Sea buckthorn

A virtually stemless, broadleaf-evergreen native of central and eastern North America: a basal rosette of rigid, sword-shaped, spine-tipped leaves up to 30 inches long, fringed along the margins with the curly white threads that give the species its name. In early summer a flowering stalk shoots from the center to 5 to 8 feet, carrying nodding, bell-shaped, creamy-white flowers. Tough enough for poor sandy soil, heat, drought, and salt spray, it earns its keep as architectural structure in dry and seaside gardens.

A fast, suckering native shrub of streambanks and moist thickets across eastern North America, grown for huge flat-topped cymes of tiny lemon-scented white flowers in early summer and the clusters of dark elderberry drupes that follow. Spreads by root suckers into naturalized colonies 5 to 12 feet tall and wide; the flowers feed butterflies and the showy fruit feeds birds. The raw berries are not eaten fresh - they are cooked into jelly, pie, and wine.

Protea neriifolia, the bearded protea, is a tall, robust evergreen fynbos shrub from the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, grown for its large goblet-shaped flower heads of soft pink-to-cream bracts - each one rimmed with a distinctive 'beard' of black or white fur at the bract tips. Narrow, oleander-like leaves clothe the stems, and the long-lasting blooms are a staple of the cut-flower trade. It is one of the easiest, longest-flowering, and most widely grown proteas, but it is FROST-TENDER (RHS H3, hardy to only about 25°F briefly) and belongs in a warm-temperate or Mediterranean climate, USDA zones 9a-11, or under glass. Like all of its family it is PHOSPHORUS-SENSITIVE: ordinary phosphate fertiliser or bone meal will kill it, and it demands acidic, sharply-drained soil, full sun, and good air circulation. In its homeland the nectar-rich heads are bird-pollinated by sunbirds and sugarbirds.

A large, vigorous, fountain-shaped deciduous shrub that earns its common name in late spring, when its arching stems are smothered in masses of pale-pink, yellow-throated, bell-shaped flowers. Native to China, it is one of the great old-fashioned spring shrubs - spectacular in full bloom, much loved by bees, and offering peeling brown bark for quiet winter interest. It is also genuinely big: expect 6 to 10 feet tall and wide at maturity, so give it room rather than fighting its size with the shears. The form to seek out is the Award-winning "Pink Cloud", which carries a clearer, richer pink than the variable seed-grown species.

Bodnant viburnum is a garden hybrid (Viburnum farreri × V. grandiflorum) bred circa 1935 at Bodnant Garden in Wales, with no wild native range. Its signature appeal is intensely fragrant, deep-pink flower clusters that open on bare stems from November through March - a unique winter-to-early-spring performance that few shrubs can match. The honest catch is timing: those early flowers are highly frost-tender and a single hard freeze after they open can destroy an entire season's bloom, leaving the plant ornamentally ordinary until autumn foliage color arrives.

A deciduous shrub grown almost entirely for its explosion of yellow four-lobed flowers that line the bare arching stems in early spring, before the leaves emerge. A garden hybrid of two Asian species (Forsythia suspensa × F. viridissima) - not native to North America. Missouri Botanical Garden describes it as a "one-season wonder" that fades into the background after bloom, so it earns its place as a late-winter color signal rather than a four-season anchor.