Choosing flowering shrubs for scent as well as looks doubles the appeal of any outdoor space. Adding beautiful flowering shrubs to mixborders, highlighting important garden elements like patios, decking, entrance areas, stairs and retaining walls are great garden design solutions. When choosing flowering shrubs one of the things to pay attention to is plants decorative features, blooming time and period and, of course, color palettes. You can create various compositions with shrubs blooming at different seasons. Decorative shrub clusters look stunning when certain shrubs start to bloom, while the others have just finished. They can consist of three to five various larger plants species (forsythia, azalea, hydrangea, buddleia, pyracantha, rose or phyladelphus), framed by smaller decorative garden shrubs or herbaceous succulent plants (sedum or stonecrop). Sedum can be planted in front of blooming hydrangea clusters. Succulent plants have decorative leaves of various colors (green, blue, dark-red and silver) and interesting texture.
Early blooming: forsythia,pyracantha, azalea
Forsythia is one of the early blooming flowers in the garden. Its blooming period is long-lasting and exuberant.
Image Source: Flickr
In spring, the whole shrub is covered with golden-yellow blossoms, changing them to rich autumn colors in due season. Forsythia can be planted either individually or in clusters, together with coniferous and deciduous shrubs. Another exuberant spring blooming decorative garden shrub is pyracantha, which is also noted for rich fruiting.
Image Source: Flickr
This ornamental garden shrub can be planted on slopes or edges, lawn being also a perfect background. Early blooming is guaranteed with azaleas, represented by deciduous and evergreens species. This garden shrub blooming time depends on certain climate conditions, bringing endless colors to your outdoor space.
Image Source: Flickr
Different azalea species bloom starting from late winter till midsummer. Philadelphus (also called jasmine) starts its blooming period in the end of May and blooms with exuberant scented flowers. They are easily combined with other garden shrubs, blooming at different time. For instance, you can plant them in clusters with hydrangea and spiraea.
Summer and autumn blooming: hydrangea, buddleia, rose
Hydrangea is easy to cultivate decorative garden shrub, which blooms with racemous blossoms of various colors (white, blue, purple, pink). Depending on particular hydrangea species, this ornamental shrub blooms either in late spring, summer or autumn. Bigleaf hydrangea usually blooms on old growth (last year’s stems), requiring protection for the winter, and can bloom again. To form larger clumps, this type of hydrangea does not need spring pruning; timely dead canes and branches ryemoval will be enough. Panicle hydrangea as a standard form makesa beautiful tree, growing on this year’s stems. This type of ornamental shrub does not need protection for the winter. For exuberant hydrangea blooming prune stems back in early spring, just before new growth emerges. In gardens hydrangeas are commonly planted in rows and container planters, as a mixborder element, in front of the lawn, near house entrance. If you are looking for a garden shrub with long-lasting summer and autumn blooming time, buddleia is a perfect candidate.
Image Source: Flickr
This type of shrub grows really fast and requires sunny location, blooming with ornamental blossoms of pink, white, red, purple, violet and mauve. The most common type is buddleia davidii, blooming on this year’s stems from mid July till October. Buddleia is usually underplanted with other ornamental shrub groups and herbaceous plants.
Roses are one of the best loved garden plants. Combining various rose species together allows to create colorful flower beds and beautiful rosariums. Climbing roses add the perfect finishing touch to pergolas, arches and trellis. For regular, long-lasting blooming, rose shrubs should be pruned, fertilized and removed from winter protection in due time.
