Using Landscaping Shrubs

Landscaping shrubs are a beautiful, fairly low-maintenance way to adorn your yard. Shrubs do not need constant cutting like grass, many produce lovely flowers, and all you have to do is keep them mulched. Some species of landscaping shrubs do not even need pruning. And once established, they do not need watering. When you are picking out any landscaping shrub, be sure to read on the tag about its sun requirements and its growth habit.

An azalea will die in the sun, but a crepe myrtle will die in the shade. The growth habit is the shape and height to which landscaping shrubs grow. It is not a good idea to plant something that gets six feet tall in front of a first-floor window. But to disguise the foundations of a house on a slope, a small juniper will look completely out of place. Do not plant a bush that grows long, low branches right beside the sidewalk.

Using Landscaping Shrubs As A Shade

There are many landscaping shrubs that are excellent in temperate shade. Some are bred from wild species of woodland shrubs.

Azaleas are one of the most popular landscaping shrubs for shade. In early spring before leaves form, they produce flowers in pinks, purples and white. If you plant one in a spot of shade with room to grow, it will take a luxuriant natural shape and never need pruning. If it has to grow in a more specific shape, the azalea will also stand pruning very well.

Rhododendron is another type of landscaping shrub that is related to azaleas, but they have a different growth habit and bigger flowers. Rhododendrons are native to forests when they grow long branches that have a tuft of leaves and brilliant flowers at the end. They grow best among other underbrush.

Landscaping Shrubs For Sun Lovers

The selection of landscaping shrubs for sun is very large. And you can also pick several evergreen species.

Popular flowering landscaping shrubs for the sun include gardenias. These have white flowers with a strong, sweet perfume in summer. Certain species of crepe myrtle can grow 10 feet high, but their habit is something like a tree – there are only branches at the top. It produces pink, purple or white blooms in summer. The crepe myrtle is good for a tight spot that cannot quite accommodate a tree but needs something tall and shady.

Evergreen landscaping shrubs like holly and juniper are also maintenance-free and are emerald-green all year around. Hollies will also attract birds to their bright red wintertime berries.