Sun Shrubs

Fabulous foliage, fragrant flowers, flavorful fruits

The options for shrubs that grow in sunny locations are seemingly endless. Sun shrubs can be deciduous or evergreen, tall or small, prized for their fabulous foliage, for their fragrant flowers, or for their flavorful fruits. Foliage shrubs are often evergreen, maintaining their leaves, adding color and texture to the garden, and supporting garden wildlife year-round. Some, like thuja, boxwood, or bay laurel, can be pruned into any shape or size or clipped into topiary. Even though deciduous shrubs lose their leaves in winter, they typically offer interesting seasonal transformations. But perhaps the most beloved of the sun shrubs are the flowering shrubs. Whether blooming in the single or clustered flowers of the rose, the huge flowerheads of the hydrangea, or the full flowering stems of weigela and forsythia, to name but a few, flowering shrubs add stunning shapes and colors to garden or vase. But fruiting shrubs can also be as ornamental as they are productive, displaying bright fruits or berries, fitting perfectly into an edible landscape. Flowering and fruiting shrubs not only look beautiful but also support bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, and wildlife, providing them with habitats and food sources.