Best Deciduous Shrubs For St. Louis Missouri
Rose Creek Abelia, is a compact, dense, low mounding shrub. Glossy leaves emerge in early spring, followed by small trumpet shaped flowers in mid to late summer and extending into late fall. It is a semi-evergreen, keeping leaves typically into January. Long season of interest.
During early to mid summer when Bottlebrush Buckeye is in full bloom it is a sight to behold. If you are looking for a large growing shrub that will thrive and bloom in the shade bottlebrush buckeye may be your answer.
‘Miss Molly’ is a great compact growing butterfly bush growing to just 4-5′. It’s ruby-red-pink flowers are a show stopper from mid summer extending into late fall.
Beautyberry is a standout shrub for adding interest to the fall landscape. “Early Amethyst’ is adorned with lilac-purple berries that look like clusters of miniature grapes during September and October.
Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Beyond Midnight’ is a new introduction. We love Caryopteris for its late summer blooming. ‘Beyond Midnight’ adds much needed color to the landscape in August.
Clethera alnifolia ‘Hummingbird is a great compact growing shrub that produces white, fragrant, bottle brush shaped flowers that last for 4-6 weeks in mid to late summer.
Fothergilla is a great low maintenance shrub for full sun to part shade areas. Fragrant, white, bottle brush flowers appear in April to early May before foliage appears. Fall color is brilliant with oranges, reds, and yellows.
‘Annabelle’ is a popular favorite with gardeners. Easily grown and blooms for up to two months on new wood. Lime green blossoms become large and white as they mature.
‘Quick Fire’ Hydrangea is a reliable bloomer. Flowers start as white and turn pink as summer progresses. Blooming on new wood sometimes starting as early as June. A standout quality of this plant is that its stems are sturdy and keeps the plant upright when if full bloom.
Oakleaf hydrangea is named after the shape of its deeply lobed leaves. The large oak shape leaves are followed by long, conical flower heads from late spring to late summer. The creamy white flowers turn a pinkish hue as the season changes.
A plant for all seasons. Winterberry holly ‘Red Sprite’ is a great compact shrub with tiny white flowers in late spring followed by attractive dark green glossy leaves in summer. It stands out in the landscape during the fall when the plant is loaded with bright red berries.
St. Louis is close to the northern limit for growing Crape Myrtle but ‘Hopi’ is perfectly fine for our location. When situated in full sun, ‘Hopi’ wont dissapoint with its spectacular pink blooms from July into September. Cold winters may cause the plant to die back to the ground but it will regrow into a 4-6′ bushy shrub by seasons end.
Fragrant Sumac is grown more for its characteristic to act as a great ground cover or mass shrub planting that covers a lot ground.
Korean Lilac is prized for its profuse blooms and highly fragrant flowers. Blooms its best in full sun but can be easily grown in partly shaded areas. With room to grow it will reach a height of 4-5′ and a width of 5-7′.
The key feature of Juddii Viburnum is its fragrant flowers. Pink buds open into white flowers in mid-April. It has good dark green foliage which colors to burgundy in the fall.