Evergreen Shrubs And Hedges Are Important, Cold Hardy
Landscape
Specimen Plants
Copyright (c) 2006 Patrick Malcolm
Ty Ty Nursery
http://www.tytyga.com
Next to the landscape importance of trees is that of shrubs that
grow in our gardens, parks, landscape foundation, street borders,
and commercial landscapes. Thousands of different varieties of
shrubs are grown to ornament lawns, yards, and borders, but only
a few varieties are available to buy at your local nursery for
planting, and growing. Many shrubs are selected and grown on a
basis of intelligent buying of flowering hedges, evergreen cold
hardiness, non-flowering hedges, berry shrubs, and deciduous
shrubs. Many shrubs glow with brightly colored leaves in the fall
and winter.
Although it is common for some shrub stems to die from shading
out, they will be renewed by new shoots; and like trees, shrubs
live for years and are considered a good property, longtime
investment, and a permanent fixture in the landscape.
Usually planting shrubs as privacy hedges will mature to a point
in four to five years, that the privacy screen will be vigorously
solid and dense enough to hide whatever lies behind it.
Some shrubs thrive in dry soils; others in wet soils, but most
shrubs and hedges fall in-between and require well drained
growing areas. All other possible growing extremes are important
for planting shrubs, and hedges such as altitude, shade, wind
exposure, and soil relative fertility levels. Azaleas, for
instance, grow well underneath the shade of most trees, including
Pine trees, and will decline fast and soon die, if planted to
grow in full sun. Azaleas must have organic matter incorporated
into the soil to thrive, and the proper acidity (pH) of the soil
is necessary for azalea plants to live. Pine straw is often
effective to keep azaleas weed free. Long lines of blooming
azalea plants are often dramatic when plant underneath pine
trees, when the azalea flowers being to display their expanding
blooms. The shallow root system of azaleas require substantial
watering during dry spells to insure plenty of azalea flowers,
the spring season following summer droughts.
Small Evergreen Shrubs
Evergreen shrubs are an important choice to consider for
planting, in order to insure green color presence during the
gloomy days of winter. Many gardeners want an evergreen shrub as
a hedge to maintain privacy when cold weather arrives. Anise,
Illicium florianum grows into small hedges in resorts like Sea
Island, Georgia, and exotic red flowers and liquorish aromas rise
from the leaves in the summer. Acuba japonica variegata 'Gold
Dust' is also called the Gold Dust plant. Acuba makes an
interesting low growing shrub to plant and grow next to brick
buildings. Cleyera, Ternstroemia gymanthera, is an interesting
shrub for coastal areas, because Cleyera shrubs are very tolerant
of salt water spray, and the waxy green leaves have a unique
tropical appearance in the landscape. Boxwood, Buxus microphylla
asiaticum, is also salt water tolerant with dense coloring
throughout the zones 5 – 9. Boxwood is one of the most important
and popular shrubs to buy in the U.S, notably as a neat, clean
grower, Boxwood is not fast growing, thus requiring many years to
reach 3 feet in height. Boxwood plants are commonly planted in
rows along walkways. Larger boxwood plants work nicely in group
plantings in front of buildings
Eleagnus, Eleagnus pungens, is one of the fastest growing shrubs
and grows as a superb barrier hedge or privacy fence that can
grow up to 10 feet tall. Eleagnus is salt water tolerant, and can
be grown in containers at commercial locales. Interstate highway
landscaping is filled with large groupings and plantings of
Eleagnus, Eleagnus pungens, shrubs to minimize automobile fumes
and truck highway noises.
Holly shrubs are distinctively varied, very adaptable, and
versatile in the landscape. The most popular hollies are: Burford
Holly, Ilex cornuta; Carissa Holly, Ilex cornuta 'Carissa';
Dwarf Chinese Holly, Ilex cornuta; Dwarf Japanese Holly, Ilex
crenata; Helleri Holly, Ilex crenata; Needlepoint Holly, Ilex
cornuta 'Needlepoint'; Sky Pencil Holly, Ilex crenata 'Sky
Pencil'; Savannah Holly, Ilex x attenuata; Stokes Dwarf Holly,
Ilex vomitoria 'Stokes Dwarf'; Dwarf Yaupon Holly, Ilex
vomitoria; Weeping Yaupon, Ilex vomitoria pendula.
Japanese Aralia, Fatsia japonica, is most commonly called Fatsia.
