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johnp58

By Johnp58

Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Gb

I am looking for a smallish shrub that I can put under my bedroom window. It will grown in sunlight for most of the morning and into the afternoon. It will need to be no more that 4 foot in height and about 3 foot in diameter when fully grown. Would love as much interest as possible. Flowers, berries and autumn foliage would be great.
Any help?




Answers

 

there are many dwarf hebes that are evergreen but no berries on those. berberis come in a range of sizes and would produce berries not sure about names but you can prune them to keep them within size. I have hellond pillar and the leaves go a beautiful butter yellow. bright red berries too. some of the viburnums would also fit the bill.

28 Apr, 2019

 

What about choisya ternata? Gorgeous perfume when in flower.

28 Apr, 2019

 

If you don't mind spiny and deciduous, Berberis 'bagatelle' or Berberis 'Admiration' would fit the bill - the first has more noticeable yellow flowers followed by scarlet berries, with purplish red leaves getting redder in autumn before they fall. 'Admiration' has slightly redder purplish leaves with a very thin yellow edge, which darken in autumn, but the flowers aren't particularly noticeable and it may or may not produce berries... In my experience 'Bagatelle' makes a rounder, neater shrub than 'Admiration'' which tends to sprawl a bit more.

28 Apr, 2019

 

A great choice would be cotoneaster horizontalis, this shrub will fan out and in a smallish area can look a tad scruffy, however the secret is to keep them trimmed up, by doing so you can have a lovely rounded shrub, and in this form it looks fantastic, in the spring you get all those flowers, in the autumn the leaves go a lovely scarlet red and then your left with masses of red berries that go right through the winter and in the depth of winter this shrub really stands out, more so on those gloomy days, this shrub sadly gets overlooked these days, but it’s a jaw dropper once it’s established and pruned into a compact rounded shape.

28 Apr, 2019

 

That's interesting, Julien. I have several c horizontalis spreading fans along a fence, and very beautiful they are and also useful to bees and birds, but I didn't know it could be a success as a free-standing shrub.

29 Apr, 2019

 

I would recommend Amelanchier canadensis. Possibly my favourite shrub. Full of white flowers in Spring; producing black berries and leaves turning to orange and red in the Autumn. Can be pruned and shaped after flowering. One possible problem you might get with whatever your choice of shrub; just be aware that a shrub that attracts lot of bees might not go down well under a open bedroom window.

29 Apr, 2019

 

Jimmy, Amelanchier will grow much more than the maximum height being asked for ie 4ft. Cottagekaren grows a beautiful blueberry which might be a good choice. Any of the many chaenomeles would also look great.

29 Apr, 2019

 

Hi Scotsgran, there are several cultivars of Chaenomeles which would be suitable on the height required, but most would be too wide for the 3ft requested maximum height, even the cultivars with a 3ft height, usually have a spread of 6ft or more, Derek.

2 May, 2019

 

That is true Derek but they can be pruned to fill the space available.

2 May, 2019

How do I say thanks?

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