Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Many flowering shrubs are deciduous, so they lose their leaves in autumn and are bare all winter, but if their branch structure is interesting then they have a beauty all their own. Hibiscus syriacus, for example, has nice light bark and the branches are quite graceful. THey flower in late summer, and although each flower lasts only a day, the overall bloom period is quite long, maybe as long as a month depending on your climate. Not fragrant though.

The newly emerging leaves in spring are also a special time in the life cycle of most shrubs.

If you want the leaves to be evergreen, you could look into Rhododendrons. The variety available is mindbending, and they are certainly available in your choice of colours and sizes. Many have very attractive foliage as well, and nice structure - avoid the green blob look by pruning it to a few stems to begin with, and thin judiciously if it gets too blobby.

KarinL

Is there are Rhododendron that can take full sun?

No, not really. And not in zone 6, rapidly heating up to zone 7.

I would actually answer that with "it depends." It depends on how much water it gets. It depends when you plant it and how big it is. It certainly does depend on just how hot "full sun" is in your location. It depends on whether you can baby it through the first few hot seasons. And finally, it depends on the variety you get.

As I'm in zone 8 though, laceyvail's more definite reply maybe should be given more weight :-)

But also, if you plant something deciduous with the rhodo, you can create shade for it, and its evergreen foliage would distract from the naked stems in winter.

KarinL

Here is a link that might be useful: Paghat on sun-tolerant rhodos

I need a new shrub too..im in ma zone 6.. Im dying for barberry but they are invasive here. Ive searched the internet and every nursery around and cant find anything comparable. Any suggestions? Thanks!

I need a new shrub too..im in ma zone 6.. Im dying for barberry but they are invasive here. Ive searched the internet and every nursery around and cant find anything comparable. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Kerry, you should start your own thread. That way you can get email responses yourself instead of them going to the OP of this thread, plus more people will see your question.

KarinL