It’s good to dream about flowers to come. Breathe in to a count of four, exhale to a count of five, six…17 white-flowering shrubs. Repeat. Gardeners have an advantage when it comes to managing the present: We can picture the future, and it blooms sequentially. There’s a lot to be said for white flowers. They bring lightness and brightness to green spaces, and seem luminous by night. White against a backdrop of various leafy textures and hues can be deeply soothing. By no means exhaustive, here is our list of shrubs with white flowers and when you can expect them to bloom. Spring is coming; now is the time to plan. Or dream.
Photography by Marie Viljoen.
Blooms in Spring
1. Daphne
Above: Blooming in early spring, Daphne’s intense scent is citrus-like and sweet.
Daphnes are one of the earliest spring shrubs to flower. Many have pink flowers but ‘Alba’ and others are white-blossomed cultivars. Daphne odora is hardy only down to USDA growing zone 7, but hybrids like D. x burkwoodii are tougher, from USDA zones 4 to 9.
2. Labrador Tea
Above: This container-grown Labrador tea is Rhododendron diversipilosum ‘Milky Way’.
Blooming in mid-spring, starry-flowered Labrador tea is in fact a Rhododendron, and ‘Milky Way’ is an especially floriferous cultivar. Reputedly hardy down to USDA zone 3, various sources have conflicting information about the upper range of its comfort zone. I grow it happily in USDA zone 7b.
3. Aronia (or Chokeberry)
Above: The foamy white flowers of Aronia shrubs bloom in mid-spring.
Aronias are native North American shrubs whose interest extends beyond their frothy spring display. The edible, antioxidant-laden fruit ripens in late summer, and that crop is followed by deeply warm fall foliage. Aronias are very cold hardy, from USDA zone 3 to around zone 9.
4. Beach Plum
Above: The foaming flowers of beach plum, Prunus maritima.
Along East Coast shorelines beach plums erupt like foam in spring. Increasingly, these native shrubs with white flowers are available for sale at nurseries who recognize their hardiness, serious pollinator-appeal, tolerance of windy and sandy environments, and very appealing late summer fruit. Beach plums require full sun and are hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8.
5. Scented Viburnums
Above: Viburnum carlesii ‘Korean Spice.’
A trio of viburnums and their cultivars (the name enclosed in single quotation marks) vie with one another for best scent status. Viburnum carlesii, V. x burkwoodii and V. juddi are sometimes listed more simply as Korean Spice, Mohawk and Judd’s (two well known cultivars and a common name, respectively). Each rivals Daphne in terms of super-fragrance. They are deliciously scented and become more intense as the afternoon wanes and the evening grows. The shrubs are hardy from around USDA zones 4b to 8.
6. Snowball Viburnum
Above: The plush pom-poms of snowball viburnum in late spring.
For shrubs with white flowers, we hardly need look further than the generous Viburnum genus, since most of them have white blooms. But snowball viburnums (a catch-all that refers to Chinese and to Japanese species) are show-stopping in full bloom.
For a related tour, read our Top 10 Viburnums piece.
7. Deutzia
Above: Petals like confetti crowd a Deutzia shrub in mid spring.
In mid-spring, Deutzias resemble confetti bombs, with their flowers erupting from slender, willow-leafed stems. There are many forms to choose from, and Deutzias may be mounding and petite, or more imposing. The shrubs are hardy in zones 5 to 8.
8. Abelia
Above: Abelia in bloom in late May.
Abelias offer showers of white flowers flushed with pale pink in late spring and bloom well in high, dappled shade as well as full sun. The shrubs are hardy from around USDA zone 4 to 9, depending on the hybrid
Blooms in Summer
9. New Jersey Tea
Above: New Jersey tea likes full sun and excellent drainage.
Fragrant-leafed New Jersey tea produces racemes of fluffy, pollinator-attracting white flowers in early to mid-summer. This native, nitrogen-fixing shrub flowers best in full sun and is hard from USDA zones 4 to 9.
10. Rhododendron
Above: A white rhododendron on my Brooklyn terrace in early summer.
The hefty white blossoms of East Asian rhododendron cultivars might be the native gardener’s guilty pleasure (North American “rhodis” tend towards pink and lilac hues). These sturdy shrubs can be spectacular in flower, peaking as early summer’s night’s are at their longest. Rhododendrons are hardy in zones 6 through 9.
11. Ninebark
Above: For maximum impact choose a ninebark cultivar with purple leaves.
Ninebark is Physocarpus opulus, a hardy native shrub with arching stems that are festooned pink buds opening into white in early summer. While many shrubs are green, maroon-leafed cultivars are a spectacular garden backdrop whether in bloom or not. Exceptionally cold-tolerant ninebark will grow in soils that range from sandy to clay and can be grown in USDA zones 2 to 8.
12. Elderflower
Above: Shrubs with white flowers may also be edible, like elderflower.
Elderflower blossom (also known as elderblow) means high summer. The pollen-laden blooms make the famous cordial, of course, and these wide, white panicles are followed by elderberries, a boon to birds as well as to anyone who enjoys making an annual, purple syrup. The adaptable shrub can handle dense and damp soil and blooms best in full sun, although it tolerates high shade. Choose Sambucus canadensis or S. nigra ssp. candensis for their native status. American elder is hardy from zones 3 to 9.
13. Oak Leaf Hydrangea
Above: A container-grown oak leaf hydrangea in my previous summer garden.
Stalwart oak leaf hydrangeas produce panicles of creamy bracts in mid summer, which stay on the shrub as long as early fall, the clusters turning gradually pink, then sepia. The Southeastern native shrub is hardy from zones 5 to 9. (See Hydrangeas: 10 Best Flowering Shrubs to Grow.)
14. Virginia Sweetspire
Above: Densely-branched sweetspire blooms in mid to late summer.
Like elderflower and ninebark, Virginia sweetspire is another of the native shrubs with white flowers that tolerates dense or damp soils. Its numerous tassels of fleecy summer flowers are often bedecked in pollinators. In fall its narrow leaves blaze deep orange. Virginia sweetspire can be grown from zones 5 to 9.
15. Carolina Allspice
Above: Calycanthus ‘Venus’ has waxy white flowers.
While native species of Carolina allspice (also called sweetshrub) have fairly small burgundy flowers, the large and fragrant ivory petals of the Calycanthus hybrid ‘Venus’ cultivar begin to unfurl in mid-summer and persist for weeks, blooming even in shade. The shrub is hardy from zones 5 to 9.
16. Clethra
Above: Plant a Clethra shrub (or hedge) and enjoy late summer bee safari.
The sultry, clove-like scent of sweet pepperbush—Clethra alnifolia—signals the last days of summer, and the turning of the year. The native shrubs compensate by producing copious spires of flowers that are irresistible to bees and butterflies. Shade gardeners rejoice: Like hydrangeas and some viburnums, this is a shrub with white flowers that will bloom in dappled and high shade. Clethra is hardy from USDA zones 3 to 9.
Blooms in the Fall
17. Tea (Yes, That Tea)
Above: Camellia sinensis on my terrace in September.
Camellia sinensis is the tea-leaf producing shrub. But it’s also remarkably ornamental, with anemone-like single flowers appearing in fall for several weeks. This tea shrub prefers afternoon shade or dappled shade, needs shelter from winter winds, and is hardy from zones 7 to 9.
