Ornamentals

Raintree has been selecting fruit plants for flavor and ease of growing since 1972 — and the ornamentals collection reflects the same philosophy. Every ornamental in the catalog earns its place on more than looks alone. Flowering quinces are edible ornamentals that deliver both breathtaking early-spring bloom and fruit with enough natural pectin for outstanding jellies and syrups. Hardy fuchsias produce edible berries alongside their showstopping flowers. Salal is a PNW native with edible berries and year-round evergreen structure. Wisteria, hydrangeas, and pieris make the garden beautiful across seasons while supporting bees and other pollinators with the kind of reliable bloom that a fruit-only planting can't provide.

The ornamentals also solve a real practical problem in the home orchard: providing bloom when fruit trees aren't flowering, supporting pollinators throughout the season rather than only during apple or cherry bloom, and creating structure and visual interest in the spaces between productive plants. A forsythia blazing yellow before any tree is awake, or a flowering quince blanketed in coral blooms in February — these are the first reliable signs of spring for bees, and for the gardener.

The single most important care decision for flowering shrubs is pruning at the correct time. Most ornamental shrubs bloom on the previous season's wood ("old wood"), and pruning them at the wrong time of year removes exactly the wood that carries next spring's flower buds. Knowing which plant blooms on old wood and which blooms on new wood is the difference between a shrub that blooms every year and one that is healthy but perpetually flowerless.

Flowering quince is among the most adaptable, low-maintenance flowering shrubs available to home gardeners. It is also one of the earliest bloomers in the garden: in mild climates, flowers often open in February on completely bare stems, making it a critical early food source for bees and the first burst of color in the garden after winter. In colder zones, bloom arrives from late February through April. The flowers themselves are strikingly beautiful — produced in dense clusters of five-petaled blooms ranging from white and cream to soft salmon, apricot, vivid red, and bicolored combinations. Several varieties carry double flowers that rival a small rose in their complexity.

Flowering quince also produces small, hard, fragrant fruit in fall — aromatic yellow-green quinces with a high pectin content that makes them ideal for jelly, syrup, and preserves. The flavor is tart and astringent raw but sweet and intensely quince-floral when cooked. Plant two varieties for heavier fruit yields, though a single plant will produce some fruit. Note that flowering quince (Chaenomeles spp.) is a distinct genus from fruiting quince (Cydonia oblonga) and does not cross-pollinate with it.

Branches cut in late winter, before the buds open, can be brought indoors and forced into bloom in a vase of water — a welcome burst of spring color weeks ahead of the outdoor bloom window.

Site and soil

Flowering quince thrives in full sun and will produce the most abundant bloom in a site that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily. It tolerates partial shade but flower count diminishes noticeably as light decreases. These shrubs are adaptable to a wide range of soil types including clay, loam, and sandy soils, provided drainage is adequate — they do not tolerate waterlogged roots. Soil pH between 5.0 and 7.0 is acceptable; they do best in slightly acidic to neutral soil. Consistent soggy soil will cause decline, but once established they are remarkably drought-tolerant.

Hydrangeas are among the most beloved flowering shrubs in the temperate garden — reliably spectacular, long-blooming, and available in forms ranging from the compact and container-friendly to large, bold landscape specimens. Raintree carries selections chosen for performance in the Pacific Northwest and the broader temperate US, with emphasis on rebloomers that flower on both old and new wood, giving gardeners far more reliability than older hydrangea selections that depend entirely on carrying buds through winter intact.

Bigleaf hydrangea — Hydrangea macrophylla

Bigleaf hydrangea is the classic garden hydrangea — the one with the large, rounded mophead or lacecap blooms in shades of pink, blue, or crimson. It grows in full sun to part shade; in the PNW and in northern zones, full sun is well-tolerated and helps ripen wood for better hardiness. In southern exposures or hotter climates, afternoon shade prevents flower and leaf scorch. Bigleaf hydrangea requires consistent moisture — do not allow soil to dry out completely during the growing season. Soil should be organically rich and well-drained. pH matters for flower color: acidic soils (pH below 6) tend toward blue or lavender shades; more alkaline soils produce pink to crimson.

