Please could you add a clear close up of the flowers.
It may be Exochorda macrantha.....but equally it could be a very different shrub.

@Silversurfer, They are starting to brown Guessing they will be gone soon.

The leaves of Exochorda x macrantha look rounded at the tips, and entire (no teeth) in this picture:

https://www.google.ca/search?q...:

In the second pic of the ID plant the leaves have pointed tips and teeth.

I can't think of anything else with the same habit that'd grow in zone 5. The fountain shape looks right for Exochorda. I was trying to figure out the petal count - 5?

The only clear one shows four petals but it could have lost one. It's hard to figure out the rest but it could be 5. It looks rather apple-y other than habit, but I can't think what it might be.

If it is 4 petals, a long shot might be Philadelphus lewisii 'Blizzard'? The leaves would also need to be opposite of course, which we can't see.

https://www.google.ca/search?q...

sooby is correct in that the leaves do not match Exochorda.
Are the leaves opposite or alternate?
I would like to see what the fruits/seed pods look like.
Pics just aren't clear enough.

Flower/ Leaves don't look right for Philadelphus lewisii 'Blizzard'


https://www.google.com/search?...:

There are 5 petals.

ninabee said:There are 5 petals.

Thank you, that helps. Can you take off a leaf or two and put them flat on plain white paper and take a picture so we can see detail? It would also help to see a twig showing the arrangement of the leaves, unless you can just tell us if they are opposite (two leaves directly opposing each other on the stem), or alternate (single leaf, then a gap on the twig/branch, then another single leaf).

That sure looks like Flowering Crabapple to me - Malus x. Those are Rosaceae member flowers.

Northern Illinois is a haven for many selections of this great small flowering tree, and more than a few growers produce them from rooting cuttings rather than grafting or budding - to avoid the inevitable suckering understock problem.

They also train them as multi-stemmed plants, which can produce a shrubby spreading appearance when they are younger plants.

Finally: there are some excellent octoploid selections which are far more compact than the average bear, er, crab - including one called 'Satin Cloud'. These small trees have quite short internodes, and when they are in bloom they indeed appear to be clouds of white blossoms.

See here:

Here is the picture of a leaf. It's starting to grow little berry things. So maybe it is a crabapple tree of some sort??

My whatever it is is very small, so I just Googled Dwarf Malus x Crabapple. My bush/tree doesn't resemble the pictures on Google. Pictures show crab apple trees with one trunk. Mine has multiple trunks (if that's what they are called).

Also Googled Philadelphus lewisii 'Blizzard' and Exochorda. Those look really full when in bloom. Mine did not look that full. Maybe because it could be newer?

@sooby, leaves alternate.

Here are some more pictures.

I'm inclined to go with John's assessment that it is a crabapple of some kind. Did you look at the link he gave which showed one growing as a shrub?

CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple CrabappleCrabapple

Somebody stop me...

Single stemmed-ness versus multi-stemmed-ness is NOT a determinating factor in ID.

I'm also pretty sure all the Philadelphus sp. have opposite arrangement of simple leaves. This is definitely not that.

Those are little crabapple fruit starting to form from the pollinated flowers. Those are additional separating features from other suggested species.

@ViburnumValley, will this ever grow up or will it always stay low to the ground?

You could prune when dormant and train the plant to be more upright. Be careful to not remove too much growth each year. Select the strongest, most verticle branch and let that be the main branch. Start pruning away a little each year. No guarantee it will ever look like a tree but it is still pretty. I once had a Star Magnolia that wanted to be a shrub but I worked on it over several years. I trained mine to have 3 main trunks and it was very nice.