Evergreen shrubs are the corner point of every successful garden design. They hold structure throughout the year and add weight to gardens, which means that even in the dead of winter, there is some form and interest to look at. I'm not suggesting that we pack our gardens with just evergreen shrubs. Low-maintenance evergreen shrubs must be considered part of an overall planting scheme with more seasonal interest, pollen for wildlife and food sources for birds and mammals.
However, if you're struggling to keep your garden looking exciting or short on time, these evergreen flowering shrubs will bring your garden to life without resorting to dreadful fake grass or just paving over the space. So come with me as I show you how to create a green oasis without giving up all of your weekends (I can guarantee that when you succeed with these plants, you will want to spend at least some time gardening!).
Sweet Box is a compact, shade-loving evergreen with glossy, dark green leaves. It produces small but highly fragrant white flowers in late winter, followed by black berries, adding seasonal interest to shady spots. This is why it is sometimes referred to as the Christmas shrub. It is a great shrub for containers next to a front door to soften hard landscaping.
Sarcococca is incredibly easy to care for, thriving in dry, shady areas where many other plants struggle. Especially if neighbouring trees block light from your garden, it requires little to no pruning and can tolerate a wide range of soil conditions, making it perfect for time-poor gardeners. Plant it in multiples of 3 or odd numbers around the gardens, allowing its white winter flowers to sing and pop out of the flower beds.
This shrub is the great pretender. Despite its name, Nandina is not bamboo but an evergreen shrub with graceful foliage that changes colour throughout the seasons. Its leaves turn from green to red to purple. Nandina's vibrant colours and delicate appearance may make you think it needs a lot of protection, but it's near bombproof as a beginner shrub for the garden.
Nandina is tolerant of nearly all soil types and light levels, from full sun to partial shade. It requires very little pruning, and its colourful leaves make it appealing year-round without needing much attention. Use it on repeat through a garden border to bring a super beautiful autumnal feel to the garden as its leaves change colour.
Phormium, or New Zealand Flax, is an architectural evergreen shrub with bold, sword-like leaves in various colours, including green, bronze, purple, and even variegated forms. It provides dramatic texture and height to your garden; you've probably already seen it used in car parks, new office landscaping or new homes. I'm going to be honest: I'm not a fan of Phormium myself as I find them a bit boring (and I once had a landscaping job to rip out 30 or so of them), but they cannot be beaten for low maintenance gardening. They also add a touch of the tropics to gardens but are totally frost-hardy.
Phormium is highly drought-tolerant and thrives in poor soils, requiring minimal attention once established doesn'tsn'tt need regular pruning, and its strong, upright growth adds year-round interest with little effort. The downside is they don't flower and have little use for wildlife but in lieu of plastic grass, I'd rather see these!
Rhododendron is a massive plant genus and popular evergreen shrub known for its large, leathery green leaves that hold form all year round. In spring, it bursts into stunning clusters of flowers, ranging from red to orange and yellow. Simply gorgeous, this shrub brings spring colour to the garden.
Rhododendrons thrive in acidic (ericaceous), well-drained soil and prefer partial shade, making them ideal for woodland or shaded gardens. Once established, they require very little pruning aside from removing spent blooms and dead branches after they have finished flowering each year. They are drought-tolerant and can thrive with minimal watering.
If you are looking for a low-fuss tropical-looking shrub that's slug-proof, look no further than the fake castor oil plant Fatsia. Fatsia is a large-leaved evergreen shrub that creates a tropical feel in your garden with its glossy, deep green leaves that can grow up to a foot wide. It also produces small white flowers in autumn and black berries that look super alien in winter!
Fatsia is perfect for shady areas and requires very little maintenance. It is highly tolerant of poor soils, drought, and shade, thriving where other plants might struggle. A simple prune in spring is all it needs to keep looking its best. These tropical-looking shrubs will grow virtually anywhere but do account for their ultimate size, as they can get big, so avoid cramming them into tiny flower beds.
Photinia is a standout shrub thanks to its bright red new foliage growth, which gradually turns dark green. It adds a splash of colour and texture to gardens throughout the year. However, new gardeners tend to go mad for this shrub and plant it everywhere. Red robins hate exposed windy sites and will drop their leaves if planted anywhere there is wind or a cold draught. So, bear this in mind, beginner gardener!
This shrub is fast-growing but only requires light pruning to maintain its shape. It tolerates various soil conditions and requires little attention beyond the occasional trim to encourage fresh red growth. It can be hard-puned if you find the bottom of the shrub loses its leaves. They tend to shed a large proportion of their leaves every couple of years. Don't panic; if your Red Robin is shedding its leaves, it's either a natural part of the growth cycle every few years or in the wrong place, i.e. somewhere windy and exposed.
