Bushes, Shrubs & Hedges

Gardening with shrubs

Shrubs, also called bushes, are a rich and varied element in landscape designs. They also anchor, or connect, a house to its landscape, creating a sense of unity. Shrubs are multi-branched, woody plants with heights ranging from 2 to more than 20 feet. Hedges are shrubs planted close together to form a fence-like form. Shrubs can be evergreen, with foliage all year, or deciduous, with leaves that die in winter. Many shrubs flower and many produce berries.

Needle Evergreen Shrubs

Junipers are popular needle evergreens.

Evergreen shrubs create year-round interest in gardens. They are either thin (needle-like) or broad leafed. According to horticulturist and landscape designer Dianne O'Connell, the best picks include junipers such as blue star -- with dense blue foliage and heights up to 3 feet -- and grey owl -- with feather-soft, blue foliage spreading to 4 feet. Her arborvitae selections include tiny Tim, a rounded, small and compact form, and Degroot's spire, tall and spiral-shaped.

Broadleaf Evergreen Shrubs

A purple azalea

Some of the top choices among the many attractive broad-leaf shrubs are evergreen azaleas, blue holly and boxwood. Azalea picks include Girard's rose, which has rose-colored flowers and spring green foliage that develops deep-red tints in fall; and Herbert, with blooms in vivid purple. Blue hollies include blue prince, with blue-green foliage, and blue princess, which produces red fruits. Boxwoods include Japanese boxwood, a low-growing, compact shrub with yellow-green foliage.

Deciduous Shrubs

Rose of Sharon, a shrub producing large blooms in late summer

Deciduous shrubs create changing forms as they bloom, drop foliage and leaf out once again. Attractive small shrubs (less than 4 feet) include hydrangea Annabelle, with large showy flowers, and the spirea goldflame, with yellow-green foliage. Medium shrubs (4 to 6 feet) include the butterfly bush, with lilac-shaped blooms, and the Java red weigela, with trumpet-like blossoms and red-bronze leaves. Large shrubs (more than 6 feet) include the early-flowering forsythia and late-flowering rose of Sharon.

Hedge Shrubs

Hedges create landscape areas.

Hedges are used to create privacy, a background for other plants or to form landscape areas. Often pruning is required to obtain and maintain the desired shape. Hedges can be either evergreen or deciduous shrubs. The Missouri Botanical Garden recommends the following deciduous shrubs: burning bush, which becomes bright red in fall; shrub roses, like carefree beauty and simplicity; and viburnum, with fragrant flowers and berries. For evergreens, recommendations include junipers, hollies, yews and oriental boxwood.

References

• Missouri Botanical Garden; Best Shrubs; Dianne Carroll
• Colorado State University Extension: Deciduous Shrubs
• Missouri Botanical Garden: Hedges