Sculptural shrubs

Flower & Garden Magazine, March-April, 1998 by Adele Kleine

These picturesque shrubs can turn

an ordinary garden into an outdoor

gallery of living sculptures.

Shrubs are a mainstay of

gardens, mingling in mixed

borders and functioning as hedges or

windbreaks. Most shrubs have two

or three weeks of intense bloom,

after which they recede into the

background. Not so with sculptural

shrubs.

Grown for their sculptural effect

in the landscape, these shrubs

command attention with their irregular

contours and branches that twist,

arch or bend. They are especially

attractive in winter and early spring,

when their growth habit is not hidden by foliage.

Sculptural shrubs are meant to be

featured players in a landscape.

Their unique, decorative growth and

strong shapes can be enjoyed from a

distance. The gracefully rippled

branches of corkscrew willow, for

example, add a feeling of dynamic

movement to the landscape. Its

branches cast patterned shadows

against walls or snowy ground.

Contorted filbert becomes a

conversation piece when planted near a

terrace, where its dangling leaves

and interesting branches are seen

close up. Contorted mulberry -- a

shrub that could have been designed

by Picasso, so convoluted are its

branches -- softens the harsh

architectural lines of a house.

Many sculptural shrubs have been

known by connoisseurs, but deserve

to be more widely grown. In general,

these are non-demanding shrubs

whose shapes are actually improved

by pruning branches for flower

arrangements.

Contorted mulberry (Morus

bombycis `Unryu,' winter hardy to

U.S.D.A. Zone 5) is a handsome

deciduous shrub with tan, strikingly

twisted branches. The exuberant

branches have long been used by

floral designers to give an exotic note to

their arrangements, yet the shrub is

rarely seen in gardens. It has large,

shiny leaves and pendulous catkins

(small, tassellike flowering

structures) that tremble in the

wind.

The cultivar `Unryu' comes

from Japan, where it is often

planted as a charm to prevent

lightning from striking. One

look at its zigzag branches and

it is easy to see how this folk

tale derived. Contorted

mulberry grows rapidly and can

reach 25 feet if not pruned.

When planted as a specimen, it

needs only a bark mulch or an

underplanting of liriope to set

off its lines.

A similarly contorted but

better-known shrub is Harry

Lauder's walking stick, also

known as contorted filbert or

hazelnut (Corylus avellana

`Contorta,' Zone 4). Its appealing

common name derives

from the old Scottish comedian

Harry Lauder who performed

using a crooked branch as a

cane. This shrub grows more

slowly than the mulberry ultimately

reaching 6 to 10 feet. Small

yellow catkins appear in early spring,

followed by dark foliage. It grows in

moist soil in sun or partial shade.

For year-round textural contrast,

create a landscape vignette of

contorted filbert, mugho pine and

day-lilies. Silhouette a solitary specimen

against a wall, or surround it with a

low groundcover. Contorted filbert's

growth is more twiggy than the

contorted mulberry and thus

gives a more intricate line to

floral arrangements.

The names of two colorful

cultivars of the corkscrew willow

a beauty salon than distinctively

colored shrubs. Salix matsudana

`Golden Curls' has golden twigs,

while `Scarlet Curls' has scarlet leaf

stems and branches that redden after

frost. These are fast-growing shrubs

that spiral to a height of 20 to 30 feet

and can be used as a windbreak. Like

all willows, they prefer moist clay

soil. They are hardy to Zone 5; in

Zone 4, the stems often die to the

ground in winter, but new growth

sprouts from the roots.

Plant corkscrew willows where

their sinuous, gently curving stems

will catch the breeze. Branches may

be cut at any time of the year to lend

an airy height to bouquets. The

stems take root easily in water.

Another distinctive willow is the

weeping pussy willow (Salix caprea

`Weeping Sally' or `Pendula,' Zone

5). This compact, umbrella-shaped

plant is created by grafting a

pendulous form of pussy willow atop an

upright stem. Mature size depends

on the height of the graft, but is

usually 6 to 8 feet. In spring, the familiar

furry catkins line cascading branches.

Weeping pussy willow can accent a

Japanese garden or pond with its

notable sculptural shape. Plant it in

full sun and damp soil.

Weeping Siberian peashrub

(Caragana arborescens `Pendula,'

Zone 2) is an excellent hardy shrub

that pours forth a fountain of yellow

flowers in late spring. The plant's

beauty continues in summer as finely

dissected leaves clothe branches that

sweep the ground from a height of 5

feet. The cultivar `Walker'

is distinguished by even finer, fernlike

foliage. As with the weeping pussy

willow, the peashrub's pendant stems

are grafted onto an upright trunk.

For best effect as a living sculpture,

plant weeping Siberian pea-shrub

alone in a lawn where its

rounded contour can be seen from

all sides. Or place it as a punctuation

point on a rocky incline, with spring

bulbs nearby complementing its

yellow flowers. Siberian peashrub is an

amazingly tolerant shrub, unscathed

by pests, disease or heat. Plant it in

full sun in the North, light shade in

the South. Honeybees are attracted

to its flowers.

With so many unusual shrubs