Blooming Shrubs – the Super Eight of Spring

Few shrubs in spring show off with the simple elegance of pink flowering almonds

Shrubs, especially flowering ones, are in greater demand as homeowners seek dynamic landscapes that provide four seasons of interest and require less maintenance. Shrubs are the bones and building blocks of a great landscape. By combining shrubs with long bloom periods, flashy foliage, striking shapes, colorful winter berries for foraging birds, and evergreen qualities, homeowners can truly have gorgeous, easy care gardens any time of the year, especially in spring. Here are my favorite eight to show off this spring.

Ballerina Indian Hawthorne is a shrub for all seasons. This outstanding low evergreen blooms profusely in spring then often repeats with an equally impressive fall show. Super fragrant rosy pink flowers produce small, dark berries. A perfect selection for low maintenance gardens, with a neat, compact habit that rarely needs pruning. Growing to just knee high with equal width this hardy shrub is both heat and drought tolerant when established. This tidy little plant is tough enough to be planted along the driveway, and handsome as a container accent right at the front door.

Home Run Roses are the the never ending bloomer. This 3 foot shrub blooms in spring and won’t stop until autumn transitions into winter. No other shrub blooms longer. Those new to mountain gardening should start with these native shrubs roses that require no pruning to re-bloom and are disease and pest resistant, so their value is assured. The new stems and leaves have purple hues that mature to a deep green for a non-stop show all season long. It is so difficult to kill even proper investment companies are now planting this blooming run away wonder.

Flowering Almond for frothy pink flower in spring. Be ready for a breath taking explosion of double ruffled flowers each and every spring! Petite blooms cover the branches from March through April. Because of their small size, they’re perfect as a focal point along a pathway, in groupings or even in containers. The simplicity and charm of this early bloomer is the perfect companion plant with the sunshine golds of forsythia and equally hardy in local landscapes.

Minstead Scotch Broom says, “I’m from the Southwest, with style.“ An ideal background shrub that is large enough to block out offending views. The leaves are as inconspicuous as rosemary, but the spring flowers truly show off in splashes of lilac and purple with an equally impressive fragrance that fills the air. Perfect as a filler in corners, or enclosing water features with its open spreading habit. The dense branching forms an impenetrable shrub for perfect privacy, or as an accent in a courtyard.

Orange Rocket Barberry tops the list for rugged style. Graceful, with arching, spiny branches that make it very durable. Plants reach 3 feet tall with equal spread. This seemingly inconspicuous little shrub will amaze you. It leaps into spring with a blaze of rocket orange color when the leaves first appear. Dainty yellow flowers form tiny red berries that butterflies and songbirds cannot resist. You will definitely enjoy watching as they flit in and out of your garden to visit.

Dark Knight Butterfly Bush is summer’s perennial lilac. This vigorous growing shrub boasts dark purple flowers summer through fall. It is more than attractive; it’s a magnet for all the butterflies that pass through your garden seeking nectar. This variety naturally grows to head height, but is easily cut back to keep its neat and tidy form.

Goldfinger Potentilla is a burst of precious gold through-out the growing season. A versatile small shrub producing large two inch buttercup shaped flowers. The foliage has a fine texture that is a good replacement for ferns in the inhospitable spots of the yard. Use as a true perennial or as a fast growing shrub. The taste is equally inhospitable to both deer and javalina, so use where animal pressure seems to destroy all other plant life. Requires little, if any, maintenance when mature in the landscape.

Wild Thing Autumn Sage is so hardy it thrives on neglect. Aromatic mounds of dark, semi-evergreen foliage are covered with flushes of hot pink flowers from May through October. Hummingbirds and butterflies love the bright color and plentiful nectar. Because of its herbal nature the rabbits, javalina and deer turn their nose up at this season long bloomer. Thrives on limited water, hot locations and those gardeners with dark thumbs that border on black.

Garden Centers organize their plants according to use, sun or shade, height, water use, and weather they bloom or another evergreen. Department signs might read: bloomers growing under 4′, evergreens that grow head high, bloomers for the shade, topiary, and perennials happy in the sun. Measure the size you want your plant to grow, whether evergreen or bloomer, and peruse the wide selection. Spring is a great time to plant something new.

Until next week, I’ll see you in the garden center.

http://wattersgardencenter.com/2013/blooming-shrubs-the-super-eight-of-spring/ Blooming Shrubs – the Super Eight of Spring