White-flowering shrubs bring a sense of balance and timeless beauty to any garden. Their soft blooms brighten shady corners, soften bold color palettes, and create a calming, cohesive look across your landscape.
Whether you’re designing a serene retreat or looking to highlight your more vibrant plants, these classic blooms offer the perfect backdrop without overwhelming the space.
Fragrant Tea Olive (Osmanthus fragrans)
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Similar to the leaves of a holly bush, the evergreen foliage of the Osmanthus Tea Olive ‘Fortunes’ is spiky, which not only gives this plant a great deal of architectural interest but also makes it a desirable place for birds to nest in, thanks to its extra layer of protection.
One of the most interesting things about this shrub, however, is that the flowers appear from October through to December.
This means that you’ll be getting blooms in your garden long after most other plants have finished flowering for the year, and it also offers a reliable late source of food for pollinating insects before they head into hibernation.
The blooms are also highly fragranced, which makes them a superb choice for planting near doorways or garden gates, where you’ll still be able to enjoy their beautiful scent without having to venture too far into your garden during winter.
Happy being planted in full sun or partial shade, a full-grown Tea Olive bush can grow up to 15-20 feet tall and equally as wide.
It’s also a really good shrub to use if you’re trying to create some privacy when you’re too close to your neighbors, or if you’d like to create natural, tall boundaries throughout your garden.
Pros
- The spiky, evergreen foliage adds architectural interest to your garden and provides a safe space for birds to nest in spring
- An abundance of white, fragrant flowers appear from October through to December
- Ideal for planting in full sun or partial shade
- Can grow up to 20’ tall, making it a great choice for creating privacy from nearby houses
Cons
- Although the spiky leaves are fantastic for wildlife, they aren’t exactly child-friendly, so it might not be the best choice for a family garden that gets a lot of inquisitive children running around it
Abbotswood Potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa ‘Abbotswood’)
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Covered in beautiful, pure white flowers, this shrub blooms profusely at the beginning of summer and keeps blooming throughout the summer until the first frost.
Annabelle Hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens)
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These hydrangeas are easy to care for and work well in just about any garden. Create a romantic feel to your landscape when you add Annabelle hydrangeas to your gardens.
Here’s a guide to growing Annabelle hydrangea shrubs.
White Oleander (Nerium oleander)
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Full of lush, lance-shaped, shiny green leaves, the white oleander flowers pop with vibrancy. The single white flowers have a sweet and subtle scent.
White Spirea (Spiraea betulifolia)
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Beautiful fuzzy white blooms, perfect for edging. We have a pink spirea edge on our driveway. So pretty! Butterflies and bees LOVE it too!
Autumn Ivory Encore Azalea
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Small, sophisticated, white shrubs, these ivory azaleas are perfect little bloomers you can place in your moon garden. We have an orange/pink-colored bush we’ve been enjoying for many years. Stays green year-round, even when the flowers are gone.
Blanc Double de Coubert Hybrid Rugosa Rose
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This fast-growing rose bush has a delicate scent and a beautiful look. Sadly, the flowers do not last long: the petals drop after only a couple of days.
White Flowering Shrubs Buyer’s Guide
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White flowering bushes are great, no doubt about it. But before you decide which one would be the best choice for your garden, take a look at the suggestions/considerations below.
This will help you ensure that the plant you’re choosing is perfectly matched to your outdoor space and will continue to grow healthy and happy.
Where to Plant?
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The first thing you need to think about is where your new shrubs will be planted. Is it in full sun, partial shade, or full shade? Once you’ve taken the time to survey the area and know how much sun it gets throughout the day, you can then start looking at what plants thrive best in those conditions.
A flowering shrub that is happiest in full sun will do better when planted in a sunny corner of the garden. Likewise, a shrub that prefers shade will do better when placed in that position.
How High Will It Grow?
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As with the planting position, it’s important to think about how tall your white flowering shrub is likely to get, and to make sure that it doesn’t bully out or overshadow any surrounding plants.
Some shrubs can reach up to 20 feet or more in height, so make sure you’ve got adequate space for them to grow in before purchasing.
Flowering Period
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The next thing to give some thought to is when you’d like the blooms on your white flowering shrub to appear.
Summer flowers will work well with other colors in the surrounding planting area. And, as you’re likely to be out in your garden more frequently throughout the summer months, you’ll be able to see and enjoy them on a daily basis.
However, some white flowering shrubs bloom throughout the winter months. These make a good choice if you’d like to add some interest to your garden when most other plants have finished flowering until next year.
Foliage
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As with the flowering period, it’s important to think about the shrub’s foliage and its growth pattern.
Shrubs that have deciduous foliage will lose their leaves in fall and have bare branches through winter, reappearing in spring.
If you’d like some year-round color and structure, it would be a good idea to look for an evergreen shrub. This means that the leaves will stay in place on the plant throughout each season and will help your garden look less bare throughout the winter. Some shrubs may even have pretty berries in the winter.
Fragrance
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It’s always nice to have fragrance in the garden.
Some white flowering shrubs are also quite heavily scented. That means you’ll be able to enjoy the fragrance as it’s carried by the wind. You don’t need to plant these right by your front door to enjoy them.
But others will only have a faint scent, and if you want to enjoy that, you’ll need to plant them on your porch or in a large container by your entrance. You can then stop and get a sniff every time you walk by.
A Healthy Natural Ecosystem
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There are also some key things to look for in a white flowering shrub if you’d like to encourage more wildlife into your garden.
Flowers will always bring in bees, butterflies, and other pollinating insects. However, a shrub that flowers later in the year will provide them with a reliable source of food when it’s a little more scarce, helping to set them up for hibernation.
Evergreen foliage will also provide overwintering insects and mammals with a safe space to spend the winter months. Any foliage that is spiky or irregularly shaped will help add an extra layer of defense to any birds that choose to nest in your shrub during spring.
