| |
 Choose a theme for your planting, perhaps a specific colour range or a choice of shrubs with similar shape or habit. Acid-loving plants often relate well to one another and rhododendrons planted en masse can look spectacular. Two of the most useful contributions that shrubs can make to the garden are leaf colour and interesting berries in autumn.
Deciduous, evergreen or semi-evergreen
A deciduous plant sheds its leaves every autumn, while an evergreen plant retains its leaves throughout the year. A shrub is described as semi-evergreen it it sheds some but not all of its leaves during the colder months. A plant's ability to retain its foliage varies according to the weather.
During a mild winter, a normally deciduous shrub may keep some of its leaves, and in particularly harsh conditions an evergreen may shed more leaves than usual. Where the form of a shrub is an essential part of the framework of your garden, you should choose an evergreen unless you think the shrub's branches and twigs are interesting enough on their own to provide an imposing silhouette in winter.
Ornamental shrubs
Shrubs that are important in the basic structure of the garden may also be highly ornamental with colourful, scented flowers, variegated foliage or attractive berries or stems in winter. But beware - it is easy to be seduced by individual plants and end up with too many varieties or simply too many shrubs, which will soon outgrow their welcome. |
|
Among things to consider are compatibility with the growing conditions, eventual height and spread and compatibility with other shrubs. Deciding where to place a shrub and, indeed, if it is really suitable for the garden at all, are important considerations.
Size and habit
Shrubs differ enormously in size. There are mat-forming plants such as the creeping thymes, which will grow in a rock garden or between paving stones; there are small upright shrubs such as the lavenders, which can be used as part of a flower border or as low hedges, perhaps as a framework for a herb garden. There are also many silver shrubs, which contrast well in both habit and colour with pink, purple and red flowers. |
|
