Ready to add vibrant color to your garden this summer? Planting shrubs now is the perfect way to create a lively, eye-catching landscape. These hardy plants bloom in late spring and early summer, attracting pollinators and providing months of endless beauty.
In this blog, we’ll highlight popular shrubs like Hydrangeas, Crape Myrtles, and Abelias, which bring stunning blooms and colorful hues to your garden. Keep reading to learn why they’re great additions to your landscape!
Monrovia® Seaside Serenade® Hydrangeas
If you love hydrangeas, you’ll fall for the Seaside Serenade® collection from Monrovia®. These next-gen hydrangeas offer a compact, bushy shape, strong stems, and lush leaves, with blooms that last longer and rebloom throughout the season. Perfect for containers, garden beds, or cutting a bloom for a vase, they deliver stunning beauty all summer long.
Now is the best time to plant Seaside Serenade® hydrangeas, giving their roots time to establish before summer sets in. Check out these beautiful varieties in the Seaside Serenade® collection at your local Calloway’s and Cornelius Nursery!
Seaside Serenade® Newport Hydrangea
Seaside Serenade® Newport is far more than just a pretty bloom—it’s a standout in any garden. This mophead hydrangea produces bold, eye-catching flowers that shift color depending on your soil’s pH, appearing as deep plum in acidic conditions or vibrant pink in more alkaline soils. Like other members of the Seaside Serenade® collection, Newport is a tetraploid variety known for its exceptionally sturdy stems, which stand tall and resist flopping, even in windy or rainy weather. It particularly enjoys filtered sun to partial sun.
Seaside Serenade® Fire Island Hydrangea
The Seaside Serenade® Fire Island Hydrangea is a showstopper in any garden, thanks to its striking bi-color blooms. Each white flower is edged with a bold, rosy-red border that gradually deepens into rich pink as the blooms mature, creating a dynamic and ever-changing display throughout the growing season. With its ruffled petals and vibrant color contrast, this variety offers both unique beauty and lasting visual interest. Style it as a colorful centerpiece in your flowerbed or showcase it in one of the beautiful ceramic containers from our curated collection at Calloway’s and Cornelius Nursery for an elegant, eye-catching display on your patio or porch. This variety enjoys filtered sun to partial shade.
Seaside Serenade® Cape Cod Hydrangea
A fresh take on a garden classic, Seaside Serenade® Cape Cod is the perfect choice for small spaces. This hardy, repeat-blooming hydrangea produces large mophead flowers and features extra-dark green foliage that adds depth and contrast to the landscape. Its compact, mounded shape makes it ideal for foundation plantings, borders, or container gardens. The blooms shift beautifully with soil pH—appearing blue in acidic conditions and pink in neutral to alkaline soils. It offers strong stems and long-lasting flowers, which also make stunning additions to fresh-cut floral arrangements. This variety enjoys filtered sun to partial sun.
Seaside Serenade® Crystal Cove Hydrangea
Seaside Serenade® Cape Cod adds charm and color to the garden with its frilly lacecap blooms that shift with soil pH—deep purple-blue in acidic soils and rich pink in more neutral to alkaline conditions. This reblooming hydrangea offers continuous color throughout the summer, with flowers that deepen beautifully as they age. Known for its sturdy stems, Cape Cod also makes an excellent choice for fresh-cut arrangements, holding up well both in the garden and in a vase. As a deciduous shrub, it brings lasting seasonal interest and reliable performance to beds, borders, and containers. This variety thrives in partial sun to partial shade, making it a versatile and adaptable choice for a range of garden settings.
Crapemyrtle
Crapemyrtles are another excellent choice for planting now to prepare for vibrant color throughout the summer. These hardy shrubs bloom in a stunning array of shades, from rich reds to soft pinks and purples, adding bold, lasting beauty to your landscape. With their heat and drought tolerance, Crapemyrtles thrive even in the hottest months, ensuring that your garden will stay colorful and eye-catching all summer long. Plus, their attractive bark and fall foliage provide additional seasonal interest, making them a versatile and low-maintenance addition to your garden or containers. Take a look at these gorgeous varieties we have right now in stores!
Coral Magic Crapemyrtle
Coral Magic Crapemyrtle is a stunning, rounded shrub that adds vibrant color to any landscape. In early summer, it’s covered in clusters of salmon-pink flowers, creating a striking contrast against its glossy reddish new foliage, which matures to a rich dark green as the season progresses. Known for its early bloom and impressive reblooming capabilities, Coral Magic continues to produce flowers throughout the summer if deadheaded, ensuring a long-lasting display of color and beauty in your garden or container.
Ruffled Red Magic™ Crapemyrtle
Introducing the striking Ruffled Red™ Crapemyrtle, a variety that stands out with its vibrant, carnation-like red flowers, which glow beautifully against the rich, dark green foliage. The leaves turn a stunning orange-red in the fall, adding even more seasonal appeal. Its growth habit is upright yet compact, with dense branching that creates a full, robust appearance. Like other members of the Magic™ series, Ruffled Red™ offers the bonus of reblooming in late summer after deadheading the first flush of flowers.
