These Are the 25 Most Beautiful Flowering Shrubs to Plant in Your Garden
Plant these flowering shrubs for year-round color and beauty.
Flowering shrubs add an extra element of beauty to your garden. They not only boost curb appeal but also add reliable color, attract pollinators, and provide structure and privacy to your garden. Whether you have a large lot or a small patio, you can plant shrubs that bloom from spring to fall so you'll have color all season long. Many flowering shrubs also do well in containers to add color to a front porch, patio, or deck. Flowering bushes also are ideal for foundation plantings, along walkways, around pool areas, and as accents in a mixed border with evergreens.
What's the easiest flowering shrub to grow?
Shrubs are typically some of the easiest plants to grow. Most flowering shrubs will thrive if you follow some basics: For starters, read the plant tag or description so you'll know what it needs in terms of light. Most (but not all) flowering shrubs need full sun, or at least six hours of direct sunlight to bloom. Otherwise, they get leggy and offer few flowers. Also, don't forget to check if it can survive winters in your USDA hardiness zone (find yours here).
You should also pay attention to details such as the plant's mature height and width. It may look tiny now in its quart-sized pot, but when it reaches its full size in a few years, you don't want to have to hack it down because it's covering a window or crowding out other plantings. Finally, keep it watered the first season or two, especially during dry spells, so that it establishes a healthy root system.
What is the longest flowering shrub?
Every plant has a cycle of growth, blooming and dormancy, so there's not one type of shrub that flowers all year long. However, there are quite a few with extremely long bloom times or three-season interest, meaning they offer something to see in spring, summer and fall. A few that work in many different regions of the country include hydrangeas and butterfly bushes, along with new reblooming varieties of lilacs, azalea, spirea, and shrub roses.
Read on to learn about the 25 most beautiful flowering shrubs, along with a guide to when they bloom and landscaping ideas for how and where to plant them.
Best Flowering Shrub for Fragrance: Daphne
Daphne are pretty, appealing shrubs that aren't that well known, though they've become more popular in recent years. Plant near walkways where you can enjoy their ethereal scent.
USDA Zone: 6 to 10
Exposure: Full sun with afternoon shade in hot climates
Their fruity-scented blossoms of pink, white, or lavender bloom in late winter and early spring long before many other shrubs, and they maintain a nice compact shape without pruning.
Best Flowering Shrub for Shade: Lily of the Valley Bush
This gorgeous early spring bloomer, also called pieris, has cascading blooms that resemble the perennial flower lily of the valley.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 8
Exposure: Part shade
Its glossy evergreen leaves offer year-round structure and interest to the garden. Plus, it's one of the few flowering shrubs that prefers part shade.
Best Flowering Shrub for Fragrance: Korean Spice Viburnum
Korean spice viburnum produces pale pink buds in early spring that bloom into white or pink clusters. Plant it where you can enjoy its heady scent.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 8
Exposure: Part to full sun
It has a delicious spice cake fragrance that tells you spring has arrived. It's also deer resistant!
Best Flowering Shrub for Long-Lasting Blooms: Ninebark
Ninebark is a native shrub that's got it all: colorful foliage that's dark burgundy, chartreuse, or bronze all season long; fragrant white flowers that bloom in mid- to late spring; and a natural arching shape that doesn't need pruning. Look for new dwarf varieties for smaller gardens.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 7
Exposure: Full sun
This shrub looks great most of the season and works equally well in mixed borders or beds or as an accent plant. It's also a pollinator magnet!
Best Flowering Shrub for Adding Interest: Sweetshrub
With unusual, large red or white flowers that can carry a spicy scent, this easy-to-grow flowering shrub also is known as Carolina allspice, spicebush, or strawberry bush. It's a very large shrub, maxing out at 10 feet tall, so plant it where it has plenty of space to spread.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 9
Exposure: Part to full sun
The interesting flowers last for weeks in early summer, blooming most of the season in moderate climates. It's also deer resistant.
Best Flowering Shrub for Early Blooms: Mahonia
Not particularly well known, this evergreen shrub blooms in late winter or early spring with bright yellow blooms that become handsome blue berries in fall. Place it along borders or as a backdrop to a mixed planting bed.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 9
Exposure: Part to full sun
Mahonia is an early bloomer and a great screening plant.
Flowering Shrub with Most Unique Blooms: Witch Hazel
The fun flowers on this shrub make it worth planting. This is a great plant to place along woodland borders.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 8
Exposure: Part to full sun
The crazy, curly flowers appear in late fall and linger long after the colorful leaves have dropped. Some types also bloom in late winter.
Best Classic Flowering Shrub: Azalea
Known for their beautiful show at the Masters each April, these evergreen shrubs come in every color from peach to hot pink to pure white. They're lovely planted in masses or as foundation plantings.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 6 to 9
Exposure: Part sun to sun
Why we love it: Classic Flowering Shrub
New varieties are more cold hardy and rebloom, offering a spring show and secondary blooms throughout the season.
