10 Flowering Shrubs for Your Garden

If you're going to invest the money, time and valuable garden space in shrubs, you may as well make sure you've got something with true staying power. Here are 10 flowering shrubs with lasting eye appeal.

1 / 11
flowering shrubs Smokelike blooms on smokebush shrub
e_rik/Shutterstock

Smokebush

Smokebush (Continus) has a distinct, fluffy look that gets people talking. The plant is sure to catch eyes in summer months when its puffy, smoke-like flower panicles appear. The flower structures are most noticeable in midsummer, but hold on in some form for months. Fortunately, some smokebushes also have colorful foliage to carry the entire season—varieties with burgundy or chartreuse leaves are the most notable. Zones 4–8.

2 / 11
Fothergilla flowering shrub
KPG Payless2/Shutterstock

Fothergilla

Fothergilla, also known as the flowering shrub with the funny name and the fantastic flowers. Fothergilla blooms appear in late spring and are a true delight thanks to their fragrance, bright white color and fuzzy bottlebrush shape. Fothergilla holds interest the rest of the season with blue-green leaves that turn a fiery mix of red, orange and yellow in fall. It also has an attractive branching structure for winter interest. Zones 4–9.

3 / 11

Caryopteris flowering shrub
Rogatnykh/Shutterstock

Caryopteris

Also called “bluebeard”, caryopteris offers that special something that gardeners cherish so much: a unique look. In this case, it’s the blue flowers that bring down the house from late summer to fall. They appear when other plants are flagging—and butterflies and other pollinators couldn’t be happier for the unexpected sustenance. In cold climates, this flowering shrub may act like a perennial, dying back to the roots in winter but arising the following spring with new growth. There are also varieties of caryopteris with variegated or lime-colored flowers. Zones 5–11.

4 / 11
Rose of Sharon flowering shrub
dawool/Shutterstock

Rose of Sharon

Another late-summer superstar is Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), an upright flowering shrub covered in blooms until frost. Flowers range in color from white, pink and rose to lavender, purple and bicolors. Some, like Sugar Tip, have variegated foliage for added visual appeal. Rose of Sharon is often grown in groups to create a screen or hedge. Zones 5–8.

5 / 11
Crape Myrtle flowering shrub
kimkwanhee/Shutterstock

Crape Myrtle

A traditional Southern favorite, crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia) has crept northward due to warming temperatures and the introduction of compact varieties that can be grown in pots and overwintered in an attached garage. Easy to grow and with a tough disposition, crape myrtle’s true draw is its big, bold and bright flowers. Colors include white, red, pink and purple. Zones 6–10 or 7–9, depending on the cultivar.

6 / 11
Japanese spirea flowering shrub
Vastram/Shutterstock

Japanese Spirea

Japanese spirea (Spiraea japonica) is a tough flowering shrub that never fails—one reason it’s often called a “gas station plant.” Indeed, you can leave it to its own devices (much like landscapers do at commercial plantings like gas stations) and be assured it will still deliver a dependable supply of pink flower clusters in summer. They’re generally more compact than the spring-blooming spireas, and some cultivars have colorful foliage to boot.

One example is ‘Goldflame’, which starts with bronze-red foliage in spring, matures to yellow-green, and takes on yellow, orange and copper hues as a fall finale. Japanese spirea is considered invasive in some areas, so check with your local cooperative extension on their recommendations before planting. Zones 4–8.

7 / 11
Knock Out Shrub Rose flowering shrub
bclay29/Shutterstock

Knock Out Shrub Rose

One rose that can hold its own among woody plants is a shrub rose, and a prime example is the popular series of Knock Out roses. These ever-bearing roses peak in late spring but keep blooming until frost. They’re compact, drought tolerant and resistant to black-spot disease. However, they are susceptible to rose rosette disease—spread by mites—which is why growers recommend cutting blooming plants back by two-thirds when dormant in late winter to remove any mite eggs hiding in crevices. There are 10 colors, including pink, red, yellow and white. Zones 5–11.

8 / 11

Potentilla flowering shrub
mizy/Shutterstock

Potentilla

Potentilla, or cinquefoil, is a small flowering shrub sometimes used as a groundcover for erosion control. It’s also drought-tolerant, which makes it suitable for both commercial and residential use. Potentilla blooms all summer long. The knock against it used to be that it was too common, but gardeners can mix it up with other shrubs and perennials for more interest. The species has golden yellow flowers, but cultivars are available with pink, white, peach or orange blooms. Zones 2–7.

9 / 11
Panicle Hydrangea flowering shrub
My Rubio Garden/Shutterstock

Panicle Hydrangea

Panicle hydrangea (H. paniculata) has a tough constitution that makes it a favorite flowering shrub of landscapers. Needing less watering than the popular bigleaf hydrangea (H. macrophylla), it offers huge panicles of white flowers in summer. The flower panicles retain their looks even as they age, so they’re often used in dried floral arrangements. Many cultivars age from white to pink and eventually buff in the fall. ‘Limelight’ ages to lime green and then pink, while ‘Fire Light’ turns red. Zones 3–8.

10 / 11
St. John's Wort Flowers flowering shrub
Nataliia Melnychuk/Shutterstock

St. John’s Wort Flowers

St. John’s Wort (Hypericum) has been used for medicinal purposes since the Middle Ages. Often grown as a groundcover or low, spreading shrub, it is a tough, drought-tolerant plant needing little care. It features golden yellow star-shaped flowers in summer followed by ornamental seed pods.

11 / 11
St. John's Wort Seedpods flowering shrubs
Del Boy/Shutterstock

St. John’s Wort Seedpods

St. John’s wort displays ornamental seedpods in fall. The beaked, oval seed capsules often persist through winter, providing multi-season interest. Zones 4–7.

Luke Miller
Luke Miller is an award-winning garden editor with 25 years' experience in horticultural communications, including editing a national magazine and creating print and online gardening content for a national retailer. He grew up across the street from a park arboretum and has a lifelong passion for gardening in general and trees in particular. In addition to his journalism degree, he has studied horticulture and is a Master Gardener.