13 Beautiful Blooming Shrubs to Fill Your Garden with Color All Summer

The airy clusters of beautiful blue blooms gave bluebeard its name. The flowers appear in late summer, just when many other shrubs and perennials are fading. This easy-to-grow shrub will take all but the worst heat and drought. Plus, all kinds of pollinators including hummingbirds love the flowers but deer leave it alone. Bluebeard makes a great cut flower, too.

Light: Full sun

Water: Tolerates drought but does best with regular watering in well drained soil

Size: To 4 feet tall

Zones: 5-9

Buy It: Midnight Bluebeard, ($17, The Home Depot)

Think of a butterfly bush like a summer-flowering lilac. The blooms appear in similar colors (purple, lavender, blue, pink, and white) and are deliciously fragrant. Happily, butterfly bushes have a longer bloom season than lilacs: From summer into autumn, especially if you pinch off the old flower clusters as they start to fade. This also will help them not self-seed everywhere and become invasive.

Light: Full sun

Water: Evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 10 feet tall or more

Zones: 5-9

Buy It: 'Miss Molly' Butterfly Bush, ($30, The Home Depot)

This underused gem offers beautiful deep red flowers from late spring into midsummer. Carolina allspice flowers may not be very showy but they do have a powerful, spicy fragrance you can enjoy throughout the yard. It's also a tough, low-care plant native to areas of North America.

Light: Full sun or part shade

Water: Evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 8 feet tall

Zones: 5-9

Buy It: Bare Root Carolina Allspice, ($14, Arbor Day Foundation)

One of the easiest hydrangeas to grow is Hydrangea paniculata. In late summer and autumn, this rugged shrub produces fluffy clusters of white flowers that fade to shades of dusky pink and green. Many cultivars, such as ‘Tardiva’, can be successfully trained into a standard, or miniature tree form, perfect for a large container or just about any landscape spot.

Light: Full sun to part shade

Water: Evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 10 feet tall and wide

Zones: 4-8

Buy It: 'Limelight' Hardy Hydrangea, ($23, The Home Depot)

An exceptionally easy-care subtropical shrub, oleander offers summertime flowers in shades of pink, red, purple, lilac, yellow, and white. In fact, it's so foolproof that in many areas it's grown along the sides of highways in warm-weather areas. Take care if you grow it in your garden though, especially if kids or pets are around: Oleander is extremely poisonous if eaten.

Light: Full sun

Water: Tolerates drought, but does best with regular watering

Size: To 10 feet tall, depending on species

Zones: 10-11

Buy It: Pink Oleander, ($37, The Home Depot)

Grown for its cheery yellow, orange, red, or white flowers, potentilla is one of the most common and easiest shrubs to grow. It's not picky about soil and can tolerate drought well. Its blooms start opening in late spring and continue through autumn, drawing numerous pollinators like butterflies.

Light: Full sun

Water: Tolerates drought but does best with regular watering

Size: To 3 feet tall

Zones: 3-7

Buy It: 'Happy Face' Yellow Potentilla, ($20, Proven Winners)

While most bigleaf hydrangeas flower on branches from the last year (making them susceptible to injury from especially cold winter temperatures), reblooming varieties such as ‘Endless Summer’ produce flowers on fresh growth. This ensures lots of blooms throughout the summer.

Light: Part shade

Water: Evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 5 feet tall

Zones: 5-9

Buy It: 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea, ($24, The Home Depot)

As its name implies, rock rose has colorful roselike flowers that bloom throughout the summer in a wide range of colors, from pink to purple, lavender, and white. This shrub is easy to grow in warm climates because it tolerates drought so well.

Light: Full sun

Water: Tolerates drought but must have well-drained soil

Size: To 5 feet tall

Zones: 8-10

Buy It: Rock Rose, ($9, Annie's Annuals & Perennials)

You can rely on rose of Sharon to provide lots of color during the hottest months. From midsummer to early autumn, the shrub erupts in tropical-looking blooms in shades of pink, lavender-blue, and white.

Test Garden Tip: When shopping for rose of Sharon, look for sterile varieties, such as ‘Minerva’, that won't fill your garden with a ton of weedy seedlings.

Light: Full sun

Water: Tolerates drought but needs well-drained soil

Size: To 10 feet tall and wide

Zones: 5-9

Buy It: 'Minerva' Rose of Sharon, ($17, Grower's Solution)

Not all roses are finicky, high-maintenance plants. Modern shrub roses offer beautiful blooms all summer and autumn on disease-resistant, easy-growing plants. Flower color differs by variety, but you'll most commonly see shrub roses in shades of pink, red, white, and yellow.

Test Garden Tip: Even modern shrub roses have thorns, so plant them away from sidewalks and pathways.

Light: Full sun

Water: Evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 6 feet tall and wide, depending on type

Zones: 3-9, depending on type

Buy It: Knock Out Double Rose Plant, ($40, The Home Depot)

While smoke bush does have pretty pink plumes in summer, it's the foliage that's really spectacular. Most common types have dark purple leaves that turn colorful shades of yellow, orange, and red in fall.

Light: Full sun

Water: Evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 10 feet tall

Zones: 5-8

Buy It: Smoke Bush, ($39, Wilson Bros. Gardens)

There's a good reason spirea is a common sight in city plantings, at restaurants, and even gas stations: It's a no-brainer to grow. And spirea is beautiful; in midsummer, it produces clusters of raspberry-rose flowers. Many varieties, such as ‘Goldmound’, also offer attractive golden or lime-green foliage.

Light: Full sun

Water: Evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 4 feet tall

Zones: 4-9

Buy It: 'Goldmound' Spirea, ($55, Woodie's Garden Goods)

In shady spots, summersweet will light up when its pink or white flowers appear in mid- to late summer. The fluffy-looking blooms also have a wonderful fragrance. Add its golden fall leaf color and you have an ideal shrub.

Test Garden Tip: Look for cultivars, such as ‘Ruby Spice’, that offer an extra-long bloom season.

Light: Part to full shade

Water: Evenly moist, well-drained soil

Size: To 5 feet tall

Zones: 3-9

Buy It: 'Ruby Spice' Summersweet, ($25, Spring Hill Nurseries)