Large Shrubs

3-Gallon - Pick Up Only

Hardiness

Zones 9–11

Light

Full Sun

Height

10–20 ft.

Spread

8–15 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Tree

Heptacodium miconioides, the seven-son flower, is a large, fountain-shaped shrub or small tree that saves its best for the tail of the year, when most of the garden is winding down. In late summer, tiered clusters of small, fragrant, creamy-white flowers open in whorls of seven, the arrangement behind both the botanical and common names. Bees and butterflies work the late flowers gratefully, in a season when little else is on offer.

Hardiness

Zones 5–8

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

10–20 ft.

Spread

6–8 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

The name requires a brief clarification, and then we can move on to the more interesting parts. Hibiscus mutabilis has been called the Confederate rose since the nineteenth century, when the plant naturalized so thoroughly in the gardens of the American South that people assumed it belonged there. The plant does not. The species belongs to Hunan Province in China, where gardeners have grown the shrub for nearly three thousand years, where the flower serves as the emblem of Chengdu, a city known on its account as the City of Hibiscus, and where classical texts on materia medica describe the flowers and leaves in medicinal detail. The name stuck here out of regional habit rather than botanical or historical accuracy, and the plant is indifferent to the label.

Hardiness

Zones 8–11

Light

Full Sun

Height

10–15 ft.

Spread

8–10 ft.

Bloom

Pink

Plant type

Shrub

Traditional use

topical applications, detoxification & cleansing, respiratory support

Hibiscus mutabilis has been grown in Southern gardens for so long that many people assume the shrub is a native, though the species traces to southern China, where gardeners prized the flowers centuries before the plant traveled west. The species name mutabilis, meaning changeable, describes the wild trick of the ordinary Confederate Rose, whose blooms open white in the morning and deepen to pink and then rose-red by evening. 'Rubrum' skips the performance and commits: the single flowers arrive already a saturated rose-red and hold that one deep tone through the day rather than shifting. For gardeners who love the late-season drama of the Confederate Rose but want a single, unwavering color, 'Rubrum' is the selection to plant.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

6–8 ft.

Spread

4–6 ft.

Bloom

Red

Plant type

Shrub

Traditional use

topical applications, respiratory support

'Tosca' is the offspring of a rare and deliberate cross, a marriage of Hibiscus paramutabilis, the regal, large-flowered species of southeastern China, with Hibiscus syriacus, the familiar Rose of Sharon of countless summer gardens. From that union comes a woody shrub that carries the best of both parents: the scale and drama of the Chinese species and the toughness and reliability of the old dooryard favorite.

Hardiness

Zones 6–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

4–6 ft.

Spread

3–4 ft.

Bloom

Pink

Plant type

Shrub

Woodlanders has long championed hardy citrus, the trifoliate hybrids that push oranges and their kin well beyond the usual citrus belt, and 'Benton' is one of the toughest of the group. The plant is a citrange, a deliberate cross between the sweet orange, Citrus sinensis, and the hardy trifoliate orange, Poncirus trifoliata, that legendary deciduous, thorny survivor of cold-country citrus breeding. The name citrange simply fuses citrus and orange, and the hybrids inherit the trifoliate orange's remarkable cold tolerance.

Hardiness

Zones 6–10

Light

Full Sun

Height

10–15 ft.

Spread

8–10 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

The oakleaf hydrangea is the great four-season native shrub of the American Southeast, and 'Alice' is one of the grandest selections of the species. Hydrangea quercifolia grows wild in the rich woods and ravines of a small range centered on Alabama and Mississippi, where the naturalist William Bartram found the shrub in the 1770s and called it singular and beautiful. Alabama later made the oakleaf hydrangea the official state wildflower, a rare honor for a plant that earns attention in every season.

Hardiness

Zones 5–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

10–12 ft.

Spread

10–12 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

'Alison' is a sister selection to the famous 'Alice,' both drawn from the same native species by the same discerning eye. Hydrangea quercifolia, the oakleaf hydrangea, grows wild in the rich woods of a small Southeastern range centered on Alabama, where the naturalist William Bartram admired the shrub in the 1770s and where the oakleaf now serves as Alabama's official state wildflower. Of all the native shrubs of the region, few offer so much across so many seasons.

Hardiness

Zones 5–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

8–10 ft.

Spread

10–12 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

The oakleaf hydrangea is the great four-season native shrub of the American Southeast, a large deciduous plant with oak-like leaves, white summer panicles, and peeling cinnamon bark. Hydrangea quercifolia grows wild in the rich woods of a small range centered on Alabama, where the naturalist William Bartram admired the shrub in the 1770s, and where the oakleaf is now the official state wildflower. 'Harmony' is one of the boldest selections the species has produced.

Hardiness

Zones 5–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

4–6 ft.

