Creative Gardens Q&A - Flowering Shrubs

QUESTION

My garden has very few flowering shrubs at this time of year and I don’t really want bedding plants.  What do you recommend?

ANSWER

Quite a few borders and shrubberies look a little dull just now.  All the spring flowering shrubs such as Forsythia, Azaleas, Rhododendrons and Pieris are passed their best but don’t despair there are lots of summer flowering beauties to enjoy.

Roses are an obvious choice for summer colour they are great for scent as well and there are climbers and ramblers as well as bush and shrub roses.  We love the low growing Flower Carpet Roses as they are easy to grow, don’t require much pruning, have a long flowering period and are exceptionally disease resistant too.  They are available in a range of attractive colours.

Lavender is a great companion plant for Roses and famous for its’ scent. It thrives in full sun. Try making your own pot-pourri or scented sachets!

Hydrangeas are also fabulous at this time of year, starting to flower soon and lasting through until September, with their large showy blooms in blues and pinks. Rather like Rhododendrons they like peaty soil and plenty of moisture and prefer a little shade.

Potentillas are a useful shrub as well. They flower for a long period from May right through until September and are very easy to grow as long as they get a little sun. They are available in white, pale lemon, bright sunny yellow and even pinks and an orangey red too, so there is a one suitable for every colour theme.

The purple spikes of Buddleia will start to show colour soon and attract butterflies into your garden as a bonus. This shrub will grow into quite a tall tree if you let it but it is best cut it down in March to keep it small and bushy and encourage flowering.

There is a whole family of Hebes to choose from. They are a definite favourite with us as they are about to produce their flowers soon and many also have great leaf colour ranging from green with cream edged leaves to really eye catching pink and purple foliage which it retains all year. Hebe Heartbreaker is a great example of this with pink and purple leaves and mauve flowers in July. Hebes are easy plants to grow but may need some protection in a very severe winter such as last year.

 

For a tough plant that never minds a cold winter, the low growing Hypericum calycinum (Rose of Sharon) is pretty at this time of year or for a taller variety choose Hypericum Hidcote. It has bright sunny yellow flowers followed by attractive berries. An old fashioned plant but still a good one!