Shrubs as the Start Point in Garden Design

Garden shrubs are a wonderful resource for the garden designer. They come in an almost infinite variety of shape, size and colour: some have spectacular blooms, others colourful foliage or berries and many are fragrant. Most are bushes, but some make good hedges and others are climbers which can be used to screen a wall or fence, or scramble over a garden trellis or pergola, or as ground cover. Most are tough, fully hardy and easy to grow, requiring little or no plant care once established. Of all garden plants, they are best suited to create a year round framework against which the passing beauty of bulbs, annuals or herbaceous perennials can come and go.

Shrubs for Winter and Spring Interest

Many summer or autumn flowering shrubs, like Pyracanthas and the dwarf varieties of flowering cherry, will continue to earn their keep in winter by virtue of their attractive foliage or berries.

There are also, however, a number of garden shrubs which will give a delightful display of flower even in the depths of winter. These include:

• Viburnum tinus, with its pink flushed white flower heads and glossy green leaves.
• The small, white flowered and strongly fragrant evergreen Sarcococca.
• The golden flowered Hamamelis or Witch Hazel, and the pink Viburnum x bodnantense Dawn, both of which flower on bare wood.
• Winter flowering climbing clematis such as Clematis cirrhosa with their nodding pin/white bells.

This, though, is only a very small cross section from the available selection of garden shrubs for winter interest.

With the arrival of spring, a whole host of spring flowering shrubs burst into blossom, from the exotic waxy cups of the Magnolias to the arching golden boughs of Forsythia.

Shrubs for Summer and Autumn Interest

There are a huge number of attractive shrubs available to brighten the garden through summer and autumn, either with colourful flower, or with attractive foliage, and later berries. This summer selection of garden plants includes the huge diversity of:

• Hydrangea macrophylla, with their huge heads of pink, blue or white flower.
• Ceanothus thyrsiflorus repens, with its ground hugging habit, glossy green leaves and tight pannicles of bright blue flower.
• Viburnum plicatum Mariesii, with its splendid symetrical tiers of white flower.
• Rhododendrons of all shapes and sizes, bringing an astonishing blaze of colour, where the soil suits them, from April to June.
• Callistemon, the Bottle Brush bushes. with their feathery cylinders of bright red or pink flower.
• The purple/black leaved Sambucus nigra.
• The shiny golden leaves and fragrant white flower heads of the Choisya Sundance.
• The glistening autumn berries of Berberis and Cotoneaster.

Growing Garden Shrubs

Most shrubs sold in nurseries and garden centres are fully hardy, though some are only frost hardy, or may need protection from from wind chill, and most will grow in any reasonable soil, and in sun or part shade.

Equally, most shrubs need little after care once established – though they’ll generally appreciate an annual top dressing with a general purpose fertiliser and mulch – and little or no pruning except to keep them tidy.

Difficult Garden Design Situations

Finally, garden shrubs are often very useful as shade plants or in other difficult garden design situations. Examples are:

• Shrubs for dry shade: Eleagnus, Kerria and Vinca.

• Shrubs for damp shade: Aucuba, Hydrangea macrophylla, Kalmia and Sarcocca.
• Shrubs for acid soil: Azaleas, Callistemon, Hamamelis, Pieris and Rhododendrons.
• Shrubs for alkaline or chalky soil: Ceanothus thyrsiflorus repens, Forsythia, Sambucus and Sarcococca.