Summer Blooming Shrubs

Types

• Some popular blooming shrubs for summer, according to Gardenlistings.com, include: Blue Mist Shrub, Bottlebrush Buckeye, Butterfly Bush, Kerria Japonica and Mophead Hydrangea. Other summer blooming shrubs that are popular include Oak-Leaf Hydrangea, Rose-of-Sharon, Royal Purple Smoke Bush, Sweet Mockorange and Summersweet. And all these types are easy to grow, too.

Function

• You can use a shrub bush to act as a barrier, preventing an unwanted presence or foot traffic in areas where you desire privacy during the summer. In those cases it acts as a fence or privacy screen between your property and that of your neighbor--or the area you desire to have off limits. In addition, blooming shrubs can serve as lawn ornamentation during the summer, providing pleasure to you as well as your neighbors and visitors. But summer blooming shrubs can also serve to keep people off your grass in certain parts of your lawn, too, directing people to walk on other created pathways or sidewalks.

Misconceptions

• Some people wrongly assume that blooming shrubs cease after springtime, but that isn't true. It is accurate that there are more blooming shrub types that flower during the spring season; however, summer blooming shrubs can be just as colorful (hydrangea) and fragrant (mockorange) as their spring counterparts.

Time Frame

• Some summer blooming shrubs flower in the early part of summer, like the Kerria Japonica bush and the Sweet Mockorange bush. Others, like the Bottlebrush Buckeye, the Mophead Hydrangea, and the Oak-Leaf Hydrangea bloom in mid-summer, as does the Butterfly Bush. Late-summer blooming shrubs include Summersweet, Blue Mist Shrub, Royal Purple Smoke Bush and the Rose-of-Sharon.

Features

• If you want dramatic and large flowers on your shrub, you will want to plant the Rose-of-Sharon or the Royal Purple Smoke Bush. Butterfly lovers will enjoy the Butterfly Bush, since it draws both butterflies and hummingbirds to its colorful blooms. The Blue Mist Shrub is an excellent accent shrub in the butterfly garden, too, and it boasts its own fragrant blossoms. Shady woodland flower gardens favor the white blooms of the Oak-Leaf Hydrangea, which replaces white with pink blooms as the summer ends and fall begins.

  The Kerria Japonica bush is also a good woodland garden choice due to its preference for shades, lighting up the summer with bold yellow blooms that transform to fiery red by fall. If it is fragrance more than blooms you crave, Summersweet and Sweet Mockorange shrubs will please you, throwing in white, yellow, pink or deep rose blooms as well.