In landscapes, Fatsia is often planted and grown in large groups
near shaded house entrances or underneath shade trees for that
bold tropical look. Fatsia can be planted as a large specimen
plant, or containerized Fatsia will grow as the shrub as an
indoor plant. Philodendron selloum is often used like Fatsia, and
can grow into a large, attractive specimen plant on slender,
woody-looking trunks (stems). The Philodendron hybrid, Xanadu, is
also used like Japanese aralia, Fatsia, and Philodendron selloum,
but largely is used as an indoor or outdoor container plant. The
waxy, deeply-lobed green leaves are very cold hardy, and even if
Philodendron is growing outside in Zone 5 - 10, it will come back
to life from vigorous roots in the spring after freezing to the
ground.
Pittosporum tobira can be grown as an outside plant or as a
containerized shrub. Pittosporum plants displays bright green
leaves year and grows best in shady areas of low light. The
flowers are small, white, and very fragrant, like the aromatic
crushed leaves. Florists use stems and leaves as fillers in
floral arrangements. Pittosporum shrubs are not fast growing, but
eventually can form an excellent privacy hedge to block out
automobile noise and fume emissions. Because Pittosporum tobira
shrubs are salt water tolerant, these shrubs are popularly used
in landscaping at Sea Island, Georgia. Large specimens of
Pittosporum tobira are used as evergreen small trees, that subtly
present an exotic, tropical appearance. Pittosporium tobira
"Variegata" has variegated white and light green leaves with
fragrant white flowers, blooming in the summer. The variegated
leaf form of Pittosporum tobira is not burned by strong sunlight,
like most variegated shrubs.
Large Evergreen Shrubs
Large evergreen shrubs sometimes grow into small eclectic trees
after many years. These large evergreen shrubs provide the garden
with specimen attractiveness, privacy, and evergreen, cold hardy
color. Arizona Cypress is also called Carolina Sapphire,
Cupressus glabra 'Carolina Sapphire', and is a fast growing
evergreen, that can grow 20 – 30 feet with fine textured,
silver-blue leaves. The leaves grow threadlike in very hot areas,
and will survive well in droughts or under stress.
Arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis, is an American native evergreen
shrub that can grow almost anywhere in the U.S. The dark green
leaves of Arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis, can turn yellow,
orange, or maroon during winter, but the green color is restored
in Zones of cold hard tolerance, 2 – 8, in the spring. Other
arborvitae species are: Emerald, Thuja occidentalis 'Emerald';
Little Giant, Thuja occidentalis 'Little Giant'; Little Golden
Giant, Thuja occidentalis 'Little Golden Giant'; Aurea Nana,
Thuja occidentalis 'Aurea Nana';
Blue Italian Cypress, Cupressus sempervirens 'Glauca', will
qualify as one of the most important specimen, evergreen trees
used in landscapes. The trees are not fast growing, but are cold
hardy in zones 7 – 11. The dense leaves are branched and grow
into a large column, 3 -4 feet wide. Italian cypress can grow to
40 feet outside, and large container grown Italian cypress trees
can be shipped quickly on semi-trucks, or by UPS. Italian
Cypress, Cupressus sempervirens 'Glauca' can draw architectural
attention to large buildings. Italian cypress trees are often
planted at commercial banks, bordering large walkways or memorial
gardens.
Leyland cypress, Cupressocyparis leylandii, is a fast growing
shrub, that most often is planted as a privacy hedge, but in many
cases can grow into a large Leyland cypress specimen tree that
might reach 130 feet. The Leyland cypress shrub (tree) is a fast
growing intergenetic hybrid. Erosion control can be obtained fast
by planting these vigorous Leyland cypress shrubs to embed their
roots rapidly into the soil and cool the earth.
Podocarpus macrophylla and Podocarpus nagi are the most commonly
grown shrubs of Podocarpus. Shearing Podocarpus is a common plant
practice to create a sculptured look. Podocarpus can be grown as
a border plant for walkways, but after many years, grows into a
10 foot, small, evergreen tree. The salt water and cold hardy
tolerance of Zone 7 – 10 makes Podocarpus a top choice to buy for
any landscape garden.
Wax Myrtle or Bayberry, Myrica cerifera, grows normally as a
native American plant in forests, but nursery grown plants will
provide a fast growing screen that spreads by underground shoots.
Birds and wildlife love this plant for nesting and to seek
protective cover. The waxy, gray berries are fragrant and
commonly are used to scent candles with a woody aroma. All parts
of wax myrtle shrubs are fragrant and grow to block out noise and
noxious automobile fumes. Very old wax myrtle plants grow into
exotic looking small trees, that are aromatic specimens in the
landscape. Wax myrtle shrubs, Myrica cerifera, are a
commonly-grown naturalized plant that enthusiastically is used as
a salt water and cold hardy tolerant hedge or landscape tree at
the famous resort hotel at Sea Island, Georgia.
About The Author: Visit TyTy Nursery to purchase the trees
mentioned in this article, or many others that you may be
looking for! http://www.tytyga.com
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