It’s the first day of spring and there’s no better way to celebrate this seasonal milestone than by diving into the wide world of shrubbery. Many people may tend to only think of shrubs as standard green bushes that serve to define the borders of a landscape, but shrubs come in a wide variety of colors and can do much more. Let’s explore the many different types of shrubs so that you can get started on your patented spring landscape design.
Three Categories Of Shrubs
While there are no hard and fast rules about categorizing shrubs for sale , there are ways to break them down to make choosing the ones you want a bit simpler. The shrubs that you would typically use for landscaping tend to fall into one of these three categories: deciduous bushes, broadleaf evergreens, and needled evergreens.
Both deciduous bushes and broadleaf evergreens will bloom with showy flowers. They’re great for making your landscape pop and adding the same amount of visual interest that traditional annuals and perennials do.
If you want shrubs that will look the same all year round, either type of evergreen shrub is the way to go. Whether broadleaf or needled, they will hold onto their leaves during all seasons of the year. These options are ideal for installing a plant-made privacy screen to keep neighbors’ prying eyes out of your yard or creating classy-looking hedges for your landscape. Strategically planting the right shrubs and trees around your property can also save you up to 25% in energy bills as they reduce your air conditioning and fuel costs.
Broadleaf evergreens offer a nice middle ground between colorful blooms and year-round foliage. However, only certain shrub species will actually deliver on that compromise. Before you purchase any shrubs and bushes for your yard, be sure to consult with gardening professionals to find options that give you exactly what you want.
Common Spring Flowering Shrubs
When you look around your yard in the spring, you want to see splashes of colorful blooms. Your spring landscape should make you smile. Luckily, you can find shrubs for sale that make you do just that.
Forsythia: Known for their long branches and bright yellow blooms, forsythias are one of the most flexible options for spring shrubs. They can grow to between ten and fifteen feet tall and wide. When fully mature, forsythias have a unique arching form. You can prune forsythias to fit into a smaller space, just be sure that they have full sun wherever you place them. Forsythias also do well with a lot of mulch to provide water and nutrient retention.
Korean Spice Viburnum: This flowering bush will give your landscape visual interest throughout the spring, summer, and fall as it transforms from season to season. In the early spring, the Korean spice viburnum produces small white blooms that have such a nice fragrance, “spice” had to be included in the plant’s name. The blooms turn into bright red berries in the summer that take on even darker hues when fall begins. Viburnum bushes tend to do well in full sun and well-drained soil and can grow up to eight feet tall and wide.
Andromeda: If your lawn is a bit shadier than average, this flowering shrub might be the one for you. Andromeda is a shade-tolerant bush with long branches and small white flowers. They can start blooming as early as March and have a fragrance that tends to be divisive among avid botanists. Some people love the distinctive and strong smell, but others find it offensive.
Lilac: One of the more well-known shrubs for sale, lilacs have a bold appearance and incredible durability. They prefer to grow in drier locations, such as well-drained soil or on slopes. Lilacs require little feeding and most often thrive with a high phosphorus fertilizer in early spring. Lilac blooms are most commonly a light purple or white, but you can also find them in yellow and bicolor varieties. Any color variation will have the classic heady lilac aroma that tends to spread over an entire yard.
The opportunity to change the appearance of your property with carefully-chosen shrubs is an exciting one. It is also one that you should take advantage of sooner rather than later. Contact Gateway Home and Garden Center today to explore the wide variety of shrubs for sale that can transform your property this spring.
