SHRUB MADNESS

Shru Shrub

Iget my love for perennials from my parents — my mom and dad have beautiful perennial gardens that they have been tending for over 30 years. My dad asked me the other day to recommend some shrubs as he has pretty much every perennial that grows in Illinois! I promised him a list, then realized it would make a great article, too! Shrubs are one of my favorite

“genres” of plant material. I’ve come to appreciate their versatility and longevity in the garden as well as their value to pollinators and ease of maintenance. I am still a “perennials girl” but shrubs have edged out perennials lately in my own garden additions. Here’s some of my favorites (and my list for you, Pops!).

 SMALL FLOWERING • Black chokeberry ‘Lowscape Mound’: this little guy is an excellent border shrub with spring flowers and good fall color. • Flowering quince: an old-fashioned shrub that has been bred to be smaller; a relative to apples that flowers with a large, jewel pink, red or coral flower in early spring. • Beautyberry: a little-known shrub that has purple berries in fall. Some have purple foliage too! • Hydrangea ‘Bobo,’ ‘Little Lime,’ ‘Firelight Tidbit,’ etc.: there are SO many new hydrangeas that run the gamut from 3 feet tall up to 10 feet tall and everything in between — there is one for every garden!! It’s a full-time job to keep up with the hydrangea introductions… • Azalea ‘Karen’: I love this little azalea as it’s hardier and easier than most rhododendrons, only grows to about 3 feet tall and blooms hot pink in early spring, a good burgundy fall/winter color too! • Deutzia: I use them frequently in designs; small, belllike flowers in pink or white, long bloom time (several weeks in spring), and a nice mounding habit that rarely needs pruning. • Diervilla ‘Kodiak Red/Orange/Black’: these tough shrubs are durable with great color, small yellow flowers in summer followed by good fall color, drought-tolerant, take some shade; makes a good border or foundation plant!

 LARGE FLOWERING • Vernal witch hazel: a little-known native shrub that blooms in March with fragrant, orchid-like flowers, makes a good specimen large shrub/small tree with some pruning over time, tolerates a fair amount of shade (Common witch hazel is a cousin that blooms in fall — also native). • Sorbaria ‘Sem’: this unique shrub is good for places where not much else grows and you want something to spread and colonize, has bright lemon yellow ferny foliage with orange highlights, grows to about 4-6 feet tall but can spread to twice that with time.

• Ninebark: these are the shrubs for you if you have rabbits as they don’t usually bother them; the larger varieties can get up to 8 feet tall and make great screening shrubs. The dwarf forms are good foundation shrubs. • Doublefile viburnum: an interesting architecture in the garden with long horizontal branches covered with flat, baseball-sized flowers in midspring, can be finicky with cold temps so locate it in town or in a semiprotected spot rurally, great fall color, good for a spot you may need something horizontal vs. vertical.

 SHRUBS WITH FOOD FOR BIRDS • Deciduous holly: I adore the deciduous hollies! ‘Berry Poppins’ and her male friend, ‘Mr. Poppins,’ reward you with bright red berries in

October that last until spring when the cedar waxwings and jays pluck them clean, fairly “boring” in the spring/summer so use in a border where you can have one male for every two to three females and other plants for summer color. • Viburnum: this big family of plants is tried-and-true, white flowers that are always good for pollinators and bear fruit for birds, great fall colors, tough and versatile. Most of them are large so can be used as specimens or as large screening shrubs. A couple are fragrant too! • Elderberries: these are great substitutes for Japanese maples if you have a site that doesn’t work for the maples; deeply cut burgundy (comes in lemon yellow too) leaves with large, paper plate-sized flowers and clusters of fruit for the birds.

 LITTLE-KNOWN SHRUBS THAT ARE

COOL NONETHELESS

• Bottlebrush buckeye: colonizing

shrub that grows to about 6-8 feet tall and wide, shade lover that can take a few years to establish, good flowers for hummingbirds and other pollinators, great for edge of woodlands. • American hazelnut: native shrub that has actual hazelnuts that you can eat if you beat the squirrels or deer to them, great fall color, tough and good for screening. • Saint-John’s-wort: the pollinators will

LOVE you if you plant this summerblooming beauty with bright yellow flowers. After flowers fade, the seed heads have attractive fall/winter interest; some varieties are native. • Buttonbush: super cool native shrub that tolerates wet feet, little white round flowers in summer followed by good fall color, can grow fairly large with time so give some room, great around drainage swales or soggy spots in yard. • Fothergilla ‘Blue Shadow’: this is one of the coolest plants you’ll ever see! Steely BLUE foliage, good for part shade gardens, smaller stature (maybe 3-4 feet max) and amazing fall color. A collector’s item! (Protect from rabbits when young or they will go missing over the winter…) • Itoh peonies: these beauties are peonies x100, large crepe-papery flowers with amazing fragrance, and fancy colors such as peach, yellow, pale pink and red. Treat these like a shrub and don’t trim them at all other than to cut off spent flowers.

Flower production increases with age. • Clethra: excellent shrub for areas that might be a bit wetter in the garden; fragrant flowers in summer attract tons of butterflies and hummingbirds, bright yellow fall color.

Meagan is the Senior Landscape Designer at Wasco Nursery in St. Charles. She can be reached at 630-584-4424 or design@ wasconursery.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!