6 Underrated Shrubs That Deserve a Spot in Your Garden

Bushes and shrubs are like the backbone of your garden. They provide focal points, privacy, and boundaries. They can be foundation plantings or hedges. Plus, they provide a good habitat and food for wildlife (if you go native).

There are many popular types of shrubs to choose from, but don’t limit your choices to the usual suspects. Get creative and think outside the box with underutilized shrubs that are real showstoppers.

I’ve rounded up the most underrated shrubs that are too often overlooked. I’ll share why they deserve a place in your garden for their flowers, fragrances, fall foliage, winter interest, native habitat, and more.

1. Summersweet

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) is a medium deciduous shrub that doesn’t really get its due. The common name for this flowering shrub describes the delicious fragrance of its summer blooms. Lilac is often chosen for this reason, but summersweet has a sweet, light vanilla smell that’s hard to beat. The flowers also attract and feed native pollinators.

Summersweet is also easy to grow. While the sun is best, it will tolerate some shade and even wet soil. It will grow no more than 8 feet (2.4 m) tall. You can grow this pretty native shrub in zones 3 through 9 in wooded areas or along streams or ponds. Different varieties allow you to choose your preferred flower color.

Explore different types of summersweet shrubs for sale on Amazon.

2. Serviceberry

Serviceberries (Amelanchier spp.) are North American native shrubs that can be grown as small trees if trimmed accordingly. They are also known as Juneberries for their fruit that ripens in June. Look for a serviceberry that meets your requirements, as there are several species and varieties available. They generally grow in zones 3 through 9.

What makes the serviceberry a choice not to be overlooked is its year-round interest. Serviceberry shrubs bloom in spring, develop berries in summer, have colorful foliage in fall, and show off unique bark colors in winter. As a bonus, both you and the local wildlife can eat serviceberry fruits.

Shop a wide variety of serviceberry bushes on Amazon.

3. Carolina Allspice

Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus) has a couple of things going for it and yet it remains overlooked by many gardeners. It is a unique native shrub, suitable for zones 4 through 9. It is low-maintenance and blooms with unique, brownish flowers with a strong, spicy fragrance.

A medium to small shrub, Carolina allspice won’t grow much over 8 feet (2.4 m) tall and can be kept smaller with trimming. It can grow in full sun or shade and doesn’t require much ongoing care. Enjoy this underrated shrub as a foundation planting, near patios where you can enjoy the fragrance, or as a border.

Pick up a bare root Carolina allspice shrub from Northern Ridge Nursery on Etsy for under $10.

4. Sweet Box

Evergreen shrubs are great for winter color and visual interest. Sweet box (Sarcococca spp.) is an easy, shade-tolerant option that often gets passed over for more well-known evergreens like boxwood or holly. Although not native to North America, sweet box is an easy-growing choice suitable for gardens in zones 6 through 9. In addition to winter greenery, sweet box offers fragrant flowers and dark berries.

Sweet box shrubs are small, with heights between 1 foot (0.3 m) and 5 feet (1.5 m), depending on the type. It grows readily in partial and even deeper shade in soil that remains moist most of the time. Use a sweet box as a low hedge and in shade gardens. The shortest varieties can be used as evergreen ground covers.

You can find fragrant sweet box shrubs for sale from Nature Hills Nursery.

5. Smooth Witherod

Viburnums, as a group of shrubs, are hardly overlooked. These native shrubs are popular for spring flowers, summer fruits, and stunning fall foliage. However, this particular type of viburnum is often overlooked for more common types. It is a native species in the east and southeast, often found growing in boggy areas.

Smooth witherod (Viburnum nudum), also known as possumhaw viburnum, has attractive foliage that turns beautiful colors in fall. The white flowers bloom in late spring and give way to uniquely colored fall berries. You can grow this viburnum in zones 5 to 9, in shade, and even in boggy, wet areas of the garden. It will grow up to 12 feet (3.7 m) tall.

Get your native possumhaw viburnum from the Arbor Day Foundation.

6. Spicebush

This is an early spring-flowering shrub that is often passed by for forsythia. Like forsythia, spicebush (Lindera benzoin) blooms very early in spring with yellow flowers that emerge before the leaves do. Like Carolina allspice, the fragrance of spicebush is one of its draws, although the aroma isn’t just from the flowers. The leaves and twigs give off a spicy smell when crushed, so you can enjoy it for months.

Spicebush grows to about 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, is suitable in zones 4 through 9, and can grow in sun or partial shade in moist, but well-draining soil. Spicebush is dioecious, so if you want flowers, be sure to get a female plant. Even better, get one of each, so the female bush will produce berries to support native wildlife. A bonus of growing spicebush is that it will attract swallowtail butterflies to your garden.

You can find spicebushes for sale from Greenwood Nursery on Amazon.