Most people don’t realize that properly placed woody plants can increase property value, reduce energy costs, and even hide eye-sores. We commonly refer to such foundational shrubs as the “backbones” of landscape design. In recent years, remarkable upgrades in habit, foliage color, flowering longevity, and overall ease of care and beauty have given such foundation shrubs a well-deserved, leading role in the landscape – even stealing the stage from popular annuals and perennials!
If you’d like to add spots of easy-care color to your yard, then look no further than flowering shrubs that make for excellent foundation specimens as well as seasonal bloomers. Read on for a brief tour of recommended flowering shrubs that, we like to think, no landscape should be without.
Ninebark ‘Ginger Wine’ (also known as Physocarpus ‘Ginger Wine’) is an example of a wonderfully colorful native plant that prefers full to part sun, has showy, copper-red to burgundy foliage spring through, and which is an absolute delight to grow in any type of soil. It’s also tolerant of wet or dry areas. Spring flowers entice pollinators, and its upright, arching, 5’ x 5’ habit is the perfect backdrop to perennials and smaller shrubs.
Spiraea Painted Lady® and Spiraea Candy Corn® are two recent, very colorful additions to Proven Winners Double Play® Spiraea series. These tough little cookies grow in a trouble-free, compact mound that’s 2-3 feet tall and wide. Unique variegated and changeable foliage colors, along with repeat blooming, attracts butterflies and repels deer. Plant them in a sunny to part-shade front border, and enjoy!
Barberry is another tough character. It’s one of the best deer-resistant and heat-tolerant plants, and it comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Check out Mini Salsa®, one of the most compact red-to-purple varieties – it’s perfect for the front of your foundation or even container gardens. And, it never needs to be pruned!
Sambucus ‘Golden Tower’ makes an interesting foundation specimen. It appears to be a bright green Japanese Maple from a distance, but it’s much easier to grow. It blooms clusters of white flowers in the spring and, then, develops red berries for the birds to eat in summer. It’s a great plant to brighten up a corner in sun or part shade.
Hydrangeas, especially reliably-blooming varieties, make for excellent foundation shrubs in part shade to full sun. Taller, panicle varieties such as Fire Light® develop extra-large, deep, rose-pink flowers early in the season, thus creating a showy specimen or tall hedge. Summer Crush® is part of the Endless Summer™ family – a hardy, petite mophead (or macrophylla) hydrangea with deep fuchsia to purple, florist-quality blooms for the front border at 2-3 feet tall. The Smooth Hydrangea, or H. arborescens, are the true natives of the hydrangea selection and include Mini Mauvette®, Limetta®, the taller Lime Rickey®, and Incrediball®. Smooth hydrangea bloom on new wood every year, producing large, long-lasting, pollinator-pleasing flowers on strong stems.
Last, but certainly not least, the Weigela Sonic Bloom™ series of Weigela and ‘Electric Love’ should be a staple in a sunny foundation planting. These repeat bloomers are hummingbird magnets and deer resistant. What more can you ask for?
look at our full list of shrubs
