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Links
 Shrubs are invaluable for providing links between one part of the garden and another, and between plants that otherwise do not relate to each other. They can mark an entrance to the house from the garden and, grown in groups or rows, they can flank a drive or a door. The shrubs chosen should be in sympathy with the style, scale and colour of the building.
Evergreen shrubs are often chosen because they are continuously in leaf and are always good for a formal setting. Varied planting that includes deciduous shrubs, such as Magnolia stellata with its hundreds of white starry flowers, as well as evergreens will add interest in spring.
Lilac (Syringa) is a good example of a plant to mingle with others because once its flowers are over it can look uninteresting and leggy. Spreading shrubs such as Hydrangea quercifolia can provide links between more upright plants.
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Shrub borders
Shrubs can be grown to great effect on their own in borders. Choose ones that will suit the soil and climate of your garden and provide a succession of colour and interest throughout the year if possible. Balance the shapes, heights and forms of the shruhs, and leave plenty of room for their ultimate spread. You can choose shrubs with interesting colour combinations or concentrate more on the textures. A border of mainly variegated shrubs with variations in the greens and yellows and the occasionally single colour to provide contrast should do well in a slightly shaded position.
Evergreen and deciduous shruhs can be mixed together, provided you balance them well. Taller shrubs should be at the back, creeping ones at the front. Some shrubs will give months of interest while others tend to mature and fade quickly. When planning the border, make sure the short-term shrubs are camouflaged by long-term ones. Fast-growing shrubs will probably need to be thinned out as the border matures.
A larger shrubbery or shrub walk can be planted in grass. Here the shrubs should not be grouped closely as in a smaller border, but each should be given room to grow into its natural shape and still leave room for walking around it and standing back to admire it.
Shrubs in the mixed borderBorders of herbaceous perennials only were popular at one time, today it makes more sense to combine a framework of shrubs interplanted with a variety of herbaceous perennials to give all-year interest and a much more labour-saving border. |
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