By Kelly Miller
Evergreen shrubs are ideal landscaping features for establishing structure and style. In borders, hedges, or containers, they remain full and green all year long.
If you’re looking for hardy, reliable plants to fill out your home landscape with year-round color, evergreen shrubs are ideal. There are many to choose from, too, from tidy boxwoods to lush, colorful mountain laurels.
Here’s everything you need to know to get started with planting and caring for evergreen shrubs.
Types of Evergreen Shrubs
A shrub is a large, woody plant with multiple stems (unlike a tree, which has a single trunk). Evergreen shrubs are those that keep green (or other-colored) leaves all year. Within this group, there’s plenty of variety.
Evergreens with Needle-like Leaves
Some evergreen shrubs are conifers, with needle-like leaves. These include some of the most popular landscaping shrubs, including Arborvitae, Yew, Juniper, and False Cypress.
Broadleaf Evergreens
Broadleaf evergreen shrubs, meanwhile, have foliage (wide leaves). Common broadleaf evergreens include Boxwood, Wintercreeper, Blue Holly, and some species of Rhododendron.
Flowering Evergreens
Most evergreens aren’t known for their flowers, and some don’t produce any blooms at all. However, some evergreen shrubs produce showy blooms, such as Texas Mountain Laurel, Japanese Mock Orange, and Camellia.
Evergreens for Wildlife
There are wildlife-friendly options for native plant gardeners, too. North American native evergreen shrubs include Inkberry, American Holly, and Southern Bayberry.
When and How to Plant Evergreen Shrubs
For most needle-leaved shrubs, fall is the best season for planting. Ideally, plant around six weeks before the first frost date. Then, during winter, the shrub won’t show much visible growth. However, the roots will be steadily developing.
With broadleaf evergreens, spring planting is recommended. While needle-leaved shrubs are good at guarding their water, shrubs with broader leaves are vulnerable to drying out in the winter. Thus, they benefit from a few seasons of development before facing their first frost. Likewise, it’s helpful for a shrub to spend some time in the ground before facing the harsh heat of summer. That’s why early spring is the best time to plant broadleaf evergreens.
Before planting a shrub, make sure you know its ideal soil, shade, and spacing requirements. In general, evergreen shrubs aren’t picky. Most prefer full sun or partial shade and rich, well-draining soil.
Some species, like boxwood and arborvitae, are often grown close together to create a hedge or living fence. To establish a hedge, plant evergreen shrubs 3–4 feet (0.9–1.2 m) apart.
Pruning and Trimming Evergreen Shrubs
Most evergreen shrubs don’t require heavy pruning. However, light pruning once or twice per year is helpful for controlling the plant’s growth and protecting its health.
To prune an evergreen shrub, use a strong pair of loppers or hand pruners and make clean cuts. Cut off any dead or diseased branches. Additionally, for mature, overgrown shrubs, cut down some of the stems. Choose the oldest, thickest stems and cut them down to the ground. This will encourage healthy new growth.
Trimming is similar to pruning, but the goal of trimming is to create attractive forms. Dense-growing shrubs like boxwood and yew can be neatly trimmed to form straight lines or symmetrical shapes, or to blend several shrubs together into a hedge. Popular hedge shrubs are durable and tolerant of heavy cuts. Just avoid trimming more than one-third of the shrub’s growth at a time, to avoid stressing the plant. Learn all about trimming hedges in our pruning guide.
The best time of year for pruning and trimming is in early spring, after the last frost. Pruning while the shrub is still in winter dormancy helps ensure even growth in spring. However, note that pruning schedules vary from shrub to shrub. For example, some flowering shrubs should be pruned right after they bloom in the spring, while some shrubs require little or no pruning at all.
Feeding and Watering Evergreen Shrubs
Water newly-planted evergreens once or twice per week, whenever the soil is dry. Established evergreen shrubs don’t require much extra watering in regions that receive regular rainfall. Just water thoroughly once or twice per week during extended dry spells.
Before the first frost in winter, water shrubs thoroughly. In winter, evergreens slow down their metabolic function but don’t go completely dormant. Therefore, occasional watering in winter is helpful to keep the shrub from drying out. The milder the winter, the more active (and thirsty) the shrub will be. If the ground is thawed, water evergreen shrubs once or twice per month in winter, during midday.
Most evergreen shrubs require little or no fertilizer. The best time of year to feed them is early spring, to provide fuel for the season’s new growth.
Growing Evergreens for Year-Round Color
Evergreen plants help a home landscape stay green and lively all year. While shrubs provide focal points and structure, low-growing evergreens can fill in the gaps as groundcover. Learn more here: 12 Evergreen Groundcovers for a Low-Maintenance Landscape.
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