Pinus mugo, the dwarf pine, is the ultimate super slow-growing shrub. This slow-growing evergreen shrub offers a distinct look with its dense, needle-like foliage, which is great for Japanese-style garden designs. It is compact, making it perfect for small gardens, rock gardens, or container planting, and it has a texture you want to reach out and stroke in the garden.
Once established, Dwarf Mountain Pine requires minimal care. It thrives in poor soil, is highly drought-tolerant, and doesn't need regular pruning. I would urge you not to prune it at all for at least 10 years until its full shape develops. Pinus Mugo is a set-and-forget shrub for your garden.
A favourite of garden designers, Garden Rescue presenters and landscapers, the New Zealand native Pittosporum is a hardy blob that adds texture to the garden without needing care or attention. Pittosporum is an elegant shrub with glossy leaves and small, fragrant flowers. The variegated varieties are particularly eye-catching, offering a mix of silver, green, and white foliage that adds brightness to garden borders or hedges.
Pittosporum has few pests or plant diseases, making this plant genus an easy-care option for those with little time to garden.
Chances are you will have seen this on car parks, new build show homes, and commercial landscaping. Spotted Laurel is a tough evergreen shrub with striking gold-flecked leaves that brighten shady spots in the garden. It can tolerate pollution, making it an excellent choice for urban gardens. This is why so many commercial planting schemes use it. However, the drawback is that it is slow growing, and you need other plants like grasses, herbaceous perennials or shrubs to offer height in your garden, so it is not just one layer of green.
Aucuba japonica thrives in deep shade and is drought-tolerant, requiring minimal watering once established. Spotted Laurel also grows slowly and requires very little pruning to maintain its shape. Use this if you need a garden shrub you can plant and then forget about.
Fancy a surprising shrub that adds a pop of tropical colour in the summer months? Escallonia is a compact evergreen shrub that produces clusters of pink, red, or white flowers during summer, adding a splash of colour to your garden. Its glossy green leaves provide year-round interest. It can reach around 1.5m in height, making it a good screening shrub or a shrub suitable for use in hedges.
Escallonia is tolerant of salt spray, making it ideal for coastal gardens. It requires minimal care beyond light pruning to maintain its shape. I use Escalonia in a number of my designs, especially in new build gardens, to help bring instant greenery and some colour during the year. Even beginner gardeners find Escallonia a hard shrub to kill! Once established, it is drought-tolerant and requires very little attention.
Japanese garden design is all about limiting flowers and creating verdant green spaces, which is where the Japanese spindle comes in. This compact, evergreen shrub is perfect for small gardens or formal hedging. Its dense, glossy green leaves can be pruned into neat shapes or left to grow naturally.
The delicate creamy white flowers of the Japanese spindle add interest to this otherwise unbothersome shrub. Use it for structure and to create some form, but also ensure you surround it in more floriferous (flower-packed) specimens or Japanese acers to prevent it from becoming a green blob in your garden planting schemes.
The common Camellia is another great shrub from Japanese gardens, especially when it blooms in spring. Camellia is widely known for its stunning early spring flowers. It is an evergreen shrub with glossy, dark green leaves that look beautiful even when not in bloom. The blooms come in shades of pink, red, and white.
Camellias thrive in partial shade and acidic soil but are generally low-maintenance. Prune Camellias after flowering only when they are about 5-7 years old as they tend not to respond well to hard pruning or too much fiddling with. Great for the time-poor gardener.
Oleander is a hardy evergreen shrub known for its beautiful, fragrant flowers blooming in pink, white, or red throughout the summer. It is perfect for creating a Mediterranean feel in your garden without needing lots of deadheading or garden care.
Oleander is native to the Mediterranean region and parts of Asia and needs similar growing conditions here in the UK. It needs full sun and protection from harsh winters or deep shade. Oleander can withstand poor soils and is salt-tolerant, making it suitable for coastal gardens. Once established, it needs minimal watering but benefits from occasional pruning to promote bushier growth and more frequent blooms.
Skimmia is another favourite of landscapers for its tough characteristics and slow-growing habit. It is a compact, shade-loving evergreen shrub that offers year-round interest with its dark green leaves, fragrant white flowers, and bright red berries (on female plants). Skimmia flowers in March and April, and the berries pop out in autumn right through the winter.
Skimmia is perfect for shady gardens and requires very little care. They can even be grown in containers and underplanted with ferns, cyclamen, or winter pansies for Christmas displays. Then, they are replaced by other spring and summer annuals for the rest of the year.
