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? I’ll discuss 3 general areas, or interests, that people have when looking for bushes – privacy, fragrance, and specimen plants.
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: (opens new window) 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!
Now in their 2nd full year they are becoming an admirable, bonifide privacy screen, which I am enjoying 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: (opens new window) 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. I have a row of evergreen hedges on one of my property lines, and while my neighbor's home is less than 20 feet from my home, I have never met them, and both of us enjoy a great deal of privacy and seclusion in our respective yards.
Fragrant Bushes Flowering landscaping bushes can provide both privacy and a wonderful fragrance when they bloom. Are you looking to add the “scents of spring” to your yard?
Consider one of my personal favorites – the lilac bush! (opens new window) This plant grows to a mature height of over 12 feet tall, and produces a multitude of softly fragrant flowers in the spring. Unfortunately, these landscaping bushes do not live on forever. So, if your property is 50+ years old like mine is, and you have well-established lilac bushes, you may need to consider either cutting them down to the ground, or planting new bushes. I have experimented with both options. I decided to trim one of my plants to the ground, and I'm having relatively good success with it. The new growth is healthy and thick, and is filling in nicely as a privacy screen. This option has been less time-consuming than planting new plants, which I have also done. My new lilac bushes (opens new window) were purchased online, and while starting quite small, only about 12 inches, they are growing well - especially the two that I have planted next to my compost pile. They love it there! I also have a butterfly bush (opens new window) planted in my garden. It is cut down to the soil at the end of the season and grows this large by the end of the summer. The butterflies love it (hence the name) but it is not real fragrant for us humans. This landscaping bush is enjoyed more for the visual aspects than the fragrant aspects.
Specimen Bushes Are you looking for a burst of color in fall? Try a burning bush or a red twigged dogwood (opens new window). The burning bush comes in either full-size or dwarf, and the red-twig dogwood keeps is red stems visible all winter long. Make sure to add a variety of landscaping bushes to your area that will grow to different heights at maturity, and display different colors throughout the seasons either through blooms or foliage color. This will add visual interest and dimension to your landscape. It is also helpful to plant the same variety in groups of at least 3. This helps to accentuate the effect of the particular plant so that it doesn't get lost in the landscape. Planting a few "specimen" plants or bushes is ok, but it is wise to have some consistency throughout your design. Otherwise you run the risk of losing the effect of the plants you want to showcase. Didn't find what you were looking for? Search for it here: Good luck on your search for the perfect landscaping plants! Gurney's Seed and Nursery (opens new window) is one of my favorite online/catalog companies to order plants from. I have purchased apple trees and blueberry bushes from them, and lots of vegetable seeds. One of my orders failed to contain an item, and I found their customer service department to be friendly and easy to reach. The problem was resolved very quickly. Take a look for yourself!
Spring Hill (opens new window), another favorite of mine, has a large variety of shrubs and hedges. I purchased a primrose lilac from them a year ago, and it is doing very well in my backyard. I'm hoping to see flowers next spring!
Nature Hills Nursery (opens new window) has over 70 species of live shrubs available on their site. If you're in the market for something specific, this is the place to go.
Henry Fields (opens new window) is another company I order from regularly. It has a little of everything including landscaping bushes, hedges and trees.
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