Five flowers that are at their best in June
Roses
British scented roses come into their own in June. Many varieties flower continuously until September, and the more you pick the more they come. ‘Koko Loko’ and ‘Honey Dijon’ were two of my favourites last year, both with exquisite vintage tones and fragrance.
Foxgloves
Foxgloves are biennial flowers sown between April and July for flowering the following June. They provide wonderful drama to arrangements, with their tall spires, and bees adore them. They’re available in so many colours, ranging from white to pinks to browns. My favourite is the romantic apricot shade.
Delphiniums
Like foxgloves, delphiniums provide wonderful architectural height to arrangements, with some stems reaching heights of 1.5m. Their first big flush is in June, and if they’re dead-headed well, they have a second lesser flowering later in the season. They also dry beautifully, keeping their true colours if stored well, and they’re our main source of biodegradable natural petal confetti.
Peonies
These beautiful perennial flowers are probably the most requested specific bridal bouquet flower. Their flowering season is relatively short, so if you want beautiful British peonies in your bouquet, go for a June wedding!
Hardy annuals
June is the beginning of the abundance from all those hardy annual seeds sown in autumn or early spring. The flowers are those we think of in a classic English cottage garden – cornflower, love-in-a-mist, ammi, corncockle – and they provide all the wonderful frothy lightness to floral arrangements.