Shrubs Ideas, Tips & Guides

Plants with a silvery sheen stand out beautifully against the sea of green that fills most garden beds. In this episode, Danielle, Carol, and their guest will highlight some shimmering shrubs, drought-tolerant perennials, a tiny dwarf conifer, and even an unusual silvery vine with a bit of a back story. Perhaps one of these lovely, luminous plants could be the silver bullet solution to one of your own garden design dilemmas.

As 2023 winds down and gardening activities slow down a bit, what else is there to do but dream of what we can achieve in 2024?! Like every year, we’re keen on following top gardening trends to help you grow the garden of your dreams.

Tropical evergreen shrubs of the Verbena family can be a vibrant addition to any garden, offering a blend of lush foliage and vivid flowers.

Looking for flowers that start with the letter ‘X’ is a bit like a treasure hunt and seems difficult, but there are not just one or two but many that start with X.

Deutzias are easy to grow, hardy deciduous shrubs that make beautiful displays of massed pink or white flowers in early to mid-summer. Numerous small five-petalled cup or saucer shaped flowers are borne profusely in clusters or racemes along twiggy arching branches, contrasting with mid-green toothed-edged leaves.

With their glossy leaves and festive red berries, skimmia are made for Christmas. What’s more, these compact evergreen shrubs are a super choice for small gardens, and they grow well in containers for courtyard or balcony gardeners. If you yearn to gather your own greenery for Christmas decorations, but don’t have room for a holly, a couple of choice skimmias could be just the thing – and because they’re prickle free, making those decorations will be far less painful!

The colours of autumn are so evocative. Russet, ochre and translucent crimson can look magnificent against a clear blue sky – or more importantly they can light up a dull grey day, catching the eye and cheering the heart. It is fascinating to know a little about the science behind the colour change in the second half of the year, as explained by Chris Clennett at Kew: ‘Trees, like most plants, use chlorophyll to photosynthesise…In autumn, trees that lose their leaves for winter go through a process to shut down photosynthesis and reclaim as many valuable chemicals as possible. Chlorophyll is constantly breaking down and being replaced through the summer, but the process slows down in autumn. This reveals all those other chemicals that were hidden by the presence of the dominant green chlorophyll…yellow flavonols, orange carotenoids and red to purple anthocyanins.’

Hi, I am Belinda Smith Lawson. I live in Riverview, Florida, which is Zone 9.

Day 9 of our Christmas advent prize draw gives you the chance to win WOLF-Garten’s Bypass Loppers worth £119.99.

Jostaberry – pronounced ‘yosta’ (Ribes × nidigrolaria) – is a cross between blackcurrant and gooseberry. It forms a big, hardy, deciduous shrub that bears small purple flowers in late spring, followed by red-black berries the size of gooseberries but with a richer, sweeter flavour. While quite tart compared with other soft fruit, jostaberries are sweet enough to be eaten raw in salads, muesli and desserts, or cooked in sweet or savoury dishes. The fruit also freezes well.

Hidden behind the door for day 8 of our advent prize draw is a bundle of tools from gardening brand Wilkinson Sword, worth £114.97.

From rich history, characteristics, appearance, growth, and more – here’s everything you need to know about the Family of 210 Flowering Plants!

There are few groups of plants more valuable in the garden than broadleaf evergreens. They give the garden structure and interest when not much else is going on. This varied group generally includes any woody plant that does not lose its leaves during the fall or winter and is not a conifer with needles or scales (think pines, junipers, firs, or arbor­vitae). Broadleaf evergreens represent some of our most popular and useful shrubs: rhododendrons, camellias, hollies, and boxwood. These plants offer a wide range of textures through their varied foliage and can often be complemented with beautiful flowers and a lovely growing habit.

When I moved to Michigan 13 years ago, I was ­excited by the endless plant possibilities afforded by my new Zone 6 location. Compared to the secluded 5-acre garden I had left behind in southern Minnesota, however, my newly purchased corner lot surrounded by houses and neighbors felt like a fishbowl.

Robins can lose up to 10% of their body weight keeping warm over a single winter’s night. With reports that the La Nina weather system may bring harsh cold spells in winter 2022-23, added to the problem of disappearing food sources and habitats over the UK, robins – and other garden birds – could do with some support this season.

Did you know that some of the most delicious and nutritious fruits don’t actually grow on trees? From ground-hugging strawberries to climbing passion fruits, there are many more to discover in this article!

