USDA zones are something all aspiring gardeners should know. Classified by average annual temperature lows, they help you identify and plant flora that are most likely to survive winters in your region.
Zone 6 experiences an average lowest temperature of -10°F to 0°F (-23°C to -18°C) annually and while this may not account for other critical factors like heat, humidity, and soil conditions they are still helpful to have. Below are annuals and perennials that can be planted in the sun or shade of Zone 6:
The American Arborvitae trees are shrubby zone 6 evergreen plants with an upright-grown habit and are an excellent tree choice for this zone. This tree is sure to add colors and vertical interest to your garden with some cultivars producing stunning bright golden foliage.
This tree species is native to North America and is predominantly found in forests, swamps, and lake shores with well-draining and moist soils. Dwarf or shrub cultivars also exist allowing for planting in compact places and providing an accent against a green background.
Bloom Time: April
Type: Perennial
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Moist, Well-Draining Loam
2. American Persimmon
These deciduous Zone 6 fruit plants are a pretty popular choice for those wanting to add some fruits to their landscape. Natively already found in Zone 6 regions across America, planting this tree should be relatively cheap and accessible while offering you little to no challenges.
And while you wait with baited breaths for their bell-shaped yellow flowers to transform into a sweet reddish-orange delight, you also get to enjoy an awe-inspiring show of reddish-purple or pink foliage in fall.
These trees are easy to transplant and are known for their almost alien-like dangling helicopter-winged edible seeds also known as whirligigs. The Amur Maple is a small tree with a rounded crown and multi-stemmed trunk that can be pruned as per your desired looks.
Their foliage usually bright green takes an interesting turn as they turn crimson red or golden yellow depending on the cultivar. However, they are mostly prized for their clusters of small, creamy flowers with a waft of fragrance not dissimilar to apricots and freesia rolled together.
Bloom Time: April to May
Type: Perennial
Light: Full Sun, Part Shade
Soil: Moist, Well-Draining
4. Anise Hyssop
Anise hyssop is a strange name if you think about it. Being a combination of two plants, its name is an oxymoron as the plant is neither anise nor a hyssop but rather a mint. They are closely related to licorice and basil meaning their flowers can also be similarly utilized for culinary purposes.
Anise hyssops self-sow by forming clumps and self-propagate via underground roots, making the plant a low-maintenance option in your garden with the potential to expand if given space.
The bee balm also known as bergamot is one of our favorite plants Zone 6b. Complementing well with a traditional cottage garden, their distinct spiky flower heads let off a unique fragrant aroma that attracts hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees.
These plants are related to the mint family and can be used for culinary purposes and herbal home remedies. Keep them in check to prevent them from overwhelming overplants in your garden by dividing their rhizomes periodically.
Bloom Time: May to September
Type: Perennial
Light: Full Sun, Part Shade
Soil: Moist, Well-Draining
6. Black-eyed Susan
A familiar sight everywhere, this is one of those plants that you may have seen around but never knew the name of. This plant belongs to the Rudbeckia genus and looks like a mix between a sunflower and a marigold since they are related to sunflowers after all.
Being drought and neglect-tolerant, this is an easy perennial to grow for beginners and is also extremely fast-growing. Just remember to allow their "eyes" to overwinter so that they can be self-sown.
Particularly noted for its cold-hardiness even amongst other cultivars of the same species, these Zone 6 fruit plants are sure to be a low-maintenance blessing, especially for those of you living in extremely cold Zone 6 microclimates.
The Chicago Hardy Fig grows to either become a large deciduous shrub or a small tree with a spreading crown depending on the soil and space afforded to them. What's sure however is their leathery lobed leaves followed by their impressively sweet, medium-sized, deep-purple fleshy fruits.
Bloom Time: April to May
Type: Perennial
Light: Full Sun, Part Shade
Soil: Moist, Well-Draining
8. Columbine
These flowers sway gracefully on slender stems. Blooming in early spring, the columbines belong to the hellebore family and come in multiple colors ranging from dark crimson to light blue with some of them being bicolored.
