Shine even in shade

Although these perform best in sun or part shade, in the shade they still manage to please:

• Chinese spicebush
• Dwarf white pine
• Fragrant honeysuckle
• Laceleaf red elder
• Leatherleaf viburnum
• Panicle hydrangea
• Spring witch hazel
• Ural false spirea
• Ward’s yew

Notable spring flowers: Showy before summer solstice

• Chinese spicebush
• Chokeberry
• Fragrant honeysuckle
• Koreanspice viburnum
• Laceleaf red elder
• Quince
• Sargent viburnum
• Slender deutzia
• Snowmound spirea
• Spring witch hazel

Summer pick-me-ups: Blooms in late June and later

• Blue mist spirea
• Bottlebrush buckeye
• Dwarf spirea
• Kalm St. John’s wort
• Leatherleaf viburnum
• Panicle hydrangea
• Seven-son flower
• Summersweet
• Ural false spirea

Fragrant

• Blue mist spirea
• Fragrant honeysuckle
• Koreanspice viburnum
• Laceleaf red elder
• Seven-son flower
• Spring witch hazel
• Summersweet

Great fall color

• Chinese spicebush
• Chokeberry
• Sargent viburnum
• Spring witch hazel
• Virginia sweetspire

Bait for birds and butterflies

• Bottlebrush buckeye
• Chokeberry
• Laceleaf red elder
• Quince
• Snowmound spirea
• Summersweet
• Ural false spirea

Winter interest

• Bird’s nest spruce
• Blue star juniper
• Chinese spicebush
• Chokeberry
• Dwarf white pine
• Goldthread falsecypress
• Hinoki falsecypress
• Leatherleaf viburnum
• Panicle hydrangea
• Seven-son flower
• Variegated redtwig dogwood
• Ward’s yew
• Weeping hemlock

Effective screen or hedge

• Barberry (larger varieties)
• Chinese spicebush
• Chokeberry
• Dwarf spirea
• Dwarf white pine
• Leatherleaf viburnum
• Quince
• Snowmound spirea
• Ward’s yew

Color from fruit

• Beautyberry
• Chokeberry
• Laceleaf red elder
• Leatherleaf viburnum
• Sargent viburnum
• Seven-son flower
• Ward’s yew

Colorful foliage in summer

• Barberry
• Blue mist spirea
• Blue star juniper
• Dwarf spirea
• Goldthread falsecypress
• Variegated redtwig dogwood

Long-lived without pruning

• Barberry
• Bird’s nest spruce
• Blue star juniper
• Chinese spicebush
• Chokeberry
• Creeping cotoneaster
• Dwarf white pine
• Goldthread falsecypress
• Hinoki falsecypress
• Leatherleaf viburnum
• Sargent viburnum
• Seven-son flower
• Spring witchhazel
• Summersweet
• Ward’s yew
• Weeping hemlock

Hardiest

All the shrubs grow well in USDA hardiness zone 5. These can go north into zone 4:

• Barberry
• Bird’s nest spruce
• Blue star juniper
• Bottlebrush buckeye
• Chokeberry
• Dwarf spirea (to zone 3)
• Dwarf white pine
• Fragrant honeysuckle
• Kalm St. John’s wort
• Laceleaf red elder
• Onondaga viburnum (to zone 3)
• Panicle hydrangea (to zone 3)
• Slender deutzia
• Snowmound spirea (to zone 3)
• Spring witch hazel
• Summersweet
• Ural false spirea (to zone 3)
• Variegated redtwig dogwood
• Ward’s yew
• Weeping hemlock