With their year-round foliage, evergreen shrubs are the preferred bushes for privacy hedges. Needle-bearing evergreen shrubs are especially useful in hedges, as they can be trimmed to precise shapes. But also included in the category are the "broadleaf" evergreen shrubs, such as holly and azalea. Evergreen shrubs are sometimes striking enough on their own to serve as specimens.
Blue Princess holly needs a male pollinator such as Blue Prince to produce her trademark holly berries. Blue Princess holly and Blue Prince are two of the Meserve hybrids. With their bright berries and shiny, dark foliage, they offer winter interest for your landscape.
The false cypress group (or 'falsecypress') has some shrubs with fantastic golden foliage listed under 'Chamaecyparis pisifera'. 'Gold Mop' false cypress (or 'Mops') and 'Gold Thread' are examples of such shrubs with golden foliage.
In this step-by-step tutorial in pictures, I show you how to plant a hedge. I used one of the classic bushes for hedges in the project: box.
Emerald 'n' Gold euonymus is grown for its variegated leaves. Besides the two colors suggested by the plant's name, it will also develop hints of pink in winter. Find out more about this useful specimen, which is very popular in foundation plantings.
English and Japanese yew bushes are widely used for foundation plants or in hedges. Other commonly used yews are hybrid crosses between the English and Japanese varieties. Learn about the functions of all these yew bushes in landscape design and discover which varieties work best as foundation plants, and which are best in hedges.
English boxwood shrubs are true dwarfs, keeping a rounded, compact form. English boxwoods make excellent hedges and topiaries.
Don't confuse these bushes with the better-known laurel, "bay laurel." While bay laurels are famous in cuisine (bay leaf), myth and Greco-Roman history, mountain laurels are ornamental bushes that will impress you with their display of spring or summer flowers. Find out about their care, and where and how to plant these
broadleaf evergreen shrubs.
Chinese loropetalum bushes (also called "fringe flower") can be grown in planting zones 7-10. Chinese loropetalum's flowers, which, for such types as 'Burgundy' and 'Ruby' are pink, give the plant away as a member of the witch-hazel family.
This article introduces azalea and rhododendron flowering evergreen shrubs, followed by an introduction to their taxonomy. The article concludes with care instructions for these prized evergreen shrubs. Azalea and rhododendron bushes make fine specimens, foundation plants and hedges. These are
broadleaf evergreen shrubs.
I can understand why some refer to 'Carol Mackie' daphnes as "semi-evergreen": the daphne shrubs in my zone 5 garden kept their leaves throughout the winter last year; the leaves didn't become unattractive until late winter. It may not be an evergreen shrub, technically speaking, but this daphne will serve the same purpose for your landscaping.
'Nellie R. Stevens' holly can be used as specimens or for privacy screening. You can buy them as bushes or in tree-form, depending on your preference.
Bushes can be planted together closely in rows and pruned to form dense privacy screens. Alternatively, they can be planted more loosely to form borders that also shelter your backyard from prying eyes. This article looks at how both flowering and evergreen shrubs can be used in such privacy screens.
Holly is a landscaping plant of exceptional versatility. Some type of holly can be grown almost anywhere in the U.S. (zones 3-11). Hollies can be grouped to form a hedge, or a specimen plant can stand by itself as a lawn accent piece. Its foliage can be harvested for winter decorations and its berries attract birds.
There’s more to mistletoe than kissing: Druids and Norse, diverse botany, medical controversy, literary fame. Those familiar not with the live plant, but with only the small sprigs of mistletoe traditionally hung up over doorways to invite Christmas kisses, may be unaware that mistletoe is classified as an evergreen shrub.
Hemlocks in the wild are tall, long-lived trees. But many shorter cultivars have been developed for landscape usage, plants that can function as foundation bushes or even as hedges.
Because its foliage is dense and it keeps that foliage year-round, arborvitae is a good candidate for a privacy hedge. Learn more about the uses and growing requirements for this favorite among screening plants.
Blue Rug juniper plants and their relatives are sturdy groundcovers for sunny slopes. Using juniper groundcovers controls erosion and weeds, and also eliminates your having to mow steep slopes.
