As spring approaches, the anticipation of viewing the
beautiful flowering trees and
shrubs can become overwhelming.

One way to insure your landscape lives up to your
expectations is to add a few new
plants each year. Planting now will provide surprises and
enjoyment in the springs to
follow.

Here are three new plants that will add to your spring
delight.

Pink Chinese loropetalums. They’re new, but widely
available, and you can select
from several forms.

These are large evergreen shrubs, reaching 8 to 15 feet
tall and 6 to 8 feet wide. In
the spring, they’re covered with bright pink flowers with
thin, strap-shaped petals. The
new leaves are bright burgundy red that mature to a deep
burgundy green.

The plants are adapted to sun or partial shade in sandy
or clay soils. They should be
hardy except in the cold mountain areas of Georgia.

Pink Chinese loropetalums plants are naturals for screens
or hedges. They tolerate
pruning, and they’re drought-tolerant and nearly pest-free.
You can train older plants
into small, multistem tree forms.

Mohawk viburnum. This hybrid has good foliage,
fragrant flowers and a truly nice
form. The dark green, lustrous leaves are small and often
turn burgundy in the fall before
they drop.

The spring flowers are in clusters 3 inches wide. The
individual flowers are pink as
buds and open to a nice white. The flower clusters smell
like daphne and scent the
surrounding space. The plant produces a few fruits that
first turn red and then black.

These plants do best in moist, well-drained soils and
produce more flowers in full sun.
They will mature at 8 to 10 feet tall and nearly as wide.

Mohawk viburnum is cold hardy throughout Georgia. Its
abundant, spicy flowers, neat
growth habit and cold hardiness make it an outstanding
shrub.

Mount Airy fothergilla. This native plant deserves
much greater use in Georgia.

A vigorous spring flowering shrub, it reaches 4 to 6 feet
in height. The plants are
adapted to sun or shade, tolerant of drought and thrive in
our Georgia soils.

The white bottlebrush flowers, 2 inches long by 1.5
inches wide, cover the ends of the
leafless spring branches. They dance with the wind,
releasing their fragrance.

The foliage is a dark blue-green that turns red, orange
and yellow in the fall. The
rounded-mound habit makes a nice addition to a border or as
a specimen planting.

These are three great selections that add flowers,
interest and even fragrance to your
landscape.

If you plant now in early spring, the plants can become
established and develop a
strong supporting root system. Strong roots and a productive
top will produce flowers for
next spring’s display.