Tall Shrubs for Shade

Summersweet Clethra

• The Summersweet Clethra grows year-round with fragrant flowers and interesting form. The shrubs will reach heights that range anywhere between three to eight feet tall. One advantage to this shrub is its ability to accommodate tight spaces, such as home foundations or borders. The Summersweet Clethra is shade-tolerant with the long-lasting flower blooms in white, pink and rose every July through August. This shrub thrives best in moist, acidic soils.

Bottlebrush Buckeye

• The bottlebrush buckeye, native to Georgia and Alabama, spreads out to 15 feet wide and nine to 12 feet tall. The summer flowers will reach eight to 12 inches long and four inches wide with blooms in July and August. The bottlebrush works well as a specimen plant or massed planting.

Red Chokeberry

• With a six- to 10-foot-tall multi-stemmed body, the red chokeberry is an open shrub with a rounded top. Flowers bloom in white to pink colors in the spring. This shrub features a bright red fruit in the fall that lasts into winter. The 1.5- to 3.5-inch leaves change from salmon to brilliant scarlet in the fall. Red chokeberry shrubs work best for mass planting.

Black Chokeberry

• The black chokeberry features a three- to five-foot-wide body with the distinctive rounded top. Flowers are off-white to pink and bloom in the spring months. This shrub grows shiny blackish-purple plum-like fruit and dark green leaves that generate a wine-red color in the fall.

Gray Dogwood

• The gray dogwood can grow anywhere from six to 15 feet tall. The shrub features smooth, gray twigs and stems. Flowering occurs from May through June and produces a white, inflorescent bloom. Leaves grow oval and lance-like with a long tip. A gray dogwood grows best if planted as early in the spring as possible. Planting after May will severely reduce the likelihood of success.