21 of the Prettiest Flowering Shrubs for Hedges

Although many crape myrtles grow to be small- to medium-size trees, some varieties, such as the Filli series and Dazzle series, remain shrubby, producing full-size, crepe-papery flowers with crimped petals on plants less than 5 feet tall. Crape myrtles have a long bloom period, eye-catching exfoliating bark, and bright fall color.

Name: Lagerstroemia

Growing Conditions: Full sun in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Zones: 6-10

Buy It: Crape Myrtle Tree ($42, The Home Depot)

Test Garden Tip: In Zones 5 and 6, where crape myrtles die back most winters, treat the shrubs as perennials and cut them to the ground before growth begins in the spring.

Flowers of 'Limelight' hydrangea vary from pastel green in cool climates to creamy white in the South. In autumn, the panicles of blooms turn pink before finally fading to beige. Planted as a flowering hedge, this hydrangea will create a dense, deer-resistant screen that requires no special care other than an occasional pruning to encourage new growth.

Name: Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 8 feet tall and wide

Zones: 3-8

Buy It: Limelight Hydrangea ($29, The Home Depot)

There are a lot of viburnums on the market and many grow well as flowering hedges. Most produce clusters of white or delicate pink flowers in early spring. Look for types such as Koreanspice viburnum (V. carlesii), which offer fragrant flowers, or for varieties that develop red or black berries. Snowball viburnum (V. opulus 'Roseum'), pictured here, grows 8-10 feet tall. The variety 'Nanum' stays under 3 feet tall.

Name: Viburnum selections

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 16 feet tall and 12 feet wide

Zones: 2-8

Buy It: Blue Muffin Viburnum ($15, The Home Depot)

With a name like summersweet, you can guess that this shrub's pink or white flowers are fragrant and very attractive to butterflies and bees. It's one of the few shrubs that bloom well in shade, although it also will grow in full sun in northern regions, provided it has adequate moisture. Its glossy dark green leaves turn shades of yellow to golden brown in fall.

Name: Clethra alnifolia

Growing Conditions: Full sun to shade in medium moist to wet soil

Size: Up to 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: Hummingbird Summersweet ($10, Amazon)

Also known as blue-mist spirea, bluebeard is a late-season bloomer with powder-puff blue, pink, or purple flowers on compact plants with gray-green foliage. Selections offering variegated or chartreuse foliage are also available. Its flowers are very attractive to butterflies.

Name: Caryopteris clandonensis

Growing Conditions: Full sun in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 4 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-9

Buy It: Bluebeard ($33, Amazon)

A native shrub, ninebark, requires little care to thrive, standing up well to heat and drought. Its colorful foliage may be gold, coppery red, or deep purple in addition to medium green, depending on the variety. The burgundy foliage of Summer Wine ninebark, for example, contrasts beautifully with its delicate pink blooms. This shrub also offers exfoliating bark that adds winter interest after the leaves have fallen.

Name: Physocarpus selections

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in dry to medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide

Zones: 2-8

Buy It: Summer Wine Ninebark ($18, The Home Depot)

Popular with hummingbirds, weigela's red or pink trumpet-shape flowers bloom profusely in spring and often bloom again in mid to late summer. Some varieties of this flowering shrub bear white flowers, while others produce copper, burgundy, or variegated leaves.

Name: Weigela florida

Growing Conditions: Full sun in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall and 12 feet wide

Zones: 4-8

Buy It: Variegated Weigela ($17, The Home Depot)

Combining hardiness with repeat blooming, shrub roses make colorful landscape additions without the fuss of fancy hybrid tea varieties. Newer varieties, such as the Knockout and Easy Elegance series are as disease resistant and easy to care for as any other shrub.

Name: Rosa selections

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up To 4 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-9

Buy It: Red Double Knock Out Rose ($22, The Home Depot)

A tough, long-blooming shrub, potentilla produces yellow, creamy-white, or orange flowers throughout the summer. Because the plant blooms in mounds on new wood, you can prune it back severely to maintain its shape in early spring without sacrificing its blossoms. It is extremely heat- and drought-tolerant.

Name: Potentilla fruticosa

Growing Conditions: Full sun in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 4 feet tall and 5 feet wide

Zones: 3-7

Buy It: Happy Face Hearts Potentilla ($12, Amazon)

Living up to its name, beautybush produces arching branches loaded with delicate pink bell-shape blooms in late spring. The flowers are followed by capsule-like fruits among its dark green leaves that turn yellow in the fall. This flowering hedge is deer resistant and holds up well during drought conditions.

Name: Kolkwitzia amabilis

Growing Conditions: Full sun in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall and wide

Zones: 4-8

Buy It: Beauty Bush ($20, Etsy)

Renowned for their fragrant clusters of mauve, pink, white, or purple flowers, lilacs bloom in mid- to late-spring. A few newer varieties like Bloomerang extend the season with repeat bloom in late summer to fall. Dwarf Korean lilac, 'Miss Kim' lilac, and 'George Eastman' lilac all remain under 10 feet tall. If powdery mildew is a problem in your area, look for lilac varieties that are resistant to this disease.

