Do you want to add some color to your garden this year? Flowering shrubs are a great way to fill your garden spaces with color. Here are my top 5 easy-care flowering shrubs to try.
Here Are My Top 5 Easy-Care Flowering Shrubs
Knock Out Roses
I know some of you get nervous thinking about growing roses or think that it’s going to be super hard but not if you plant Knock Out Roses.
Knock Out Roses are known for how easy they are to grow and maintain.
The bush gets to about 3-4 feet high and wide so it’s a good anchor plant for a garden by itself or in a grouping, they also make an amazing border for a walkway.
The Knock Out Rose produces loads of small blooms and the bush will continue to rebloom every 4-6 weeks.
Another plus is that they are easy to find at your garden center or big box store and you can buy a gallon-sized plant for around $20.
I like to use organic fertilizer from Espoma that is made for roses monthly on my roses during the growing season. I love the Espoma line of fertilizers and use them all over my garden (they don’t smell great but they do work great!!).
Lilac “Miss Kim”
The” Miss Kim” is a sweet little compact variety of lilac. It’s much smaller than a traditional common lilac so it makes a great addition in a garden bed or as a foundation planting.
The “Miss Kim” also starts blooming after the common lilacs have started to fade. They have a very strong fragrance; the morning that they first bloom I know because the scent drifts right into the house.
This lilac really doesn’t require much care at all; I fertilize them in the Spring and then deadhead the blossoms after they die off.
I have my Miss Kim lilac planted in line with the corner of my house. On each side, there’s a Knock Out rose bush, and in the front a few low-growing perennials
Hibiscus (Rose of Sharon)
The hardy Hibiscus is another garden stunner that is easy to care for as well.
Unlike the previous bushes the Rose of Sharon gets quite big after a few years- 8 to 12 feet! It’s a great choice to fill a big area in your garden or yard.
They are sun lovers and will thrive in a sunny corner of your garden. This late-season bloomer will flower from late Summer until early Fall.
I have a pretty lavender variety named “Azurri Blue Satin” but the more commonly found colors are white, pink, and red.
Endless Summer Hydrangea
This is my favorite!! I just love everything about Hydrangeas.
The Endless Summer is a pretty fast-growing variety that has abundant blossoms for months. Depending on if your soil is acidic or alkaline will determine what color your flowers are; more acidic soils will have blue blooms and alkaline soils will produce pink flowers. I have acidic soil and lovely big blue flowers.
Hydrangeas like partial sunny locations, my hydrangeas have morning sun and thrive.
New shrubs should be watered deeply a few times a week so they can develop a strong root system.
Endless Summer Hydrangeas bloom on both old and new wood which means that even though the branches look dead after the winter they send out fresh leaves and flowers in the Spring; the hydrangea also produces plenty of new branches in the Spring which will also flower.
By mid-summer, they really start blooming and continue to flower until Fall.
In the Fall, I cut the flowers to use in my Fall decorating. Here is my easy way to dry hydrangeas.
Butterfly Bush
Just like the name states, Butterfly Bushes are magnets for butterflies in the summertime.
There are quite a few different colors and different-sized varieties to choose from for your garden.
The common purple one that you can find at most home improvement stores grows quite large; between 5-10 feet. Your local nursery should carry different colors and sizes. Just make sure you take time to read the tag to see how big yours is going to grow so you give it enough space to mature.
I was gifted this sweet petite Lo& Behold butterfly bush from a friend and it will only get to about 2 feet tall and wide.
Your Butterfly Bush will be covered with butterflies in the late Summer. The Yellow Swallowtails seem to stay in my garden all day in the Summer. The Hummingbirds also travel back and forth from mine; I love hearing the buzzing sound of their little wings!
The best time to plant all these easy-care shrubs is in the early Spring. Dig a hole twice as big as the rootball and place the shrub in and backfill. Use your foot to press the compact soil around the flowering shrub after you have it planted, then water it.
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