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Shrubs: Landscaping With Shrubs

by William H. Frederick, Jr.

One of the greatest joys of a garden is having a series of pleasing effects that change with the seasons. These effects can be in the form of flowers, foliage color or texture, interesting bark, berries or fragrance. Shrubs, even more than trees and groundcovers, fill this role most admirably and with a minimum of maintenance.

In my Delaware garden, for example, fragrant wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) ushers in the new year, bearing fragrant yellow flowers on warm days in January. It is followed by the spidery yellow blossoms of witchhazel (Hamamelis mollis 'Pallida') in February and March. The sparkling of catkins on willows, Salix gracilistyla (gray) and S. g. melanostachys (black), and Harry Lauder's walking stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') carry the show into early April.

It is at this moment that spring explodes into bloom, with such treats as the pendulous green-yellow blossoms of winterhazels (Corylopsis pauciflora and C. spicata), which contrast with the warm lavender blossoms of Korean rhododendron (Rhododendron mucronulatum). Early May brings the captivating fragrance of spice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii). The many colorful hues of tree peonies such as the magnificent black pirate (Paeonia 'Black Pirate'), featuring maroon blooms with yellow centers, follow later in the month.The elegant white cones of oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) appear in June.

July's fireworks include the colorful wands of butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) in blue, lavender and maroon shades as well as white. The flower-tipped branches nod in the summer breezes, and are a magnet for multicolored butterflies. August would be a dull month without the newer hybrid rose-of-sharons (Hibiscus syriacus). They are unaffected by heat and drought. 'Diana' is waxy white; 'Blue Bird' is an attractive shade of blue with white flower parts. All summer long the maroon foliage of purpleleaf smokebush (Cotinus coggygria 'Purpureus') puts on a fine performance. This shrub makes a fine backdrop for the September-blooming, mauve-pink Lespedeza thunbergii 'Gibraltar'.

Hardy-orange (Poncirus trifoliata) produces striking miniature yellow oranges on green, thorny stems in October, which contrast happily with the clusters of small, lavender berries on beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma). The latter is effective through early freezes and can be counted on for a good November show.

The red fruits of winterberry (Ilex verticillata 'Winter Red' or I. 'Scarlett O'Hara') are especially effective in December when grown with the dark-green-leaved meserve hollies, such as Ilex x meserveae 'Blue Maid'.

Where to Put Shrubs

How do you integrate these plantings of seasonal interest into your garden design? There are really two answers to this question.

In the first place, they should be planted where they naturally will do well from a cultural standpoint and won't require coddling. This means you must choose shrubs matched carefully to your hardiness zone and the light, moisture, wind and soil conditions of your site. From a design point of view, shrubs simply should be planted where they will be enjoyed the most. Put a planting of shrubs with interesting bark, colorful twigs and winter berries near a window, where you can see it during the winter months. Locate those with fragrant blossoms near an entrance or along a path or walkway that is frequently travelled.

The blossoms of April-, May- and early-June-blooming shrubs arrive at a time when those of us in cold climates are starved for color. This is an event of sufficient significance that we are willing to walk to more remote parts of the garden to enjoy them. The same is true of shrubs with blooms or berries in the fall. Once the dog days of summer have departed and brisk fall weather arrives, we are once again inspired to stroll and enjoy the farther reaches of our gardens and the shrubs flowering and fruiting there. Shrubs at their peak interest from late June through early September, a time when we want to enjoy our gardens from a comfortable chair in a shady location, are best planted near a deck, screened porch, patio or pool.

In what other ways are shrubs useful?

Contrasting Leaf and Twig Textures

To create especially lively plantings, I recommend combining shrubs with contrasting forms and textures. An example of such a planting would be Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius), which has very fine twigs and a vertical habit, and bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), which has broad leaves and a very moundy habit. Concentrate fine-textured plants near the centers of interest on your property (such as a doorway or garden feature) and broader-leaved plants farther away.

Tying Plantings Together

Shrubs are especially important tools of the garden designer as they provide the glue that holds mixed plantings (trees, shrubs, groundcovers, perennials, grasses) together. This is because of the horizontal effects they can provide. Such effects can come, for example, from the horizontal branching habits of such larger shrubs as burning bush (Euonymus alatus) or doublefile viburnum (Viburnum plicatum tomentosum). Because groundcovers also form horizontal lines, a similar effect can be produced by massing one kind of low-growing shrub as a groundcover. Good candidates are Wilton's juniper (Juniperus horizontalis 'Wiltonii'), spreading plum yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia pedunculata) and crimson pygmy barberry (Berberis thunbergii 'Crimson Pygmy').

Color Combinations

One of the greatest challenges of garden design is to provide wonderful color combinations. Shrubs are a major player in this respect. I would feel lost without shrubs with foliage in three colors: blue-green, maroon and yellow-green. They are useful mixers, pulling other colors together. Among the best examples are:

Blue-Green Foliage:

Maroon Foliage:

Yellow-Green Foliage:

Yellow-green foliage is an especially good mixer for red-yellow-orange combinations. The blue-greens and maroons work equally well with the pink-lavender-purple and the red-yellow-orange combinations.

I do have one caveat. Reading descriptions of the shrubs featured in this book is enough to make you want to plant one of each. This, of course, would create the effect of a zoo and must be resisted if you want to compose a successful picture. With rare exceptions, shrubs with colorful blooms or fruits are more effective in groups of three or more than when planted as single specimens. It is instructive to drive through suburban neighborhoods during April and observe the spottiness caused by one or two bright yellow forsythias in each garden. In your mind's eye, bring all of these spots of color together in a solid sweep of, say, 25 plants—what a glorious sight that would be!

Generally speaking, I like to think of trees as three-dimensional structural elements in garden design; of groundcovers as two-dimensional space shapers; and of shrub compositions as the real engines driving seasonal effects. Shrubs, therefore, deserve our strong attention when we design our gardens.

William H. Frederick, Jr. is a landscape architect practicing in Hockessin, Delaware. He is the author of 100 Great Garden Plants (Knopf, 1975, reprinted by Timber Press, 1986) and The Exuberant Garden and the Controlling Hand (Little, Brown, 1992).