Blooming of shrubs one season at a time

To help you choose your shrubs depending on their blooming season, Nature-and-Garden recommends this selection of the most beautiful flowering shrubs for each season. It’s the best way to have a flowered garden all year round…

Flowered shrubs all year round!

Whether for a hedge or for a shrub bed, one good piece of advice to heed is to choose different blooming seasons for each of your shrubs, to keep your garden alive all year round.

You’ll love admiring those flowers from the end of winter up to the first frost spells.

Space each shrub to its mature width, not its size in the pot.

Nine flowering shrubs, season by season

The shrubs described below cover the whole year between them, from the depths of winter to the last of the autumn flowers. Use this table to pick one bloomer per season, then read the detail underneath.

Mixing shrubs from each block of the table is what keeps a garden in flower from the end of winter to the first frosts.

Blooming of shrubs one season at a time

Winter-blooming shrubs

The most magnificent winter blooming shrubs include, for the three winter months of December, January, and February:

• Winter honeysuckle – ever-so fragrant, this bloomer is among the first winter shrubs to bloom. It often opens up just before snow falls! Part vine and part shrub, in time this grows thick enough to stand on its own if you prune it carefully. The winter-blooming species is Lonicera fragrantissima.
• Learn to grow and care for honeysuckle

 

• Yellow mimosa – fragrance for this one is lighter, but when you stroll right under it in full bloom, it’s scent is very definite. Sleet and ice won’t dull the flowers at all.
• Yellow mimosa tree care

And there are many more, too:

• Shrubs that bloom in winter (and here are the fragrant ones, too).

Shrubs that bloom in spring

Spring is when a great many shrubs and trees wake from their slumber. In March, April and May, you’ll surely see these marvels in full bloom:

• Forsythia – Long sprigs lined thick with yellow blooms? Forsythia! Definitely a powerful reminder that Winter is over and Spring is finally here! Easy to care for, excellent for hedges that are so bright your neighbors will thank you for lighting up the streets!
• Growing forsythia

 

• Soap bush – After yellow, the bright violet blue of the soap bush shrub will clamor for attention in the garden. Excellent grower, easy to care for. Thumb-size clusters of flowers that almost cover the entire bush.
• Soap bush care made easy

That was just an inkling of what blooms between winter and summer, check out our more extensive list!

• Shrubs that bloom in spring

Summer, when shrubs bloom even in hot weather

Typically, summer is when most of us have time to go around and savor the great outdoors. Plant these to have blooming shrubs in June, July and August!

• Lavender – Countless varieties and species of this heavenly-scented flower explain why it’s a definite summer favorite in Europe. Non-invasive varieties like lavandin are perfect for the Americas and other other continents. But in the Old World, war still rages…
• English or French lavender?

 

• St Johns wort – Just because “wort” sounds like “wart” doesn’t mean this is an ugly shrub… quite the contrary! Yellow flowers stand out in the deep emerald-green foliage. Simple to care for, Hypericum grows to a reasonable height for a free-style hedge.
• St John’s wort planting and landscaping tips

 

• Myrtle – This pearly-white bloomer is a favorite in difficult settings. Sandy soil, poor terrain, dry at times? This can take it all! White blooms form from June and keep appearing late into early fall (October). Dwarf varieties exist.
• Guide to growing myrtle

Again, dozens of shrubs also flower in summer in addition to the three mentioned above:

• Summer-flowering shrubs

Fall-flowering shrubs

These seem to have lost their marbles somewhat… blooming in Fall? Right before the winter strikes? Yes-sir-ee! And very good add it, might we add. Get your September, October and November blooms with these:

• Caryopteris – But you probably know this as Bluebeard! Sounds like a pirate’s name, and in a way it is…These hectic-looking blooms haven’t seen a comb in years. Their nectar and pollen, however, definitely will: honeycombs is where they end up thanks to the work of our pollinator friends.
• Proper care for Caryopteris (bluebeard)

 

• Clerodendron – (or Clerodendrum) This shrub’s flowers start out like little diamonds and then open up like delicate jasmine. Excellent for growing in containers and pots, and it only needs a little protection from the cold in harsh winters.
• How to plant and grow Clerodendrum

More shrubs than these also will gift you flowers in Autumn:

• Shrubs that bloom in fall (many heath plants also bloom in Autumn, too).

Advantages of planting shrubs that bloom in different seasons

To support your garden’s ecosystem, diversify your varieties, because each has different characteristics and this is important to ensure biodiversity. This is particularly important to pollinators if you want to save the bees, butterflies and other insects.

Sometimes after the Spring frenzy, they undergo a time of hardship even though the weather is warm. It’s called the “June pit” when insect colonies are in full swing but not many shrubs or flowers bloom. Planting summer and fall-blooming shrubs helps them meet their needs.

In winter, too, flowers are important. On warmer days, when bees leave the hive to evacuate their droppings, they also seize the chance to collect any pollen and nectar they can get hold of.

Read also on shrubs:

• Mixed hedges, great barriers against diseases
• All there is to know on pruning shrubs
• When and how should a hedge be trimmed?

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