Japanese pieris is an exceptional year-round evergreen shrub that rewards patient gardeners with three distinct seasons of ornamental interest. In late winter to early spring, long, cascading clusters of small, urn-shaped white flowers hang from the branch tips — superficially resembling lily-of-the-valley and often pleasantly fragrant. As those flowers fade, the new spring growth emerges in shades of vivid red or pink (depending on cultivar), creating a striking contrast with the older dark green foliage. Through summer, fall, and winter, the glossy evergreen foliage provides structure and year-round color in the landscape.

Pieris is a slow-growing, long-lived shrub — expect 4–7 feet tall and wide at maturity over many years, though habit varies considerably by cultivar. Its natural affinity for the Pacific Northwest is significant: the region's reliably acidic soils, high rainfall, and moderate temperatures produce conditions that closely mirror pieris' native habitat in the mountain forests of Japan and China. In many parts of the PNW, pieris requires almost no soil amendment and minimal supplemental irrigation once established.

Wisteria is the most dramatic flowering vine in the temperate garden — few plants produce the kind of spectacle that a mature wisteria in full bloom creates. The Raintree selection, Wisteria frutescens 'Amethyst Falls', is a native American wisteria chosen specifically for its advantages over the more commonly sold Asian species (W. sinensis and W. floribunda): it blooms younger, is far less invasive, is manageable in home garden settings, and blooms reliably each year rather than unpredictably. It is also deer resistant and has earned the Georgia Gold Medal.

'Amethyst Falls' produces lightly fragrant, 4-inch-long cascading racemes of lavender-blue flowers in late spring, with a reliable second flush of bloom in summer on the new growth that follows the spring flowering. Its growth rate is roughly a third that of Asian wisteria — it will eventually reach 20–25 feet but does so more gradually and stays controllable with annual pruning. In containers it can be trained into a stunning free-standing standard (tree form) by staking a single upright stem and pruning the top to encourage a flowering canopy.

Structural requirements — build it first

Wisteria is a heavy, woody vine that twines its stems around any support it can reach. A mature vine can weigh hundreds of pounds. The support structure must be built to last before planting: a sturdy pergola, heavy-duty arbor, or reinforced trellis anchored in concrete is the appropriate approach. Structures not engineered for significant sustained load will eventually fail. Do not train wisteria onto wooden fences, utility poles, or structures attached to buildings unless those structures are specifically designed to bear the weight and twining pressure. Once a wisteria vine has grown into a structure, it is very difficult to remove without damaging both vine and structure.

Pruning — two windows per year

'Amethyst Falls' blooms on new wood — a key advantage over Asian wisteria, which blooms on old wood and requires careful winter bud preservation. This means the vine can be pruned in late winter or early spring to shape and control size without sacrificing flowering. A second light trim after the spring bloom — cutting side shoots back to 2–3 buds — improves branching and encourages the summer rebloom. Summer pruning throughout the growing season keeps the vine in bounds; the vigorous annual extension growth can be cut back hard without worry. Remove any suckers from the base as they appear.

Hardy fuchsia is one of the most productive flowering shrubs in the PNW — a plant that gardeners in other climates struggle to overwinter but that thrives with almost no attention in maritime western Washington and Oregon. Fuchsia magellanica originates from the coastal mountains of southern Chile, where it grows as a woody, mounding shrub 5–6 feet tall in conditions of high rainfall, moderate temperatures, and acidic soil — a description that fits the PNW maritime climate almost exactly.

