Fothergilla Is Fabulous Flowering Shrub

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The red bottlebrush tree from Australia can't survive in our cold zone, but there is a beautiful shrub with white bottlebrush flowers native to the southeastern US that you can grow around here very easily!

Seen here, Fothergilla is its name and in spring, fluffy white flowers cover the plant and fill the air with a light honey scent. I love this plant.

Through the summer, Fothergilla leaves, with their pretty edges, are a lush green; and some cultivars even have bluish-green leaves now too. And, while they're beautiful in bloom, perhaps even lovelier than Fothergilla's spring flowers may be the colors of its fall foliage - turning from green to yellow, orange, red, and even purplely, often all at once on one plant!

Look for the many Fothergilla shrubs on display at the Flower Show this week, then look for a spot, in the sun or part-shade, to plant one in your garden this spring.