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Salt Tolerant Bushes for Zone 4

Whether your U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 4 garden is near the sea or a street that's de-iced with salt in the winter, you'll need to choose shrubs that tolerate salty soil. When plants come in contact with salt, whether through direct application on the stems or foliage or through the soil, they lose moisture, eventually leading to burning and desiccation. Evergreen shrubs manifest these harmful effects through foliage-tip dieback, while the foliage of deciduous shrubs tends to show margin scorch in summer.

  1. Dwarf Shrubs

    • For low-growing shrubs that spread wider than they grow tall, plant a salt-tolerant Chinese juniper (Juniperus chinensis). Cultivars such as "Golden Glow" and "Skimpaku" grow to 3 feet tall or less, forming a carpet of evergreen foliage. Hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9, Chinese junipers thrive in sunny, well-draining sites. Another salt-tolerant juniper (Juniperus communis) grows to 16 inches tall and 5 feet wide. This cold-hardy evergreen grows in USDA zones 2 through 7a and thrives in sunny to shady and wet to dry sites.

    Small Shrubs

    • For small spaces, plant a cranberry cotoneaster (Cotoneaster apiculatus). This 4-foot-tall evergreen tolerates salt and drought and is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 7. It produces bright red berries in autumn and grows best in moist, rich soil. The cold-hardy sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina) grows in USDA zones 2 through 6. Reaching heights of 4 feet, this deciduous shrub has aromatic, dark fern-like foliage. The sweet fern tolerates drought, salt and sandy soil. Hardy in USDA zones 3 through 8, the black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) grows in salty, wet and dry sites. This deciduous, drought-tolerant shrub has dark green leaves that turn burgundy in fall. The black chokeberry is named for its black-purple fruit and grows from 3 to 5 feet tall.

    Medium Shrubs

    • The deciduous summersweet (Clethra alnifolia), a North American native, is hardy in USDA zones 3 through 9, where it tolerates salt and wet soil. This 8-foot-tall shrub blooms with spikes of aromatic pink flowers in summer, followed by black fruits that attract birds to the landscape. Reaching heights of 6 to 9 feet, the red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9. This North American native has deciduous foliage and bears clusters of bright red fruits. It tolerates salt, poor and wet to dry soil.

    Tall Shrubs

    • The indigo bush (Amorpha fruticosa) tolerates salt and is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9. This deciduous shrub grows from 6 to 15 feet tall and blooms with tall spikes of purple flowers in summer. Plant the indigo bush in sunny, dry sites. The nannyberry (Viburnum lentago) grows to 20 feet tall and tolerates salt. This deciduous shrub adds bright color to the autumn garden and attracts more than 35 species of birds. It grows in USDA zones 3 through 7 and tolerates a range of site conditions.

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Shrubs
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