Best Low-Growing Flowering Shrub: Deutzia
This lovely deciduous shrub has a natural arching shape and produces abundant clusters of small white or pink flowers in spring. Plant as a low hedge, in mixed borders along walkways, or on slopes for erosion control.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 8
Exposure: Part sun to sun
The pretty blooms last for weeks, and it's deer resistant. It's also a low-maintenance shrub that rarely needs attention.
Best Fast-Growing Flowering Shrub: Forsythia
When forsythia blooms, it's a sure sign spring is starting. Look for newer varieties that are more compact and better behaved than old standards, which can become tall and unwieldy in small gardens. Plant as accents or in a mixed border.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 8
Exposure: Full sun
The canary yellow blooms appear in early spring before the shrub even has leaves. The rest of the year, it's a handsome deciduous shrub. And it's a fast grower!
Best Flowering Shrub for Old-Fashioned Scent: Lilac
Plant this late spring flowering shrub where you can enjoy its old-fashioned fragrance and heart-shaped leaves. Many new varieties are more compact or rebloom in midsummer.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 8
Exposure: Full sun
The sweet scent signals summer is around the corner, while the heart-shaped leaves offer charm the rest of the season.
Best Low-Maintenance Flowering Shrub: Flowering Quince
This deciduous shrub features beautiful vibrant flowers in shades of peach, scarlet, orange, or red in late winter or early spring.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 9
Exposure: Full sun
Flowering quince is a decidedly low-maintenance shrub that makes for an ideal hedge, screen, or barrier in front yards and backyards. New varieties are thornless.
Best Evergreen Flowering Shrub: Rhododendron
This flowering shrub with glossy green leaves boasts blooms in white, peach, pink, or shades of purple in late spring. It's an old favorite with many new varieties available.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 8
Exposure: Part to full sun
Rhododendron makes for beautiful hedges and thrives under a canopy of trees. New varieties are more cold hardy.
Best Flowering Shrub for Hummingbirds: Weigela
This deciduous shrub comes in a wide range of foliage and flower colors. Plant weigela as a showy hedge, or use as an accent or in mixed borders. New types rebloom throughout the growing season.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 8
Exposure: Full sun
The beautiful tubular blooms attract hummingbirds and butterflies from late spring to summer.
Best Flowering Shrub with Berries: Beautyberry
Although this deciduous shrub produces pretty flowers from late spring into summer, it's better known for its stunning clusters of purple berries that persist into winter. Group several plants for a colorful border, or plant as a focal point.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 8
Exposure: Full sun
It's simply striking! It's also deer resistant and attractive to pollinators.
Best Flowering Shrub for Butterflies: Butterfly Bush
This deciduous shrub features masses of blossoms from summer to fall. It comes in an array of colors including pink, purple, red, and white. Use it to add color, texture, fragrance, and height at the back of beds or near patios and other outdoor living areas. New varieties are more compact, reaching just 2–3 feet tall and wide.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 9
Exposure: Full sun
This fast grower is in bloom from summer to first frost. As the name indicates, butterflies love it!
Toughest Flowering Shrub: Potentilla
Also known as cinquefoil, this hardy pink, white, or yellow flowering shrub features a long bloom time with some varieties flowering in late spring through early fall. It makes a beautiful addition to everything from small container gardens to mixed borders.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 2 to 7
Exposure: Full sun
Potentilla is a super-tough plant, standing up to both urban and coastal environments. It's also deer and rabbit resistant.
Longest-Blooming Flowering Shrub: Hydrangea
Hydrangeas works as a hedge, as an accent, or even in containers. They boasts three-season interest because the flowers, which emerge in early to midsummer, stay intact through fall and winter. Many new varieties have been introduced in the last decade, so shop for one sized to your garden (some max out at just 2–3 feet tall and wide).
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 9
Exposure: Part to full sun, depending on the variety
No matter where you live, there's a hydrangea that will thrive in your environment. The papery blooms persist throughout the season and make excellent dried flowers.
Best Late-Blooming Flowering Shrub: Rose of Sharon
Rose of Sharon boasts large, lush flowers in every color from white to pale pink to deep chiffon blue in late summer. Plant as a hedge, either on its own or as a backdrop for lower shrubs or flowers.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5 to 9
Exposure: Full sun
Just when the rest of your garden is fading in late summer, rose of Sharon begins to bloom.
Easiest Flowering Shrub: Shrub Rose
Shrub roses are hardy, disease resistant, and bloom from late spring to a hard freeze for long season color. Some also are fragrant. Plant shrub roses as screens, as hedges, or en masse on a hillside.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4 to 9
Exposure: Full sun
Why we love it: Easy-to-grow Flowering Shrub
Every garden needs at least one rose bush, and shrub roses are the least fussy type of rose to plant.
Arricca Elin SanSone has written about health and lifestyle topics for Prevention, Country Living, Woman's Day, and more. She’s passionate about gardening, baking, reading, and spending time with the people and dogs she loves.
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