Shrubs

The Middle of Summer is everyone's least favorite time to be in the garden -well, maybe not to actually be in the garden but definitely to work in it.By this time, the squirrel are eating your tomatoes, the ground is hard, and the mosquitoes are out. And quite honestly, if you don't have your garden looking good by now, all the sweat-burned eyes in the world aren't going to improve the situation much until things cool off and the rain returns. Despite this, summer is the perfect time to enjoy the garden. It's the the time when all the planning, all the dark winter evenings spent drooling over plant catalogs, and all the spring hauling and digging pay off. This is when we dream of sweeping gracefully around the garden,martini in hand and envious friends in tow, soaking up the accolades for a show that most honest gardeners would admit is only partially their doing. But to achieve summer-garden nirvana take true inspiration and a detailed plan. And this is where the workhorses of the dog days truly earn their keep. I am talking, of course, about those shrubs that are seemingly indestructible. The following shrubs give their all during the warm mouths, providing fantastic flowers and, in some cases, interesting foliage or fruit,as well.