Most grow as wide as they do tall and flower at some time during the growing season. Useful as foundation plantings, small hedges, or as specimen plants in small gardens. Groundcover to 3-4 feet tall are considered ‘small’.
Barberry
Concorde Barberry
Berberis thunbergii ‘Concorde’
Height: 18-24″
Spread: 18-24″
A petite barberry with deep maroon-purple foliage that becomes even more intense in the fall. Small yellow flowers may be followed by a few bright red berries. This variety produces little to no viable seed, making it a great alternative over others.
Crimson Pygmy Barberry
Berberis thunbergii ‘Crimson Pygmy’ (‘Atropurpurea Nana’)
Height: 2′
Spread: 3′
A dwarf, densely branched form displaying deep crimson colored foliage all season long. Best color when planted in full sun. Excellent color contrast against green or gold-leafed plants. A great choice for mass plantings, particularly as a low hedge or border plant.
Crimson Ruby Barberry
Berberis thunbergii ‘Criruzam’
Height: 2′
Spread: 2′
A dwarf, densely branched form displaying deep crimson colored foliage all season long. Best color when planted in full sun. Excellent color contrast against green or gold-leafed plants. A great choice for mass plantings, particularly as a low hedge or border plant.
Golden Jackpot Barberry
Berberis thunbergii ‘Joyce’
Height: 2′
Spread: 2′
A large-leaved barberry with bright gold, showstopping foliage on a compact form. Little to no pruning is needed to maintain its neat, dense, rounded shape, making it a fine choice for a low maintenance mass planting, low border or accent.
Golden Nugget Barberry
Berberis thunbergii ‘Monlers’
Height: 12″
Spread: 18″
An exceptional golden barberry in a dwarf form. Displays attractive, non-burning foliage with a golden orange cast most of the season. Excellent low-maintenance color for the landscape from spring to fall. Brightens beds and adds vibrant contrast to shrub borders. Heat and drought tolerant when established.
Golden Ruby Barberry
Berberis thunbergii ‘Goruzam’
Height: 2′
Spread: 2′
A handsome, compact shrub with colorful coral-orange foliage that lasts into autumn, then turns a brilliant mix of bright orange to brick red, accented with gold margins. Excellent as an accent, or plant in groupings in a low maintenance landscape. Rarely produces seedlings.
Mini Salsa Barberry
Berberis thunbergii ‘Mimi’
Height: 18-24″
Spread: 24-30″
An improved ‘Crimson Pygmy’ with vivid, dark red, colorfast foliage, excellent for adding low-maintenance color to the landscape from spring to fall. Use this compact selection to brighten beds and borders, or as a mass planting. Deer resistant. Tolerates urban conditions
Pygmy Ruby Barberry
Berberis thunbergii ‘Pygruzam’
Height: 1.5′
Spread: 3′
Shiny, deep red leaves cover this naturally dense, globe-shaped shrub. No trimming is needed to maintain its neat, dwarf habit, making it a fine choice for a low maintenance mass planting, low border or accent.
Sunsation Barberry
Berberis thunbergii ‘Monry’
Height: 3-4′
Spread: 4′
A vibrant golden barberry with a compact form. Attractive foliage has an orange cast most of the season. Provides excellent contrast with green-leaved plants, and brings warm color to low hedges, foundation plantings and formal gardens.
Bluebeard
Beyond Midnight Bluebeard
Caryopteris clanonensis ‘Beyond Midnight’
Height: 2.5′ Spread: 2′
Extremely dark, glossy foliage, a compact habit, and deep blue flowers. It adds much-needed color to the late summer landscape and makes a handsome companion with perennials. A great favorite with pollinators of all types!
Blue Balloon Bluebeard
Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Korball’
Height: 2.5′
Spread: 2′
Spherical in habit, like a balloon when in full bloom! Striking deep blue flowers are a welcome addition to any perennial border or wildlife garden. Highly fragrant, rich green foliage has silvery undersides. Vigorous and highly adaptable.
Blue Mist Bluebeard
Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Blue Mist’
Height: 2.5- 3′
Spread: 2.5- 3′
Attractive compact, mounding grower with fragrant powder blue blooms. Long blooming season. Creates a wonderful border for perennial beds, or use along walks and entryways. Deciduous.
Dark Knight Bluebeard
Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Dark Knight’
Height: 3-4′
Spread: 4′
A compact, mounding shrub with dense, fragrant, silver-gray foliage and deep purplish blue flowers over a long blooming season. Valued for late summer to fall flowers, when little else is in bloom.
La Barbe Bleue Bluebeard
Caryopteris x ‘SMCIPG’ PP #31,867
Height: 36″
Spread: 30″
Fragrant shiny yellow foliage adds a warm glow to the landscape throughout summer. An abundance of deep blue flower spikes provides a rich contrast to the foliage in summer and early fall. The neat and compact habit makes it a great container plant and garden specimen.
