Sambucus Black Lace - it is absolutely stunning!

Hydrangea Limelight - so carefree and beautiful you cannot go wrong with it (as long as you have the space for it!)

Quickfire would be my choice. Mine is not in my main view and I wish it was. Darn, another transplant added to the to-do list....

Of course your choices will be affected by zone, light and soil conditions. I will tell you what works for me and why, to help you decide. Redtwig dogwood, Cornus alba 'Elegantissima' is what I chose to plant outside of the window I most often look out from. It is easily pruned to control its size, in fact demands it for the best display of twig color. The variegated foliage is interesting among a sea of green foliage. It combines easily with evergreens. I have a dwarf mugo pine, and an assortemnt of hostas under it, in part shade. In my experience, it will not flower or fruit without another pollinator. The blooms are not showy at any rate, and fruiting shrubs beside patios don't always work well. It is in a corner of my yard, however, and I would like to try combining it with a berried shrub, like a winterberry holly or viburnum. I have a viburnum 'Onondaga' behind it now, although I'm still not sure it will fit in that space.

What other shrubs do you already have there? Any other design considerations?

Its full sun (12 hours), mostly exposed, except for the house blocks all east winds and sun.

Its a heavier soil, mostly well drained, evenly moist.

Currenlty to the far left going to the right looking out my large slider patio door.
- Koreanspice Viburnum faced with Strawberry candy daylily
- Grouping of 3 Fiesta forsythia.
- Spring Red Compact Viburnum
(plant I'm looking to replace)
- Round stone walkway
- Grouping of 3 Ames St. Johns Wort
- Northern Accents Ole Rose
- Amur Maakiia Multi-stem tree

I'm starting to lean towards Quickfire Hydrangea, its blooms last almost 3 months and with that offer a color transition.

One nursery mentioned a Lilac, what? Things are so overrated, they bloom for 3-4wks and they fade into oblivion.

Need something with mutli-seasonal interest, extended bloom or least a prominant ornamental feature and has nice form with interesting foilage and texture.

I'm considering a Oakleaf Hydrangea as well, but I'll need mild winters to get any flowers. Its all going to depend on the foilage and habit...local nursery has Pee wee and Snowflake.

Fothergilla is another choice, but all the stock I've seen in my area looks crappy...thin, leggy, branch dieback and the rabbits apparently love them.

I was down in chicago this past weekend and saw a Ruby Spice Clethra that was pruned up like multi-stem shrub, thing was gorgeous!

If I were considering a single shrub as a specimen, I would want something that looks good through as many seasons as possible. I would not rely on flowers and a relatively short bloom season to carry the load. What that might be will vary a lot depending on location - the example of the variegated redtwig is a good choice for colder climates. Or Fothergilla. In my climate, I'd probably opt for oakleaf hydrangea. But there's several other shrubs that come to mind as well......one of the perks of a zone 8 climate :-)

Exactly! we are getting somewhere.

Any others that come to mind that might work for zone 5?

Top 3 front runners...
Mount Airy Fothergilla
Quickfire Hydrangea
Snowflake Oakleaf Hydrangea

Mt. Airy is a nice plant (I have 3 of them), but I don't know that I would put it in my short list for best view.

I like the idea of a variegated redtwig dogwood. Ivory Halo is smaller than Elegantissima. I grow clematis through my IH for added summertime appeal (C. 'purpurea plena elegans', but many will do). They can display some foliage fungus problems depending on the weather, which would not be very attractive front and center. However, I usually do preventive fungicide early in the season, and it takes care of it very well. There is a cornus alba called 'Cream Cracker' that is supposed to be more disease resistant. I have one but it is still small and in an out of the way spot, so I can't really judge it yet.

Well just got back for the nursery and can't beleive how ratty the Beaver Creek Fothergilla and Oakleaf Hydrangea looked.

Now its between a Koreanspice Viburnum, Quickfire Hydrangea, Clethra Ruby Spice or Firebird Crap on a standard.

As you mentioned, the variegated dogwoods seem to get leaf spot by late summer...in fact the (3) ivory halos that I have are showing signs right now.

