On Feb 18, 6:40*pm, (paghat) wrote:
In article
, ron

wrote:
I'm looking for a shrub for the middle of the lawn to replace a young
Japanese Maple that a late frost killed.

The ideal would:
(1) Be suitable for the borderline of Zones 6 and 7.
(2) Be as colorful as possible for as lomg as possible.
(3) Full sun location with good drainage.
(4) As hearty as reasonably possible in regards to disease/insects and
water needs.
(5) Full height at maturity of at least 4 feet with no upper limit on
height.

Your ideas would be greatly appreciated.

The suggestions have all been worth considering but a favorite of mine was
suggested by Linda, the Diablo ninebark. it can take a couple years to get
mature and impressive, but once established, it goes through the most
remarkable seasonal changes, and has what feels like an extended bloom
because the seeds that follow the flowers are the brightest crimson and
last so long. The leaves have wonderful color changes for spring
(mahogony) summer (black) and autumn (purple) and when mature the twigs
look lovely in winter with their peeling bar revealed.

Kay's suggestion of rugosas is fine at first blush. I have several and
have gotten a great deal of joy out of them and their bright orange to red
hips cling to branches through winter for extended decorative strength.
But they can become rampant without constant control of the runners and of
course they're horrifyingly spiky so can't be placed anywhere where it is
difficult to work around them to control the runners or to trim them back
every couple years with a lot of pain-giving trimmings that don't compost
well cuz just too thorny.

Bill recommended the white single kerria. That's a gorgeous shrub and the
twigs are colorful in winter. I prefer the look of either white or yellow
singles over the doubles, but the one fault of the singles is they don't
have an extended bloom. The doubles being infertile last and last in
flower.

The recommendation of lorapetalum or Chinese witchhazel is very iffy for
zone 6/7. They take a long time to establish and can be suddenly killed by
one good winter freeze. In areas that can kill a Jpanese maple, likely
also to kill this particular shrub. Plus there are so many inferior
cultivars on the market, it can be a burden to get a poor variety by
accident. If one does thrive, though, it can be shockingly beautiful with
purple leaves, flourescent pink strappy little flowers, and antic seasonal
changes.

There are fifty, a hundred others that could be recommended, but the first
one that came to my mind was the shadblow serviceberry (Amelanchier
canadensis). The western serviceberry is also nice but apt to get too big.
The shadblow establishes rapidly, thereafter never needs any attention.
It's twiggy inverted pyramid shape is generally very beautiful in leafless
winter with very occasional shaping. The tiny white flowers of spring
precede the leaves and make an impressive showing, followed by VERY tasty
berries that depending on your bird population could get eaten before you
get any but in some regions the birds don't expect them and let them cling
to branches a long time. The leafy shrub in summer has rustic appeal but
not fancy, then in autumn it has the most amazing colors.

If four feet is really sufficient then you'd also be pleased with a
fothergilla which has big dangly bottlebrush flowers and the best autumn
leaf color of any native shrub.

Some of the greatest garden shrubs anywhere on earth are the hybridized
Hamamelis intermedia cultivars (Asian witchhazels). They're TERRIBLY slow
growing so you'd have to invest in an expensive mature shrub to have a
good sized one right away. But they're hardy as the devil and for color,
unbeatable. Varieties like "Jelena" have fiery bright autumn leaves, then
bright orange spider-flowers for January and February (some varieties a
bit sooner), before green leaves return. Naked winter branches even before
the bright winter flowers appear have gnarly beauty. Their only "fault" is
they lack the beautiful perfume of the American witchhazel, so the
American shrub is very recommendable for winter perfume and hardiness, but
its yellow flowers are only about a third the size of the garden hybrids
and the autumn leaves a more ordinary yellow.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
visit my temperate gardening website:http://www.paghat.com.html
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Thank you for this wonderful information!