Ru-Bee Wren Bush Honeysuckle

Trumpet-shaped yellow flowers open against dark bronze-green foliage, so the contrast does as much work as the bloom itself. Diervilla rivularis 'SMDCS', sold as Ru-Bee Wren, is a selection of a native shrub growing 2 to 3 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide in part shade, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 7.

Bloom runs through summer rather than in a single flush, and hummingbirds work the tubular flowers steadily. Bees and butterflies come to them as well.

The foliage holds its bronze cast through the season rather than fading green, and it takes on stronger red tones in fall.

Bush honeysuckle is one of the few flowering shrubs that performs in dry shade, handling root competition and poor soil where most give up. It suckers modestly into a colony, which suits a bank or a mass planting. Deer leave it alone.