Just when you've had enough of winter, the bright yellow blooms of forsythia appear even before the foliage. This easy-care shrub makes a great (and inexpensive) privacy screen too. Look for a more compact size if you have a smaller garden.

As you might suspect, this fast-growing shrub attracts tons of butterflies and other pollinators. Newer types are not invasive, and they also are more compact, ranging from a foot tall to four or five feet tall.

Roses aren't as finicky as you might think. Shrub roses are some of the easiest types to grow, and many new varieties are more cold hardy and disease resistant too.

Ranging from pale pink to deep purple, the conical blooms of this old-fashioned spring bloomer are intoxicatingly fragrant. Lilacs make a great hedge or accent and also attract butterflies. New types are more compact and rebloom throughout the season, so they're great for smaller gardens.

Abelia has beautiful pink, purple, or peachy bell-shaped flowers in late spring. New types are more cold hardy. Plant it in a mixed border alongside perennials.

Showy spring flowers in purples, pinks, yellow, and white pop against the glossy green foliage of this shrub. New varieties of rhododendron are more cold tolerant, but make sure it gets dappled shade.

In late summer when many other flowering shrubs have lost steam, this plant is in its full glory with pink, white, lavender, or even blue flowers that bloom well into fall. New types grow in a column (pillar) shape that's sized right for small gardens.

This spring-blooming shrub has a mounded form with gracefully arching branches. Some types are low growing and work well as a beautiful ground cover too.

This native plant has elegant arching branches dotted with clusters of creamy white or pink flowers in late spring. It's fast growing and can become quite large, so give it plenty of room or look for dwarf varieties if you're tight on space. Some types have beautiful wine-colored or golden-orange foliage.

Some like it hot! These lovely shrubs ignore the heat and bloom all summer long with frilly, vibrant flowers in shades of white, purple, crimson, or pink. Some types become small trees; others are dwarf varieties that remain three to four feet tall and wide.