In Deep Borders Let You Have It All, Hans Hansen writes, “When I moved to Michigan 13 years ago, I was excited by the endless plant possibilities afforded by my new Zone 6 location. Compared to the secluded 5-acre garden I had left behind in southern Minnesota, however, my newly purchased corner lot surrounded by houses and neighbors felt like a fishbowl.

Enter Our 2024 New Plant Giveaways! Want to win free plants this spring? Sign up for Garden Gate's 2024 New Plant giveaways here. Want to win new 2024 plant introductions? Enter our giveaways!

Words by Joanna Fortnam

Listen up as Alan Titchmarsh, Kate Bradbury and the team at Gardeners’ World share some of their garden favourites. From plants for vibrant winter flowers, to the best Christmas gifts for gardeners and wildlife to spot in your garden this winter.

Knowing when to trim boxwoods—and which methods and tools to use for the job—is as important for establishing new, young plants as it is for properly maintaining older, larger boxwood bushes. Luckily, with a few snips here and there, it’s easy to spur new growth or simply preserve an existing, desired shape.

DIY Porch Pots with Spruce Tips & Evergreens Watch and learn how to use spruce tips, pine branches and more evergreens to make gorgeous winter porch pots! Plant porch pots with spruce tips and evergreens for winter interest

Dive into the vibrant world of orange flowers with this article, detailing over 50 varieties for your garden. From the unique Persian Buttercup to the elegant Sigar plant, each bloom is described with its botanical name. Perfect for garden enthusiasts, this guide brings the warmth and energy of orange right to your doorstep.

While there are lots of shrubs that will do perfectly fine over the winter, sometimes they need a little help to make it through. And that may not be just as a result of cold temperatures. Hungry wildlife could be after some of those tender branches, too. My cedar hedges in the backyard are consistently turned into lollipops because the deer enjoy nibbling the lower branches if they pass through our yard. Winter shrub covers are a great way to protect vulnerable bushes. In this article, I’m going to share tips on choosing winter covers, and how to safely wrap your shrubs.

Consecutive days of frost have certainly put paid to most herbaceous plants in the garden, and with time and less chilly weather I could now begin cutting back some of the top growth and improving the general scruffiness of some of the borders. Meanwhile, I have  finally been giving some thought to  a certain event that seems to have taken many people by surprise this year, and have at least ordered some seeds from Chiltern Seeds and bedding plants from Brookside Nursery Nursery so have achieved something garden-related in the last week. I still have a ramble at least once a day, albeit more of a sprint than a ramble – if you need to take it at a more leisurely place, then please do.

Cherry Ong is a frequent GPOD contributor, sharing both her own beautiful garden and those she visits on her travels. But she also helps out in her friend Sylvia’s garden in Richmond, British Columbia. Here’s a previous post about helping in Sylvia’s garden: Cherry Helps a Friend Plant a Fabulous Garden.

Mahonias are woody evergreen shrubs and the best of them flower in winter. In the past, they were regarded as something to shove in the shady corner or, even more insultingly, as car park plants. But now – thanks to the demand for architectural foliage – they are having their moment in the sun... or, rather, their moment in light shade, which is where they prefer to be.

A double row of clipped topiary pieces in the yew garden at Beckley Park

Clare Foster's own front garden in Berkshire, with loose planting anchored around clipped spheres of silvery Teucrium fruticans

As inextricable from mass festive wares as tinsel and paper hats, the poinsettia blazes red in most shops and homes during December. Being such an omnipresent sight makes it unappealing for many of us, but, thankfully – if the standard scarlet species makes you wince – there are less common forms available that are well worth buying to brighten the house this Christmas.

Witch Hazel '‘Amanon’ 'at Kalmthout Arboretum in Belgium

Fall Foliage Combinations Full of Texture There's no need for flowers when you can grow fall foliage combinations like these for stunning late-season borders! Make fall foliage the star of your border

There’s nothing quite like coming home to your own slice of paradise, such as a pocket of greenery in the backyard. But transforming a drab garden into an oasis is not everyone’s area of expertise and can be costly if it’s attempted without a little know-how.

We’re off to New Zealand today to visit Lynne Leslie’s garden. We’ve visited before (Lynne’s Garden in New Zealand), and it is always fun to see what she is growing.

When and How to Transplant Camellias

Evergreens keep their leaves all year round, so are a must in any garden. They’re particularly good choices in winter when their green foliage adds some much-needed interest and structure to a bare garden. Here, we share some of our favourite evergreens. There are options to suit any style of garden, as well as ideas for evergreen hedges. Our choices include recommendations from the Gardeners’ World team and familiar faces from across the gardening industry.