Skip to main content

Plant these stunning flowering shrubs for a showstopping garden display

Flowering plants you'll love for your outdoor space

White azalea flowers
MikeGoad / Pixabay

If you want a garden full of beautiful flowering plants, your first instinct might be to plant flowers, or perhaps even a tree. Gardeners often overlook flowering shrubs, but they can produce some of the most beautiful flowers! They’re easier to plant than a tree, and since all the flowers are on one plant, they’re quicker to care for than flowers. Want to add flowering bushes to your yard? Here are our top picks!

Beauty bush

Beauty bush
Bazela / Pixabay

Beauty bush has several names, including Linnaea amabilis, Kolkwitzia amabilis, or simply beauty bush. Native to China, this shrub is popular for being extremely easy to grow. It is tolerant of all soil types, moderately drought tolerant, and quick to grow. The beauty bush earns its name by growing many pale pink, bell-shaped flowers in the spring. This shrub can grow to between 6 and 10 feet tall and wide, but you can also keep it smaller through regular pruning.

Recommended Videos

Azalea

A bush of light pink azaleas
PatGallery / Shutterstock

Azalea is a classic flowering shrub, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a type of rhododendron (another popular flowering bush) that comes in an array of colors. Although the flowers are classically pink or purple, you can also find them in orange, red, white, and yellow, making it easy to match an azalea bush to your garden’s aesthetics. Additionally, the bush’s popularity makes it easy to find at any nursery or garden center.

Butterfly bush

Butterflies on butterfly bush
Nala1 / Pixabay

If you want to draw pollinators to your garden, or want stunning flowers that won’t wilt in dry weather, then a butterfly bush might be the right choice for you. Available in a wide variety of colors, the bush’s conical flower spikes are a favorite of butterflies, bees, and even hummingbirds! In addition to being drought tolerant, these shrubs have long-lasting blooms, so they’re a great choice if you want your garden to stay colorful most of the year.

Loropetalum

Lorpetalum fringe flower bush with pink flowers and purple leaves
ignartonosbg / Pixabay

For a gardener with more unusual tastes, loropetalum is sure to be a delight. Also called the Chinese fringe flower, this shrub grows bright pink flowers with long, thin petals that splay outward. When not in bloom, this shrub is still a beauty. It has dark purple or pink leaves that won’t fade or fall in winter, providing color all year long!

Weigela

Weigela shrub with pink flowers
MirSiwy / Shutterstock

Weigela is the perfect shrub for northern gardeners who struggle to find flowering plants that survive cold weather. This bush can survive temperatures as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit, so you can enjoy its beautiful flowers each spring without fear! Its flowers can be many shades of pink, and there are even varieties with variegated leaves.

Rose of Sharon

Pink Rose of Sharon
HeungSoon / Pixabay

Rose of Sharon, or common hibiscus, is a steady grower from midsummer to fall, yielding lovely pink, white, red, and purple blooms. It is fairly hardy in hot weather, capable of surviving hot temperatures and periods of drought. On the flip side, it can survive temperatures as low as -20 degrees Fahrenheit during extra chilly winters.

If you’re looking for something that can do well in different lighting conditions, Rose of Sharon can thrive in both partial shade and full sun. When it comes to the growing medium, these shrubs can flourish in poor soil. That said, you can give them a good layer of compost or slow-release fertilizer at the beginning of the growing season.

Whether you’re looking for a flowering shrub that can survive drought or cold weather, or you want something that’s easy enough for a true beginner to grow, we’ve got you covered. One of these flowering bushes is sure to meet your needs and bring you joy. These shrubs make it simple to create a colorful garden full of flowers!

Cayla Leonard
Cayla Leonard is a writer from North Carolina who is passionate about plants.  She enjoys reading and writing fiction and…
How to care for coreopsis, a long-blooming plant
Caring for cheerful yellow coreopsis flowers
Yellow coreopsis flowers

When planning a garden that is low maintenance and environmentally friendly, one of the first plant categories you should look to is native wildflower species. These flowers aren’t just beautiful -- they’re also easy to care for and provide food and shelter for many native creatures! One such wildflower is coreopsis, a cheerful yellow flower native to most of the U.S. If you want to get started growing your own coreopsis flowers today, then here’s what you need to know about coreopsis care.
Planting coreopsis

Coreopsis can grow from seedlings or mature plants, but are often started from seeds. Like other types of wildflowers, coreopsis seeds are easy to grow. Seeds should be planted no deeper than half an inch and can either be planted directly in your garden after the last frost of the year has passed or started indoors a few weeks beforehand and transplanted after the last frost. If you want a more natural-looking wildflower garden, you can scatter the seeds over the area rather than planting each one individually.

Read more
Our favorite desert plants you will love
Grow these desert plants for a drought- and heat-tolerant garden
Variety of succulents

Some people may imagine deserts as barren wastelands, but that’s not quite the truth. There are actually plenty of plants that are adapted to hot, dry climates. These plants can have thick leaves or stems that can store water, or they might spend a lot of time dormant while waiting for the next burst of rain.

Desert plants, including most types of cacti, are varied and beautiful. If you live in a desert climate, growing desert plants makes gardening and landscaping much easier. To help you get started, here are our favorite desert plants that you should try growing.
Desert rose

Read more
Freesia care: What you need to know about these fragrant flowers
Growing freesia flowers in your home or garden
White freesia flowers

Flowers are a beautiful way to add color and visual interest to any home or garden, but they can be a delight for your other senses. as well. While textured plants can be fun to touch, and some plants will rattle in the wind, scent is the sense most commonly associated with flowers. Not all flowers have strong or pleasant scents, but freesia flowers have a lovely smell. If you want to add this gorgeous and fragrant flower to your garden, here's everything you need to know.
What are freesia flowers?

Freesias are perennial flowers in the iris family. They resemble their cousins, having long narrow stems like an iris and colorful cup-shaped flowers like a crocus. Freesia flowers can be almost any color, and while most varieties are solid colors, there are a few two-toned varieties. Like other plants in their family, freesias can grow from corms or from seeds, but they typically grow from bulbs, as it's quicker.

Read more