for most of the growing season and made into chains by children.

See also: Leucanthemum

Dandelion

Yellow discs that turn meadows and verges gold in spring, then become round seed heads.

See also: Common dandelion

Meadow buttercup

Glossy yellow cups that turn damp hay meadows gold in early summer.

See also: Meadow buttercup

Thrift (sea pink)

Pink pompoms over grassy cushions on sea cliffs and salt marshes around the coasts of northern Europe.

Indian paintbrush

Red and orange tufts that look dipped in paint, in meadows and deserts of western North America.

See also: Butterfly weed, Castilleja

Himalayan blue poppy

Clear blue poppies of high, wet Himalayan slopes. Bhutan's national flower is one of them.

See also: Prickly blue poppy, Meconopsis gakyidiana

Fireweed

Tall magenta spikes that take over burnt and cleared ground across the north, from Alaska and Yukon to Scandinavia.

Gentian

Deep blue trumpets in short alpine turf, in the Alps, the Himalaya and other high mountains.

See also: Gentiana scabra, Gentiana clusii

Hibiscus (gudhal)

Wide red flowers that last a day, on hedges all year in the tropics. Offered to Kali and Ganesha. Malaysia's national flower.

See also: Mandrinette, Hawaiian hibiscus

Ixora

Tight round heads of small red or orange stars on a clipped hedge. In flower through the year in the tropics.

Crossandra (kanakambaram)

Light, scentless orange flowers strung into hair garlands in South India, often together with jasmine.

Madagascar periwinkle (sadabahar)

Pink or white five-petalled flowers on a small plant that never seems to stop. Its Hindi name means always in spring.

Yellow oleander (peeli kaner)

Yellow funnels among narrow leaves on a roadside shrub. Offered to Shiva in India. All parts are poisonous.

Peacock flower

Red and yellow flowers with long red stamens on a light, open shrub. The national flower of Barbados.

See also: Tigridia, Pride of Barbados

Heliconia

Stacked red and yellow bracts like lobster claws among banana-like leaves, in the wet forests of tropical America.

Anthurium

A glossy red heart with a pale spike. A tropical American plant, grown for cut flowers in Hawaii and Mauritius.

See also: Flamingo Flower

Tiare (Tahitian gardenia)

A white pinwheel with a soft, sweet scent, worn behind the ear in Tahiti and the Cook Islands and steeped in coconut oil.

Frangipani (plumeria)

Waxy white, yellow and pink flowers that drop whole under the tree. Used in Hawaiian lei and Balinese offerings.

See also: Plumeria alba

Mogra (Arabian jasmine)

Round white buds strung into gajra for the hair in India. Sampaguita in the Philippines and melati in Indonesia.

See also: Arabian jasmine

Siam tulip (dok krachiao)

A pink ginger relative that comes up across open forest in Chaiyaphum, Thailand, at the start of the rains.

See also: Siam Tulip

Yellow flag iris

Tall yellow irises standing in the shallows of rivers, ponds and marshes across Europe.

Lotus

Pink or white flowers held high above round leaves in ponds and temple tanks. They open in the morning. India's national flower.

See also: Lotus, Rafflesia

Water lily

Flowers that float among flat pads on still water through summer, as in Monet's pond at Giverny.

See also: White Water-lily, Egyptian white water-lily

Foxtail orchid (kopou phool)

A long hanging tail of pink-spotted flowers. Women in Assam wear it in the hair for the Bihu festival in April.

See also: Foxtail orchid

Early purple orchid

Purple spikes above spotted leaves in European woods and old grassland, often among bluebells.

See also: Early Purple Orchid

Lady's slipper orchid

A yellow pouch with twisted maroon petals. Rare and protected across Europe, so known sites are often guarded.

See also: Lady's-slipper orchid

Vanda Miss Joaquim

A pink and violet hybrid orchid that flowers all year in full sun. Singapore's national flower.

See also: Waling-waling, Vanda falcata

Vygie (ice plant)

Low succulent mats that vanish under glossy pink, purple and orange daisies in the South African spring. They open in sun.

See also: Mesembryanthemum

Desert rose (adenium)

Pink and red trumpets on a swollen grey trunk. From Africa and Arabia, and a popular pot plant in India and Thailand.

See also: Desert rose, Desert rose

Prickly pear

Yellow, orange or pink satin flowers along the edges of flat cactus pads, followed by edible fruit.

See also: Indian fig opuntia

Saguaro blossom

White flowers at the tips of giant Sonoran Desert cacti. They open at night and close by the next afternoon. Arizona's state flower.

Queen of the night

A big white, scented cactus flower that opens for a single night. Many Indian homes call this plant brahma kamal.

See also: Dutchman's pipe cactus