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Thoms Bros Landscaping Creator and Keeper of Fine Landscapes

Top 10 Landscape Shrubs

1. Incrediball Smooth Hydrangea arborescens

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Super-sized flowers!

Incrediball hydrangea will make you say WOW – it’s an improved version of the garden classic ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea, but with strong, sturdy stems that don’t flop over and extra-large blooms to boot. White flowers begin to appear in mid-summer and open to enormous snowballs, nearly the size of basketballs! They then age to a lush jade green, which persists through frost. It’s a super easy, super reliable North American native that grows in chilly USDA zone 3 all the way up to USDA zone 8/9. Plant Incrediball hydrangea in your landscape and find out for yourself just how big, beautiful, and rewarding it can be.

Top reasons to grow Incrediball hydrangea:

– enormous, long-lasting flowers every summer

– Strong, sturdy stems keeps blooms showy and upright

– easy to grow native shrub

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2. Double Play Big Bang Spirea x

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Everything you love about the classic spirea – and more!

Japanese spirea comes by its popularity earnestly: durable, super easy to care for, and perfectly pretty pink flowers in spring. Double Play® Big Bang spirea does the landscape classic one better with the biggest, pinkest flowers of any Japanese spirea. It also offers super colorful new growth, especially when it emerges in early spring. That’s what makes it a perfect Double Play! Like other Japanese spirea, it’s drought tolerant, deer resistant, grows and blooms well in partial shade, and maintains a nice, neat shape without pruning.

Top reasons to grow Double Play Big Bang spirea:

– Extra large pure pink blooms

– Colorful new growth makes the plant interesting even when it’s not in bloom

– Deer resistant

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3. Lemony Lace Elderberry Sambucus racemosa

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A bright and stylish plant with an easy-going nature.

Ever wish our popular Black Lace® elderberry came in a sunny bright yellow? We are happy to oblige: Lemony Lace® offers finely dissected foliage but in a cheery gold color to really light up your landscape. This North American native produces big clusters of white flowers in early spring before the foliage emerges, then bright yellow leaves take over, edged in red. As the foliage ages, it turns an attractive chartreuse. Though it is a large plant, it can be pruned to stay smaller if you’d like. A People’s Choice Award winner at the 2014 Farwest Horticulture Trade Show, Lemony Lace Sambucus also won a Green Thumb Award from the Direct Gardening Association.

Top reasons to grow Lemony Lace elderberry:

  • very colorful from spring through fall
  • little to no maintenance required
  • showy white flowers in spring
  • very deer resistant

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4. Sugar Shack Buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis

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Great for rain gardens!

Buttonbush has long been prized as a native, but it was way too big for most landscapes. Not anymore! We’ve cut the size in half and added colorful red fruit and glossy foliage. Add in cool looking, fragrant white flowers and you’ve got a delightful plant that shines from spring to fall.

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5. Spilled Wine Weigela florida

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Beautiful and versatile!

Spilled Wine® weigela shares the fabulous deep purple foliage and bright pink flowers of the classic Wine & Roses® weigela but in a smaller size. This useful plant grows wider than tall, making it the perfect choice for edging beds or walkways and for incorporating under windows in your landscaping. Like all weigela, it is deer resistant and very easy to care for.

Top reasons to grow Spilled Wine® weigela:

– Very colorful even when not in bloom

– Dwarf, wider-t

han-tall habit has many uses in the landscape

– Deer resistant

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6. Yuki Cherry Blossom Deutzia x

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The first-ever ‘Nikko’-type deutzia with pink flowers – over ten years in the making!

Perfectly pretty pink flowers on a deutzia. A shower of elegant pink flowers creates a carpet of color. Great for mass plantings because of its neat, mounded habit and burgundy-purple fall color, this tough, adaptable plant makes an excellent groundcover, especially on a sunny slope.

Top three reasons to plant Yuki Cherry Blossom® Deutzia:

  • Pink, bell-like flowers cover the plant in spring
  • Loves sun and resists deer
  • Excellent groundcover, and works especially well on slopes

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7. Tiny Wine Ninebark Physocarpus opulifolius

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A new dwarf ninebark that is smaller than others in the market.

Tiny Wine is extra bushy, with small, refined leaves. The dark bronze-maroon foliage is colorful all season, and contrasts beautifully with the white flowers in late spring. The flower show is exceptional, with dainty flowers blooming up and down the stem in a very showy display. This durable plant may be used in the landscape for season-long color, and is also a great choice for patio containers.

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8. Kodiak Black Diervilla rivularis

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Looking for an adaptable native plant that’s drought-tolerant, deer-resistant and colorful? This is it!

Diervilla just got a lot more colorful: this tough, easy-growing shrub is a standout with its dark burgundy-black foliage. The color is especially intense in spring and autumn. The bright yellow flowers add contrast in early summer. This is a durable native that thrives in sun or shade, and is a very useful landscape plant.

Top three reasons to grow Kodiak® Black Diervilla:

  • One of the best shade-tolerant shrubs (though color is more intense in sun or part shade)
  • Never without clusters of yellow flowers during the summer
  • Dramatic black-purple foliage all season with vivid red tones in autumn

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9. Show Off Forsythia x intermedia

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This little beauty will be a blast of early spring color from the ground up!

Show Off is not your typical forsythia! It is compact and full of blooms from the ground to the end of every stem. Older varieties can become out of control and often become victims of bad pruning; this little beauty will stay small so there is no need to prune. Now you can have a nice tight, compact forsythia hedge without doing any work! A real improvement over older varieties, Show Off is a very showy choice for the early spring garden.

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10. Little Lime Panicle Hydrangea paniculata

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Compared to its famous sibling ‘Limelight’, Little Lime hardy hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata) may seem like a pipsqueak. Don’t let this petite shrub fool you. While maintaining its short stature of 3-5’ tall and wide, it really packs a visual punch in the garden. In summer, lime green blooms open on strong stems – no drooping here. As it ages, rich pink coloring emerges to prolong the show through fall.

Little Lime hydrangea is small enough to grow in containers and also stands out as a bold mass planting. Its bright bloom coloration makes it an excellent choice for cut flower gardens and can be used fresh or dried. This reliable performer blooms on new wood, so a quick trim in late winter or early spring will encourage fresh growth and an abundance of buds. Like most hardy hydrangeas, it is hardy to Zone 3 and does best in full sun or part shade.

Summer flowers open soft green and turn pink and burgundy in fall.

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Proven Winner Shrubs

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