4'H or Less Small Shrubs

An evergreen (semi-evergreen in cooler climates) mounding arching shrub or small vine producing clusters of deep yellow blooms. Typically the blooms do not open all at once, instead they open over a much longer period providing color from spring through summer. Showy Yellow Jasmine makes a great low evergreen groundcover or hedge once it is mature or allow it to grow up and cascade over a corner of a fence. It slow growth rate means that it will require minimal maintenance. Drought and pest resistant. Item # 10381.

A mainstay of southern and western Texas and New Mexico butterfly gardens! Bright yellow daisies are produced from late spring into fall and are held against a foil of dark green, deeply lobed, fragrant, narrow foliage with the heaviest flowering occurring in fall. The flowers are highly attractive to a variety of butterflies, bees, and other garden beneficials. Skeleton-Leaf Goldeneye, Viguiera stenoloba and now Sidneya tenuifolia, is a native, naturally evergreen, small shrub with fine-textured, very dark green, deeply lobed, strongly resiny fragrant foliage that is resistant to being browsed by deer and rabbits. It is tough as nails and is highly drought resistant once well-established. Use it as a low maintenance formal or informal hedge, back drop, or groundcover. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in well-drained soils. A caterpillar host plant for the Bordered Patch Butterfly. Item# 13084

An exceptionally cold hardy and free flowering Gardenia, Snow Girl produces a big show of fragrant single flowers in early summer and continues to produce some flowers into late summer. This little beauty has deep green dainty foliage and a tight compact habit to help get her through the toughest of winters. Small enough to enjoy in containers or let this little gal perfume the summer garden and landscape. Item# 11121

Large pure white mopheads are borne in late spring and summer on this beautiful old favorite. The flowers of Sister Theresa change to green and often to red by fall. This Hydrangea is a good choice for an east or northern exposure, or any mostly shaded position as it does not tolerate full sun well. This has long been a favorite of ours where it's white flowers glow against its own rich dark green foliage and a bed of dark green English Ivy. Item# 10130.

The bare winter stems are adorned with bright sunny yellow flowers in late winter and early spring attracting mainly bees as pollinators. Once the flowering season is finished this beautiful shrub is adorned with solid yellow foliage providing color until autumn when the foliage takes on purple tones until it falls away. The Solid Gold Dwarf Korean Forsythia, Forsythia viridissima var. koreana 'Solid Gold', is an Almost Eden introduction that we selected as a stable sport of the cultivar Ilwang. Ilwang was first shared with us by the late great nurseryman Sherwood Aikens of Minden, Louisiana. This is an easy to grow, low maintenance, compact growing deciduous shrub with an arching, fountaining habit growing wider than tall and maxing out at about 3-4'H x 4-5'W. Its golden foliage can tolerate full sun but may lighten some but this does not appear to affect the plant's vigor it. Provide a fertile soil with average or better drainage and average moisture. Item# 9742

An RHS Award of Garden Merit winner! The small to medium-sized, double, ruby red flowers with a lavender tinge, showing varying amounts of yellow stamens among the central petaloids, are produced early in the season, October to December. Sparkling Burgundy Sasanqua Camellia is a C. hiemalis hybrid with Shi-Shi Gashira lineage with a vigorous yet compact well-branched habit and cloaked in medium-textured, dark green, glossy foliage growing about as high as wide. Use this medium-sized evergreen shrub as a fall flowering accent, hedge, or even a container plant in formal or informal settings. This was one of the earliest patented Camellias assigned USPP1539. The Sasanqua Camellias are much more tolerant of growing conditions than standard Japonica Camellias and can tolerate less than perfect soils and full sun to light shade conditions. Images courtesy of Cam Too Camellia Nursery, all rights reserved. Item# 13229

