{"id":5596,"date":"2013-09-13T09:00:05","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T09:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upshoothort.com\/?p=5596"},"modified":"2013-09-13T09:00:05","modified_gmt":"2013-09-13T09:00:05","slug":"top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t<\n\n

\n

I\u2019m a keen gardener but I\u2019m also a lazy gardener. How does that work? I like to\u00a0<\/span>play<\/em>\u00a0in the garden rather than be a slave to it so my landscape designs rely heavily on easy care, no-fuss shrubs with outstanding foliage.<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
\n

To earn their place in my garden they have to be\u00a0drought tolerant<\/strong>,\u00a0deer resistant<\/strong>, disease free and not require staking, feeding or pruning. Bonus marks if they have four season interest! A Tough order? You bet!<\/p>\n

Here are the winners that meet ALL those criteria!<\/p>\n

Spirea<\/strong>\u00a0(Spiraea japonica<\/em>\u00a0cultivars)<\/p>\n

\"Many<\/a><\/p>\n

Many spirea have this gorgeous copper color in spring as well as great fall color<\/p>\n

There are lots of reasons to love spirea \u2013 drought tolerance, copper color in spring, rosy new growth, great fall color. My favorite reason, however, is that I have the last laugh over the deer. You see these shrubs typically have clusters of pink flowers, which are nice enough but I \u00a0am really only interested in the foliage. So when deer nibble the flowers off they save me from deadheading\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0promote this colorful new growth! Works for me.<\/p>\n

Magic Carpet\u00a0is perhaps the best known cultivar (pictured here) but there are many others. I especially like\u00a0Double Play Big Bang\u00a0(Spiraea japonica<\/em>\u00a0\u2019Tracy\u2019) which seems to hold its color better, and which also provides the deer with extra large flowers.<\/p>\n

USDA zones:\u00a0<\/b>4\u00a0to 9 (find your zone<\/a>)
Water:\u00a0<\/b>Average \u2013 low
Light requirement:\u00a0<\/b>Full sun or partial shade
Mature size:<\/b>\u00a03 feet tall and 3 feet wide
Why I love it:\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0drought tolerant when established, deer resistant-ish!! and outstanding foliage color
Seasonal interest:<\/b>\u00a0Spring, summer and fall<\/p>\n

Old Fashioned smoke bush<\/strong>\u00a0(Cotinus coggygria<\/em>\u00a0\u2018Old Fashioned\u2019)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_6650\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t met a smoke bush I didn\u2019t like but this one is special; just look at that gorgeous blue-green foliage. Burgundy veins, creamy white flowers and orange fall color round out the scrumptious factor for Old Fashioned<\/p>\n

USDA zones:\u00a0<\/b>5 to 10 (find your zone<\/a>)
Water:\u00a0<\/b>Average \u2013 low
Light requirement:\u00a0<\/b>Full sun or partial shade
Mature size:<\/b>\u00a06 feet tall and 5 feet wide
Why I love it:\u00a0<\/b>Cut flowers, drought tolerant when established, deer resistant (my deer nibbled it the first year but have ignored it since)
Seasonal interest:<\/b>\u00a0Spring, summer and fall<\/p>\n

Orange Rocket barberry<\/strong>\u00a0(Berberis thunbergii<\/em>\u00a0\u2018Orange Rocket\u2019)<\/p>\n

\"Orange<\/a><\/p>\n

Orange Rocket barberry makes a stunning color combo with the red tipped switch grass \u00a0\u2019Shenandoah\u2019<\/p>\n

When voracious deer roam your garden you stop being a plant snob. You worry less about about a plants pedigree than you do about its longevity. That is why you\u2019ll find an assortment of barberries throughout my garden.<\/p>\n

My top barberry pick is Orange Rocket for its appealing columnar shape and ruby foliage which turns citrus orange in fall. I\u2019ve used it in containers with Tropicanna Gold canna and love it in the garden paired with Shenandoah switch grass (Panicum virgatum<\/em>\u00a0\u2018Shenandoah\u2019) shown above.<\/p>\n

USDA zones:\u00a0<\/b>4 to 9 (find your zone<\/a>)
Water:\u00a0<\/b>Low
Light requirement:\u00a0<\/b>Full sun for best color
Mature size:<\/b>\u00a04 1\/2 feet tall and 1 1\/2 \u00a0feet wide
Why I love it:\u00a0<\/b>drought tolerant, deer resistant, good for containers, in small spaces or as a vertical accent
Seasonal interest:<\/b>\u00a0Spring, summer and fall<\/p>\n

