Shrubs Enhance Your Landscape

We have reached the point in summer when many of the plants in our landscape are at their best. Lots of green growth, bright flowers, and every type of insect and bird can be seen outside in your garden. This is also an excellent time to walk around your neighborhood to create a wish list of plants that look good in your yard. Right now, many of our landscape shrubs are looking especially wonderful. Hydrangeas are showing off their beautiful flowers, viburnums are developing fruits, and the evergreen shrubs are growing dense foliage that can be utilized in the landscape as privacy screens and hedges.

Understanding Shrubs vs. Small Trees

Woody shrubs and small trees have many overlapping characteristics. Generally speaking, shrubs max out around 13 ft. while small trees are classified as larger than 13 ft. at maturity. However, small trees can be much smaller than 13 ft. at maturity. For instance, many Japanese maple varieties rarely reach heights exceeding 10 ft., but we do not call them shrubs. Many of our small trees are grafted onto rootstocks that can tolerate our local soil conditions. Grafting trees can be a way to make an otherwise 35-50 ft tree grow only to around 20 ft. Shrubs can be grafted too, but this is usually onto a standard, or young, established tree trunk. This practice is to raise the appeal of the shrub's foliage or flowers above other surrounding plants that might be in the foreground. The most significant difference between the two would be that small trees will typically be on one main stem. Shrubs, on the other hand, can have multiple stems coming out of the ground.

Shrubs as Landscape Problem-Solvers

Ornamental shrubs are one of the most widely used plants in the suburban landscape of the Kansas City Metro. The diversity of shrubs is so grand that there is a plant that works for any condition you might be dealing with. Some homeowners and landscape companies even use large shrubs as small trees for aesthetic and shade purposes. A lovely, hardy shrub can often fill that void when there is an area in the lawn where neither grass nor weeds will establish. This is also true when wanting something planted on steep slopes. Matching the correct plant to the specific place you want to put it is essential.

Supporting Wildlife with Shrubs

Another added benefit of using shrubs around your landscape is the value they add by providing food and shelter to insects and wildlife. Several species of caterpillars will feed on the foliage of shrubs. Lateral branches hidden away in the interior of shrubs are an excellent spot for a butterfly to pupate. The foliage offers great cover for birds to nest and raise their young. Birds, deer, squirrels, and turtles eat the berries and seeds produced after flowering.

Privacy and Practicality: Shrubs as Screens

Densely planted shrubs also make great privacy screens, making them a perfect option for hiding your sitting areas or unattractive utility boxes. The multi-stem characteristic obstructs the lowest features that you could want to hide. Not only do they obstruct the view of your sacred spaces, but they also cut down on the amount of noise pollution that reaches you. Shrubs used as screens can be easily sheared into straight hedges, perfect for the side of driveways, sidewalks, and houses.

From fine-textured evergreens to broad-leafed deciduous, large spring flowers to bright fall color, the options for shrubs are endless. The hardest part about choosing shrubs is choosing the one you like best.

Visit Our Demonstration Gardens for Inspiration

Visit any of our Demonstration Gardens to see extensive examples of shrubs suited to our local landscapes. Our Dennis Patton Garden Gallery Demonstration Garden is particularly suited as an excellent living database of trees, shrubs, and other landscape plants for home gardeners.