June is high summer arriving in Virginia — mountain laurel and rhododendron peak along Skyline Drive, fireflies fill the Piedmont evenings, and the blue crab harvest hits its stride on the Chesapeake. The breeding-bird chorus is in full song from the coast to the high balds.
Week by week in June
June 4–10
- Rosebay and Catawba rhododendron burst pink and white in the cool Blue Ridge coves along Skyline Drive.
- The dawn chorus is at its fullest — wood thrush, red-eyed vireo, indigo bunting, and blue grosbeak singing from every edge.
- The first blueberries and cherries arrive with summer squash, cucumbers, and new potatoes from Piedmont fields.
June 11–17
- Fireflies fill the Piedmont evenings as great spangled fritillaries and the season's skippers work the meadow flowers by day.
- Butterfly weed flames orange in the fields beside common milkweed, bee balm, and the first purple coneflowers.
- Southern and sweetbay magnolias open their big lemon-scented white blossoms in the Tidewater woods.
June 18–24
- The summer solstice falls around the 20th — the shortest nights of the year push full darkness late into the evening.
- Chesapeake blue crab season hits its stride — buy them lively or freshly steamed and cook them the day you bring them home.
- Ospreys and bald eagles feed well-grown young while the first juvenile songbirds appear at backyard feeders.
June 25 – July 1
- Milky Way season begins — from a dark Blue Ridge overlook the glowing summer band arches up from Sagittarius in the small hours.
- Pick zucchini and beans every day or two to keep them producing, and start fall brassica seedlings under shade.
- Wild bergamot, swamp milkweed, and the first joe-pye weed and buttonbush light the wet ditches and pond edges.
Birds This Month
June is the height of the breeding season across Virginia, and the dawn chorus is at its fullest. In the Blue Ridge along Skyline Drive, the high-elevation breeders sing all morning — cerulean, black-throated green, Canada, and hooded warblers, veeries, scarlet tanagers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and the southern-Appalachian dark-eyed juncos. In the Piedmont and Tidewater woods, wood thrushes, eastern wood-pewees, great crested flycatchers, yellow-billed cuckoos, and red-eyed vireos hold territory.
Fields and edges ring with indigo buntings, blue grosbeaks, eastern meadowlarks, field sparrows, and common yellowthroats, and the swamp woods glow with nesting prothonotary warblers. On the coast, least and common terns, black skimmers, willets, and American oystercatchers nest on the barrier beaches at Chincoteague and the Eastern Shore islands. Ospreys and bald eagles are feeding well-grown young, and the first juvenile birds appear at feeders.
What's Blooming
June carries Virginia's bloom to its mountain peak and into the summer meadows. Along the high Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge crest, the great show is the rosebay and Catawba rhododendron bursting pink and white in the cool coves, joined by the last of the mountain laurel and the orange of flame azalea on the balds. Roadsides and woods edges flush with the white plates of elderberry and the climbing white of native clematis.
In the Piedmont and Tidewater, summer wildflowers open in the fields — butterfly weed in flaming orange, common and swamp milkweed, black-eyed Susan, ox-eye daisy, wild bergamot, Queen Anne's lace, and the first coneflowers. Wet ditches and pond edges show swamp rose, pickerelweed, and the first buttonbush, while the bogs of the Blue Ridge bloom with carnivorous sundews and orchids. Magnolias scent the warm Tidewater air.
Garden This Month
June shifts Virginia's garden from planting to harvest and maintenance, with the heat and humidity climbing fast. The first abundance arrives: summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, and the earliest tomatoes in the warm Tidewater. Pick squash and beans every day or two to keep the plants producing, and stake, prune, and tie up tomatoes as they surge. Side-dress heavy feeders with compost and keep beds deeply mulched.
Consistent watering is now the key task — an inch a week, deep and at the roots in the early morning, to prevent blossom-end rot and powdery mildew in Virginia's muggy air. Watch for the season's pests: squash bugs and vine borers, cucumber beetles, tomato hornworms, and Japanese beetles emerging late in the month. Sow another succession of beans and corn, and toward month's end start broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts seedlings under shade for the fall garden. Deadhead flowers and harvest herbs before they flower.
Zone 6b (Blue Ridge foothills & valleys): the warm-season garden is finally in full growth after the late frost. Keep planting beans and squash in succession, mulch well, and enjoy the cooler mountain nights that let lettuce and peas linger a little longer than in the lowlands.
