How to Choose Bushes & Shrubbery

Bushes and shrubbery are woody plants that have several stems that grow up from the base of the plant. They can add color, privacy, and decoration to the outside of your home. Bushes and shrubbery are most often used for landscaping and gardens. It is best to choose your shrubbery by first analyzing a few factors including soil conditions, available sunlight and growth habits, including height and width of the plants before making your final selections.

Instructions

1. Choose the location where you want to plant the bushes and shrubs. Determine the type of soil--such as sand, clay, wet or dry, acid or alkaline--in the area where you intend to place the plants. This will narrow your choices as you want to choose a plant that grows best in the type of soil you have.

2. Select shrubs and bushes that are colorful and/or green most of the year. For example, evergreen plants such as box shrubs keep their leaves throughout the year. These would be perfect to plant for adding privacy around your home. Deciduous plants such as cotoneaster lose their leaves by winter, but are a flowering plant.

3. Choose shrubbery that have fragranted flowers. Mock orange and lilac shrubs are examples of flowering bushes that give off a scent. The type of fragrance given off by plants differ depending on the flower you get. For example, mock orange flowers have a citrus scent.

4. Coordinate the coloring of the flowering plants by choosing strong colors next to lighter colors. This will prevent colors from washing each other out. Also consider when they bloom and if you want them to all bloom at the same time or during alternating seasons.

5. Analyze how much sun the planting area will receive. Some plants, such as hemlocks, grow best in shaded areas while others are best in direct sunlight, such as burning bushes. Learn about each plant you select to determine how much sunlight it will need. Avoid planting the shrubbery in areas that don't fit the sunlight needs of the plant.

6. Choose plants that fit the climate of your area. For example, if you live in an area that has a hot climate such as Texas, you will need shrubbery that is easy to grow in hot temperatures. Sweetbells and red chokeberry can grow well in hot temperatures in partial sunlight. If you live in a cooler state such as New York, blackhaw or nannyberry bushes will thrive.

7. Examine the height that the plant can attain. If you choose to have shrubbery near your home, plant a bush that will grow no taller than 10 feet high, such as red chokeberry. Choosing plants for privacy, you may want to consider shrubbery that grows at least 15 feet or taller such as blackhaw.

References

• How Did I Do it: Landscaping Shrubbery
• Backyard Landscaping: Shrubs