These evergreen shrubs will provide color and structure in your landscape 365 days a year.
Here are our recommendations for the best types of evergreen shrubs for your region and growing conditions.
Arborvitae
Masses of soft, fan-like foliage givearborvitae(Thuja occidentalis) a unique appearance.
Credit: Scott Little
This tough evergreen’s feathery texture contrasts well with broadleaf plants.
Arborvitae is commonlyused as a reliable, long-lived hedgeor screening plant.
Use smaller varieties in mixed borders for a little evergreen color.
Credit: Jason Wilde
Be sure to plant a male cultivar near a female cultivar for fruit set.
Use it as a hedge or screening plant or plant a few near an entryway for winter interest.
tocreate an easy-care low hedge.
Credit: Denny Schrock
Tiny leaves and a dense branching habit give boxwood a strong visual presence in any landscape.
Round cultivars, such as Green Gem, naturally grow in a spherical shape.
Other cultivars, such as Green Mountain and Green Tower, are more upright.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
This slow-growing shrubtolerates shearing well; it can be sculpted into formal shapes.
Camellia
A slow-growing broadleaf evergreen with large dark green leaves,camellia(Camelliaspp.)
is beloved for itswinter or early spring flowers.
Credit: Rob Cardillo
The flowers can be single or double, and come in white, red, pink, or bicolors.
Add it to a mixed border or plant several together as a flowering hedge.
This native evergreen shrub has slightly prickly foliage.
Credit: William N. Hopkins
Ittakes to pruning welland can be trimmed into formal shapes.
Low-growing varieties hug the ground while other types have a more upright habit.
Use it as a hedge plant oradd it to a mixed shrub border.
Credit: Justin Hancock
There are several cultivars of evergreen euonymus.
Some plants sport variegated yellow and green foliage while others have dark green or chartreuse leaves.
Size:2 to 8 feet tall and wide
Zones:69
False Cypress
False cypress (Chamaecyparisspp.)
Credit: Denny Schrock
is a conifer with soft foliage and good deer resistance.
While the flowers are visually striking, their fragrance is their most attractive quality.
It has an upright, mounding habit.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Abelias lush flower clusters decorate the plant for weeks in summer and attract pollinators, including butterflies.
Blue-black berries form in late summer and decorate the dense, mounding evergreen shrub through winter.
Indian hawthorn has leathery, dark green leaves that take on a pleasing purple hue in winter.
Credit:Peter Krumhardt
It has small leaves and a compact growth habit similar to boxwood.
Use inkberry in a mixed shrub border to provide year-round color and interest.
Or use it to form a hedge in wet, challenging planting areas.
Credit: Denny Schrock
It can bepruned into a formal shape.
Sky Pencil is a narrow, columnar form that is popular for adding height to small spaces.
The upright, slow-growing, evergreen shrub has glossy green foliage that is maroon when it emerges.
Credit:Denny Schrock
It also bears clusters of showy red berries from late summer into winter.
Nandina is a verylow-maintenance shrub that never needs pruning.
Or cut the clusters of berries off the plants when they appear.
Credit: Denny Schrock
Both heat- and drought-tolerant, it blooms from early summer until mid-autumn.
Oleander is well-suited for seaside gardens, thanks to its tolerance of salt spray.
Even the smoke from burning the plant can be unsafe.
Credit:Brie Williams
Birds love to eat the berries.
Compact varieties are perfect for planting on the north or east side of a home.
Firethorn isevergreen in warmer zones, and semi-evergreen in colder areas.
Credit: Marilyn Ott
There are many different types of viburnums and not all of them are evergreen.
have been popular landscape plants for decades.
Emerald Spreader has chartreuse foliage and grows just 2 feet tall while spreading to 8 feet or more wide.
Credit: David Goldberg
Other varieties have a pronounced upright growth habit.
Your evergreens will lose moisture through the winter.
In the fall, see to it you give your evergreen shrubs a deep soaking before the ground freezes.
Credit: Chipper R. Hatter
Avoid pruning in the fall; you dont want new growth that may not harden off.
Top 10 Reasons to Plant Shrubs.
The National Gardening Association.
Credit: Cynthia Haynes
North Carolina State University Extension Plant Toolbox.
Taxus.North Carolina State University Extension Plant Toolbox.
Best Time to Prune Evergreen Shrubs.Kansas State Research and Extension.
Credit: Kritsada Panichgul
Caring for Evergreens.Chicago Botanic Garden.
Credit: Edward Gohlich
Credit: Jerry Pavia
Credit: Scott Little