Zone 7a (Piedmont & Shenandoah Valley): harvest and maintenance dominate. Pick zucchini and beans every day or two, side-dress heavy feeders, water deeply and consistently against blossom-end rot, and start fall brassica seedlings under shade late in the month.
Zone 8a (Tidewater & lower coast): the heat and humidity peak. Mulch heavily, water early in the day, harvest crops promptly, and lean on the heat-lovers — okra, southern peas, sweet potatoes, and peppers — that thrive while cool crops fade.
What's at the Farmers Market
June markets fill with early-summer abundance across Virginia. Strawberries finish as the first blueberries, blackberries, and cherries arrive, joined by summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, new potatoes, snap peas, beets, carrots, and the first hothouse and early field tomatoes. Bunches of fresh basil and other herbs appear, and the season's first sweet corn shows up late in the month.
On the Chesapeake, blue crab season hits its stride — Virginia's signature summer harvest — alongside soft-shell crabs and rockfish. Choose blueberries that are uniformly dusty-blue and firm, pick squash small and glossy for the best texture, and select tomatoes that are heavy and fragrant, keeping them on the counter rather than the fridge. Buy blue crabs alive and lively or freshly steamed, keep them cold and damp under wet burlap or newspaper, and cook them the day you bring them home.
Night Sky This Month
June brings the summer solstice around the 20th — the year's longest day and shortest nights, which pushes full darkness late into the evening. Once it is dark, the Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair climbs high in the east, and the orange-red supergiant Antares marks the heart of Scorpius low in the south, with the 'teapot' of Sagittarius beside it pointing toward the galactic center.
This is the start of Milky Way season: from a dark Virginia site such as a Blue Ridge overlook on Skyline Drive or the open Eastern Shore, the glowing summer band arches up from the southern horizon through the Summer Triangle in the small hours. With no major meteor shower this month, June is for the Milky Way's star clouds and the rich clusters and nebulae of Sagittarius and Scorpius in binoculars. The printable Virginia night-sky guide lists this year's planet positions and the best dark-sky sites for your region.
Butterflies & Pollinators
June is one of Virginia's richest butterfly months, with summer broods on the wing everywhere. The swallowtails are at their peak — eastern tiger, black, spicebush, pipevine, and the summer-form zebra swallowtail, larger and longer-tailed than the spring brood — sailing over the gardens and milkweed. The big great spangled fritillary works the meadows, joined by variegated fritillaries, pearl crescents, red admirals, and American and painted ladies.
Grasslands hum with skippers — silver-spotted, Peck's, zabulon, and fiery skippers — and the eastern tailed-blue and summer azure dot the clover. Along the Blue Ridge, look for the great spangled fritillary and mountain specialties at higher elevation. Monarch caterpillars are growing fat on the milkweed and the second Virginia brood emerges, and the common buckeye builds through the dunes and fields. Native flowers — milkweed, coneflower, bee balm, and butterfly weed — are in full nectar and draw the crowds.
What to plant for them is in the Virginia native plants guide
Trees This Month
June settles Virginia's forest into deep summer green, but several trees still flower. The southern and sweetbay magnolias open their big, lemon-scented white blossoms in the Tidewater, the sourwood drips sprays of white bell-flowers along the Blue Ridge, and the chestnut and chinquapin oaks finish their catkins. Catalpa trees hang heavy with orchid-like white flowers, and the basswood (American linden) perfumes the woods with its small fragrant blooms.
On the high ridges, Catawba rhododendron bursts pink among the dark red spruce and Fraser fir of the Blue Ridge crest. The hardwoods are setting their crop — small green acorns on the oaks, developing samaras on the maples, and the cone-like fruit forming on the tulip tree. In the Tidewater the loblolly pines have hardened their new candles, and the bald cypress of the Great Dismal Swamp stand in full feathery green, their green cones swelling among the foliage.
The Virginia native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across Virginia, a typical June day averages a high near 83°F and a low near 61°F, with about 4.4 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Summer heat arrives with 83-degree afternoons and muggy 61-degree nights, plus the year's heaviest downpours.
| Average high | 83°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 61°F |
| Precipitation | 4.4 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 5:51 ET |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 20:36 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 Virginia's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
Go deeper with the Virginia guides
The complete Virginia birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: June in Washington · June in West Virginia · June in Wisconsin