June settles New Jersey into summer — migration is over, breeding season is in full swing, and the long days fill with birdsong, fireflies, and the bloom of meadows and the Pine Barrens. The shore warms, and the first big harvest of the Garden State arrives at the markets.
Week by week in June
June 4–10
- Ospreys raise large young on the coastal platforms, and the threatened piping plover, least tern, and black skimmer nest on the protected beaches.
- Field and roadside flowers take over — oxeye daisy, black-eyed Susan, common milkweed, and blazing orange butterfly weed.
- Stake and prune tomatoes, trellis cucumbers and squash, and watch for the first cucumber beetles and tomato hornworms.
June 11–17
- The Pine Barrens reach a flowering peak as carnivorous pitcher plants and sundews bloom and rare grass pinks and rose pogonia open in the wet savannas.
- Eastern whip-poor-wills and chuck-will's-widows call through the Pine Barrens nights, and family groups of fledglings appear everywhere.
- The Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair climbs in the east, and the Milky Way begins to arch up late at night.
June 18–24
- The summer solstice around June 20 brings the year's shortest nights — wait until well after 10 p.m. for full dark to see the returning Milky Way.
- Blueberries ramp up from Hammonton, the self-styled Blueberry Capital, alongside cherries, peas, garlic scapes, and the first summer squash.
- June butterflies are abundant — swallowtails, fritillaries, buckeyes, and a great diversity of skippers work the meadow flowers.
June 25 – July 1
- The native prickly-pear cactus opens its yellow flowers on the sandy barrens and dunes, and sea lavender begins to haze the salt marshes purple.
- Sweetbay magnolia opens its lemony white flowers in the swampy coastal-plain woods, and catalpa hangs its showy white clusters along roadsides.
- Start fall brassica seedlings for midsummer transplanting, and harvest the first peas, lettuce, and summer squash, picking often.
Birds This Month
June is the heart of the breeding season in New Jersey, and the woods, fields, and marshes ring with song from before dawn. Resident and summering birds are on territory: wood thrush, ovenbird, and scarlet tanager in the forests, indigo bunting, common yellowthroat, field sparrow, and the state bird, the American goldfinch, in the brushy fields, and Baltimore and orchard orioles in the shade trees. Eastern whip-poor-wills and chuck-will's-widows call through the Pine Barrens nights.
On the coast, the salt marshes and beaches are busy with nesting ospreys feeding young, laughing gulls, willets, clapper rails, and the threatened piping plover, least tern, and black skimmer on the protected beaches. Glossy ibis, egrets, and herons work the marshes from their heronries, and the late, lingering horseshoe crab spawn still draws a few shorebirds early in the month.
This month's tip: get out at first light for the dawn chorus at its richest, and visit a Pine Barrens road at dusk to hear whip-poor-wills and watch for nightjars.
What's Blooming
June shifts the bloom from the shaded woods to the open meadows, wetlands, and Pine Barrens. Field and roadside flowers take over: oxeye daisy, black-eyed Susan, common milkweed in fragrant pink clusters, butterfly weed blazing orange, wild bergamot, Deptford pink, and the first Queen Anne's lace. Wet meadows and pond edges show blue flag iris, swamp milkweed, and pickerelweed.
The Pine Barrens reach a flowering peak: mountain laurel and sheep laurel color the plains, the carnivorous pitcher plants and sundews flower in the bogs, and rare bog orchids — grass pinks, rose pogonia, and others — open in the wet savannas, treasures of the region. Along the coast, seaside goldenrod greens up and the dunes hold blooming beach pea and prickly-pear cactus, New Jersey's native cactus, with its yellow flowers on the sandy barrens and shore.
Garden This Month
June is when the New Jersey garden hits its stride. The warm-season crops are established and growing fast — keep tomatoes staked and pruned, cucumbers and squash trellised, and pole beans climbing. Water deeply and consistently, especially in the sandy soils of South Jersey and the shore that dry quickly, and mulch to hold moisture and keep weeds down. Side-dress heavy feeders like corn and tomatoes with compost as they size up.
Keep succession-sowing beans, corn, and lettuce (heat-tolerant varieties now), and start seedlings of fall broccoli, cabbage, and other brassicas late in the month for midsummer transplanting. Harvest the first crops — peas, lettuce, garlic scapes, early summer squash and zucchini — and pick often to keep plants producing. Watch for the first cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and tomato hornworms, and pull or hand-pick before they multiply. Deadhead annuals and perennials to extend the bloom.
