Looking for inspiration for summer flowering shrubs

Hello all,
Having been looking at your photos and seeing them looking so gorgeous, you've made me realise that our garden is very much in its element in Spring, with lots of blossom, and various other things flowering March-May time.
But compared to some of your lovely gardens, ours is now looking rather less colourful. Very green, but not much other colour.

Our roses have mostly finished, though may well have a second flush.

Looking good at the moment are calendula, hebe, hydrangea, Erysimum, lavender, which I'm very thankful for. Our honeysuckle hedge is flowering and the scent is gorgeous.

Still to come are the buddleia and the Japanese anemones. So spring and late summer are well covered I think but I think I need something else that will bring colour for early summer time.

I have been looking at deutzia strawberry fields I think which looks nice...

What other shrubby type plants look great early summer time?

 

Your garden sounds lovely. I've tended to go down the evergreen route, but that means my shrubs are not overly exciting in summer! I've recently been admiring beautiful philadelphus in blossom in gardens, and I have a small sambucus nigra which needs planted out of its pot soon. These two shrubs are colourful and striking.

 

Thank you, philadelphus is a great idea actually, I will look into that.

We do have a sambucus Nigra actually that we planted out earlier this year, but is still quite small so not really making much of an impact just yet, (I'm being a bit impatient here!)

We also went the evergreen route for lots of the garden, which we love in many ways, but are now realising we may be missing out on some beautiful flowering plants, and now the problem is, it's all so well established that anything new in the garden needs to either be big already, or grow quite big in order to stand out amongst the trees and huge evergreens we already have. We call it our mini woodland
So no little bedding plants for us! Although we have some nice patio pots that give a pop of colour.

 

Hi Sienna, i have a few shrubs just starting to flower unfortunately i don't know the name of any, i will post a few pictures up if one takes your fancy someone will be able to identify it.

 

Hypericum Hidcote, ceratostigma wilmottianum, Cotinus Grace, not for its flowers but for its glorious purple foliage, caryopteris (lots of varieties but 2 stand out, viz., Sterling Silver with its silver grey foliage, and Summer Sorbet with dejghtful cut yellow foliage, Abelia Confettii, small beautifully marked foliage with white flowers approaching late summer into autumn, Fuchsia Genii, lovely golden foliage and red flowers, and check out the paniculata Hydrangeas for huge flowers from July through into autumn.
Sienna, dont overlook perennials....I once got so hooked on shrubs that suddenly I realised I had a "woody" static garden. Huge range of summer perennials that add glorious colour for weeks even months like heleniums, sanguisorbas, persicarias, the long flowering dwarf kniphofias, aster F. Monch, etc. etc. Perennials can break up the dreaded static look shrubs can bring. Add a few grasses for movement and you have an animated garden

 

Some great ideas here, I'll be looking into all of these suggestions

 

Most of the plants I have inherited tend to be evergreen shrubs. I am trying to replace some of them with more interesting plants. I believe the bits I have done already are looking better.

G.

 

Definitely Gary