Front Door Flowering Shrub Ideas Please

Hi all,

I hope everyone is doing well and not feeling too glum about the onset of winter! I got my last bunch of sweets peas today and took my canes down

I have a set of steps going up to my front door, and there is an largeish empty patch (under living room window). I'd love to know what people have growing at the front of their house in terms of flowering shrubs - I'd like it to plant something there that's quite showy.

I've thought about a hydrangea but not sure of what the longest flowering / best cultivars are.

Equally, does anyone have any alternatives to something around the same size of a hydrangea? I'm interested to hear what others have

Thanks in advance!

 

We bought this rose about ten years ago and I can honestly say it’s the best rose we’ve ever grown.

Blush Noisette (Climbing Rose)

It’s described as 7’x4’ in the blurb, but we keep ours trimmed and it’s more like 4’x7’. It’s growing in a pile of rocky rubbish where a large stone wall used to be. We offer it no food or special attention. It begins to flower in early June and is still flowering now. Proper bunches of little fragrant pink flowers. No thorns. A real self-supporting bush shape, not a wobbly climbing rose shape. Fantastic.

 

Much depends upon the light (sunny/shady) and how sheltered, soil type etc. but our various neighbours have Nandina ("Obsession" is a good one), Spirea Goldflame and Snowmound, Abelia, and what I'm pretty sure is a Choysia.
I have mostly shrubby salvias but l wouldn't really class them as shrubs .

Do you want evergreen or are you more interested in colour at different times of the year ? What size space roughly ?

 

If you like Hydrangeas and have moist but well draining soil, H. paniculata “Limelight” is an attractive variety with lime green flowers, turning white and then pinkish in late summer. It flowers on new wood and can be trimmed to suit your space. It prefers a shady location but will also grow well in sun, provided your soil remains moist in summer. For a sunny border and improved soil, another rose to consider is Warm Welcome, it flowers all summer, an appropriate name for a front door location .

 

As @AnniD says - it largely depends on the aspect. My front garden faces north west [roughly] and I have a mix of shade loving planting there - hydrangea, potentilla, Jap. anems etc, although other plants can also manage, including ones which aren't known for liking any shade. The back garden is totally different as it's south east facing, so all the planting near the house is stuff that likes sun, and it's all in raised beds to help with drainage.

The oak leaf hydrangeas keep the flowers [white] better [and often longer] than many others, and you also get the advantage of lovely autumn colour on the foliage. They also tolerate a fair bit of sun. That's what I have at both ends of the front garden. The one at the front door still has flowers.
If it's a shadier site, any of the usual popular shrubs up here will also work - Pieris, Camellia, Rhodo, Azalea etc.