Unique Native Shrubs: 7 Natural Winners Every Gardener Should Add To The Landscape

When it comes to selecting the right plants for the right sites, nobody does it better than Mother Nature! That's why native shrubs are almost always your best bet. You can find a native bush to suit every gardening need, whether you’re looking for small native shrubs, large native shrubs, deer resistant native shrubs, and more. But there are more than a few native bushes out there, as well as cultivars of the best. So if this particular choice of landscaping shrub feels confusing, worry not – here is a roundup of our favorites…

Choosing the Best Native Shrubs for Your Garden

This collection of low-maintenance shrubs encompasses options for compact yards as well as larger growing spaces. There are options for lovers of bold and showy flowers, impressive displays of foliage, intoxicating fragrance, brilliant berries, and wildlife such as hummingbirds. Wherever you reside, there is a native shrub just waiting to add longevity and visual interest to your growing space…

1. Oakleaf Hydrangea

I always think of the best hydrangeas as the workhorses in my landscape. These exceptional flowering shrubs are tough but beautiful, easy to care for and overflowing with flowers in season. Several hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia) are native shrubs, including oakleaf, a bush that offers charm in every season, starting from the huge, oak-shaped leaves in spring, through dangling flower cutters in summer, fiery leaves in autumn, and peeling bark in winter. Hardy to USDA zone 5, you can get them in dwarfed size if you want small native bushes or opt for the medium-to-tall size the shrub naturally attains.

2. Viburnum Winterthur

Viburnum is a native shrub and a staple of many gardens. And if you are bringing in a new one, check out Winterthur (Viburnum nudum), an exceptional cultivar with a dense, lush, compact form. It offers great wildlife protection for nesting birds, as well as a crop of dark berries at the end of summer. To get the berries, flowers are necessary, and this flowering viburnum delivers big, fragrant, white blooms during April and May. It rounds out the year with a fiery autumn leaf display. Since this is a nature bush cultivar, it will come as no surprise that Winterthur tolerates most soils and even partial shade.

3. Bottlebrush Buckeye

Ready for a large native shrub? Try bottlebrush buckeye that grows to 12 feet (4m) in each direction with many stems. In summer, it is filled with foot-long flower spikes – ivory colored and looking like bottlebrushes. The flowers appeal to pollinators including native bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Like most native shrubs, bottlebrush (Aesculus parviflora) is not picky about its locale. It thrives in sun or shade as long as it has well-draining soil. It forms suckers as it matures, so you may end up with a bank of flowering bottlebrush.

4. Buttonbush Sugar Shack

Have you ever seen buttonbush growing in the wild? This beautiful native shrub is so appealing, but much too big for most backyards. If you’re after small native bushes, look no further. Sugar Shack (Cephalanthus occidentalis) is a buttonbush cultivar that is both smaller and more colorful. About half the size of the specimen shrub, it also has bright fragrant white flowers, bright red fruit, and shiny green leaves. Sugar Shack needs a site with sun, either full or partial, to bloom. And does it ever attract pollinators!

5. Winterberry Holly

Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata) is native to a large swath of the country, but not everyone recognizes it as a holly. That's because it isn't evergreen – it loses its leaves in fall. The big upside of this native shrub's deciduous nature is that the fallen leaves give a dramatic view of the bright red berries. They hang on the bare branches into winter. You’ll find when growing winterberry holly that it is one tough native plant. Heat? Cold? Wet? Dry? Winterberry holly takes it all in stride and thrives in sun or shade. Dwarf varieties are available if you need a smaller version.

6. Dogwood Firedance

Most of us know and love the native bush dogwood, but it is outsized for many landscapes. Firedance is a compact cultivar of dogwood. Yes, you still have the appealing white spring flowers and then the wildbird-pleasing white berries, as well as all the tolerance of a native shrub. Try using Firedance (Cornus sericea) to hold soil on slopes! But it is equally suitable for moist areas, even rain gardens. You have that red autumn display to look forward to.

7. Mountain Laurel Kaleidoscope

Mountain laurel is native to the eastern half of the country and is appreciated by gardeners for its showy flowers. The leaves of this type of mountain laurel are shiny and dark green, while the flowers are cup-shaped. Though the specimen plant flowers are pink, the buds of the cultivar Kaleidoscope are a dark red with a large white lip. They open into burgundy/cinnamon flowers for a stunning bicolor effect. Kaleidoscope is vigorous, offering regular new growth that also leans toward red. It grows in a wide, upright habit.