Alamosa Flowers: Non-native shrubs

In the last column I discussed native shrubs. This time I’ll focus on non-native shrubs that I love in our Alamosa garden. It has been an amazing season for blooming shrubs and trees! And, they are blooming earlier than usual.

My favorite shrub this month is the hybrid, Arnold’s red bush honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarian 'Arnolds Red'). It’s cold hardy down to zone 2 (I consider my garden to be zone 3 to 4), has dark green leaves early in the season, and pinkish-red blossoms in late April or May. I have 3 specimens in various areas around the yard and they are all doing well – even given the dry and windy weather we’ve had since last October. It’s not a fast grower here. Mine are about 3 feet high. When researching this article, I found that they are considered invasive in Oregon as birds spread the seed. I’ve also been told the can have aphid problems, but I haven’t experienced any yet.

A close second favorite is our snowball bush (Viburnum x carlcephalum) -- big pompoms of white blossoms against darkish green leaves. This shrub needs regular water.

Early in April, Forsythia’s (Forsythia) yellow blossoms were abundant in a protected, sunny spot in the garden. I just moved a second plant from a colder, shadier area that didn’t blossom and hope it will do better in the future. The shrub itself is very cold hardy, but its early blossoms are subject to hard frosts. I grow it for the blooms and ‘promise of spring’!

At the end of April both of my double flowering almonds (Prunus triloba ‘Multiplex’) were in full bloom with their lovely pink blossoms. Sometimes we have a hard frost as the buds are forming and they don’t bloom at all.

The other Prunus species that were lovely early in May were purple-leaf sand cherries (Prunus cisterna). They have small white flowers. Please note that only seven species of Prunus are allowed to be imported into the San Luis Valley. For more information click on the ‘Prunus Quarantine’ tab at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/agplants/plant-imports.

We have several spireas. Snowmound spirea (Spiraea nipponica ‘Snowmound’) is the hardiest and largest. It’s 4 feet tall and has lovely white blooms right now. Others are just starting to bud.

Just now wild yellow/red roses (Rosa species?) are in full bloom. They should last until June if the wind doesn’t blow all the blossoms away. My starts were cuttings from friends many years ago and are now 6 - 8 feet high. Suckers may need pulling -- ouch!

I always look forward to seeing and smelling the wonderful white blossoms of mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii 'Cheyenne'). Our one plant is putting on tiny buds and I think it will bloom in mid-June. I planted a different species last year and it didn’t survive. I don’t know whether it wasn’t suited to our climate or whether it was a victim of our dry, windy winter.

That pretty much does it for flowering shrubs in our yard, except for lilacs. I won’t go into them here as so many do well in Alamosa. You can either buy plants from a nursery or get divisions from a friend. I love these easy-to-care-for shrubs. Once, when I was at the recycling center, a man explained that he pulled all of his out since he didn’t like them once they bloomed. I was surprised as I enjoy their gentle green leaves that dance in the breeze all summer long.

The shrub genus that we have the most of is junipers. Most are either not on irrigation or automatically only get the same amount of irrigation they received when I planted them. I do add supplemental water when it’s particularly dry. In general, they are very easy to care for. Since we have a large yard, I planted four sea green junipers (Juniperus x media  'Sea Green') in a section of the yard I didn’t want to baby. They are now 4-7 feet high and 8 – 10 feet wide.

I use other junipers in graveled areas as ground covers. A blue rug juniper (Juniperus horizontalis 'Wiltonii') is 10 by 10 ft around and about 8 – 10 in high. When I planted the small shrub many years ago, I surrounded the area with black plastic before covering with gravel. The goal was to cut down on weeds. The problem was it cut down on the amount of water the shrub received. Since then, I’ve tried to replace the plastic with landscaping cloth that allows moisture to penetrate the soil while reducing the ability of weeds to poke up.

I’d love to know which shrubs do well in your yard – email me at [email protected].

"Gardening is an exercise in optimism." Unknown