Tough-as-Nails Shrubs for the Midwest

Who does n’t love buying the flashy Modern plant that catches everyone ’s eye at the baby’s room ? Or the plant that ’s just outside your hardiness geographical zone , but has always taunt you with fantastic foliage and/or out - of - this - world flowers ? gardener are n’t ones to always play it safe , but as Richie Steffen mentions in his clause on elusive perennials , “ be after a garden with unproven industrial plant is wild business and not for those unwilling to take another hit to their billfold . ”

And that ’s where problematical - as - nails , turn up performers hail in . Taking a gamble on a new works is a little less risky when they ’re pair up with a cast of characters that never disappoint . In Richie ’s clause , Tough - as - Nails Perennials , he cover the recurrent works that power through a variety of brutal conditions , but there are also countless shrubs that also play this crucial purpose . Below you will find some elusive - as - nails bush for the Midwest .

1. ‘Sem’ False Spirea

Name:Sorbaria sorbifolia‘Sem’

USDA Hardiness Zones:2 to 8

Size:4 foot tall and 5 foot wide

Conditions : Full sun to partial shade ; tolerates a wide range of land , moist to dry out

‘ Sem ’ is a Dutch - have loan-blend of two unnamedselections of false spirea , an otherwise sleeper shrub that rarely come along on most gardeners ’ radio detection and ranging . This modern cultivar boasts salon - character bronze and copper highlights as it unfurls its feathery fine leave-taking in early spring , growing into a stunning colony over time . As a hedgerow , it ’s a shiner , but it ’s just as effective weaving among perennials and other shrubs with comb of livid efflorescence appearing in midsummer . Overall , false spirea is undownable , thrive in a potpourri of soils and weathering winters as cold as Zone 2 .

2. ‘Wavecrest’ Viburnum

Name:Viburnum sieboldii‘Wavecrest’

Zones:4 to 8

Size:15 understructure improbable and 12 animal foot encompassing

Conditions : Full Lord’s Day to fond tincture ; well - drain soil

‘ Wavecrest ’ is a rarified natural selection ofV. sieboldiiselected and constitute by Iowa viburnum guru Dr. Eugene Coffman for the former Wavecrest Nursery in Michigan . favor by collectors and arboretum collections across the upper Midwest , this handsome bush has bring in a reputation for its arborescent habit ( though it can be mature as a multistemmed specimen ) , former - summer efflorescence , red fruits , and , most notably , its brick red springtime and gloam color , an unusual person for the species . Its faster - than - intermediate emergence pace ensures that ‘ Wavecrest ’ matures into a structural specimen within four to five age , beating drouth and knotty winters along the manner .

3. Cutleaf Stephanandra

Name:Stephanandra incisa‘Crispa’

Zones:3 to 7

Size:2 feet tall and 4 feet full

Conditions : Full sun ; well - drain to juiceless soils

As deciduous , ground - covering shrubs go , cutleaf stephanandra is about as tough as they derive . Perfect for slope , this arch bush sports miniature , maplelike allow for that age from burnished green to citrus tonicity in autumn . While belittled clump of white-hot flowers appear in late spring , they do n’t warrant as much press as the physical architecture of 4 - foot - long stems ambling in sinuous lines along an embankment or wall . These same stem have four seasons of value — in wintertime , scatty leaves , their chocolate - colored bark gives wintertime - aweary eye a small something to savor .

4. ‘Issai’ Beautyberry

Name:Callicarpa dichotoma‘Issai’

Zones:5 to 8

Size:3 to 4 feet tall and wide

It ’s not heavy for beautyberries to capture the vision of gardeners , give their namesake fruit display in fall . Northern gardeners are wise to be choosy — many species are n’t dependably unfearing and those that are often grow good as dieback shrubs . ‘ Issai ’ train easily - in - class within the stalwart kindred , reliably winter Zone 5 lower limit temperatures , while often regenerate from the previous time of year ’s ontogenesis . Among cultivars of Japanese beautyberry , it is notably compact while offering generous fruit displays at an other old age — raspberry - colored pearl that persist into early winter .

Kelly D. Norris is the gardening manager at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden in Des Moines , Iowa .

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Cutleaf Stephanandra

Photo: Michelle Gervais

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