Lil’ Miss Sunshine Bluebeard
Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Janice’
Height: 30-36″
Spread: 30-36″
This lovely plant has shiny yellow foliage that glows all season long and an abundance of blue flowers in late summer. The habit is neat and compact making it a great container plant and garden specimen.
Petit Bleu Bluebeard
Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘MiniBleu’
Height: 24- 30″
Spread: 24- 36″
This superior selection offers deep blue flowers that are richer than other Caryopteris varieties and will attract butterflies to late summer gardens. Dark green glossy foliage covers its tight compact form. Perfect for perennial beds or fall plantings.
Butterfly Bush
Flutter By Petite Butterfly Bush
Height: 24″
Spread: 30″
Lo & Behold Series Butterfly Bush
Pruning generally not needed on this miniature butterfly bush, but may be trimmed in spring. Fragrant flowers from mid summer to frost. Deer resistant. Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.
Height: 30″ Spread: 30″
- Blue Chip
- Purple Haze
- Ice Chip
- Pink Micro Chip
Pugster Series Dwarf Butterfly Bush
Pugster Dwarf Butterfly bushes grow 2′ tall and 3’wide. Produces full-sized flowers on a compact, dwarf frame.
- Pugster Blue Buddleja davidii ‘SMNBDBT
- Pugster Periwinkle
- Pugster Pink Buddleja davidii ‘SMNBDPT
- Pugster White Buddleja davidii ‘SMNBDW’
- Pugster Amethyst
Coralberry
Hancock Coralberry
Symphoricarpos x chenaultii ‘Hancock’
Height: 24″
Spread: 8′
A suckering shrub with arching stems and a prostrate growth habit. Useful for planting on slopes. Pink flowers in late summer are followed by coral pink berries. Oval bluish-green leaves
Cotoneaster
Coral Beauty Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster dammeri ‘Coral Beauty’
Height: 1-2′
Spread: 6′
An outstanding groundcover with dense prostrate branches covered with shiny green, finely textured foliage. White blooms in spring are later followed with highly ornamental berries. Cooler fall temperatures bring on a purple tinge to the foliage that enhances the profusion of coral red berries. Evergreen.
Cranberry Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster apiculatus
Height: 3′
Spread: 6′
A superb low hedge or groundcover formed by spreading branches that display an interesting herringbone pattern. Small, pink flowers in spring are followed by large, beautiful red berries that brighten the winter landscape. Deciduous.
Prostrate Rock Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster horizontalis ‘Perpusillus’
Height: 1-2′
Spread: 5-7′
Tough, easy and adaptable – great for rock gardens and banks! Cool autumn temperatures bring a brilliant flush of fall color to the finely textured, glossy green foliage and highly ornamental red berries. An excellent spreading groundcover with thick intertwining, arching branches. Semi-evergreen in colder areas.
Streib’s Findling Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster dammeri ‘Streibs Findling’
Height: 6″
Spread: 8′
One of the lowest growing cotoneasters! Excellent, flat growing groundcover displaying dense, tiny blue-green leaves. Tiny white flowers in spring are followed by showy red berries. Use on banks, berms, and to cascade over walls. Evergreen.
Tom Thumb Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster apiculatus ‘Tom Thumb’
Height: 1-2′
Spread: 5′
Tiny glossy leaves grace the arching branches of this tidy, compact variety. Spreads as a dense mound requiring little to no pruning to maintain its shape, making it an excellent low-maintenance groundcover. Offers bright red to burgundy fall foliage hues. Grows well in poor soils, including dry areas and clay. Semi-evergreen to deciduous.
Willowleaf Cotoneaster
Cotoneaster salicifolius ‘Repens’
Height: 1′
Spread: 8′
This low growing cotoneaster is fully evergreen and will quickly fill hillsides and open areas with its deep, green shiny leaves. In early autumn, brilliant red berries sparkle among the foliage remaining bright throughout the winter. It is a great groundcover for sloped sites or those hard to mow areas.
Crape Myrtle
Berry Dazzle Crape Myrtle
Lagerstroemia ‘GAMAD VI’
Height: 3-4′
Spread: 3-4′
New leaves emerge burgundy-red, then brilliant fuchsia-purple blooms appear early in summer, providing great summer color into fall. A superb compact border plant or landscape accent. Excellent mildew resistance. Performs well in containers. Deciduous.
Forsythia
Gold Tide Forsythia
Forsythia x ‘Courtasol’
Height: 1-2′
Spread: 4′
Brilliant yellow flowers in early spring. A dwarf forsythia cultivar that is noted for its compact-spreading shape. Early bloom makes this shrub a true harbinger of spring. Fast growing with a semi-arching habit. Best flowering if planted in full sun.
