From Spring to Winter, dress your garden in lovely pink blooms. To decorate your terrace, turn your hedge into a wonderful wall of color, or brighten up the back of a shrub bed, here is our selection of striking pink-blooming shrubs!
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The blooming of this Cornus shrub is an experience for everyone. Four tall bracts emerge, pale pink with a dramatic deep pink lining. Lanceolate leaves boast marked veins, and the somewhat commonplace green gives way to flamboyant fire-like colors in Fall. As a dense shrub, whether as a standalone or a hedge, this dogwood can grow 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide (3 meters tall by 2 wide). It prefers either full sun or part shade. A lover of well drained soil, it does best when the ground is cool and even a bit acidic. It won’t like chalky, alkaline soil.
From April to June, cute bouquets of small hanging pink flowers decorate this bog-rosemary. A dwarf plant, this variety is dense and bushy: excellent for rocky terrain, edges and container growing. Narrow blue-green leaves are evergreen, and look very similar to those of the rosemary herb. A light, cool and again rather acidic substrate will suit it perfectly. You can also mix heath soil in to the following ratio: ⅔ heath soil for ⅓ regular garden soil if you’re growing it in pots. Prefer a location in the sun but sheltered from wind.
This deciduous shrub produces wonderful results as a hedge thanks to its bushy round bearing and rapid growth. 10 feet tall and 6 wide (3m x 2m) when mature, its flowers unfurl in July-August. They form lush clusters with uncountable 5-petaled flowers that start off soft pink and then shift to white. This romantic palette also makes for beautiful bouquets. Lance-tipped leaves with clear veins appear on branches, and then fall to the ground in Autumn. This Deutzia should be planted in deep, rich and cool soil, in the sun or in part shade.
This crazy Caryopteris species doesn’t follow the flock: though its common name is “bluebeard”, you can’t deny that the blooming here is a clear, resounding pink! Flowering runs from July to September, beautiful spheres of simple soft pink flowers. The long pink stamens lend the bush a hazy, dreamy look. It forms a dense 3-foot tall bush (1m), and the fragrant deep green leaves drop to the ground during Winter. Their shape is that of a narrow, serrated triangle. Caryopteris revels in sunny locations in soil that has excellent drainage, even if it gets bone-dry at times. Ideal for a hedge, shrub beds, and even as a waist-size feature in rocky terrain.
What makes this sage stand out from its cousins is the salmon-pink flower panicles. From May to November, this sage unveils luminous honey-bee attracting flowers, presented atop a cushion of persistent and fragrant small leaves. Flowers only last a single day, but the next day’s batch is always ready to uphold the shrub’s beauty! Its round, bushy bearing reaches about 2 feet across (60 cm). Hardy down to 14-15°F (-10°C) in properly draining soil, this shrubby sage should be grown in pots wherever it gets any colder. Settle it down in well-drained chalky soil, not necessarily rich, in either sun or part sun.
This strawberry tree won’t give you many flowers during Summer, but it’ll treat you to a true full tree of autumn blooms from September to November. Each flower is like a tiny pink bell, and sits next to the round fruits of the previous years’ blooming. The fruits are what gave the tree its name: yellow at first, shifting to red with a granular, pocked surface explain why it’s called the “strawberry tree”. Lanceolate shiny deep green leaves give the tree a pleasant volume all year round. Resistant to the cold down to 15°F (about -10°C), this shrub grows into a tight, dense shrub that will fit right into any hedge or shrub bed. In cooler regions, you’re better off growing it in pots set in spots that don’t have any wind. The strawberry tree prefers well draining soil, rocks aren’t a problem at all. As for the pH, it favors lightly acidic soil. It’ll easily settle down into most gardens as long as the soil drains well. Plant it where you want it: sun or shade suit it equally well.
From December to February, the beautiful blooms of the winter viburnum appear on leafless branches. Bright pink flower buds open up to reveal soft pink petals that release a delicious scent reminiscent of vanilla. Flowers tend to open up when temperature get milder, not when it freezes. About 8 feet tall and 4 wide (2.5 x 2 meters), it bears deciduous leaves that constantly change colors: from a bronze sheen in Spring to green over Summer, finishing off with deep purple in in Fall. In a hedge, shrub bed or simply as a standalone, the ‘Dawn’ bodnantense viburnum tolerates the cold down to 5°F (-15°C). Be it in full sun or part shade, what suits it best is deep and rather cool soil.
In the vast Camellia family, several species bloom during Winter. That’s exactly the case for the ‘Sunny Side’ camellia, for which flowers appear between December and February. Renowned for its abundant blooming, massive amounts of simple flowers open up, with cool pastel pink centers and darker, starker hues around the periphery. At the center of the flower, a small bouquet of golden yellow stamens highlight the rich pink tones. As for most Camellia species, leafage stays on the tree year-round: oval, lightly serrated leaves that are shiny and deep green. Never growing any taller than 4 feet (1.2m) for a width of 3 feet (1m), it’s perfect for heath plant flower beds or in a large pot on your terrace. This pink-blooming shrub can take the cold up to 5°F or -15°C, but it’s vulnerable to wind and snow. An important planting tip is to favor acidic soil that is rich and drains very well. Part shade is fine.