The flowers are the classic fuchsia form: pendulous, two-toned blooms with a flared cerise-red outer tube and vivid purple-blue inner petals, produced prolifically on arching stems from early summer through the first frost. They are intensely attractive to hummingbirds, which are the plant's primary pollinators in its native range. The flowers are followed by small, dark purple-black berries with a spicy-sweet flavor — entirely edible and worth tasting, though most of the crop goes to birds. Raintree's stock comes from a high-altitude Chilean source, producing plants acclimated to cold and reliability in northern gardens.

Culture in the PNW

In Zone 8 maritime gardens, F. magellanica is fully hardy and will die back only in unusually cold winters — the root system is reliably hardy and resprouting is vigorous even after complete top kill. Mulch the crown in fall in Zone 7 and colder to protect the root system. New growth emerges from the crown and base in spring and will flower by early summer. In Zones 7 and colder, treat as a dieback shrub: leave the old stems through winter for wind protection and cut to the ground in early spring as new growth begins.

Sun requirements are flexible: full sun in cool coastal gardens produces the best flower production, but part shade in hotter inland locations prevents leaf scorch while still delivering excellent flowering. Hardy fuchsia prefers consistently moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soil rich in organic matter — again, conditions that most PNW gardens provide naturally. Very little fertilizer is needed in organically rich soils.

Forsythia — Forsythia spp. 'Gold Tide™'

Forsythia is one of the first shrubs to bloom each spring, often flowering in late February to March before any leaves emerge — a solid wall of brilliant yellow that signals winter is ending. Gold Tide™ is a compact, low-growing selection (2–3 ft tall, 4–5 ft wide) selected for mounding, ground-covering habit that needs very little pruning compared to upright forsythia types. It is exceptionally cold-hardy (Zone 4) and vigorous once established, tolerating a wide range of soils. Like all forsythia, it blooms on old wood — prune immediately after bloom if shaping is desired; any other pruning time removes next year's flowers. Full sun for best flowering. Its early bloom makes it one of the earliest pollen sources of the year for emerging bees.

Viburnum — Viburnum × burkwoodii 'Burkwood'

Burkwood viburnum is a semi-evergreen to deciduous shrub valued for its remarkably fragrant rounded clusters of white flowers in mid-spring and its adaptability across a wide range of conditions. The spice-clove fragrance carries a considerable distance — one mature shrub can perfume a significant portion of a garden. Hardy to Zone 4, tolerant of clay soils, and adaptable to full sun or partial shade, Burkwood viburnum requires very little care once established. Like flowering quince, it blooms on old wood — prune only after flowering. Black fruit clusters in fall attract birds. Grows 6–10 feet tall.

Salal — Gaultheria shallon

Salal is a Pacific Northwest native evergreen shrub with exceptional all-season garden value: attractive dark, waxy leaves used in the floral trade; small white to pink urn-shaped flowers in late spring; and deep purple-black berries in summer and fall that are edible (mildly sweet, mealy) and an important wildlife food source. It grows in the deep shade of coastal forests as well as in full-sun exposures, making it extraordinarily versatile. Salal is drought-tolerant once established and thrives in the acidic, organic soils typical of the PNW without amendment or fertilization. Raintree offers Cascade Sunrise™ ('Gaulsidh12'), a striking new cultivar with variegated foliage that adds ornamental interest beyond the species. Zones 6–9. Cascade Sunrise™ is a PNW native available exclusively for in-region customers in appropriate zones.

Wintergreen — Gaultheria procumbens 'Cherry Berries'

A creeping, low-growing native groundcover with year-round evergreen interest, strongly wintergreen-scented foliage, and bright red berries that persist from fall through winter and often into spring. 'Cherry Berries' produces particularly large, nickel-sized berries — dramatically showier than the species. Excellent groundcover for shaded areas under acid-loving trees and shrubs; a natural companion for blueberries or rhododendrons. Hardy to Zone 3. Berries are edible raw or used to flavor teas and beverages.

The single most common ornamental shrub problem is failure to bloom due to pruning at the wrong time. The table below summarizes when each ornamental should — and should not — be pruned.