While every sunny yard should have flowers and trees, to make the landscape truly complete shrubs need to find a place among the others. Shrubs are like mediators in the garden, bringing ground covers, perennials, annuals and trees together for a total, harmonious, professional look. The small shrub can be very useful to provide a bit of permanence to a perennial bed. Shrubs give winter interest when everything else lays down on the ground crushed and hidden under snow. Create a mixed shrub border and you'll find wildlife coming in droves to nibble on berries from this bush and for shelter in another. With all this in mind let us look at some wonderful shrubs for full sun.

Lilac (Syringa vulgaris).

This deciduous shrub sports heart shaped leaves in a bright green color and come spring it bursts into bloom. The cone shaped flowers are highly fragrant in white and varying shades of purple. Lilac can grow 15 feet high but is easily maintained smaller with careful pruning done only directly after blooming. This ensures blossoms for the next spring.

Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus).

Also called the Winged Euonymus this deciduous shrub stands 4-5 feet tall but can easily be kept trimmed smaller for a solid and vibrantly green hedge. Come autumn the foliage turns a brilliant red making it look aflame, hence the common name. Tiny red berries drive birds nutty as they flock to devour them as soon as they ripen and not a minute later.

Honeysuckle (Lonicera tatarica).

Though usually seen as a vine, this Honeysuckle grows to a 10 foot high shrub producing massive amounts of extremely fragrant flowers in yellow, white or pink. Foliage is a light green tinged with gray or blue. Perfect at the back of a border or to provide "walls" for a garden room.

Russian Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia).

Grey green foliage, tiny pale yellow and very fragrant flowers and little berries song birds crave make this an exceptional bush for the home landscape. Ultra drought tolerant and can easily be trimmed into a tree form making a perfect accent for the yard.

Forsythia.

Deciduous shrub known for the vibrant yellow flowers adorning the entire bush come spring before leafing out. Can be allowed to grow quite wild, 5-6 feet tall, making perfect nesting sights for Robins and Wrens. Bright green foliage cover it the rest of the season. Great for hedges or single specimens. Takes well to pruning into odd shapes and even trees and espaliers. If left to its own devices branches will lay down and root themselves expanding the bush indefinitely.

Spirea "Magic Carpet".

Extremely colorful dwarf shrub grows 2-3 feet tall with a 24 inch spread and has vibrant yellow leaves for most of the growing season. New foliage is a bright orange red and blossoms a deep rose. Fantastic in a mixed shrub border, a perennial bed or a rock garden. Deers leave this one alone.

Carpet Rose.

2-3 feet tall shrub rose perfect for hedges or as a single specimen. Thousands of flowers coming both in single and semi-double form and in colors ranging from pure white, pink, magenta, red and yellow cover the entire bush until frost. Extremely hardy, drought tolerant and pest and fuss free.

Weigela variegata.

Gracefully arching branches of this 4-6 foot tall bush get covered with rosy pink blossoms in late spring attracting Hummingbirds like mad. Foliage is bright green with a creamy white edge. Perfect in a mixed border or standing alone as a very pretty focal point.

These are only a handful of the many shrubs for full sun available to the home gardener. The sunny landscape will look glorious with any of these. Your neighbors will gawk, the birds will love you and you'll wonder how you ever got along without them for so long. Now you won't have to.

Learn more about this author, Glory Lennon.
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