Part 1

SHRUBS for Kansas Landscapes

Cooperative Extension Service • Kansas State University • Manhattan

This publication is one of a series of circulars to help you with your landscape planning. Use this bulletin when selecting shrubs for particular locations in your yard. Consider each plant for its intended use, site location, and exposure. Use the plant descriptions listed in the tables while visiting nurseries. This will help you to realize the size and performance you may expect from the plants.

All shrubs that will grow in the various sections of Kansas are not listed. Most of the shrubs mentioned were selected from the various Kansas retail nursery catalogs. A few shrub varieties are not listed in these retail catalogs, but your nurseryman can get them from wholesale nurseries supplying Kansas firms. The varieties listed are the more common shrubs used for landscaping purposes and will provide you with a wide assortment of plant material to solve any landscaping need.

GARY L. McDANIEL Extension Specialist Landscaping and Environmental Horticulture

The author wishes to thank Larry D. Leuthold for helpful comments during the preparation of this bulletin and Joe D. Roller for designing the illustrations used in this publication.

USES FOR WHICH WE WANT PLANT MATERIAL 1. Accent 2. Border 3. Soften Building Appearance 4. Screen poor views 5. Privacy 6. Hold a Soil Bank 7. ground cover

Shrubs are used in landscaping to provide low foliage and flowers that will compliment the house and trees in your yard. Each shrub used in your yard should fulfill a specific purpose for the overall design.

Select shrubs that will provide accent for your entryway or border focal point, soften corners and harsh lines, or provide a low transition from one point to another. Shrubs are also useful for dividing spaces by separating use areas in the yard. Shrubs are used with trees to screen unpleasant views or protect our yards from strong winds.

^Shrubs as Accent Plants

Shrubs that create a definite accent must be used with more care in your landscape than shrubs that soften lines. Two primary areas in your landscape should be accented. The most important of these is the front entryway to your home.

If the sidewalk to your front door approaches from the driveway along the front of the house, the accent area is at the end of the walk. This will provide a “visual” as well as a “physical” barrier that will point out the front door. Sidewalks that lead directly from the street to the door present a different situation. Accent may be created on either side of the front door, but never make the plantings completely symmetrical on each side. Create a strong accent to one side and a less dominant accent on the other side of the entryway. Never use accent plants on the corners of your house.

Accents may be created by (1) Height—taller plants catch the eye first; (2) Color—brightly colored foliage always attracts attention; (3) Texture—coarse leaf or stem textures provide strong contrasts; and (4) Form—pyramidal shrubs or clipping shrubs into unnatural shapes will create accent.

ACCENT PLANTS

DECIDUOUS SHRUBS: Tall (10 feet or more in height). Elder, Golden Fringe Tree, Red Privit, Golden Wayfaring Tree DECIDUOUS SHRUBS: Medium (between 7 and 10 feet in height). Burning Bush, Winged Dogwood, Coral Dogwood, Redosier Dogwood, Silky Dogwood, Yellowtwig Ninebark, Common Ninebark, Goldleaf Sand Cherry, Purpleleaf Viburnum, Arrowwood Viburnum, Doublefile Weigela DECIDUOUS SHRUBS: Small (between 4 and 6 feet in height). Barberry, Redleaf Burning Bush, Dwarf Winged Weigela, Dwarf DECIDUOUS SHRUBS: Dwarf (less than 4 feet in height). Barberry, Crimson Pygmy Ninebark, Dwarf BROADLEAF EVERGREEN SHRUBS: Tall (10 feet or more in height). Holly Magnolia, Southern BROADLEAF EVERGREEN SHRUBS: Medium (between 7 and 10 feet in height). Mahonia, Oregon Grape Viburnum, Leatherleaf BROADLEAF EVERGREEN SHRUBS: Small (between 4 and 6 feet in height). Euonymus, Emerald ’n’ Gold Holly Nandina BROADLEAF EVERGREEN SHRUBS: Dwarf (less than 4 feet in height). Azalea Euonymus, Emerald Gaiety Holly, Dwarf Mahonia, Compact Oregon Grape Rhododendron

^Shrubs that Soften the Building

Shrubs that will soften the lines of the house or buildings have a round, oval, or irregular shape. These shrubs break the strong vertical lines at the corners of the house, rather than call attention to them.

Never select shrubs that create an accent for corner plantings. Consider a brightly colored foliage on shrubs during the summer or fall as an accent. Do not plant upright-growing pyramidal evergreens, such as Junipers, for planting at the corners of your home. The shape of these plants creates an accent which will detract from the foundation planting. Instead of softening the harsh vertical lines at the corners of the house, pyramidal-shaped shrubs call attention to them.

TRANSITION PLANTINGS

Plants used as a transition are simply those shrubs or ground covers that pull together the plantings at the corners or accented entryways. These shrubs are used to soften the lines of the house, where the walls meet the ground.

Use shrubs that will not call attention to themselves by having bright foliage or coarse leaf texture. These shrubs also help to hide any exposed foundation walls along the house. Transition shrubs should be low-growing or dwarf in size. If the siding of your house extends to the ground without leaving the foundation walls exposed, a groundcover may be all that is required to add depth to the foundation planting.

CONTINUOUS BLOOM FOR YOUR LANDSCAPE

Whether you are selecting shrubs for the foundation plantings around the house or for a shrub border in your yard, choose shrubs that will bloom at different seasons. Most of the flowering shrubs that are available bloom during the spring. Once some shrubs have finished blooming, they have no other ornamental features. The interest in your landscape will be lost, unless you have selected some summer-blooming shrubs. Attempt to design your landscape so you can have continuous shrub bloom from early spring through late summer.

SHRUB ORDER OF BLOOM

EARLY SPRING

DECIDUOUS SHRUBS (Medium) Redbud Chinese Willow, Pussy DECIDUOUS SHRUBS (Tall) Cherry, Nanking Crabapple, Sargent Forsythia Magnolia, Star DECIDUOUS SHRUBS (Small) Honeysuckle, Winter (Fragrant) Quince, Flowering DECIDUOUS SHRUBS (Dwarf) Quince, Japanese Flowering Forsythia, Bronx BROADLEAF EVERGREEN SHRUBS Magnolia, Southern

LATE SPRING

DECIDUOUS SHRUBS (Tall) Cranberrybush Dogwood, Gray Honeysuckle, Tatarian Lilac Maple, Amur Olive, Autumn Pearlbush Pea Shrub Plum, Flowering Snowball Viburnum Wayfaring Tree DECIDUOUS SHRUBS (Medium) Barberry Bayberry, Northern Beautybush Cotoneaster, Large Flowering Deutzia, Lemoine Dogwood Honeysuckle, Morrow Honeysuckle, Zabel Jetbead, Black Privit Sand Cherry, Purpleleaf Scotch Broom Spirea, Bridalwreath Spirea, Vanhoutte Viburnum DECIDUOUS SHRUBS (Small) Almond, Flowering Barberry, Japanese Cotoneaster, Spreading Kerria Lilac, Dwarf Korean Spirea, Garland Spirea, Thunberg Weigela DECIDUOUS SHRUBS (Dwarf) Barberry, Crimson Pygmy Cotoneaster, Cranberry Deutzia Pea Shrub, Pygmy Quince, Japanese Flowering Spirea, Snowmound BROADLEAF EVERGREEN SHRUBS Barberry, Wintergreen Mahonia, Oregon Grape Pyracantha Viburnum, Leatherleaf