Best Shrubs With Pink Flowers

Rose Daphne

There are various flowering shrubs in the genus, Daphne. If you want a bush that will bear fragrant, pink flowers with an intense color, rose Daphne (D. cneorum), which is also called "garland flower," is one of the best choices. D. cneorum is one of the parents of the cultivar, Daphne x burkwoodii Carol Mackie, which is widely available in garden centers. Carol Mackie's other parent is D. caucasica, a type with fragrant, white flowers. Color-wise, this cultivar is a blend of its parents, bearing flowers of a lighter pink color than D. cneorum. It is just as fragrant as its parents.

But if your goal is vibrant color, it will be worth your while to take the extra time and look for D. cneorum. The bush is evergreen and attains a height of about 1 foot, with a spread twice that. Grow it in partial shade and in USDA planting zones 4 to 9. 

Bougainvillea

You can grow Bougainvillea as either a shrub or a vine. Besides having lovely flowers in pink, magenta, and other colors (with a papery texture), some Bougainvillea bushes even have variegated leaves.

This is a sensational plant in warm climates (zones 9 to 11), where the mild weather allows it to grow to its full potential. In colder climates, gardeners must be content with growing it in hanging pots during the summer. This plant performs best in full sun.

Azalea Shrubs

The azalea is one of the gems of spring, which is the season when it is in bloom. Many types of azalea shrubs have pink flowers; it is a common color for this bush. Gumpo Pink is one of your best choices. It is a slow-growing dwarf that bears evergreen leaves. It reaches just 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide. Grow it in partial sun and in zones 7 to 9.

Hydrangea Bushes

Many different types of hydrangeas are popular in the landscape, valued for the visual interest they provide for most of the summer. Types that bear pink flowers are common, but so are types with white, blue, or purple flowers. In some cases, you can change the color of hydrangea flowers by changing the soil, thereby taking matters into your own hands.

Other hydrangeas have a set color. There are many varieties that are reliably pink bloomers, regardless of the soil that they grow in. For example:

• Invincibelle Spirit comes in one color: pink. The flowers are deep pink when they first appear. The color later fades to a light pink. It measures 4 feet tall and across. Grow it in zones 3 to 9 in full sun to partial shade.
• Another strictly-pink type is Pink Elf, a dwarf (18 inches in height, 24 inches in width) for zones 5 to 11 that grows best in partial sun to partial shade.

Rose of Sharon

Like hydrangea, rose of Sharon shrub (Hibiscus syriacus) is a great friend to gardeners who pay attention to sequence of bloom. That is because rose of Sharon will carry your landscape through the late-summer months when few other shrubs are giving you color. The Sugar Tip cultivar (zones 5 to 9, 8 to 12 feet tall x 4 to 6 feet wide) is one kind with pink flowers; it also offers two-toned leaves. Another with pink flowers is Woodbridge, which can be grown in zones 5 to 9. Woodbridge becomes 8 to 10 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide. Locate it in full sun.

Bottlebrush Shrub

Bottlebrush shrub (Callistemon) has one of the more uniquely shaped pink flowers, living up to its common name. It is a drought-tolerant shrub for full sun. The bush reaches a height of 10 to 12 feet and a spread of 6 to 8 feet. Unhappily, you can grow this plant only in zones 9 to 10. Northerners seeking flowers in this unusual shape will have to content themselves with growing Fothergilla gardenii Mount Airy, whose bottlebrush-shaped blooms are shorter. They also come just in white. To make up for it, though, fothergilla is a shrub that gives you great fall color.

Chinese Fringe Flower

Like bottlebrush bush, Chinese fringe-flower shrub (Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum) sports flowers that are not only pink but also interesting in shape. Numerous strap-like petals compose these blooms. The plant can become 12 feet x 12 feet and is somewhat hardier than bottlebrush bush (zones 7 to 10).

Once again, if you live further north, the alternative (in terms of flower shape) is a rather poor substitute: Witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia Arnold Promise), which has yellow, not pink strap-like petals. Witch hazel's main claim to fame is that it is one of the earliest shrubs to bloom (early spring or late winter).

Pink Rose Shrubs

There are many types of roses, and many of them have pink flowers, such as the Superhero rose, but the real question is this: Which one is right for you? If you crave low-maintenance landscaping, then you will want one of the types of roses that are easy to grow. Pink ones that are low-care include:

• Rosa rugosa
• Pink Supreme Flower Carpet
• Oso Happy Smoothie

Butterfly Bush

Various types of butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) have pink flowers, although, in some cases, quite a bit of lavender color is mixed in with the pink. All should be grown in full sun, in zones 5 to 9. All plants in this genus are legendary for attracting butterflies to the yard. Thus they are valued both for their own beauty and for the beauty of what they invite to the landscape. Here are examples of pink-flowered kinds:

• Pink Micro Chip is known for being one of the shorter kinds of butterfly bush. Pink Micro Chip stands just 18 to 24 inches tall, with a similar width.
• Pink Delight is 6 to 8 feet tall, with a spread of 4 to 6 feet. 
• InSpired Pink reaches a height of 4 to 6 feet and a width of 4 to 8 feet.

Lilac Bushes

Despite sharing a name with a specific color (the word "lilac," as a color, refers to a light-purple shade), lilac bushes (Syringa) do come in other colors, including pink and magenta:

• Syringa x hyacinthiflora Maiden's Blush is one of the best choices with pink flowers. It becomes 12 to 15 feet tall and 10 to 12 feet wide when mature. Grow it in zones 3 to 9 in full sun.
• If a magenta-purple color is what you desire, try S. vulgaris Adelaide Dunbar (zones 3 to 9). It reaches 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide.
• S. vulgaris Marie Frances stays fairly short (5 to 7 feet tall) for a common lilac. It produces single, pink flowers that are fragrant. It is best suited to zones 3 to 7 and to a location in full sun.
• S. vulgaris Lucie Baltet attains a height of 8 to 10 feet, with a spread of 4 to 6 feet. Grow it in full sun in zones 3 to 7.

Pink-Flowering Spireas

While the classic  Spiraea × vanhouttei has white blooms, many of the most popular spireas nowadays have pink flowers, including these three cultivars of Spiraea japonica:

• Gold Mound
• Goldflame
• Neon Flash

Gold Mound and Goldflame offer more than just blooms. They are great foliage plants, boasting golden leaves. Of the two, Gold Mound has better leaf color.

Rhododendron Shrubs

You may be most familiar with rhododendrons with lavender flowers, but these bushes do come in other colors. Rhododendron Red Walloper has big, magenta flowers. The plant measures 6 feet by 6 feet when mature. Grow it in zones 6 to 8 in sun to partial shade. There is a similar Pink Walloper for those seeking shrubs with pink flowers. The Walloper group was bred to have large leaves and large flowers.