18 Wisconsin Native Flowering Shrubs

Flowering shrubs are often chosen for aesthetic considerations, such as to introduce new colors or textures into a landscape. Flowering shrubs are the backbone of any garden, offering privacy along a border, attracting pollinators, and providing color and interest for years. With a wide variety of plants, there’s a beautiful blooming bush for every taste!

Shrubs are an instrumental part of every garden’s ecosystem. They provide shade, improve soil stability, enhance air quality and create habitats for all types of wildlife. Of course, shrubs and small trees are also beautiful to look at, especially when you choose varieties that add seasonal interest to your landscape.

Here are 18 different flowering shrub species that provide great options for height, shade tolerance, color and seasonal interest.

Catalog of Native Flowering Shrubs

Bladdernut Height: 10-15 feet Bloom: Late Spring/ Early Summer Sun: Part Shade, Shade Zones: 3-8 Soil: Loam Moisture: Medium, Moist Color: Blue	Description: Bladdernut, Staphylea trifolia, is a fast-growing, suckering, native large shrub or small tree that commonly occurs in bottomlands, woodland thickets and moist soils along streams. Establishes dense colonies in the wild where it is most often seen in a shrubby form. Typically grows 10-15 feet tall.
Buttonbush Height: 5-12 feet Bloom: Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade Zones: 4-9 Soil: Loam Moisture: Moist, Wet Color: White	Description: Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis, is a somewhat coarse, deciduous shrub with an open-rounded habit that typically grows 6-12’ (infrequently to 20’) tall. It is common throughout Missouri, most frequently occurring in wet open areas, low woods, thickets, swamps, upland sink-hole ponds, river bottomland and stream/pond margins.
Common Elderberry Height: 3-8 feet Bloom: Late Spring,Early Summer Sun: Full Sun,Part Sun Zones: 3-9 Soil: Loam, Clay, Sand Moisture: Medium, Moist Color: White	Description: Common Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is a deciduous, somewhat sprawling, suckering shrub that typically grows to 5-12 feet tall. It typically occurs on stream banks, moist woodlands, thickets, fence rows and roadsides. Tiny lemon-scented white flowers appear in large flat-topped clusters in June. After blooming the flowers are replaced by drupe-like fruits. Fruits are sometimes used to make jams, jellies, pie filings and elderberry wine. Fruits are attractive to wildlife.
Common Ninebark Height: 5-10 feet Bloom: Late Spring, Early Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun Zones: 2-8 Soil: Loam, Clay Moisture: Dry, Medium, Moist Color: White, Pink	Description: Common Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) is an upright, spreading, somewhat coarse, deciduous shrub. It typically occurs along streams, rocky banks, gravel bars and in moist thickets. Grows 5-9 feet tall. Noted for its exfoliating bark (on mature branches) which peels in strips to reveal several layers of reddish to light brown inner bark (hence the common name of ninebark).
Downy Serviceberry Height: 15-25 feet Bloom: Late Spring/Early Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade Zones: 4-9 Soil: Loam Moisture: Medium Color: White	Description: Downy Serviceberry, Amelanchier arborea, also called Downy Juneberry, is a deciduous, early-flowering, large shrub or small tree which typically grows 15-25 feet tall in cultivation but can reach 40 feet in the wild. Occurs most often in open rocky woods, wooded slopes, and bluffs.
Eastern Wahoo Height: 12-20 feet Bloom: Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade Zones: 3-7 Soil: Loam Moisture: Medium Color: Purple	Description: Eastern Wahoo, Euonymus atropurpureus, also called Burning Bush, is a deciduous shrub or small tree which is most often grown for its attractive red berries and fall color. Occurs in the wild in open woods and thickets, near streams and on wooded slopes. Typically appears as an upright, spreading, deciduous shrub with an irregular crown growing to 10-15 feet tall.
False Indigo Height: 4-12 feet Bloom: Spring Sun: Full Sun Zones: 4-9 Soil: Loam,Clay Moisture: Medium,Moist,Wet Color: Orange,Purple	Description: False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) is a shrub that typically grows to 4-12 feet tall with a spread often in excess of its height. It is native to moist open woodland areas, floodplains, stream banks and swamp margins. It features compound, odd-pinnate leaves, each to 12 inches long. It blooms in May-June in dense, spike-shaped clusters. Each flower has a single-petaled purple corolla and 10 protruding stamens with showy orange-yellow anthers. Flowers are followed by fruits.
Kalm St. John's Wort Height: 2-3 feet Bloom: Late Summer/Early Fall Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade Zones: 4-7 Soil: Loam, Sand Moisture: Medium, Moist Color: Pink, Purple	Description: Kalm St. John's Wort, Hypericum kalmianum, is a small, dense, evergreen shrub or subshrub with upright branching that typically grows in a dense mound to 2-3 feet tall. It typically occurs in rocky to sandy soils, ranging from relatively dry open woods to moist lakeshore areas.