None of the your choices will look appealing in a winter.

Exactly why I just decided to go with a Firebird Crabapple on a standard.

This vareity keeps good clean foilage all summer, white flowers and red fruit during the winter...very happy for my choice off the patio.

I decided to go with a set of Mount Airy Fothergilla outside the baywindow. Will have southern exposure with light shade. Quickfire Hydgrangea will be the backdrop.

That does it, yard is completely shrubbed out.

A couple of points: I have two oakleaf and they are perfectly hardy in zone 5b. We always have a week of 0 to -5 in winter; no harm done.

They look wonderful at this time of year. No pests, no spots not holes or sunscald. I wonder if the nursery ones...no I'll make that "I bet" the nursery plants were stressed by this time of year.

I'm weighing in so others don't dismiss oakleaf hydrangeas out of hand. They are among the loveliest of fall shrubs.

but Marie, your zone in your id says 5A, so aren't you implying they are hardy to 5A? Yet, I am 5A and I lost one. It was planted close to the house (albeit not the sunny side). It was a "dwarf" cultivar.. I forget the name. PeeWee perhaps.

Note that I am in a low-lying coldspot of MA that is always 10 degrees colder than whatever they are saying for inland MA. Spmetimes I wonder if I am really 4B.

So I agree its a super shrub, but it does come with some amount of risk. Maybe I lost it for some other reason... And even if the shrub survived, I always wondered if the flower buds would have survived.

Zones are tough to go by because of the range. Go off what your typical lows are in your area and even what some of the record lows are. I found that the record lows in Milwaukee go from -23 to -26. Usually we'll at least get a -13 day/s in winter.

So...with my research on Oakleaf, the flower buds are only hardy to about -10 degrees. I would only get flowers in zone 5a during mild winters.

Oakleaf hydrangea is a summer blooming shrub. This is a plant that blooms on new wood, so low winter temps (if not deathly to the entire plant) should have next to no effect on summer flowering on new shoots. Reveal the research that claims that there won't be flowers after cold damage to stems.

Take the example of the Morton Arboretum (Lisle, IL), where winter lows fall into the -20s F regularly, and they have June/July flowers every summer with Hydrangea quercifolia. Check their website to see which clones they are having success with, and try them. Better, use the clones that Johnson's Nursery from the Milwaukee suburbs are selling. Those should provide ironclad performance for WI conditions.

I'm always amazed when gardeners will reject plants that have some degree of performance in/near their zone, but just aren't real common and because they aren't seen around like forsythia or burning bush. On the other hand, they'll be the first to take the hothouse rose and fry it at first winter's chill simply because "no one else has it."

Self-limiting is it's own reward...or sentence.

The cultivars in my area bloom on OLD wood. Yes, OLD wood.

Flowers on in mild winters. These are the cultivars available at Johnsons nursery.

Summer Flake and Pee Wee.

No other nursery in SE WI carries Oakleaf Hydrangea.

Maybe I should check, Kelm.

ROFL, I planted three Pee Wee oak leafs this spring, just to the left of my red-twigged dogwood/mugo pine/hosta corner. They're the backdrop for my "new" shade garden, which is mostly older plants that I moved there to create instant impact. They're supposed to offer some winter interest, with their gnarly peeling bark. So far, they're blooming on both old and new wood. Or I should say, they bloomed on old wood and are still throwing blooms, on new wood. They loved all the rain this summer, and they're mulched, so I'm hoping they'll behave like good little oak leafs and survive the winter! Knock on wood, hee, hee.

I would not plant clethra (I have two cultivars, Ruby Spice and a white one) in a prominent spot. It is slow to leaf out, only flowers for a few weeks in late summer/fall, and Ruby Spice esp. is a yellow-green. Don't get me wrong, I love them, just not as a specimen plant.

Whaas, your choice of the Firebird crab sounds like a winner. It has all the attributes of a four-season stunner!

QUICKFIRE!!!!

I vote with hydrangeasnohio - QUICKFIRE Hydrangea paniculata!!!
& with wendyb - IVORY HALO Cornus Alba!!!

Good luck!