Masses of 2" wide starry white flowers with a green eye that shine against the deep green foliage are produced in spring with repeat flowering in summer and into fall. A dwarf hybrid developed by Dr. Tom Ranney at J.C. Raulston Arboretum, Star Flower Orion Anise Shrub or Illicium was selected not only for its showy white spring flowers and compact habit but also for its unique ability to repeat flower in summer and into fall. These adaptable evergreen shrubs are tolerant of moist to relatively dry shade as well as full sun conditions. Provide a moist to average moist soil until well-established. Illiciums are one the few shrubs that can be considered 'deer proof'. Foliage may be slightly yellowish to more of an olive green in full sun conditions whereas it is deeper green to almost blue-green in shade. Not a spice plant. Images courtesy of Star Roses and Plants, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12002

The large dark maroonish-red starry flowers are produced multiple times per year beginning in early spring and are held against a foil of deep green foliage all on a compact plant. Star Flower Scorpio Anise was developed and introduced by Dr. Tom Raney at NCSU's Mountain Crop Improvement Lab for both its ability to flower throughout the growing season as well as a neat, naturally rounded bushy habit. Like its parent the Red Anise, Illicium floridanum, it will tolerate full sun but it seems to be at its best where it receives midday to afternoon shade in a moist to average moist, well-drained, fertile soil. Like most other species of Illicium, this is not a plant to be used as a spice even though the crushed foliage has the typical licorice or anise-like fragrance. Images courtesy of Dr. Tom Raney and NCSU MCIL, all rights reserved. Item# 12472

Large red berries cover the bare stems of this native deciduous shrub beginning in fall and lasting throughout much of winter and possibly into spring. Sunset Winterberry Holly develops into a medium-sized well branched shrub with a an upright to vase-shaped habit when young broadening with age. The textured deep green foliage may provide some yellow fall color prior to leaf fall if grown in full sun. Winterberry Hollies are easy to grow adaptable shrubs that produce clusters of small white flowers in spring that provide nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators. Sunset Winterberry Holly is a female and so will need a male pollinator that flowers at the same time for maximum berry production. 'Southern Gentleman' and 'Apollo' are two males that are recommended. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in a moist acidic soil. Item# 11888

The large waterfall like clusters (racemes) of white, bell-shaped flowers that are produced in late winter and early spring and last for weeks, absolutely shine against the dark green foliage covering the upper and outer portions of this easy evergreen shrub. Temple Bells Pieris, Pieris japonica 'Temple Bells', is a small to medium-sized evergreen shrub with a slow rate of growth. The glossy deep dark green ovate foliage that emerges in red to bronze shades and finally to medium green before deepening in color adding to this plants seasons of interest. This member of the Blueberry family, Ericaceae, is one of the more shade tolerant evergreens but it is perfectly happy in morning sun to filtered shade. Temple Bells Pieris will do best in a moist to average moist soil rich in organic matter, with average or better drainage and will happily grow anywhere that Azaleas, Camellias, and Japanese Maples thrive. It is more tolerant of calcareous soils than most members of this family, including in the midwest, but acidic soils are probably optimal. Provide an organic mulch and use slow release fertilizers that are labeled for acid loving plants. I pass by these shrubs in my mother's garden on the north side of her house twice a day and never tire of its welcome flowers during the dreary days of late winter when we are so ready for spring! Item# 1190

The large 3-4" wide, funnel shaped, white flowers are neatly edged in a broad band of contrasting rich reddish-pink and seem to nearly glow against the foil of dark green, medium textured foliage. Flowering is in midspring attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Vibrant Evergreen Azalea, a Harris hybrid, is a rare dwarf with a dense and compact habit that lends itself to bonsai culture but is sure to be a low-maintenance conversation piece in the garden and landscape.  Azaleas do best in average moist, acidic soils that are rich in organic matter but have good to excellent drainage and should be top dressed with an organic mulch such as pine straw and pine bark. We recommend using a slow-release, non-burning fertilizer that is labeled for acidic loving plants. Item# 12576

With a dwarf habit and one of the longest blooming seasons of any Gardenia this is definitely a prized garden shrub or indoor plant. Produces an abundance of the highly fragrant, double white flowers are produced throughout much of the year when kept warm and in good health.  Item# 717

