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Continuous Color: A Month-by-Month Guide to Shrubs and Small Trees for the Continuous Bloom Garden
Selecting small trees and shrubs for a beautiful garden year-round is simple with this easy-to-use guide. Trees and shrubs are arranged by season and characteristic with specific gardening information included for each of the 272 entries.
- GenresGardening
350 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2004
7 people want to read
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November 12, 2019
When you live in a beautiful peninsula such as Michigan, you learn to enjoy not only the spring and early summer show of perennial blooms, but also (and perhaps especially) the colors and texture found in the stems, leaves and berries of shrubs and trees during the long, monochromatic months of fall and winter. White sky and snow are the perfect backdrop for the myriad varieties that expert landscape designer Pam Duthie has curated in her gorgeous tabletop book, Continuous Color, which features large color photos and a snapshot of zone tolerance, moisture and light needs for each entry.
The goals for my specific project: fall color understory specimen trees, and perhaps also a hedge along a shared fence; golden summer leaves at the back of the perennial border; and evergreen color for winter at the sides of the perennial border. Keeping my site limitations of dry soil and dappled shade in mind, I was able to narrow my choices down from thirteen varieties to five for a reasonable “first wave” of my project next spring. The rest will have to wait until funds and/or space arise.
My top choices for fall displays: Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is an understory tree known for yellow fall leaves and blooms in a naturalized setting and would delight both me and my neighbor in the space recently vacated by a messy mulberry bush. Golden Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronaries ‘Aureus,’ ‘Variegatus’) is a bush that grows up to six feet tall/five feet wide, enjoys part shade, and sports the coveted yellow leaves I need to “pop” behind my boxwood border. ‘Viking’ Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa ‘Viking’) is a shrub that grows to six feet high/wide, boasts orange-red fall color, and also tolerates shade. ‘Profusion’ Beautyberry (Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’) is a shrub that tolerates some shade, with breathtaking purple berries in fall, and grows four to ten feet high/5 feet wide. Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’), grows to four feet tall/five wide, tolerates shade, and also needs a male pollinator such as ‘Jim Dandy’ to produce its red berries in fall. Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), a native, grows to twelve feet tall/wide, and provides fragrant white lacecap flowers that become purple edible fruit in fall. The plant itself is a bit gangly, though. I have harvested hundreds of seeds on my nature walks and planted them along our back fence. We’ll see if they respond in spring. Red fernleaf Japanese maple (Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Atropupureum’) grows to eight fee tall/wide, enjoys some shade, and boasts purple-red foliage during the summer, blazing orange in the fall. ‘Forest Prince’ Serviceberry is an understory tree that gives an orange fall show. Pink-flowered Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia ‘Rosea’) grows to six feet tall/four wide, tolerates shade, and boasts yellow fall foliage. Hedge Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster lucidus) is a hedging shrub that grows to ten feet tall/wide, tolerates shade, and boasts red-orange fall color. ‘Nikko” Slender Deutzia (Deutzia gracilis ‘Nikko’) is a specimen shrub that grows only to 18 inches tall/four feet wide, tolerates shade, and provides white bell blooms in spring, burgundy leaves in fall. For Winter: Mexican Orange Bush (Choisya ternate ‘Sundance’) is a fast-growing evergreen shrub that grows to eight feet tall/wide, tolerates shade, but needs acidic, well-drained soil. I’m not sure I can swing that last bit. ‘Fairview’ Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Fairview’) is an evergreen columnar shrub that grows to fifteen feet tall/five wide in ten years, produces showy blue berries and tolerates light shade. Best of all the possible bushes for my back-of-the-border project is the ‘Bright Gold’ Japanese Yew (Taxus cuspidate ‘Bright Gold’) for its nine feet tall height/width, its evergreen leaves striped with yellow, and red berries.
Of these, I will start with the Witch Hazel, the Hedge Cotoneaster, the Elderberry, the Chinese Juniper, and the Japanese Yew. So excited!
The goals for my specific project: fall color understory specimen trees, and perhaps also a hedge along a shared fence; golden summer leaves at the back of the perennial border; and evergreen color for winter at the sides of the perennial border. Keeping my site limitations of dry soil and dappled shade in mind, I was able to narrow my choices down from thirteen varieties to five for a reasonable “first wave” of my project next spring. The rest will have to wait until funds and/or space arise.
My top choices for fall displays: Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is an understory tree known for yellow fall leaves and blooms in a naturalized setting and would delight both me and my neighbor in the space recently vacated by a messy mulberry bush. Golden Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronaries ‘Aureus,’ ‘Variegatus’) is a bush that grows up to six feet tall/five feet wide, enjoys part shade, and sports the coveted yellow leaves I need to “pop” behind my boxwood border. ‘Viking’ Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa ‘Viking’) is a shrub that grows to six feet high/wide, boasts orange-red fall color, and also tolerates shade. ‘Profusion’ Beautyberry (Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’) is a shrub that tolerates some shade, with breathtaking purple berries in fall, and grows four to ten feet high/5 feet wide. Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata ‘Red Sprite’), grows to four feet tall/five wide, tolerates shade, and also needs a male pollinator such as ‘Jim Dandy’ to produce its red berries in fall. Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), a native, grows to twelve feet tall/wide, and provides fragrant white lacecap flowers that become purple edible fruit in fall. The plant itself is a bit gangly, though. I have harvested hundreds of seeds on my nature walks and planted them along our back fence. We’ll see if they respond in spring. Red fernleaf Japanese maple (Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Atropupureum’) grows to eight fee tall/wide, enjoys some shade, and boasts purple-red foliage during the summer, blazing orange in the fall. ‘Forest Prince’ Serviceberry is an understory tree that gives an orange fall show. Pink-flowered Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia ‘Rosea’) grows to six feet tall/four wide, tolerates shade, and boasts yellow fall foliage. Hedge Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster lucidus) is a hedging shrub that grows to ten feet tall/wide, tolerates shade, and boasts red-orange fall color. ‘Nikko” Slender Deutzia (Deutzia gracilis ‘Nikko’) is a specimen shrub that grows only to 18 inches tall/four feet wide, tolerates shade, and provides white bell blooms in spring, burgundy leaves in fall. For Winter: Mexican Orange Bush (Choisya ternate ‘Sundance’) is a fast-growing evergreen shrub that grows to eight feet tall/wide, tolerates shade, but needs acidic, well-drained soil. I’m not sure I can swing that last bit. ‘Fairview’ Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Fairview’) is an evergreen columnar shrub that grows to fifteen feet tall/five wide in ten years, produces showy blue berries and tolerates light shade. Best of all the possible bushes for my back-of-the-border project is the ‘Bright Gold’ Japanese Yew (Taxus cuspidate ‘Bright Gold’) for its nine feet tall height/width, its evergreen leaves striped with yellow, and red berries.
Of these, I will start with the Witch Hazel, the Hedge Cotoneaster, the Elderberry, the Chinese Juniper, and the Japanese Yew. So excited!
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