They have deep taproots which makes them difficult to transplant but they make up for it by self-seeding in unexpected places which certainly more than makes up for their short-lived nature despite being a perennial.
This is yet again another low-maintenance plant for zone 6. Known as coreopsis and tickseed, it's no surprise why they are popular picks for beginners as they are also heat and drought-tolerant.
Coming in a wide variety of colors, they can range from yellow, orange, and red allowing you to take your pick when it comes to their blooms. Additionally, Coreopsis are also rebloomers which means if you deadhead coreopsis, they can get a second bloom in the late season.
Bloom Time: June to October
Type: Perennial
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Well-Draining, Slightly Moist
10. Creeping Phlox
These creepers are suitable plants Zone 6b and are a smaller variant of the garden's favorite tall phlox. The creeping phlox likes to keep a low profile for the rest of the year until the arrival of mid-spring where it blooms and stops all in their tracks.
The creepers create a blanketed canvas of beautiful almost glowing pink, white, and blue all over the fields, or in this case your garden. These phloxes provide an excellent ground cover and spread easily.
Earliglow Strawberry cultivar is relatively low-maintenance compared to its peer strawberry cultivars making it a good choice of variety for beginners. They bear five-petaled white flowers with yellow centers that transform into firm and glossy deep-red berries.
Additionally, the Earliglow is an early-season cultivar which means their fruits blossom 2 weeks earlier than other varieties in June. On top of having a great sweet flavor, this cultivar also produces the largest strawberries over a few weeks and has good resistance to most diseases.
Bloom Time: May to June
Type: Perennial
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Sandy, Loam, Rich, Well-Draining
12. European Silver Fir
The European Silver Firs are large conifer zone 6 evergreen plants that grow into a conical shape with straight stems and used to be a popular choice of Christmas tree before being made obsolete with newer varieties.
Their foliage is heavily dense with glossy with silvery undersides and consists of dark needle-shaped leaves. The bark likewise is similarly silvery-gray, no wonder this tree is named Silver Fir. These trees can live up to 600 years and are amongst the tallest trees in the Abies family.
As you can probably guess, they are named for their delicate foamy pinkish-white flowers that bloom in spring and can be mostly found growing in shady woodlands making the foamflower a carefree hardy zone 6 perennial plant with astonishing foliage.
This plant acts as the perfect ground cover in places with little to no sun as this hardy herb can thrive perfectly well in deep shade, unlike most plants. However, you do have to ensure that the soil isn't wet as it can be fatal for these foams.
Bloom Time: May to June
Type: Perennial
Light: Full or Partial Shade
Soil: Loam, Humus, Well-Draining
14. Fraser Fir
This is a medium-sized zone 6 evergreen conifer with a bizarre habit of growing in pyramidal forms. Its spire crown and flat turpentine-scented dark needle leaves are sure to pull heads and add a bit of quirkiness to your surrounding landscape.
When compared to its Silver fir cousin, the Fraser fir is a modest grower, growing about only 6-12 inches (15-30cm) per year. Along with its slow growth, its fragrance and strong limbs also make it one of the most popular landscaping choices for gardeners.
The Fuji Apple is one of the best homegrown apples with sweet, crispy, and juicy fruits. They have a perfect balance between tart and sweetness.
Once fertilized by birds and bees, they are then followed by fruition in the fall. Though not exactly easy to grow and low-maintenance, the bounty and aesthetic visuals that they provide make them well worth the risk.
Bloom Time: May to June
Type: Perennial
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Loam, Rich, Well-Draining
16. Goat’s Beard
Aruncus also known as goat's beard belongs to the rose family. Their name might sound unappealing but despite this, when they bloom, they produce a cluster of head-pulling creamy white flowers.
An interesting aspect of this plant is that it won't always produce a flower with both male and female organs together which necessitates the assistance of external pollinators. To propagate this plant, you could either divide their rhizomes or self-sow via seeds.
Also grown for its widely attractive broad-ovate-shaped foliage and edible fruit, the Hardy Kiwi Vine is a vigorous climber that produces smooth grape-sized green fruits. The fruits of this cultivar are slightly sweeter but also smaller than the average variety.
