Landscaping Ideas for All Season Evergreen Plants

Focal Point

• Evergreen plants make a perfect focal point in your garden as they remain the same throughout the year. The slightly weeping form of Japanese Cedar is a beautiful choice. "Taisho Tamasugi" is a variety of Japanese Cedar that grows only to 20 feet tall with beautiful dark green needles. It is hardy from zone 5 to 7. Accent this tree with Purple Gem Rhododendron, another evergreen shrub boasting beautiful purple flowers in the spring. Plant Cinnamon fern or herbaceous perennials like daylily around Japanese Cedar for an eye catching display.

Windbreak

• As evergreens keep their leaves or needles year round, they make a perfect windbreak to shelter your house or garden. Conifers such as Siberian Spruce are an excellent choice. Growing to 35 feet tall and 10 feet wide, Siberian Spruce thrives in full or partial sun and, once established, is drought-resistant. Don't crowd your plants to speed protection. The plants will eventually start competing for water and nutrients. Plant staggered, parallel rows of trees for optimal wind protection.

Hedge

• For privacy, a wall of evergreens can't be beat. For a flowering evergreen hedge, plant mountain laurel. This evergreen shrub grows to 8 feet tall and provides year-round interest to your garden landscape. In the spring and into summer, the dark glossy leaves are almost hidden by clusters of pink or purple flowers. Mountain laurels are hardy from zone 5 to 9 and prefer light shade and slightly acidic soil. This evergreen thrives in moist soil. Provide a thick layer, five or six inches, of mulch around the roots of this shrub for best results.

Background

• Evergreens are a great choice to anchor your landscape. Plant towering evergreens for a year-around backdrop for other plants as the seasons change. Blue Spruce has a soft blue-green needle and grows to 60 feet tall and 20 feet wide. It is beautiful planted alongside broad-leaf deciduous trees with vibrant fall color such as Maple or Liquid Amber.

Edging

• Evergreen shrubs such as boxwood make perfect low borders between areas of your garden or along a walkway to edge a garden path. Boxwoods grow to 2 feet tall and lend themselves to more formal gardens. They require constant pruning to maintain their shape. They grow from zone 5 to 8 and have pale green to dark green leaves depending on the variety.