Fragrant Flowering Shrubs for Shade

This is a continuation of a side discussion on another thread.

Tracy, here are some shrubs to look into, see if they'd fit the bill. All will flower decently in at least part shade, sometimes more, are hardy to z5, and each will probably have cultivars that are more or less desirable, depending.

Clethra alnifolia, Summersweet or Sweet pepperbush. Blooms July-Aug and is very fragrant. Choose a cultivar -- 'Hummingbird' is pretty common but Dirr reports that it flops open over time? 'Compacta' or even 'Sixteen Candles' may be better if you need a smaller plant, although if you've got the space check out 'Ruby Spice'. These prefer soil on the more acid side, with plenty of organic matter. Golden yellow is the typical fall color. Once established it can handle average garden soil, but will need you to keep up watering until then.

Itea virginica, Virginia sweetspire. Fragrant, attractive white flowers typically in June, and dynamic fall color in shades of purple/crimson that often persists for quite a long time. Will deal with most soils and sun conditions and has a very pleasing habit when in bloom (well, to me!). There are several nice cultivars, many of which will eventually fill a space around 4'x6'. 'Henry's Garnet' has an incredible garnet-red fall color and new leaves are tinged red as well. 'Little Henry' is a bit smaller, like 3'x4'.

Fothergilla spp., either Dwarf Fothergilla or Large Fothergilla. Blooms in spring in fragrant, little white bottlebrushes. May sucker a lot, which you have to keep on top of, and both types of Fothergilla prefer moist, organic soil, though they seem to do well with average garden moisture once established. But they have nice summer foliage & shape, and incredible fall color. Flower better in sunnier positions.

Viburnum spp., particularly V. x burkwoodii, V. carlesii, V. x juddii, and V. x carlcephalum. V. plicatum var. tomentosum may flower the best in shade of the viburnums, plus it has red berries and very nice wine-red fall color. That one doesn't do like dry shade though, and I don't know how available it is. It may be readily available, I just don't know. Viburnums vary a bit in terms of fall color, fruiting, and flowering ability in part shade, but they're a great plant & worth researching.

Daphne x burkwoodii. Daphnes are another neat looking, fragrant shrub that do well in shade, but they're, um.... well, they can be fickle. Dirr has said they may be more reliable with plenty of organic matter in the soil and adequate moisture. The popularity of the cultivar 'Carol Mackie' suggests that it may be less fickle than others.

Well, there you go, my suggestions for fragrant flowering shrubs for part shade. Hope this helps!

WOW Ruby I'm awed, you really know your stuff. But what is the Dirr? I can't wait to check these out. Will be serving the net right away. Thanks so much for the information! mmm do you think they'll have a scratch n sniff so I can use to smell each one? (hehehe) Tracy Definately going to be researching to see which ones I want, maybe even several of these.

Hey Tracy, Dirr is a who -- Dr. Michael Dirr, actually. He's a professor & author.... basically, he's the King of Woody Ornamentals. I think he knows it all, lol. He's got a website http://www.nobleplants.com/ but more importantly he's got a book called Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs that is the bible, lol, of woody ornamentals. When I want to verify or double check info I always refer to it.

Have fun researching shrubs! I'm sure that all of these are here on the plants database as well....

: )

another excellent link..

Rubystar Thanks so much this is an excellent link. I will need to keep a lookout for a copy of this book, seems to be a wonderful source of information. Tracy

Wayside has an excellent one called Mexican Anise. I ordered one last year but they were sold out so I will get it this spring.