Compact Shrubs By Patricia Acton

Shrubs that stay in scale at maturity are a good fit for today’s smaller gardens.
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Some of the best gifts come in small packages, and many gardeners are discovering that the same holds true for shrubs. Fortunately, for those who garden in small spaces, compact selections of favorite garden shrubs are increasingly available.
There are many reasons why breeders are producing more and better compact shrubs. One is to satisfy the needs of gardeners like me who have relatively small properties. On my one-third acre, I simply don’t have room for five or six full-size crape myrtles, or half a dozen winterberry hollies; not, that is, if I want to have room for much else. However, four of the five crape myrtles I am growing are dwarfs, and there is plenty of room in my front yard for the grouping of compact winterberries (Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’). Not only are my small shrubs beautiful, they allow me much more space to grow other plants.

Small is “In”

The interest in smaller shrubs is “definitely the way things are going,” says Tim Wood, product development manager at Spring Meadow Nursery in Grand Haven, Michigan. “People are buying big houses on smaller lots. Also, landscapes are much more diverse. It used to be that yards would have some junipers and yews and not much else. Now people are looking for more color and diversity in smaller spaces.”

According to Nina Bassuk, professor of urban horticulture at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, shrubs of all sizes have been undergoing a renaissance. “There’s lots of breeding going on here and in Europe, lots of interest in dwarf plants and in plants with interesting leaf color,” says Bassuk.

Another factor driving the movement toward smaller shrubs is that most homeowners, whether serious gardeners or not, are very interested in anything that will save time and labor. I discovered this for myself after planting black pussy willow (Salix melanostachys) at the corner of my house a couple of years ago. I thought it was a great plant, with its dark purplish stems and purplish-black catkins, which were striking in a vase. What I didn’t count on, though, was the work involved in trying to keep the willow from covering the corner window and taking over a sizable part of the front yard. In fact, I got so tired of the constant pruning that I was actually a bit relieved when it succumbed to drought.

“Most people no longer have the time to be trimming and shearing things back. Who wants to have a forsythia that is 10 to 12 feet tall that they’re going to have to whack back every three or four years?” asks Wood, rhetorically. Much better, he says, to choose one of the dwarf forsythias now available.

Wood believes the popularity of perennials is also contributing to the interest in smaller shrubs. “People are realizing that smaller shrubs can be worked into perennial gardens, but require less care” than perennials, many of which need to be regularly divided or staked.

Small shrubs that work as ground covers are excellent choices for mixed borders agrees Bassuk, noting their effectiveness in reducing weed problems. For this purpose, she particularly recommends low-growing, spreading dogwood (Cornus racemosa Muskingum™) and Forsythia ‘Courtasol’ (Gold Tide™). The latter, she notes, “really seems to knock weeds out…it’s great on banks or places where it’s hard to mow.”

Some Recommended Shrubs
Here are some dwarf and compact shrubs recommended for a variety of garden sites:

Clethra alnifolia ‘Hummingbird’ (USDA Hardiness Zones 3–9, AHS Heat Zones 9–1) is a dwarf form of summersweet. Although most cultivars of summersweet mature at six to eight feet, ‘Hummingbird’ reaches just two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half feet tall with a spreading habit. Its flowers are white and fragrant, blooming for a period of several weeks in late summer. Leaves are a dark, fresh-looking green, turning yellow in fall. In my yard, full-sized summersweets such as ‘Pink Spires’ and ‘Ruby Spice’ flower at the same time as ‘Hummingbird’. Another low-grower, ‘Compacta’, has similar flowers but is less spreading.

Cornus alba ‘Red Gnome’ (Zones 2–8, 8–1) is another shrub dogwood that can be effective as a ground cover; also use as a specimen or in groups. Although a bit larger in stature than Muskingum, ‘Red Gnome’ has a finer leaf texture. New growth is also reddish, and the stems are bright red in winter.

Cornus racemosa Muskingum™ (Zones 4–8, 8–3). A dwarf cultivar of gray dogwood, Muskingum grows three feet tall by four to five feet wide; its spreading habit makes it an excellent ground cover. It bears large white flowers in spring, followed by bluish fruits and beautiful red foliage in fall. The new leaves are also reddish. It’s tolerant of a variety of soils, but grows best in sun to light shade.
Forsythia ‘Courtasol’ Gold Tide™ (Zones 5–8, 8–5) is a low-growing, spreading forsythia (two to two-and-a-half feet tall by six feet or more wide) with abundant yellow flowers in spring. Tim Wood describes the foliage as “almost ferny,” and the leaf color as a light lime green. It serves as an excellent ground cover and suppresses weeds well. Another dwarf forsythia from the same breeder is F. 5intermedia Golden Peep™ which has a more upright shape than Gold Tide, growing to about three feet tall or so. Wood says that its size makes it “perfect by the house or deck.”

Itea virginica Little Henry® (Zones 6–9, 10–7) is a diminutive version of Virginia sweetspire. It has the same lovely spires of white flowers in early summer, and the same excellent red color in fall. Like other sweetspires, Little Henry is an easy-care shrub that tolerates damp to dry soils in full sun or heavy shade. It grows about two feet in height and spreads slowly by underground roots. It’s ideal as a ground cover or in a mixed border. …


Photo credits for Clethra alnifolia ‘Hummingbird’ and Itea virginica Little Henry: Courtesy of Spring Meadow Nursery

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