Landscape Flowering Shrubs

Fragrant Flowering Shrubs

• Some shrubs produce very fragrant flowers and are selected to add the additional dimension of fragrance to the garden or landscape. Lilac, viburnum, gardenia, spice bush, camellia and mock orange perfume the air when blooming. Lilac bushes have heart-shaped leaves and thick bunches of flowers with a strong perfume reminiscent of a blend of roses and vanilla. Viburnum has small oval serrated leaves and white or light pink round flower clusters that smell lightly of almonds, honey and spice. Gardenia has shiny, leathery green leaves and large satiny soft, creamy white flowers that have a rich, thick perfume like jasmine, vanilla and coconut. Spice bush has fragrant oval leaves and exotic-looking burgundy flowers that produce a rich, spicy scent. Camellia has thick glossy oval leaves with smooth edges and large white, light or dark pink or yellow flowers that produce a sweet, rich rose perfume. Mock orange has small, elongated oval leaves and small white flowers that smell like sweet orange blossoms.

Showy Flowering Shrubs

• Butterfly bush, hibiscus, azalea, weigela, beauty bush and hydrangea all produce large, showy displays of flowers. Butterfly bush has long bottle brush-shaped flowers at the tips of branches in a variety of colors including white, pink, purple and yellow. Hibiscus flowers are large, disk-shaped blooms in white, red, pink, blue or yellow. Azalea flowers cover the bush in spring, bursting from fat, conical buds, in shades of white, pinks and corals. Weigela's flowing branches bloom with hundreds of little cone-shaped individual flowers in white, pink or purple. Beauty bush is a fast-growing, fountain-shaped shrub that fills with light to dark purple flowers similarly to weigela. Hydrangea has heart-shaped leaves and big snow ball-shaped bunches of white, pink or blue flowers.

Shrubs with Small Flowers

• Potentilla, honeysuckle, glossy abelia and mahonia are shrubs with small flowers. Potentilla has small leaves and dime-sized, five-petalled flowers distributed sparingly along its branches. Honeysuckle has small oval leaves and tiny, trumpet-shaped flowers in pink or red. Glossy abelia has an arching growth habit and evergreen leaves with a profusion of small trumpet-shaped light pink flowers. Mahonia has pairs of leaves growing along each branch and tight clusters of small yellow rose-shaped flowers that produce small purple berries.

Cultivation

• For the best plant growth and flower display, attention to the shrub's growing requirements is important. Most shrubs will grow well without much attention once established if located in the right soil and light conditions, but will suffer or die if planted in unsuitable areas. Trying to grow a sun-loving shrub in wet conditions or giving too much nitrogen fertilizer to a flowering shrub before blooming will give poor results. Proper pruning so that flower buds aren't trimmed away before blooming, the best location for the shrub's light and soil needs and the right watering and fertilizing produce the healthiest plants. Know the growing habits of particular shrubs before you plant and care for them accordingly.