New Jersey Tea Height: 2-3 feet Bloom: Late Spring/Early Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun Zones: 3-8 Soil: Loam, Sand Moisture: Dry Medium Color: White	Description: New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus) is a compact, dense, rounded shrub which typically grows 2-3 feet tall. It occurs in prairies, glades, dry open woods and thickets. Cylindrical clusters (1-2 inches long) of tiny, fragrant, white flowers (1/8 inch) appear on long stalks at the stem ends or upper leaf axils in late spring.
Northern Bush Honeysuckle Height: 1 to 3 feet Bloom: Summer Sun: Full Sun Zones: 3-7 Soil: Loam, Sand Moisture: Medium, Dry Color: Orange, Yellow, Gold	Description: Northern Bush Honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera) is a suckering, densely branched, deciduous shrub that typically grows to 3 feet tall and to 4 feet wide. It is native to dry rocky open woodland areas and thickets. It is noted for its small shrubby form, yellow trumpet-shaped flowers, dark green leaves and fall color.
Northern Spicebush Height: 6-12 feet Bloom: Spring Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade Zones: 4-9 Soil: Loam Moisture: Medium, Moist Color: Green, Yellow	Description: Northern Spicebush, Lindera benzoin, is a native deciduous shrub with a broad, rounded habit which typically grows 6-12 feet high in moist locations in bottomlands, woods, ravines, valleys and along streams. The woody roots are shallow and much branched.
Pagoda Dogwood Height: 15-25 feet Bloom: Late Spring/Early Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade, Shade Zones: 5-7 Soil: Loam Moisture: Medium, Moist, Wet Color: White, Yellow	Description: Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) is a small deciduous tree or large multi-stemmed shrub that typically grows 15-25 feet tall with distinctive tiered/layered horizontal branching which is upward-turned at the tips. It is native to both moist and dry forests, forest margins, stream banks and fields.
Red Elderberry Height: 1 to 2 feet Bloom: Late Spring/Early Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun Zones: 3-7 Soil: Loam, Acidic Moisture: Medium, Moist, Wet Color: White	Description: Red Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa, is a deciduous suckering shrub which typically grows to 8-12 feet tall with a somewhat sprawling habit. It features (1) opposite, pinnate-compound, green leaves which have 5-7 leaflets, and (2) dome-shaped clusters of numerous, late spring to early summer, tiny, fragrant, white flowers.
Round-Leaved Dogwood Height: 3-10 feet Bloom: Summer Sun: Part Shade, Shade Zones: 4-7 Soil: Loam, Clay, Sand Moisture: Medium, Moist Color: White	Description: Round-Leaved Dogwood, Cornus rugusa, is an understory species of upland forest, both hardwood and conifer. Semi-shade tolerant, it prefers thinner canopies or openings and wood margins.
Shrubby Cinquefoil Height: 2-4 feet Bloom: Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade Zones: 3-7 Soil: Loam Moisture: Medium, Moist Color: Yellow	Description: Shrubby Cinquefoil, Potentila fruticosa, is a vigorous, floriferous, many-branched, compact, deciduous shrub. It typically grows in a mound to 2-4 feet tall on branches clad with compound-pinnate, medium to blue-green leaves. Saucer-shaped, 5-petaled, yellow flowers appear over a long summer bloom period.
Sweet Pepperbush Height: 3-8 feet Bloom: Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade Zones: 3-9 Soil: Acidic, Sand Moisture: Medium, Moist, Wet Color: White	Description: Sweet Pepperbush, Clethra alnifolia, also called Summersweet, is a deciduous shrub that is native to swampy woodlands, wet marshes, stream banks and seashores, often in sandy soils, along the coast. It is a rounded, suckering, densely-branched, deciduous shrub that typically grows to 3-6 feet tall and is noted for producing a mid to late summer bloom of sweetly fragrant white flowers.
Virginia Sweetspire Height: 3-5 feet Bloom: Summer Sun: Full Sun,Part Sun,Part Shade Zones: 3-9 Soil: Clay,Loam Moisture: Medium, Moist, Wet Color: White	Description: Virginia Sweetspire, Itea virginica, is an erect, rounded, broad-spreading, deciduous shrub with arching branches. Typically grows 3-4 feet tall with a similar spread. Features fragrant, tiny white flowers borne in cylindrical, drooping racemes which cover the shrub with bloom in late spring to early summer. Oval, dark green leaves (1-4" long) turn varying shades of red, orange and gold in autumn. Long period of fall color
Winterberry Height: 3-12 feet Bloom: Summer Sun: Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade Zones: 3-9 Soil: Loam, Acidic Moisture: Medium, Moist Color: Green	Description: Winterberry, Ilex verticillata, is a deciduous holly where it typically occurs in swamps, damp thickets, low woods and along ponds and streams. This is a slow-growing, deciduous shrub with an upright-rounded habit that typically grows 3-12’ tall. In the wild, it often suckers to form large thickets or colonies.