EDDIE SEAGLE: Summer flowering shrubs enhance curb appeal

If you’ve never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. — Audra Foveo

Spring is half-over and the daytime temps are reaching the 80s. The mornings and evenings are quite comfortable for sitting by the pool, enjoying the chimes, listening to and watching the song birds, smelling the fragrances of the flowers, and simply relaxing. May is here and flowers are displaying their beautiful colors and attractive fragrances. Summer is not far away.

Summer-flowering shrubs certainly have an influence on color and curb appeal in our landscapes. Selecting the right plant and placing it in the right place are very critical in the survival and success of your plantings. Make your selections based upon the cultural and micro-environmental requirements of the plants, as well as personal choices. The following summer flowering shrubs offer curb appeal throughout our landscapes.

Bluebeard Shrub (Caryopteris spp.) exhibits clusters of attractive blue blooms in late summer and is heat- and drought-tolerant. Often called blue mist spirea, bluebeard is not a true spirea. This low maintenance shrub attracts birds, butterflies, and bees. Reaching a height of 4 feet, it prefers full sun and well-drained soils. “Longwood Blue” is a cultivar whose leaves smell of mint.

Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii) is a summer to fall flowering shrub offering fragrant blooms of purple, lavender, blue, pink and white colors. Reaching a height of 10 feet, it prefers full sun and well-drained soils. Common cultivars greater than 6 feet tall are “Attraction,” “Bicolor,” “Black Knight,” “Dartmoor,” “Guinevere,” “Honeycomb” and “Lochinch.” Cultivars shorter than 6 feet include “Ellen’s Blue,” “Nanho Blue,” “Summer Beauty” and “White Ball.”

Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus) brings attractive deep red flowers with a spicy fragrance to the landscape garden in the summer. Reaching a height of 8 feet, this low-maintenance plant prefers full sun to partial shade and well-drained soils.

Reblooming Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) is a hydrangea that produces flowers on current season’s growth throughout the summer. “Endless Summer” is an awesome cultivar. Reaching a height of 5 feet, it prefers part shade and moist, well-drained soils.

Rock Rose (Cistus spp.) produces attractive rose-like flowers (pink, purple, lavender and white) throughout the summer months. The rock rose is drought-tolerant and easy to grow. Reaching a height of 5 feet, it prefers full sun and well-drained soils.

Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) was one of my mom’s most favorite plants. It provides color throughout the summer and into the fall with its tropical-looking blooms in pink, lavender-blue and white. “Minerva” is a sterile variety and does not produce the excessive seedlings (which can become weedy) so characteristic of the regular varieties. Reaching a height of 10 feet, it prefers full sun and well-drained soils.

Shrub Rose (Rosa spp.) exhibits attractive blooms (yellow, pink, red and white) all summer and into the fall on vegetative stock that is disease tolerant. Shrub roses take the best qualities of the hardiest rose species, and combine those traits with modern repeat blooming and diverse flower forms, colors and fragrances. Some shrub roses may grow tall while others stay compact. Recent rose breeding has focused on developing hardier shrub roses for landscaping that need little to no maintenance. These plants have thorns so plant them away from traffic flow situations for people-safety reasons. Reaching a height of 6 feet, the shrub rose prefers full sun and well-drained soils, and attracts birds.

Spirea (Spiraea japonica) is a low-maintenance shrub that is grown in so many different settings with minimal effort. From home landscapes and commercial properties to public plantings and streetsides, the spirea grows quite well and offers clusters of raspberry-rose flowers for our personal enjoyment. “Goldmound” is a cultivar exhibiting golden or lime-green foliage. Reaching a height of 4 feet, it prefers full sun and well-drained soils.

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) offers fragrant flowers (pink and white) throughout the summer and golden leaf color in the fall. “Ruby Spice” is a cultivar offering a longer blooming season. Reaching a height of 5 feet, it prefers part to full shade and moist, well-drained soils. There are several cultivars of summersweet clethra that are available at garden centers and through mail order catalogs. These cultivars are different from the wild form (white and tall) by either being more compact and floriferous (making more flowers) or by having pink buds and flowers. Cultivars include “Ruby Spice” and “Pink Spires” as regular sized, and “Hummingbird” and “Sixteen Candles” in dwarf form.

Think in terms of native and sustainable plants in the landscape rather than those with invasive characteristics. May this bit of awareness ignite your desire to learn and ask questions, encourage you to further apply your gained knowledge, and bring you to further realize that environmental stewardship and sustainability should be at the foundation of all your home landscape activities. Also, the Albany Daylily Show is Saturday.

Keep your hanging baskets and potted plants refreshed with water and food. Remember to feed and water the songbirds, and give your pets the care they need. Also, be on lookout for children playing and bicyclists riding along the streets and roadways throughout our communities as summer draws closer. And remember to safely share the road with motorcycles. Drive alert and arrive alive. Don’t drive distracted or impaired, and don’t text while driving. Help the homeless every chance you get. Let’s keep everyone safe while continuing to enjoy this spring season!

Many thanks to all who read this column which is an effort to provide each reader with timely and useful information. It is a small contribution on my part in “paying it forward” to my readers. In keeping with this thought, many of you know that we are planning our annual mission trip to Peru this summer. We are currently raising funds to help finance this mission trip (discipleship journey). If you feel led to do so and would like to donate to this cause, please make a check payable to Heritage Church and mail to Eddie Seagle, Peru Mission Team, 108 Tallokas Circle, Moultrie, Ga. 31788. We would appreciate your prayers for a safe journey as well, and many thanks to each of you.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Eddie Seagle is a sustainability associate, Golf Environment Organization (Scotland); agronomist and horticulturalist, CSI: Seagle (Consulting Services International); professor emeritus and honorary alumnus, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and associate editor of The Golf Course, International Journal of Golf Science. Direct inquiries to [email protected].