Zone 6a (northwestern Highlands): with frost finally past, set out any remaining tomatoes, peppers, and basil early in the month, and direct-sow beans, squash, and cucumbers. The cooler Highlands nights favor a longer run of lettuce and peas than the south.
Zone 7a (central & southern New Jersey): the warm-season garden is established — keep up watering, mulching, and succession sowing of beans and corn, and start fall brassica seedlings late in the month for transplanting in midsummer.
Zone 7b (southern shore & Cape May): the garden is in full production — harvest the first squash and cucumbers, watch for heat and humidity stress, and water deeply, as the sandy coastal soils drain fast.
What's at the Farmers Market
June markets in New Jersey overflow with early-summer abundance. Strawberries are at their peak early in the month, and blueberries begin by late June as the Hammonton crop ripens. Peas, lettuces, spinach, radishes, scallions, spring onions, garlic scapes, the first summer squash and zucchini, cucumbers, and beets crowd the stands. Cherries appear from the orchards.
The last of the asparagus finishes early in the month, and new potatoes and the first green beans arrive toward the end. Cut flowers, honey, and eggs round out the tables. Choose strawberries that are fully red and fragrant and use them fast; pick blueberries that are plump and dusty-blue and refrigerate them dry. Select squash and cucumbers that are firm and glossy, and peas with bright, full pods. The Garden State's signature summer harvest is just getting started.
Night Sky This Month
June has New Jersey's shortest nights, bracketing the summer solstice around June 20, so dark sky time is brief — but the summer constellations are arriving. The Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair climbs in the east through the evening, and the Milky Way begins to arch up from the southeast late at night. Hercules rides high overhead, carrying the magnificent globular cluster M13, a showpiece in any telescope.
Low in the south, the head of Scorpius rises with its red heart, Antares, and the rich star clouds toward the galaxy's center begin to clear the horizon. There's no major meteor shower this month, so June is for casual viewing of the bright summer stars and a first look at the returning Milky Way after twilight finally fades — which is very late this time of year.
For real darkness, the Pine Barrens and the remote southern shore are best, and you'll need to wait until well after 10 p.m. for full dark. Exact planet positions vary year to year — the printable New Jersey night-sky guide gives this year's details for your area.
Butterflies & Pollinators
June butterflies are abundant and varied across New Jersey. The swallowtails remain prominent — eastern tiger, spicebush, and black swallowtails, with the southern zebra swallowtail turning up as an uncommon stray near its scarce Delaware-River pawpaws — joined by the big orange great spangled fritillary emerging now to nectar on milkweed and bergamot. Pearl crescents, question marks, red admirals, American ladies, common buckeyes, and a growing variety of skippers work the meadows, while the Pine Barrens host specialties like the Hessel's hairstreak of the cedar swamps and various elfins and duskywings. Monarch caterpillars feed on milkweed and the summer's first home-grown adults emerge. The blooming common milkweed and butterfly weed are now crucial nectar and host plants. June is a fine month to plant a sunny native nectar bed and to watch caterpillars on milkweed, dill, parsley, and spicebush in the garden.
What to plant for them is in the New Jersey native plants guide
Trees This Month
By June the New Jersey forest is in deep, full-summer leaf and the late-flowering trees take their turn. Tulip tree finishes its high-canopy bloom, black locust and black cherry have set fruit, and the native sweetbay magnolia opens its lemony white flowers in the swampy coastal-plain woods. American holly blooms inconspicuously, setting the berries that will redden by winter, and catalpa hangs its showy white flower clusters along roadsides and old farmsteads.
In the Pine Barrens, the pitch pines finish their pollen shed and carry fresh candles of growth, and the highbush blueberry, a wild relative of the cultivated crop, ripens its first fruit in the bogs. The shade is dense now beneath the closed oak, maple, hickory, and beech canopy, and the spring wildflowers have largely gone to leaf and seed below. The forest settles into the steady, deep green of high summer, growth and fruiting underway across every layer.
The New Jersey native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across New Jersey, a typical June day averages a high near 81°F and a low near 60°F, with about 4.3 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Summer heat arrives in earnest, sticky 80-degree afternoons giving way to warm, muggy nights and frequent thunderstorms.
| Average high | 81°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 60°F |
| Precipitation | 4.3 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 5:27 ET |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 20:29 ET |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (ET).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when New Jersey's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
Go deeper with the New Jersey guides
The complete New Jersey birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: June in New Mexico · June in New York · June in North Carolina