In bloom in July

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

Agapanthus

Blue or white globes on tall stems. A South African plant that lines drives and roadsides in mild coastal places.

See also: African lily, Agapanthus

Gladiolus

Tall spikes that open from the bottom up, grown in rows for cutting and sold in long bunches.

See also: Gladiolus tristis, Gladiolus dalenii

Tuberose (rajnigandha)

Waxy white flowers on a tall spike with a strong night scent. Sold by the stem and strung into garlands in India.

Dahlia

Mexico's national flower. It blooms from high summer until the first frost, and as a winter flower in Indian hill gardens.

See also: Red dahlia, Tree dahlia

Japanese iris (hanashobu)

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

See also: Japanese iris

Lupin

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

See also: Sundial lupine, Silvery lupine

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: Large white petunia, 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.

See also: Grecian foxglove

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.

See also: Fig leaf hollyhock

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, 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

Sunflower

Fields of yellow heads in high summer across Ukraine, France, Spain and the American plains. Young heads turn with the sun.

See also: Helianthus

Cosmos

Pink and white daisies on feathery stems. They fill autumn fields in Japan and Korea and roadsides in South Africa in March.

See also: Cosmos, Chocolate cosmos

Coneflower (echinacea)

Pink petals swept back from a spiky orange cone. A North American prairie plant, now in gardens everywhere.

See also: Echinacea, Purple coneflower

Cockscomb (celosia)

Velvet crests and plumes in red, orange and magenta. Sold with marigolds in Indian flower markets.

See also: Silver cock's comb

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.

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, Northern rātā

Crape myrtle

Crinkled pink, red or white flowers through the hottest months, on street trees from the southern United States to East Asia.

See also: Crape myrtle

Red flowering gum

A small Western Australian eucalypt with dense red, orange or pink blossom in summer. Widely planted as a street tree.

Mock orange

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

See also: Sweet mock orange

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: Tahitian gardenia, 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.

See also: Lantana

Hydrangea

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

See also: Bigleaf Hydrangea, 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, Fuchsia fulgens

Raat ki rani (night-blooming jasmine)

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

Rose of Sharon (mugunghwa)

A hardy hibiscus with pink, white or violet flowers that each last a day. South Korea's national flower.

Butterfly bush

Long purple cones crowded with butterflies in late summer, on railway banks and waste ground as much as in gardens.

See also: Butterfly-bush

Alpenrose

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

See also: Alpine rose

Clematis

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

See also: Clematis paniculata

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: Coast banksia, 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, Blue passionflower

Morning glory

Blue, purple and pink funnels that open at dawn and close by noon. A summer flower of Japanese doorways.

See also: Tall morning-glory, Mexican morning glory

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.

Flame lily

Red and yellow petals swept back like flames on a climbing lily. Zimbabwe's national flower and Tamil Nadu's state flower.

See also: Wood lily

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

Black-eyed Susan

Golden daisies with dark centres along roadsides and prairies in North America in late summer.

See also: Black-eyed Susan

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, Fleabane

Meadow buttercup

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

See also: Meadow buttercup, Mount Cook 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: Wyoming paintbrush, Butterfly weed

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

Edelweiss

A small, woolly white star on limestone ledges high in the Alps. Protected in several countries, so look and leave it.

See also: Leontopodium

Brahma kamal

Pale, papery bracts around a purple flower head, above 3,500 metres in the Himalaya. Offered at Kedarnath and Badrinath.

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: Rose of Sharon, Blue mahoe

Ixora

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

See also: Ixora

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.

See also: Lesser Periwinkle, Madagascar periwinkle

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 pavonia, Tigridia

Heliconia

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

See also: Kaka beak, Heliconia

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, Frangipani

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

Kewda (fragrant screwpine)

Pale, strongly scented male flower spikes of a coastal screwpine, picked in Odisha in the rains and distilled for flavouring.

See also: Pandan

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

Star water lily (shapla)

Pointed white, pink or blue petals on flooded fields and ponds in the rains. National flower of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

See also: Blue water lily

Victoria water lily

Leaves up to three metres across. Each flower opens white at night and pink the next. Seen in summer in botanic garden pools.

See also: Amazon water-lily, Santa Cruz water lily

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

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, Impala lily

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