Spread

4–6 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

The oakleaf hydrangea is the great four-season native shrub of the American Southeast, a large deciduous plant with oak-like leaves, white summer panicles, and peeling cinnamon bark. Hydrangea quercifolia grows wild in the rich woods of a small range centered on Alabama, where the naturalist William Bartram admired the shrub in the 1770s, and where the oakleaf now serves as the state wildflower. 'Snowflake' is one of our favorites, and one of the most distinctive oakleafs ever selected.

Hardiness

Zones 5–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

8–10 ft.

Spread

8–10 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

Hypericum lissophloeus is the tree among the St. John's Worts, a graceful evergreen that climbs to ten feet or more on slender trunks dressed in smooth, copper-colored bark that peels in thin sheets. The leaves are needle-fine and deep green, so that from a distance the plant reads almost like a small conifer until summer, when small bright yellow flowers scatter along the stems and settle the question of family.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

6–10 ft.

Spread

3–4 ft.

Bloom

Yellow

Plant type

Shrub

Woodlanders has long led the way in offering cold-hardy citrus, the kinds that carry fruit well beyond the usual citrus belt, and Ichang Lemon is a favorite of the group. The plant grows as a medium, evergreen small tree with large leaves on winged petioles and thorny branches, opens the fragrant white flowers typical of citrus in spring, and follows with very large, lemon-yellow, fragrant fruit.

Hardiness

Zones 7–9

Light

Full Sun

Height

10–12 ft.

Spread

6–8 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Tree

Ilex amelanchier is one of the surprises of the genus, a holly that drops the leaves in fall and carries none of the usual prickles. This rare native grows as a tall deciduous shrub or small tree, and the female plants, this one among them, hang dull, matte red berries on unusually long stems, a soft-toned, almost muted display quite unlike the glossy scarlet of a Christmas holly.

Hardiness

Zones 6–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

10–12 ft.

Spread

6–8 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

Ilex cassine, the dahoon holly, is an elegant evergreen native of the southern wetlands, and this is a fruiting female, the sex that carries the crop of small, glossy red berries. Unlike the fiercely spined American holly, dahoon holds narrow, smooth-edged, bright green leaves that are a pleasure to plant near a path, and in fall and winter the branches string themselves with scarlet fruit against that clean green. Grown as a large shrub or a small tree, dahoon is one of the most useful evergreen hollies for the South.

Hardiness

Zones 7–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

15–20 ft.

Spread

8–10 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

Ilex cassine, the Dahoon Holly, is one of the most useful evergreen hollies of the South, an upright shrub or small tree with bright green, oval, nearly spineless leaves. Female plants carry heavy crops of small, bright red berries, but this is a male selection, grown not for fruit but as the pollen partner that lets nearby female Dahoons set that red winter display.

Hardiness

Zones 7–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

15–20 ft.

Spread

8–10 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

Ilex coriacea, the large gallberry, is a tall evergreen holly of the Southern wetlands, close kin to the familiar inkberry but built on a bigger scale, with broader, leathery, dark green leaves and larger fruit. On female plants the berries ripen to a shining black, a quiet contrast to the glossy foliage through fall and winter.

Hardiness

Zones 6–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

10–12 ft.

Spread

3–5 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

Ilex cornuta 'D'Or' is the golden-fruited version of a garden classic, a glossy evergreen Chinese holly hung through fall and winter with large, clear yellow berries in place of the usual red. The dark green, leathery leaves are nearly spineless, most carrying just a single spine at the tip, so the effect is polished rather than fierce, the bright fruit standing out cleanly against the deep foliage.

Hardiness

Zones 7–9

Light

Full Sun

Height

8–10 ft.

Spread

6–8 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

Ilex 'Edward J. Stevens' is the male companion to one of the most popular hollies in American gardens, and a robust evergreen quite apart from that role. The plant builds a dense, broadly pyramidal shrub or small tree, to fifteen feet and more, clothed in lustrous dark green leaves with only light spining. In spring the small white flowers open thick with pollen, and that pollen is the whole point.

Hardiness

Zones 6–9

Light

Full Sun

Height

12–18 ft.

Spread

8–10 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

Ilex integra is the holly for people who do not think they like hollies, an evergreen tree from Japan whose leaves carry no spines at all. The dark green foliage is smooth-edged, glossy, and thick, giving a clean, almost magnolia-like calm, and on female trees the show comes in fall and winter, when bright red berries gather along the branches against the deep green.

Hardiness

Zones 7–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

20–30 ft.

Spread

10–12 ft.

Bloom

Yellow

Plant type

Tree

Ilex latifolia is the holly that stops people in their tracks, an evergreen tree carrying the largest leaves of any holly, glossy, leathery, and up to eight inches long, more like a magnolia or a loquat than the little prickly leaves most gardeners expect. The edges are finely serrated rather than spined, the surface a deep polished green, and on female trees such as 'Alva' tight clusters of small red berries stud the branches through fall and winter.

Hardiness

Zones 7–9

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

25–30 ft.

Spread

10–12 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Tree