The Most Vibrant Shrubs for Tennessee Yards (and How to Keep Them Blooming Year After Year)
If you want the fastest‚ lowest-maintenance way to add serious color to your yard‚ crepe myrtles and forsythia are hard to beat․ They grow in all of the state’s growing zones (6b through 7b depending on where you live in Tennessee)‚ grow well in Tennessee’s notoriously heavy clay soil once established anywhere‚ and their color lasts for weeks at a time․ Here’s a real breakdown of which colorful shrubs are best‚ how big they actually get‚ and what it takes to keep them looking their best․
Crepe Myrtles: A Southern Staple
Crepe myrtles are almost synonymous with the Southern garden․ They thrive through our oppressive humid summers‚ bloom from early summer straight through September in much of Tennessee‚ and require little babying after the first year in the ground․
Watermelon Red Crepe Myrtle is named for its clusters of deep‚ saturated red flowers that are surrounded by greenish green leaves․ Seen from a distance‚ the mixture of red and green in a large tree resembles a watermelon․ If left untrimmed‚ a Watermelon Red Crepe Myrtle grows up to 10 feet (3․0 m) tall but a plant pruned to 6-8 ft (1․8-2․4 m) with late winter pruning is more common for homeowner landscaping․ It will bloom every summer if planted in full sun (6 hours or more of sun per day) and well-drained soil․
Natchez Crepe Myrtle is quite different․ The flowers are creamy white tinged with yellow and the faun-colored bark is smooth and shedding in the winter when the leaves have dropped to the ground․ Pruning the plant each year will keep it in the 3 to 4 ft․ range; if unpruned‚ it can grow up to 10 ft like its watermelon-red cousin․ The Natchez varieties also tend to be more resistant to mildew than the older crepe myrtle varieties‚ which is useful given the humidity of a Tennessee summer․
Red Rooster Crepe Myrtle is a new dwarf variety that we have to mention‚ just because the 10-foot tall shrub is just not practical for everyone․ This is a small shrub under 5 feet with the same fire-engine red blooms that draw people to crepe myrtles in the first place․ It is useful as part of a foundation planting‚ or in smaller lots where the larger species would be overbearing․
All three agree that plant crepe myrtles in spring or fall in their cool seasons‚ water deeply once per week at first for a year‚ and do not prune at the end of summer‚ when budding occurrs on new growth which becomes next year’s flowering wood․ TN Nursery ships crepe myrtles in their actively growing‚ well-rooted young plant stage to establish better in their first Tennessee growing season․ This seems to matter more than people realize‚ for a plant under stress may take a year off from flowering․
Forsythia: The First Color of the Year
Although Forsythia may not bloom in the summer months as do the crepe myrtles‚ it still has its potential․ For the person who wishes to see the first hints of color in a Tennessee landscape‚ Forsythia may indeed be the answer because it sometimes blooms by the end of February when everything else is bare․
Being a shrub in the olive family‚ people are sometimes surprised the shrub is not an olive tree․ The genus Forsythia consists of 11 species‚ all but one at home in Asia‚ but it has been reliable in the American garden for well over a century․ Depending on the variety and how hard you prune your plant‚ a forsythia can be a 3-foot shrub or a 10-foot monster․ Left unpruned‚ it will send up 6-to-8-foot-long‚ arching canes rooted from wherever the canes touch the ground‚ as well as many upright canes․ This is either a headache or a bonus‚ depending on your perspective․
It has leaves that provide a background for the yellow-orange flowers‚ which bloom then wither over a period of two to three weeks early in the season‚ before the new leaves appear․ The plant then becomes a green shrub for the rest of the season‚ a good structural plant for the gardener until the next season’s blooming․ Prune forsythia immediately after flowering (not in fall or winter)‚ or you will cut off the following year’s flower buds․
Rounding Out Your Color Palette
Summer and early spring bloomers such as crepe myrtles and forsythia can be complemented by outer shrubbery to fill in the gaps․
Azaleas bloom in April in most of Tennessee‚ providing pink‚ red‚ purple and white in a single dense flush․ Providing azaleas are in partial shade with acidic soil‚ there will be a blooming period of three or four weeks‚ making them natural companions for underplanting established trees‚ or for planting in locations where crepe myrtles could not grow because of shade․
Weigela produces trumpet-shaped‚ pink to red flowers in late spring․ Unlike most flowering shrubs‚ deadheaded weigela produce a second‚ smaller flush of blooms late in the summer‚ after the first bloom has faded away․
Burning Bush is a foliage plant (its most interesting characteristic is that in October it becomes bright red)‚ and is one of the few flowering shrubs whose most interesting aspect is its fall color and not its spring or summer flowers․
It means that you have something blooming in your yard in every month of the year‚ not just a burst of bloom in June and then several months of plain green․
Getting the Most Out of Vibrant Shrubs
A few practical notes that make a real difference:
The clay in Tennessee holds water better than sandy soils․ For all these shrubs‚ dig holes which are wider than the shrub respects and add some compost․ Standing water around roots is the number one killer of newly planted shrubs here‚ even more than heat or cold․
Apply mulch around the base two to three inches deep‚ but not against the stem‚ as this can rot the stem and introduce pests․
Most shrubs require little or no fertilizer once established․ One spring application of balanced fertilizer may be sufficient‚ as over-fertilization may produce excessive foliage growth at the expense of flowering․
"In fact‚ bushes are one of the easiest and lowest-maintenance ways of adding color to a yard․ Unlike seasonal annual flower beds‚ which need to be replaced every year‚ or bothersome hedges that need to be sheared‚ pick two or three of the ones on this list based on when you want the most color‚ plant them with a little care up front‚ and they’ll earn their keep for decades․
