Today’s Garden Ideas

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Until quite recently obtaining shrubs to beautify your front yard landscaping was a tedious and difficult task. And often quite expensive. Today, thanks to the growing demand for flowering shrubs, shade loving shrubs, privacy shrubs and hardy and easy to grow shrubs you can find just about all you need at your local gardening store. Garden shrubs now come in a variety of forms. We now have large and small shrubs, tall and short shrubs, shrubs of all kinds of colors, seasonal blooming shrubs and even the super hardy shrubs that grow where all other attempts at planting have failed. In addition, regardless of which part of the country you plan to build your landscaping shrub garden you will find plenty of variety suitable to your area.

How Shrubs Can be Used

The wonderful trait about front yard garden shrubs is they can suit just about any house design. Not as tall as trees, but larger than flowers, they form a middle ground that can also fit just about any landscaping design. They can provide symmetry to an unbalanced home, or soften a home’s harsh lines. They can frame a home or call attention to a part of the home you wish to emphasize like the front entrance way. And fast growing shrubs are especially helpful to plant in front of objects you do not wish to be readily visible like water outlets, or electrical boxes. In addition, you can have fun with shrubs sculpting them to suit your own landscape design.

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Choosing Your Shrubs

The best time to plant your garden shrubs is early spring, or if you live in a warmer climate, mid to late winter. So begin planning your shrub garden design in early winter. Try to decide what types of shrubs you would like best. Take into consideration color, texture, growth rate, pruning requirements and size. Ask you self do you strictly want evergreen shrubs or you would you prefer some flowering shrubs too. Do you need shrubs that prefer sun or would you want shade loving shrubs? Do you need fast growing shrubs or do you prefer slow growing small shrubs? Once you have decided on the type of shrub design you need talk with an expert or do some research as to which plant species would best suit your needs.

Planting and Care

When it is planting time and you have purchased your shrubs from the local nursery be sure to water them as soon as possible. One of the key failures to successful garden shrub growth are dry roots. In addition keep them in a shady spot until planting. Once planted be sure to mulch the area and even, it called for, prune the shrub to your liking. Older shrubs will need more initial pruning than the youngsters, hence it might be to you advantage to purchase younger garden shrubs as they do not need this pruning and can be less expensive.

Another important point to remember is garden shrubs can lose their moisture over the winter. Therefore be sure to water you plants before the ground freezes. This is especially true for rhododendron, broadleaf evergreen, and azaleas.

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Don’t forget, come springtime for existing shrubs to prune them back. This is nothing to be afraid of and is actually best for the plant. It gets rid of old dead branches and rejuvenates the shrub. Be sure to remove the older branch first and then cut as close to the ground as possible. Many shrubs like hydrangeas will need pruning every year, and others like magnolias only need pruning where the flowering had occurred.

If you are willing to spend just a small amount of time twice a year on your garden shrubs you will find you have a long lasting shrub garden for years to come.

PLANTS FOR A FRONT YARD SHRUB GARDEN
TYPE	PLANT	DESCRIPTION
	Weeping Cherry 'Snow Fountain'	H and S: to 25ft; white flowers in early spring; red fall foliage; zones 6-8
	Azalea	H: 8ft., S: 4ft; dense shrub with pink, white or red flowers in early spring; zones 5-9
	Juniper 'Blue Star'	H: 2ft., S: 3 ft; low growing conifer; blue-gray foliage; zones 5-8
	Cotoneaster	H: 3ft., S: 5ft; variegated or green foliage; some have red berries; zones 5-9
	Dianthus	H: 1ft., S: 4ft; groundcover with white or pink flowers; will bloom repeatedly all summer; zones 4-8
	Hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis Pendula)	H and S: 10-15ft; low growing; weeping branches; zones 4-8
	Dwarf Blue Spruce	H and S: 3ft; spreading habit; gray-blue foliage; zones 3-8
	Heather	H and S: 1-2ft; gold or green foliage; diverse range of flower colors; zones 5-7
	Hinoki False Cypress	H and S: up to 6ft; conifer with green or gold foliage; zones 4-8
	Euonymous	H: 6ft., S: 9ft; evergreen shrub; very durable; zones 5-9
	Dwarf Japanese Red Pine	H: 8ft., S: 6ft; reddish brown bark; bright green foliage; yellow cones; zones 4-7