Clethra
‘Pink Spire’
ATTRIBUTES
Full sun to part shade | Clay soil tolerant | Zone 5 | 6 feet tall and wide
Blooms: summer
Clethra ‘Pink Spire’ produces fragrant soft pink, cone-shaped flowers July through August. Oh, and what a scent! Sweet as roses but more potent and certainly less trouble. You will love this plant. This very low-maintenance, deciduous shrub can take full sun to part shade and can tolerate moist soils, even pond side or wetlands. Attracts bees and butterflies.
Vitex agnus-castus var. latifolias
‘Chaste Tree’
ATTRIBUTES
Deer resistant | Full sun to part shade | Low maintenance | Drought tolerant | Zone 5 | 6-10 feet tall and wide
Blooms: summer and early fall
As a late bloomer, Vitex is a shrub we use often. Vitex has proven to be cold hardy. It is very late to leaf out but delivers a great late show. Flowers are similar to a butterfly bush, but the Vitex has better structure. Fine, lacy leaves are glossy and fragrant. Attracts butterflies.
Viburnum
‘Summer Snowflake’
ATTRIBUTES
Deer resistant | Full sun | Low maintenance | Drought tolerant | Zones 5 to 8 | 6-8 feet tall and wide
Blooms: May to September
Very low maintenance! Deer resistant and an amazing performer, 'Summer Snowflake' Viburnum produces an abundance of pretty white flower clusters from April to frost. One of only a few shrubs that blooms all season. Very useful in the landscape as a freestanding specimen shrub or in a flowering hedge. Attractive bright red berries in late summer are followed by wine-red fall foliage. For best cross-pollination and resulting fruit display, plant shrubs in groups rather than as single specimens.
Hypericum kalmianum Ames
‘Dwarf St. John’s Wort’
ATTRIBUTES
Deer resistant | Full sun | Low maintenance | Drought tolerant | Clay soil tolerant | Zone 5 | 3 feet tall and wide
Blooms: summer
Ames is one of the hardiest of all the St. John's Wort varieties. Our grower says he has had reliable success even in Zone 4! This variety also gets big, bright yellow flowers July through August. Prefers full sun and can take it a little bit wet. (We also noticed last year that it held up well even in very dry conditions too.) The seedpods dry on the shrub, making it the perfect complement to stunning fall foliage. Remains ornamental through the fall.
Victoria is owner-operator of Victoria Gardens, a nursery and garden center in Rosendale that will delight gardeners, professionals, and novices alike. Check out the website at victoriagardens.biz
