The showiest early spring shade shrub I have in the garden is the Kerria japonica.  It has beautiful bright yellow flowers that just say “spring. It is a prolific bloomer even in fairly dense shade.  It provides a show in late April to mid May with that bright yellow pop when no other bushes have even really leafed out.

After the blooms fade, the feathery leaves become a bright green back drop to the rest of the garden.  They also have some winter interest, as the canes retain their bright green color.

While horticulture reference books suggest Kerria japonica needs to be kept evenly moist, mine are not coddled with watering and still do well.  Elroy, my Cairn Terrier, enjoys hanging out by them as well!

I like the species so much that I have 2 different kinds – a single petal blooming flower (‘Golden Guinea’ to be exact) and a multi-petal blossom  (‘Pleniflora’) which blooms a couple of weeks later and the blooms are somewhat smaller in size than ‘Golden Guinea’.

Even after almost two weeks, the Kerria ‘Pleniflora’ is beautiful.  So between the Kerria ‘Golden Guinea’ and the ‘Pleniflora’ I have one month of showy yellow blooms in my garden.

I found it is best to do a heavy pruning after they bloom.  Kerria is a vigorous grower and will fill in in no time.  If you prune in August/September the blossoms will be significantly less (ask me how I know?).

In early March I clipped some branches and put them in a vase.  This forced the branches to leaf out and yellow flowers emerged.

As preparation for Easter, I hung my Bleeding Heart ornaments and surrounded the sprigs with painted wooden Easter eggs that I have collected over the years.  This provides a very nice dining room centerpiece for a few weeks.

I will be moving our double flowering bushes to a another location after they bloom.  Where they are now, they get some direct sun in the afternoon and as a result they grow a little to vigorously for the spot they are in.

So we will move them to a corner of our garden in shadier location.  The shade will dial back the exuberance of these shrubs and the garden walls will probably protect them more from winter winds which should result in more even blooms.  Stayed tuned …