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5 Glorious Late-Season Shrubs
Spilling over with berries or bursting with blooms, these stunning underused shrubs keep the garden party going through fall
I’m a writer, designer, and lifelong gardener. I'm also author of "Why Grow That When You Can Grow This?", a book due out from Timber Press in November 2012, and I host/produce a podcast and column called Garden Confidential at Fine Gardening Magazine. My company, Oakleaf Green, is a boutique landscape design firm specializing in planting design with primarily sustainable and native plants. Oakleaf Green is currently on hiatus while I wrap up a book, for Timber Press, due out in Fall 2012. In the meantime, you can find me here or on my blog, Garden Smackdown.
I’m a writer, designer, and lifelong gardener. I'm also author of "Why... More »
Are you finding your landscape lacking as the dog days of summer give way to fall? With that late-summer twilight zone setting in, are you wondering whether there’s anything more that will bloom or bear fruit before it’s all mums and pumpkins? Fear not, intrepid gardener! Here are five uncommon shrubs that wait 'til the last minute to really do their thing. Shop for them in fall, while they're in bloom, and when autumn rains will help new plants settle in.
by Andrew Keys
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You may know it as bluebeard or blue spirea, but if you’re a fan of blue and don’t grow Caryopteris x clandonensis (zones 5/6 to 9), you’re missing out. Easy to grow in sun or light shade, varieties of this shrub bloom late in a palette of cool blues — a mouthwatering counterpoint to fall's warm tones. Chop it down in late winter and it will stay a tidy 3 feet high.
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Why is it I always see recommendations for bush clover (Lespedeza thunbergii cultivars, zones 4 to 8) in books and magazines, and it’s still so underused?
A true parking lot plant, this one grows anywhere in sun or light shade, and blooms in jewel-tone pinks or crisp whites. Like Caryopteris, it can be kept neat by cutting it to the ground in late winter — unlike that plant, it will grow 4 to 5 feet tall in one season. It drapes naturally and makes a great cascading accent in bloom on slopes and walls, weighted down by masses of flowers.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user BotBln
A true parking lot plant, this one grows anywhere in sun or light shade, and blooms in jewel-tone pinks or crisp whites. Like Caryopteris, it can be kept neat by cutting it to the ground in late winter — unlike that plant, it will grow 4 to 5 feet tall in one season. It drapes naturally and makes a great cascading accent in bloom on slopes and walls, weighted down by masses of flowers.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user BotBln
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| If I had to pick one uncommon plant I recommend most, it would be seven son flower (Heptacodium miconioides, zones 5 to 9). This shrub or small tree is often likened to southern crape myrtle, but honestly I like it better. Assets include: crisp, textural dark green foliage all season that turns to gold in fall; peeling white bark year-round; and, most important, fragrant white flowers just as summer turns to fall, followed by red-purple fruits (shown here) that are at least as pretty as the flowers. Seven son flower will grow 15 to 20 feet tall and 8 to 10 feet wide, but it’s easily pruned to a smaller size. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user VoDeTan2 |
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| I make no bones about the fact that I like plants that form colonies, and harlequin glory bower (Clerodendron trichotomum, zones 5/6 to 10) is one of my favorites. This shrub is glorious for a few reasons, the most prominent being its deliciously fragrant jasmine-scented white-over-magenta flowers so late in the season that give way to gorgeously weird fruit like bright blue BBs, also framed by a magenta mantle. Give glory blower room (about 10 feet) to spread out, and you’ll be rewarded by a 10- to 15-foot-tall colony in time — shorter in colder zones, where it may die back to the ground in winter. Bonus: Its leaves smell like peanut butter. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Jean-Pol Grandmont |
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| If it’s berries you’re after, you’d be hard pressed to do better than beauty berry (Callicarpa species and cultivars, zones 5/6 to 8). This beauty’s shiny, purplish fruit doesn’t really come into its own until September, and it hangs around even after the leaves have fallen. Give it sun and plant multiples for best fruiting. Beauty berry grows to 6 feet tall and wide, and in zone 5, where it may die back, it can be pruned hard to about 6 inches above the ground in late winter. A bit of late winter pruning is a good idea in all zones, because beauty berry blooms and fruits on new wood. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Sten |
Comments
kennedytarheel The Callicarpa Snow Storm is an excellent beautyberry with variegated foliage(pink, green, and white) throughout the summer, with berries in the fall/winter. Growth pattern 4' x 4', slight pink flowers in early summer.
9 months ago · Like
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paulaj The reason plants are underused is that they are hard to find. The very small variety of plants in nurseries don't lend themselves to unusual plantings (at least in my neck of the woods). Unless a source is given it won't be used. Also mail orders will be smaller and take longer to mature.
9 months ago · Like
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sollasihouzz ah... I have three beautiful caryopteris that I planted last year and they are blooming the most beautiful shade of bluish/lavender... they are overhanging the path leading to the house and certainly attract many bees, yet I refuse to cut them as they are splendid to see coming into the house...as my son says, growing them is easy peasy lemon squeezy, at least here in the suburbs of Philadephia, zone 7a.
9 months ago · Like
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Tom Crisp Brilliant recommendations, thank you Andrew! Caryopteris is a new addition to my garden, and I adore this hardy, fragrant, vigorous blooming plant. The plant vibrates with bees, docile and very happy bees. I am going to keep my eyes open for the other late summer bloomers you've listed.
2 months ago · Like
Ideabook published on Sept. 5, 2012.
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