The winner: Viburnum, 90/100. Runner-up: Lantana at 85. Lowest upkeep of the qualifiers: Forsythia at 60.
A shrub is a decade-long decision, so this list is small and strict: woody species only, documented for full sun. The scoring favors weeks of flower on the wood, tolerance of exposed hot ground, and a pruning load you can live with.
The picks
The flowers that won
The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
Weeks of flower on the wood: 2 months · Endures exposed full-sun ground: a only: air pollution, black walnut, clay soil, drought, poor soil, salt, urban · Pruning and upkeep load: low
Flaws, not dealbreakers:the show is short, about 2 months; no vase data in the postharvest literature
4 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
Weeks of flower on the wood30 pointseight or more months 30; six to seven 26; four to five 23; three 15; two 8; one 3; no bloom data 8 Read from: the months it is in bloom.
Endures exposed full-sun ground25 pointsdocumented for both drought and heat 25; drought only 19; heat only 12; neither 5; no data 9 Read from: stress tolerances.
Pruning and upkeep load25 pointslow upkeep 25; middling 14; demanding 4; sources disagree, we average the range; no rating 12 Read from: how much upkeep extension guides report.
Color show across cultivars20 pointsfive or more documented colors 20; three to four 14; two 8; single color 4; no data 8 Read from: flower color.
Not ranked here: not a woody shrub; not documented for full sun.
The full method ↗
The leaderboard
Every qualifier, ranked
The 9 highest of 9 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
Endures exposed full-sun ground5 / 25neither: clay soil, salt
Pruning and upkeep load14 / 25medium
Color show across cultivars20 / 205 documented
Considered, not chosen
Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this question is not theirs.
not a woody shrubTulips, Peonies, Sunflower and 69 more
not documented for full sunHydrangea macrophylla, Azaleas, Camellia and 1 more
The winner's badge
Generated by the ranking above, and re-scored whenever the table changes.
Viburnum
The badge is generated by this ranking, not awarded by hand. When the
table changes, it re-scores itself.
How we rank
We keep one table of 85 flowers,
with 25 documented facts each, drawn from university and extension sources. Every ranking is
a published formula worth 100 points; tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made
it. A flower that does not fit the question is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
shown. When the table changes, every score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
