FLOWERING SHRUBS - THE BONES OF THE GARDEN

BY EVE KEENER – U.C. MASTER GARDENER

Flowering shrubs create the backbone of large borders in the home garden. They provide a green backdrop for summer flowers and, with careful selection, bloom from early spring through summer, and provide fall leaf color.

Evergreen shrubs are useful for all year greenery and to provide a screen from unattractive features of your yard, or your neighbors. Three of my favorites are California natives. Fremontodendron (flannel bush), zones 7 and warmer, is fast growing to 6-20 feet, and has yellow saucer-like flowers in May. Ceanothus (wild lilac) comes in many forms but check zones, not all varieties are winter hardy. It blooms in early spring in many shades of blue. Carpentaria californica (bush anemone), zones 5 and warmer, is slow growing to 3-6 feet and has profuse white anemone like flowers in May. An additional benefit to these three shrubs is that they are drought tolerant once established. All take full sun, but the carpentaria will also do well in partial shade.

Two other useful evergreens are Escallonia, hardy to zone 7, in both dwarf forms and large shrubs which have pink blossoms in an almost continuous display at lower elevations and is easily prunable, and Raphiolepis (to zone 7) which is lower growing and has either pink or white blooms in late Spring. These two shrubs take full sun and moderate to regular water.

There are so many deciduous shrubs to choose from that I will just discuss my favorites. Forsythia, hardy in all our zones, is a fountain like shrub that needs lots of space, but can be pruned to keep it in bounds. Its multiple arching stems are covered in early spring with small bright yellow flowers before the leaves appear. This plant tends to sucker profusely and branches root where they touch the ground, so you will always have new plants to increase your stock or share with friends. Forsythia takes full sun and regular summer water.

Philadelphus (mock orange), all zones, is a very large fountain-like shrub (6-8 feet) with white late spring blooms that emit a wonderful fragrance. The species lewisii, a California native, tolerates some aridity once established, but I grow virginalis, a hybrid with several garden varieties, my favorite being “Minnesota Snowflake” which has double fluffy blossoms along the top half of year-old stems. There are other varieties, particularly “Glacier” and “Dwarf Minnesota Snowflake” which grow no more than 4 feet. Philadelphus takes full sun and regular summer water.

Perhaps my favorite shrub is Viburnum plicatum tomentosum (double file viburnum), all zones. This beautiful plant grows to 15 feet and as wide. It has a very horizontal habit with clusters of white flowers, like lacecap hydrangeas, along the branches in May. Bloom is not very long, about 2-3 weeks, but is spectacular, and the shrub is a nice green background plant until leaf drop in late fall. This viburnum takes full sun to light shade and regular summer water - more when it is young.

For late summer bloom, there is nothing to beat crepe myrtle at lower elevations. The plant comes in both shrub and tree forms but, although it blooms on current seasons growth, freezes to the ground at higher elevations and has no time to put on new growth and bloom before the first frost, so is not practical for elevations above 3,500 feet. Blooms come in pinks, lavenders and whites and the plant tolerates lots of heat and sun with moderate amounts of water.

There are many more choices available at local nurseries, and any good garden book will help with your selection. With careful planning, you can have blooming shrubs from very early spring until late summer, which will complement perennials and annuals for a continuous display.