Scale with dwarf flowering shrubs
Big gardens have a season in life, and we have unlimited energy to maintain perennial gardens and a quarter-acre vegetable patch that produces enough food for the entire neighborhood. But if you have a balcony garden or small garden three floors up when you're starting out, you can still use dwarf shrubs to create a beautiful outdoor living space.
Dwarf shrubs are perfect for small space gardens
When thoughtfully designed, a small space garden can be as visually appealing and emotionally pleasing as a sprawling yard. No need to sacrifice your favorite shrubs like roses and lilacs. You need to choose the right size varieties to match the size of the space. A short hedge or even a casket of flowering shrubs may be just what you need to make your patio feel like "home."
Dual purpose dwarf shrubs
One key to making the most of any space—but especially a small one—is choosing plants with a dual purpose. Peach sorbet blueberries produce delicious fruit but also double as a border hedge or patio plant with dazzling color. Seaside Serenade hydrangeas are delightful garden specimens but will give you long-lasting bouquets!
Dwarf flowering shrubs for your garden
It's best to be selective when curating plant palettes for a small space. If the large shrubs you've seen at local nurseries are too much for your garden, look for the varieties you see here.
1. Cape Cod Bigleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)
Blue hydrangeas are a dream come true for many of us, and thanks to the elegant, mounding form of the Coastal Serenade Cape Cod, it's easy to find the perfect spot to display it in a landscape with acidic soil. Flowers are pink when the soil is neutral to alkaline. Sturdy, thick stems bear large, mophead flowers in early summer, and additional blooms continue throughout the rest of the season. The thick, waxy, dark green leaves help it survive well in hot, humid climates where other large leaf hydrangeas may wilt. And pruning is easy: simply cut dead wood in early spring.
Type Shrub Flowers blue mophead flowers from early summer to fall; Flowers are pink in alkaline soil. Full sun to part shade in the north, part shade in the south Fertile, moist, well-drained, acidic Size: 3 to 4 feet tall and wide Hardiness USDA zones 4 to 9
2. Autumn Coral azalea (Rhododendron hybrid)
Do you remember when Azaleas were a hit wonder? Their bright flowers graced our gardens for a few glorious weeks in the spring, and then we waited 11 months for them to repeat the show. But in the early 1980s, Robert “Buddy” Lee, a grower from Independence, Louisiana, began developing the Encore® revival azalea series. Deciduous coral is a densely branched plant whose warm coral pink flowers are the first to appear in spring. And it tolerates more sun than typical azaleas. It is known for its heavy regeneration in autumn on new wood from summer. This azalea works beautifully as a foundation plant or short hedge. Although it does not require regular pruning, it can be pruned lightly after the first round of blooms in spring.
Type Shrub Flowers coral pink flowers in spring, summer and fall Light Full sun to part shade Soil Average moisture, acid, well-drained Size 30 to 36 inches. Height and width hardiness is cold hardy in USDA zones 7 through 10.
3. Little Devil ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)
Have you ever noticed how a dark background can make all the colors in front of it pop? A small hedge of the deep purple leaves of Little Devil™ Ninebark will make it into your landscape when you combine it with colorful perennials. The more sun this shrub receives, the darker the color. Ninebark is a powdery mildew-resistant, low-maintenance shrub that makes its own in landscapes. Many cultivars grow quite large, but dwarf selections require little pruning to stay in range. Substitute your native non-native barberry (Berberis thunbergii) for a similar look without the thorns.
Type Shrub Blooms late spring Purple-white flowers and red seed heads Light full sun Soil Suitable for dry or moist soil Size 3 to 4 feet tall and wide Hardiness Cold hardy in USDA zones 3 to 7
4. ‘Orchid Annie’ butterfly bush (Buddleja hybrid)
Once you grow a butterfly bush, you know how it got its name. This shrub has such a magnetism that butterflies will find it wherever it blooms—in a pot on your deck or in a garden bed. Pollinating bees and hummingbirds are also frequent visitors. Part of the Humminger® series, 'Orchid Annie' is a full-round shrub that blooms with orchid-purple panicles 8 inches long from top to bottom. Its sweet-smelling flowers appear weeks earlier than many other varieties; Secondary shoots continue to color until autumn.
Type Shrub Flowers Orchid-purple Flowers Light mid-summer to early fall Light Full sun Soil Average to rich, well-drained Size 30 to 36 inches tall, 42 to 48 inches wide Hardiness USDA zones 5 to 10 Cool
5. Bloomerang Dwarf Pink lilac (Syringa hybrid)
Few floral scents are as nostalgic as lilac. Many of us remember them from our childhood homes, where they grew in large, towering masses and scented the entire yard in the spring. Whether your garden is small or a sunny balcony is the only option, you can recapture some of that magic in your current home. Like Encore azaleas, Bloomerang® pinks are strong rebloomers. They bloom profusely on old wood in spring and produce another, though not as abundant, bloom on new growth from summer through fall. Although the plant doesn't require pruning to rebloom, if you want to do so, you can do it after the spring blooms have faded—an easy task on such a small shrub.
Type Shrub Blooms spring, summer and fall Pure pink flowers Light Full sun Soil Average Dry, well-drained Size 30 to 36 inches. Height and width Hardiness is hardy in USDA zones 3 through 7
6. Little Lime panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata)
'Limelight' is one of the most widely planted panicle hydrangeas in the world, but it grows 6 to 8 feet tall and wide, making it too large for most small gardens. You get a similar look to its dwarf cousin, the Little Lime, which is half as mature. This makes it perfect for growing as a short hedge around your deck or tucking under windowsills. For a more compact habit, cut back all of its stems by a third each year in early spring. Since they don't set until early summer on new growth, you don't run the risk of removing any flower buds.
Type Shrub Flowers pale green to creamy white Flowers blush mid-summer to fall Light pink to pink Light Full sun to part shade Soil Average Fertile, well-drained Height 3 to 5 feet. Height and width hardiness is cold hardy in USDA zones 3 through 8.
7. ‘Shishi Gashira’ camellia (Camellia sasanqua)
Camellias dominate southern gardens, where they form a basal canopy in the shade of tall trees, as do rhododendrons in the north. While many of them grow too large for small gardens, 'Shishi Kashira' is one of the exceptions. It finds its place in the garden as a low-growing shrub that can spread twice as wide as it grows tall. Its lush semi-double hot pink flowers are 2 to 3 inches across and appear from winter through fall when you need color in the garden the most. Fresh bouquets look great when picked. This Expect the perennial shrub to be happy for decades.
Type Shrub Flowers hot pink, semi-double, 2- to 3-in. Flowers from fall to mid-winter Light partial shade Soil rich, acidic, moist but well-drained Size 4 to 5 feet tall, 6 to 8 feet wide Hardiness: Cool in USDA zones 7 to 10
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