Springshine Forsythia
Forsythia x ‘SMFXGP’
Height: 2′
Spread: 3′
A cheerful herald to spring with densely massed, bright yellow blooms that sheathe the stems from bottom to top on this compact, rounded, deciduous shrub. Small green leaves emerge following the spring bloom. A beautiful accent to mixed borders or foundation plantings, or use en masse to create a low, informal hedge.
Starlet Forsythia
Forsythia x ‘Minfor6’
Height: 2-3′
Spread: 2-3′
This new dwarf Forsythia is a mass of bright yellow spring flowers from base to tip. If your older Forsythia takes up too much room and has a weak flower display, try this new, improved compact variety. A beautiful accent in mixed borders or foundation plantings. Blooms on old wood.
Sugar Baby Forsythia
Forsythia x ‘NIMBUS’
Height: 18- 30″
Spread: 18- 30″
This miniature, upright selection delivers more flowers per inch to create an outstanding spring display. A very compact, dwarf plant which provides lots of spring color in a small space.
Lilac
Bloomerang Dwarf Pink Lilac
Dwarf Pink Syringa x ‘SMNJRPI’
Height: 3′
Spread: 3′
Naturally grows as a small, rounded shrub, at just about a third the size of conventional lilacs. It outperforms other lilacs with its pure pink blooms that cover the plant in late spring, then reappear throughout summer and fall. Vigorous and resistant to disease.
Lydia Broom
Dyers Greenwood
Genista lydia
Height: 1′ Spread: ‘
Lydia Broom is an open multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a ground-hugging habit of growth. Features showy yellow pea-like flowers along the branches from mid to late spring. It has light green foliage throughout the season.
Bangle Lydia Broom
Genista lydia ‘Bangle
Height: 2′ Spread: 2′
A floriferous, low mounding selection that produces waves of electric yellow flowers in spring. Improved branching and texture make this a wonderful plant for containers and for mass plantings.
Potentilla
Abbotswood Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Abbotswood’
Height: 2′
Spread: 3′
An excellent dwarf shrub that will provide brilliant summer interest with masses of bright white blooms that cover the fine green foliage, long after many plants have stopped flowering.
Cheesehead Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘SMPFMY’
Height: 2′ Spread: 2′
Bright, enthusiastic blossoms that are a standout from the crowd! Finely textured, dark green foliage with an abundance of big yellow flowers from spring until late summer on a neat, compact, low-maintenance, deer and rabbit resistant shrub with a dense habit. A wonderful choice for adding a shock of color to the summer landscape. Deciduous.
Frosty Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Monsidh’
Height: 1.5- 2′
Spread: 3′
A versatile, hardy and durable small shrub that produces an abundance of frosty white, buttercup-like flowers throughout summer on a mounding habit with finely textured green foliage. Thrives in garden settings but is widely adaptable to poor, rocky or sandy soils, and clay. Works well as a colorful accent in front of shrub borders.
Goldfinger Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Goldfinger’
Height: 3′
Spread: 4′
A versatile small shrub that charms with its cheery yellow buttercup-like flowers. Fine-textured green foliage on a mounded form. Use as a colorful accent in shrub borders.
Gold Star Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Gold Star’
Height: 2′
Spread: 3′
A densely branched deciduous shrub valued for its beautiful display of golden yellow blooms that cover the finely textured green foliage profusely throughout summer. Excellent as a colorful border planting, landscape accent or massed as a groundcover. Very tolerant to poor soils.
Happy Face Pink Paradise Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Kupinpa’
Height: 2-3′
Spread:2-3′
The clear pink, semi-doubled flowers hold their color longer than other pink potentillas. This is an excellent choice for cooler climate gardeners who want low-maintenance flowers all summer long
Happy Face Yellow Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Lundy’
Height: 2-3′
Spread: 2-3′
Mango Tango Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Uman’
Height: 2′
Spread: 2′
Rich orange-red radiates from the center of deep yellow flowers creating a striking bicolor effect, backed by fine green foliage. Masses of blooms provide vibrant color for an extensive period, from late spring until fall.
Red Ace Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Red Ace’
Height: 2-3′
Spread: 3-4′
A showy, easy-care shrub with rich vermilion-colored flowers that have pale yellow undersides. Flowers will change from red to yellow under intense heat. The densely branched form with deer and rabbit resistant, finely textured, green foliage works well for borders and low hedges, or as a colorful landscape accent.
Sunset Potentilla
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Sunset’
Height: 2′
Spread: 3′
Masses of color from glowing brick-orange blooms held on dense branches. Neat, compact shrub useful for borders, low hedges or entryways. Flower color fades to yellow in hot weather.
Low Boy Pyracantha
Pyracantha coccinea ‘Lowboy’
Height: 2-3′
Spread: 6-8′
Handsome, low spreader displays small but abundant creamy white flowers then bright orange berries. Its vigorous nature makes it an effective groundcover.