Landscaping Plant Ideas With Evergreens

Boxwood

• Boxwoods (Buxus species) are prized for their use as evergreen specimens or hedges. If you're looking for privacy or an accent in the home landscape, consider this broad-leaved plant that displays, as the name suggests, broad leaves as opposed to the needle-like foliage of other evergreens. American boxwoods (B. sempervirens), for example, display dark green foliage with yellow-green undersides to leaves, according to the Clemson University Extension. With a height of up to 15 feet, this evergreen thrives in full sun and moist, well-drained soil high in organic content.

White Pine

• White pine trees (Pinus strobus) offer use as a specimen plant for larger spaces. With soft-looking needled foliage in a blue-green hue, white pines grow quite quickly, according to the University of Missouri Extension. These evergreens grow to an approximate height of 50 to 80 feet with up to a 40-foot spread, but heights are known to skyrocket over 150 feet. This tree is also useful in the home landscape as a screen or a windbreak with its tall, dense habit. Grow in full sun and moist, well-drained soil with good fertility.

Southern Magnolia

• If you are designing a smaller area to a large area and looking for a beautiful, ornamental evergreen plant that adds scent to your home landscape, select the versatile southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) for its large flowers that emit a pleasing fragrance, according to the University of Missouri Extension. This broad-leaved evergreen displays deep green leaves, and its cream/white flowers grow to a diameter of up to 12 inches. Bloom time is during May and June. As a specimen plant or hedge, the southern magnolia grows to a height of 60 to 80 feet with a spread of 30 to 50 feet. Grow in full sunlight and porous, well-drained soil with a pH of 5.0 to 6.5.