Purple Magic Crapemyrtle
Purple Magic Crapemyrtle is a beautiful, dense shrub that boasts glossy green leaves and striking dark purple flowers, which cover the plant from base to tip. This prolific bloomer begins its show in mid-summer and continues to produce an abundance of flowers throughout the season when deadheaded. Its leaves are highly disease-resistant, ensuring they stay healthy and vibrant all summer long, making Purple Magic an excellent choice for a low-maintenance, colorful addition to your landscape.
Abelia
As summer approaches, Abelias are another great choice for your garden or container displays. These hardy, low-maintenance shrubs thrive in the heat, offering vibrant blooms that last throughout the season. Their glossy green leaves turn a beautiful mix of bronze and purple in the fall, adding color to your landscape year-round. Abelia’s drought tolerance makes them an excellent option for hot summer months, and they attract pollinators like bees and butterflies, enhancing your garden’s ecosystem. Whether in full sun or partial shade, Abelias adapt well, providing lush, beauty without the constant need for care. They’re also ideal for both containers and flowerbeds, adding flexibility to your garden design—whether you’re looking to create a stunning focal point or add depth to your landscape.
Kaleidoscope Abelia
The Kaleidoscope Abelia is a showstopper with its vibrant, multicolored leaves that shift from yellow and green in spring to fiery reds and oranges in the fall. This compact shrub, growing up to 3 feet tall, offers year-round interest with its striking foliage and clusters of fragrant white flowers in the summer. Not only does it add visual appeal, but it’s also low-maintenance, thriving in a variety of conditions—from full sun to partial shade—and requiring minimal care once established. Its ability to tolerate drought makes it a great option for easy, long-lasting beauty in your garden.
Rose Creek Abelia
The Rose Creek Abelia is a compact, evergreen shrub that brings both beauty and versatility to any landscape. Known for its dense, glossy green foliage, it creates a neat, tidy appearance. In the warmer months, it produces delicate, trumpet-shaped pink flowers that attract pollinators like bees and butterflies. Growing to about 2 to 3 feet in height, this abelia is perfect for smaller spaces, borders, or even as a low hedge. With its resistance to drought and heat, the Rose Creek Abelia is a low-maintenance choice that thrives in full sun to partial shade, adding a splash of color and texture with minimal effort.
Radiance Abelia
The Radiance Abelia stands out with its striking foliage, which boasts a beautiful blend of green, cream, and pink throughout the seasons. Unlike other varieties, this shrub is known for its unique, colorful edges that transform from soft pastels to deeper shades of pink and red as the weather cools. In addition to its eye-catching leaves, Radiance Abelia produces delicate, fragrant white flowers in late spring to summer, creating a soft contrast against its vibrant foliage. Its compact size, typically reaching 2 to 3 feet, makes it perfect for smaller gardens, containers, or as an accent in mixed flowerbeds. With its adaptability to various soil types and partial shade, the Radiance Abelia offers a pop of color without the hassle of high maintenance.
Lucky Lots Abelia from Monrovia ®
This large leaf Abelia displays lively green foliage with striking silver-white margins, offering stable variegation that maintains its vibrant color from spring through winter. In summer, sweetly scented white flowers further enhance its charm, creating a delightful contrast against its lush leaves. This evergreen shrub is perfect for foundation plantings, forming a low hedge, or thriving in containers, adding both beauty and structure to your garden year-round. Its compact size and hardy nature make it versatile and low-maintenance.
Vanilla Brandy™ Abelia
Vanilla Brandy™ Abelia is a compact, tidy shrub that offers a striking display of green leaves with white margins, which retain their color even in full sun and heat. As fall arrives, the leaf edges transition to shades of pink and rose, creating a beautiful seasonal change. This evergreen to semi-evergreen variety thrives across different climates, with its white, slightly fragrant flowers blooming from May to October. The new stems, rich in red-purple hues throughout the growing season, add a touch of winter interest, making Vanilla Brandy™ a vibrant to your display.
Hydrangeas, Abelias, and Crape Myrtles are absolute winners when it comes to summer blooms. Each of them brings something special to the table—whether it’s the gorgeous, full flowers of Hydrangeas, the colorful and fragrant charm of Abelias, or the bold, long-lasting blooms of Crape Myrtles. They’re all easy to care for, thrive in our summers, and attract plenty of pollinators to your garden. Whether you’re planting them in your flowerbeds, using them to create a beautiful hedge, or putting them in containers for a flexible, portable option, these shrubs are perfect for adding that extra pop of color and life to your outdoor space. And if you’re looking for the perfect pots to complement your new plants, be sure to explore our stunning pottery collection at Calloway’s or Cornelius Nursery—they’ll add the finishing touch to your garden!
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At Calloway’s and Cornelius, we are here to help with all your gardening activities! Visit us today and explore our stunning collection of vibrant blooms, pretty perennials, impressive trees and shrubs, stylish pottery, lush indoor plants, and so much more! Shop any of our 29 neighborhood stores, where we have served our loyal customers for over 38 years.
Have questions? Ask our Texas Certified Nursery Professionals; they are here to help!