Shrubs

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First time customers are often amazed at our shrub selection.  At Smithfield Gardens you will not only find the most common shrubs available, but you will also see your grandmother’s favorites, tough natives, the underused and the rare.  We have over 70 varieties of azaleas, including the re-blooming Encores.  Just before Mother’s Day our rose selection is at its best with hybrid teas, floribundas, climbers and many low maintenance shrub roses including Knock Outs, Flower Carpets and Drift roses.  In early June our hydrangea house is beyond full, making it difficult for you to decide which one you like best.   We carry many camellias including japonicas, sasanquas, cold-hardy hybrids and tea camellias.  If you garden in sunny areas that are hard to drag a hose to, we can suggest the toughest of drought tolerant shrubs.  Please don’t let our 5 acres overwhelm you; there are several people on staff at any given time that can help you with your selection.

The following is a short list of some of our favorite shrubs that we feel should be planted more often and do well in our varied climate.

 

Poet’s Laurel (Danae racemosa)
Also known as Alexandrian Laurel, this hard to find plant is the laurel mentioned in classic literature. It has beautiful evergreen foliage with orange/red berries in the fall. Easy to grow in shaded locations.

 

 

Lady Banks Rose (Rosa banksiae ‘Lutea’)
Grown in Virginia since the 1800′s, this thornless climbing rose is covered with lots of butter yellow blooms in early spring. It is vigorous and virtually carefree.

 

 

Rice Paper Plant (Edgeworthia chrysantha)
This is an unusual plant that blooms in mid-winter. The silver buds form in late fall and hang upside down on the bare branches. Sweetly scented yellow flowers open in February.

 

 

Chinese Abelia (Abelia chinensis)
If you want butterflies, you want this shrub. White flowers bloom in mid to late summer and age to an attractive dusty rose color. Very fragrant!

 

 

Orange Flowering Tea Olive (Osmanthus fragrans aurantiacus)
Many are familiar with the achingly sweet tea olive with its small but powerful white flowers. Now imagine the same shrub covered in salmon-orange flowers.

 

 

Compact Strawberry Shrub (Arbutus unedo ‘Compacta’)
This unusual evergreen has flowers in the fall at the same time as last year’s strawberry-like fruit is at its colorful peak.  The bark on older specimens is an attractive cinnamon-red.

 

 

Fuji Waterfall Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Fuji Waterfall’)
This white flowering hydrangea has cascading tiers of blossoms that stand out against the dark green foliage.  It’s a fantastic plant for the shade garden.

 

 

Ogon, a.k.a Mellow Yellow, Spirea (Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’)
Although the dainty white flowers of this plant are beautiful and bloom in late winter, we like it for its lime green to golden yellow foliage.