Goshiki false holly<\/strong>\u00a0(Osmanthus heterophyllu<\/em>s \u2018Goshiki\u2019)<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6642\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Prickly as a hedgehog, this holly look-alike adds great color to the garden while thwarting the deer. Its evergreen spiny leaves are mottled green and gold with the new growth being a warm rose tone.<\/p>\n

Buy these in smaller sizes to incorporate into your container designs then transplant into the garden. Mine have even survived a large tree branch falling on them, new growth quickly filling in the rather sad bare patch.<\/p>\n

Even though I did not water my shrubs\u00a0once<\/em>\u00a0this summer, they still look fabulous. A great primp-free shrub.<\/p>\n

USDA zones:\u00a0<\/b>6\u00a0to 9 (find your zone<\/a>)
Water:\u00a0<\/b>Average –\u00a0Low
Light requirement:\u00a0<\/b>Full sun or part shade
Mature size:<\/b>\u00a03-5 feet tall and 4\u00a0feet wide but can be pruned to keep shorter if you\u2019ve nothing else to do
Why I love it:\u00a0<\/b>drought tolerant, deer resistant, good for containers, makes an attractive low hedge, evergreen
Seasonal interest:<\/b>\u00a0year round<\/p>\n

Parney\u2019s cotoneaster<\/strong>\u00a0(Cotoneaster lacteus<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\"Robins<\/a><\/p>\n

Robins love to feast on these Cotoneaster berries<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve a big space to fill this arching shrub may be just what you need with its long arching canes, silver-backed evergreen foliage and clusters of white summer flowers followed by glossy red berries. Come February you will be \u2018Robin Central\u2019 as word gets out that your garden has the best treats.<\/p>\n

Deer did nibble one of my three bushes when first planted \u2013 the one that was most convenient to their \u2018freeway\u2019, but haven\u2019t bothered since. I have these planted in terrible clay soil that stays moist most of the year and they are thriving. I have not watered them once since they were planted two years ago!<\/p>\n

USDA zones:\u00a0<\/b>7 to 10 (find your zone<\/a>)
Water:<\/b>\u00a0Average \u2013 \u00a0Low
Light requirement:\u00a0<\/b>Full sun or partial shade
Mature size:<\/b>\u00a08 feet tall and 8 \u00a0feet wide but can be pruned\/whacked as needed
Why I love it:\u00a0<\/b>drought tolerant, deer resistant, birds love the berries, summer flowers
Seasonal interest:<\/b>\u00a0year round<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite stress-free shrub with a major scrumptious factor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Originally published on Fine Foliage<\/a>\u00a0by Karen Chapman and Christina Salwitz<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t<]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[507,863,864,292,678,277,663,520],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTop 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners - UpShoot<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners - UpShoot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UpShoot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hort@upshoot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hort@upshoot\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hort@upshoot\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8280b3b5ac21e84cdcf5dae85703bc66\"},\"headline\":\"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/\"},\"wordCount\":6,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"Old Fashioned Smoke Bush\",\"Christina Sawlitz\",\"Fine Foliage\",\"shrub\",\"Cotinus coggygria\",\"ornamental\",\"Karen Chapman\",\"Old Fashioned\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/\",\"name\":\"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners - UpShoot\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/\",\"name\":\"UpShoot\",\"description\":\"Horticultural Marketing Services\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UpShoot\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/upshoot-horticultural-marketing-services-logo-sq.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/upshoot-horticultural-marketing-services-logo-sq.png\",\"width\":576,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"UpShoot\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8280b3b5ac21e84cdcf5dae85703bc66\",\"name\":\"hort@upshoot\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/author\/hortupshoot\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners - UpShoot","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners - UpShoot","og_url":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/","og_site_name":"UpShoot","article_published_time":"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00","author":"hort@upshoot","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"hort@upshoot"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/"},"author":{"name":"hort@upshoot","@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8280b3b5ac21e84cdcf5dae85703bc66"},"headline":"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners","datePublished":"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/"},"wordCount":6,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","keywords":["Old Fashioned Smoke Bush","Christina Sawlitz","Fine Foliage","shrub","Cotinus coggygria","ornamental","Karen Chapman","Old Fashioned"],"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/","url":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/","name":"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners - UpShoot","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-13T09:00:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/top-5-scrumptious-shrubs-lazy-gardeners\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Top 5 Scrumptious Shrubs for Lazy Gardeners"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/","name":"UpShoot","description":"Horticultural Marketing Services","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#organization","name":"UpShoot","url":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/upshoot-horticultural-marketing-services-logo-sq.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/upshoot-horticultural-marketing-services-logo-sq.png","width":576,"height":576,"caption":"UpShoot"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8280b3b5ac21e84cdcf5dae85703bc66","name":"hort@upshoot","url":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/author\/hortupshoot\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upshoothort.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}