Landscaping Bushes

Before you purchase your landscaping bushes, you’ll need to decide what purpose they’ll serve in your backyard landscaping design. Are you looking to add some privacy to your backyard? Do you want to enjoy fragrant flowers in spring? Are you looking for bushes that have great Fall color? Do you want to add height and interest to your landscape design? Let's take a look at some general reasons that people have when looking to plant bushes – design, privacy, fragrance, and specimen plants.

Design

Bushes had depth, dimension and interest to any landscape design. Any well-designed group of plantings will include a variety of landscaping plants such as bushes, landscaping trees, perennials and annuals. You'll see an example of this in the photo below which includes a row of rhododendrons along the wall of the house.

Photo courtesy of summerset gardens

Privacy Screens

If you know that you’re installing landscaping bushes for privacy, the most important question to ask yourself is whether or not it's a priority for you to have the screen established quickly? A friend of mine had an urgent situation in which she needed some much needed privacy from a "nosey neighbor." In her case, she not only needed to have a 6 foot fence installed, she needed 8 foot bushes installed along the fence line. Her peace of mind was the first priority, and she contracted with a professional to have both installations completed.

Is this your situation, or would you rather save money by doing it yourself? Are you able to purchase smaller landscaping bushes that may take several years to reach their desired height?

Some bushes that may work well as privacy screens are:

Privet Bushes: these bushes are very inexpensive, particularly when they are young, relatively hardy, easy to plant, easy to grow, and easy to maintain. My favorite trifecta! They can tend to get a bit out of control as they get older, however, and some do consider them "invasive."

During their 2nd and 3rd full years, they became an admirable, bonifide privacy screen, which the home owners seem to enjoy more and more every year. Best yet, I have them planted in part-shade, in less that ideal soil, and I have given them little to no maintenance, and they are still thriving.

Consider privet bushes for a dense privacy screen, as a low cost and low maintenance option. They do grow relatively quickly, about 1-2 feet per year, but if you start them small, it will take awhile to establish your screen.

Evergreen Hedges: This option provides a wonderful privacy screen that maintains itself throughout the summer and winter months, and is quite long-lasting and effective. To separate yourself from neighbors, this is probably one of the best options as long as you have plenty of sunlight in the location that you plan to establish them. My friend has a row of evergreen hedges on one of her property lines, and while her neighbor's home is less than 20 feet away, she has never met them, and there is a great deal of privacy and seclusion in their respective yards.

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