The bounties are borne as fruit from the late summer to early fall and are self-pollinating which does not require any external interference. Although they are preceded by pleasant-smelling flowers, their flowers aren't very notable but the plant is still worthwhile all the same.
Bloom Time: May to June
Type: Perennial
Light: Full or Partial Shade
Soil: Acidic, Moist, Well-Draining
18. Joe-Pye Weed
This plant is a late-blooming variety that blooms only after the start of fall. Whereas other plants would have been trying to overwinter for the year, joe-pye weed likes to be the one feeding the pollinators.
We recommend planting a dwarf version of this weed to make it easy to manage. Normally joe-pye weed is propagated by cuttings or division however it's also possible for uncultivated varieties to self-sow themselves.
Lima Beans, also known as Butter Beans have been highly prized by the Peruvian people for centuries for their energic and nutrient-dense content. These plants feature trailing green foliage with oval or trifoliate leaves depending on their maturity.
Their curved green pods are preceded by a loose cluster of white and yellow flowers. They also resemble a similar growth habit to common beans as they belong to the same Fabaceae family also known as the bean family.
Bloom Time: April toMay, September to October
Type: Annual
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Loam, Rich, Moist, Well-Draining
20. Marsh Marigold
Also known as cowslips, these marsh marigolds are a beautiful golden hue of yellow with huge clusters of cup-shaped flowers making it obvious that they are of the buttercup variety.
With a vast range of micro-climates in zone 6 for plants, the marsh marigold is best suited for high moisture areas and marshy soil or alternatively, wet soil near streams and ponds. Being not just for show, these plants will bring and feed plenty of hungry butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden.
Belonging to the Asclepius genus, the Asclepius tuberosa has multiple names such as butterfly weed and milkweed. They are indeed quite aptly named as they are best known for being the most important source of food for the monarch butterfly larvae amongst plants Zone 6a.
The milkweeds are tough and drought-resistant, although they are hard to transplant owing to their taproot structure, once properly established these zone 6a plants will flower after 2-3 years which allows them to propagate through self-seeding without any assistance.
Bloom Time: June to August
Type: Perennial
Light: Full Sun, Light Shade
Soil: Sandy, Well-Draining
22. New England Aster
Another gardener and butterfly favorite, New England Asters are late-season blooming flowers which means these plants are providing nectar when other flowers have already stopped and dried out which is sure to guarantee swarms of butterflies in your home.
Their flowers are found on top of tall stems and are daisy-shaped. Meanwhile, their color can range from purple to white. Furthermore, these flowers are low maintenance and can spread easily.
A common sight in the prairies and gardens, these purple daisy-shaped flowers get their distinctive conical look thanks to their distinctive pincushion centers which carry a large quantity of nectar. Is it any surprise that they also attract plenty of butterflies and bees?
Also known as echinacea to ancient herbalists, they have historically been used to treat various infections and diseases. If you want to propagate the plant, leave the flowers as they are to overwinter which allows them to self-sow.
Bloom Time: July to September
Type: Perennial
Light: Full or Partial Sun
Soil: Sandy, Rocky, Clay, Well-Draining
24. Virginia Bluebell
This is another fantastic Zone 6 shade plant. As you can probably infer by their name, the Virginia bluebell blooms have bell-shaped petals drooping downwards. They begin as small pink buds that eventually mature and open up revealing a cluster of blue-colored bells.
You can transplant bluebell seedlings in spring to their permanent location where after growing and properly establishing themselves, they can start self-sowing and spread themselves. These plants are native to and prefer moist or marshy areas so feel free to plant them if it matches with your local geography.
These plants are low-growing complete with heart-shaped leaves. They may look and smell similar to the commercial ginger but aren't related at all. The wild ginger is grown for its beautiful leaves rather than its dark barely noticeable flowers.
Interestingly, since the flowers bloom under the leaves close to the ground, they are often pollinated by ants. Still, they make good shade plants Zone 6 in spots that lack sun in your garden.