A Louisiana Super Plant selection! The large 3-4" wide, coral pink, funnel-shaped flowers are produced beginning in late spring with sporadic summer flowering and another nice show in fall with the flowers attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Watchet Azalea, an evergreen Satsuki type, has a neat and compact, densely branching, naturally rounded habit that lends itself to use in low-maintenance gardens and landscapes, including formal settings. Its small size also lends Watchet to use in bonsai as well as for low-maintenance container plants. Provide your evergreen Azaleas with a well-drained, average moist, humus rich, acid soil and topdress with an organic mulch for the best results. Item# 12575

Large rounded clusters of flowers (sterile florets) in deep rosy pink or medium blue-purple, depending on your soil's acidity and the availibilty of aluminum, adorn the tidy compact well-branched plants with strong sturdy stems and dark green healthy foliage and are produced from summer to fall. Wee Bit Giddy® Bigleaf Hydrangea is a dwarf and compact, has good cold hardiness, and is a repeat flowering mophead that flowers both on this year's and last year's growth. Its tidy rounded, 2' high by 2 -1/2' wide size make it well suited for use in both containers and in gardens with limited space but it is no less useful in gardens and landscapes providing summer to fall color. As with other Bigleaf Hydrangeas, provide this Proven Winners® Color Choice® selection with a moist, well-drained, fertile soil in an area that receives morning sun with shade or filtered shade during the hottest portion of the day in areas with hot summer climates. In cooler climates Bigleaf Hydrangeas can tolerate full to mostly sunny sites. Some direct sunlight, preferably >4 hours per day, is needed for good bud and flower production. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners - www.provenwinners.com, all rights reserved. Item# 12911

Large rounded clusters of flowers (sterile florets) in deeply saturated shades of rosy red or blue-purple, depending on your soil's acidity and the availibilty of aluminum, adorn the tidy compact well-branched plants with dark green healthy foliage from summer to fall. Wee Bit Grumpy® Bigleaf Hydrangea is a dwarf and compact, has good cold hardiness, and is a repeat flowering mophead that flowers both on this year's and last year's growth. Its tidy rounded, 2' high by 2 -1/2' wide size make it well suited for use in both containers and in gardens with limited space but it is no less useful in gardens and landscapes providing summer to fall color. As with other Bigleaf Hydrangeas, provide this Proven Winners® Color Choice® selection with a moist, well-drained, fertile soil in an area that receives morning sun with shade or filtered shade during the hottest portion of the day in areas with hot summer climates. In cooler climates Bigleaf Hydrangeas can tolerate full to mostly sunny sites. Some direct sunlight, preferably >4 hours per day, is needed for good bud and flower production. Photo courtesy of Proven Winners - www.provenwinners.com, all rights reserved. Item# 12910

Grown mainly for it's beautiful silvery blue-green foliage, Woodlander's Blue Zenobia also produces large spikes of fragrant anise-scented, 3/8" wide, bell-shaped white flowers in spring and often golden, and sometimes even red and purple, fall color that may last well into winter. Excellent for mass plantings in moist acid soils that are well-drained. Item# 10154.

A rare and more robust Evergreen Chinese Hydrangea with larger leaves, thick sturdy stems, and larger individual flowers creating larger clusters of the unusual vivid blue blooms.  Easy to grow and an excellent choice for shaded gardens. Item # 9317.

Loose clusters of sweetly fragrant, creamy yellow, star shaped flowers are produced over a long period beginning in late spring and early summer on this vigorous and durable evergreen twining climber. This cultivar of Confederate Jasmine appears to flower a good deal longer than the more common white flowered selections. An excellent choice for arbors, trellises, and evergreen screening on a lattice work or fence. Confederate Jasmine can also be used as a deep groundcover that will grow to 12-24" high. Where not hardy they can be maintained as easy and low maintenance container specimens. This may be the same as Woodlander's 'Mandianum' which may yet be the 'Star of Toscane'. Item # 11020