ONE GARDENER TO ANOTHER: Spotlight shrubs that bring variety to the landscape

Published 6:45 am Monday, November 12, 2018

I was walking around the local garden center this past week, and actually left the store without buying one plant. I had one of these, everyone has those, nothing is different.

This is the point where I will get back in my car and head over to the nursery because another nandina, no matter how stunning its changing foliage is, just isn’t going to do anything for me.

Standout plants and trees have been the topic of the past few articles. We have looked at spectacular fall foliage trees, hardy cactus that thrive in our climate and winter blooms that bring color to the otherwise bland landscape. This week, since I have a spot in the garden in need of a few shrubs, we are looking at unique shrubs to bring interest, color and texture to the garden.

Mahonia is a genus of about 70 species of evergreen shrubs, several of which are popular garden shrubs grown for their ornamental foliage. Its yellow flowers appear in late fall or early winter and develop into blue-black berries by late summer or early fall.

“Marvel” mahonia, has softer, frond-like leaves as compared to many species that have spiny foliage similar to holly leaves. It grows well in Zone 7, being hardy to minus 10 degrees. It does best in moist, well-drained clay soil in part sun to shade areas.

If I told you to put a crepe myrtle into your landscape for a unique twist, I am sure a lot of readers would roll their eyes and maybe even stop reading. However, dwarf crepe myrtles are anything but a run of the mill plant. These smaller plants can be trained as shrubs or small trees and range in height from 1 to 5 feet.

“Pocomoke” is a mounding shrub that has bright pink blooms and grows between 1 to 3 feet high and 2 to 4 feet wide. Crepe myrtles in the Razzle Dazzle series are other mounding shrubs that grows between 3 to 4 feet tall and wide. They are full sun shrubs that come in a variety of colors. These are a wonderful addition to smaller gardens where full sized trees are too large, or for adding dimension and texture in front of larger shrubs.

Pink muhly grass is an ornamental grass that is virtually maintenance free, will grow in any well-drained soil, and will tolerate blazing sun and long periods of dryness after it is established. Pink blooms create a soft haze of color above upright thin green foliage from late summer to early fall.

Planted en masse, it makes a dramatic statement. Each plant will grow approximately 3 feet tall and wide and is semi-evergreen. It can be cut back in early spring and is easily divided.

Sorbaria sorbifolia “sem,” sometimes called ural false spirea, puts on a changing display from early spring when its fern-like foliage unfurls with a show of pinkish-red color that will last for weeks before gradually changing to an eye-catching chartreuse-green in summer.

Milky white flowers burst on the scene in mid-summer that are a beautiful display on the now darker green foliage. It provides great texture and visual appeal.

Indian pink (Spigelia marilandica) is a hardy perennial that produces crimson tubular-shaped blooms that are edged in a sunny yellow. They push from the earth in late spring and bloom by early summer.

They prefer full sun or light shade and well-drained soil and attract both hummingbirds and butterflies. It grows approximately 2 feet tall and wide.

Variety is the spice of life and these shrubs bring pizzazz to the everyday garden. Until next week, happy gardening.

— Irland, a member of the Limestone County Master Gardeners, can be reached at kippirland@hotmail.com. For more information on the Limestone County Master Gardeners, visit http://mg.aces.edu/limestone.