Early-flowering shrubs - varieties of early spring blossoms - includes list of nursery sources

Flower & Garden Magazine, Feb-March, 1994 by Molly Dean

EVERY SPRING I Look FORWARD TO the first flowering shrubs, even as much as I do to the sunny daffodils or the earliest crocuses showing their faces in the snow. Being a photographer, I think in terms of pictures, and many images of early spring that I will never forget involve flowering shrubs.

From the spring of last year, I remember a cluster of goldfinches chirping happily in a gloriously yellow forsythia bush. Other early spring images that stay with me include white azaleas in Charleston, South Carolina, on the night of a full moon and one of a bridal-wreath, dusted with snow, in full, delicate bloom.

As well as providing lovely blossoms, spring-flowering shrubs often have colorful foliage in fall and berries or fruit in winter. They yield masses of bloom for indoor bouquets and are appealing to butterflies and birds. In fact, gardens with an abundance of flowering shrubs usually attract more birds than others.

Unlike many trees, flowering shrubs are fast-growing, usually reaching their maturity within five years. One of their best features for busy gardeners is their ability to thrive with very little fuss and care. Some, in fact, require no maintenance at all after their initial period of becoming established.

THE EARLIEST TO BLOOM

Many shrubs bloom even while snow is still on the ground. Some of the very earliest are among the most interesting and unique. The first bees I encounter each year are usually swarming busily about the fragrant yellow flower clusters of my mahonia. These small, bell-shaped flowers are followed by dark bluish-purple fruit, looking very much like grapes. The mahonia, grown in Zones 5-8, is not known so much for its flowers and berries, however, but for its handsome, spiny leaves. The leathery leaves of Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) turn a shiny bronze in autumn, while those of my leatherleaf mahonia (M. bealei) retain their deep blue-green color all winter. Leatherleaf is more of a southern shrub, hardy only to Zone 7. Choose any mahonia for a sheltered site, shaded or partially shaded, and give it fertile soil and plenty of water.

Another early blooming shrub is witchhazel (Hamamelis), grown in Zones 5-8. Its odd but attractive, spidery flowers will tolerate even zero temperatures and give off a sweet fragrance. As Rosemary Verey wrote in The Scented Garden, the witchhazel's "clean fresh smell signals spring is coming."

Overall, the plant has a twisted appearance, branches veering off in all directions. Forked witchhazel twigs were used, in fact, as divining rods in the practice of "water witching," hence the shrub's curious name. Twigs of common witchhazel also provide an extract used to make witchhazel lotion, prescribed by doctors as both a tonic and a healing astringent.

Although most witchhazel flowers are a sulfur-yellow, those of the variety |Diana' are a deep, coppery red. |Diana' is a most attractive shrub, planted along the edge of a wood, where its luminous spring flowers and yellow and red autumn leaves are accented by a dark backdrop. Witchhazels should be planted in the fall and prefer fairly moist, well-drained soil and sun or semi-shade.

The twigs of the spicebush (Lindera benzoin), grown in Zones 6-8, are also useful. These and the leaves are used in the making of tea and a spice. Its tiny fringed yellow flowers, sometimes described as "quaint," decorate woodlands in early spring all over the Eastern United States. The spicebush loves moisture and is often found along banks of streams. This feature makes the spicebush an excellent choice for a damp area of the yard where few other shrubs will grow.

If songbirds could help plan your landscape, they would certainly include a spicebush. The spicebush's tiny scarlet berries, appearing in fall. are a choice delicacy among the feathered set.

Another less familiar garden shrub is the white forsythia or Abeliophyllum distichum, grown in Zones 4-9. Despite its name, the white forsythia is not a member of the same genus as true forsythia. Its starry white. honey-scented flowers appear, however, at the same time in earliest spring and its arching branches give a similar, cascading effect.

EARLY-SPRING COLOR

In terms of glorious golden color, forsythia is hard to beat. Many forms of this tremendously popular shrub are seen all over the country and thought of as one of the main harbingers of spring. Because of this popularity, some gardeners snub its "commonness."

Forsythia's popularity, however. arose because it is such a wonderful shrub, tolerant of city conditions and providing dazzling color, ranging from the palest to the deepest yellows, at a time when little else is blooming. It thrives in sun or light shade, in almost any type of soil.

Forsythia is also a great problem-solver. Use it as a screen planting or a lovely, informal hedge. A weeping type, such as Forsythia suspensa, grown in Zones 5-9, even looks good ornamenting the top of a wall.

Some of the most eye-catching color I saw last spring belonged to the brilliant red flowering quinces at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The ruby-like color of the blossoms glowing against a backdrop of lacy white bridal-wreath made a breathtaking combination.