Rock Rose is a tough, drought-tolerant evergreen shrub with delicate, papery flowers that bloom in summer. Its low, spreading habit makes it perfect for sunny borders or rocky, dry areas. Low-growing, it will not become a hedge or out-compete other shrubs, so plant Rock rose near the front of a border and treated it more like a herbaceous perennial plant type than a shrub.
This shrub thrives in poor, well-drained soils and only needs deadheading after it flowers; prune it very sparingly, if at all.
The garden does not need to fall asleep and look boring in winter, not when you've got Daphne to bring colour and fabulous scent to your green spaces. Winter Daphne is a fragrant evergreen shrub that produces highly perfumed pink or white flowers in late winter and early spring. Its glossy green leaves add a touch of elegance to any garden.
Another shrub that works well in pots near the entrance to a home as the scent is so delicious. It can help add a blast of green even to the most built up front gardens and make your neighbours green with envy when it blooms. Pair this with evergreen Carex and Rudbeckia for a real colour wheel contrast.
Knowing when and how to plant evergreen shrubs is confusing if you're new to gardening. But don't panic, and it's rather simple when you know how. There are some key considerations to making planting easy and successful so you can spend less time gardening and maintaining them and more time doing other things! Let's look at the key considerations when planting evergreen shrubs.
Whilst you can plant evergreen shrubs at any time, there are preferable times that reduce the amount of watering needed and maintenance, so do bear this in mind, especially if you're planting up a full garden with these low-maintenance beauties.
Autumn (September to November) in most climates is the best time for planting evergreen shrubs. During autumn or fall, the soil is still warm enough to promote root growth, while the cooler air reduces stress on the plants. Planting evergreen shrubs from September to November also allows the roots to establish over winter before the active growth phase in spring. It's a low-fuss, high-success method of planting shrubs.
You can also successfully plant evergreen shrubs in early spring (March to early April). Spring planting is preferable in regions with harsh winters. Planting in early spring allows evergreens to establish roots before the stress of summer heat. However, spring-planted shrubs may require more frequent watering during the summer as they have not had the winter to establish their roots.
Most evergreen shrubs prefer full to partial sunlight but can tolerate some shade. Make sure to choose a location that matches the shrub's sunlight requirements. Research your shrubs to see where they most like to live. Understanding the aspect of your garden can be helpful, and the video guide below shows you how to assess this for planting.
Consider the mature size of the shrub and allow enough space between plants for airflow to reduce disease risk. Try not to squash them together or plant them like you see at show gardens and TV garden makeovers as these are not real gardens and often the plants will need moving once they start to mature and thinning out.
Contrary to belief you don't need much preparation for your soil for most evergreen shrubs as they are quite undemanding compared to other plant types. Drainage is important and evergreens generally prefer well-draining soil, as waterlogged conditions can lead to root rot.
Most evergreens prefer slightly acidic to neutral soil (pH 5.5 to 7) but don't panic too much again there are only a handful of plants like Rhododendrons or Blueberries that need certain soil pH but most will still survive just not thrive.
There is no need to enrich the soil by mixing in compost or other organic matter to help improve soil structure and nutrient availability. It's better to mulch each autumn instead. Adding compost to planting holes just makes the shrubs lazy, and they take far longer to establish. The same goes for plant fertilizer; they simply don't need it when they are establishing. Save feeding your plants until year 2 or 3.
Dig a hole that is twice as wide as the root ball but only as deep as its height to prevent sinking or burying the crown. Set the shrub in the hole, ensuring the top of the root ball is level with or slightly above the surrounding soil to promote proper drainage. Fill the hole halfway with soil and water thoroughly, then fill the rest and water again to eliminate air pockets. Avoid packing the soil too tightly.
Apply a layer of mulch around the base, about 2–3 inches thick. Keep mulch a few inches away from the trunk to avoid rot, but cover the root zone well to maintain moisture and regulate soil temperature
For regions with hot summers, consider using shade cloth or temporary shading for newly planted shrubs if temperatures exceed 28 degrees c or 85°F, as newly planted shrubs are prone to sun stress.
Avoid heavy pruning in the first season after planting. Instead, allow the plant to establish and prune for shape in year three onwards if needed.
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Whilst I'd love all gardeners to have a mix of varied plants in their gardens, I also appreciate that for some of you, time is just too precious. Using low-maintenance evergreen shrubs can reduce the time spent gardening, but still enjoy the calming serenity that greenery and plants can bring. I can also guarantee that once you succeed with these tough beginner shrubs, you will start to look further afield at slightly more demanding flower-packed plants and diversity!
I would love to hear from you below or on social media where you can Tweet, Facebook or Instagram me. Or let me know below what you took away from the experience! You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel for hundreds of garden design tips, tricks, and hack guides!
Happy Designing!
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