Name: Syringa spp.

Growing Conditions: Full sun in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 30 feet tall and wide

Zones: 3-7

Buy It: Scentara Double Blue Lilac ($18, The Home Depot)

A slow-growing shrub with an extended season of interest, dwarf fothergilla bears fragrant white bottlebrush blooms in early spring. In the fall, its leaves turn fiery red, orange, and yellow. Its bigger cousin, large fothergilla (F. major) is similar except it grows to 8 feet tall.

Name: Fothergilla gardenii

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in moist, acidic, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Zones: 5-8

Buy It: Dwarf Fothergilla ($30, Amazon)

Grown either as a multi-stemmed shrub or small, single-stemmed tree, chaste tree has deeply lobed, compound leaves and fragrant lilac, blue, or white flowers that draw butterflies. Gardeners in Zone 5 can treat chaste tree like a perennial because it will die to the ground each winter, but resprout from the roots in spring.

Name: Vitex agnus-castus

Growing Conditions: Full sun in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide

Zones: 6-9

Buy It: Lilac Vitex Chaste Trees ($58, Amazon)

Forming showstopping flowers the size of dinner plates, hardy hibiscus will make a striking hedge in your landscape. At the peak of bloom, this perennial can produce 20 or more flowers per day. Its hollyhock-like blooms appear in shades of red, white, salmon, or pink.

Name: Hibiscus moscheutos

Growing Conditions: Full sun in medium moist to wet, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 7  feet tall and 4 feet wide

Zones: 5-9

Buy It: Hibiscus Live Plant ($40, Amazon)

Grown for their showy spring flowers, azaleas light up the landscape with their trumpet-shape blooms in a broad spectrum of colors. Some, such as the Encore azalea (pictured here), also bloom on new wood throughout summer and fall. Most azaleas are deciduous and have smaller leaves than true rhododendrons.

Name: Rhododendron spp.

Growing Conditions: Part shade in medium moist, well-drained acidic soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall and wide

Zones: 7-9

Buy It: Autumn Royalty Encore Azalea ($15, The Home Depot)

Althought purple beautyberry bears clusters of pink blooms along its stem in late summer, the fruits that follow are what make this shrub so spectacular. The flowers of this native plant develop into iridescent purple berries in fall. In Zone 5, beautyberry may die back over winter, but will resprout from the base in spring.

Name: Callicarpa dichotoma

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in moist clay or sand enriched with organic matter.

Size: Up to 6 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-10

Buy It: Pearl Glam Beautyberry ($17, The Home Depot)

If you're looking for an elegant hedge that is widely adaptable, deer resistant, drought tolerant, and easy to grow, give bridalwreath spirea a try. An arching abundance of white flower clusters in mid-spring gives this shrub a romantic air.

Name: Spiraea prunifolia

Growing Conditions: Full sun in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 8 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-8

Buy It: Bridalwreath Spirea ($17, The Home Depot)

A North American native, St. John's wort is an all-star shrub that is easy to grow and a cinch to incorporate into almost any landscape. Often sold under the name of Sunny Boulevard, this long-blooming shrub starts producing its bright yellow flowers in midsummer and continues into early fall. Its dark green foliage makes a great foil for the cheery flowers.

Name: Hypericum kalmianum 'Deppe'

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide

Zones: 4-8

Buy It: St. John's Wort ($41, Amazon)

The bright golden blooms of forsythia are practically synonymous with spring in much of the country. This deciduous shrub is known for its early yellow flowers that emerge before the plant leafs out and for its foliage that maintains its fresh green color until late fall. Northern gardeners should choose one of the cold-hardy selections, such as 'Meadowlark', which provides reliable bloom even after sub-zero winters.

Name: Forsythia selections

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-8

Buy It: Forsythia Show Off Sugar Baby ($32, Amazon)

When in full bloom, deutzia steals the show in early spring with its bountiful white or pink blooms on cascading stems. Tiny, fragrant, bell-shape flowers cover the whole plant so that hardly a single leaf is visible. Choose slender deutzia (D. gracilis) if you're wanting a small variety or opt for the taller variety, showy deutzia (D. x magnifica).

Name: Deutzia selections

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in medium moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 10 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-8

Buy It: Deutzia ($17, The Home Depot)

A drought-tolerant and deer-resistant shrub, oleander, is known for its colorful and fragrant clusters of blooms that thrive through most of the growing season. This tropical beauty's flower colors range from pink to white, red, orange, and yellow. But beware: All parts of this plant are poisonous if ingested so keep away from pets and small children.

Name: Nerium oleander

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in medium moist soil

Size: Up to 8 feet tall and 5 feet wide

Zones: 8-10

Buy It: Twist of Pink Oleander ($38, The Home Depot)