Southeast Evergreen Ornamental Shrubs

Bottlebrush

• The bottlebrush is a woody shrub that is well-known for its distinctive flowers. The showy red flowers look just as their name suggests: elongated red bottlebrushes. Small round fruit follow the flowers, but they are nondescript and remain on the tree for some time. The shrub itself can reach a mature height of up to 15 feet, and has evergreen leaves that remain the same color throughout the year.

  Rated for USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 9A through 11, the bottlebrush thrives in full sun and a variety of soil types. Highly drought tolerant, the bottlebrush also is highly disease and pest resistant.

Dwarf Yaupon Holly

• This evergreen shrub is a common sight as ground cover around newer homes throughout the south. In order to bear flowers and fruit, there must be more than one plant as each individual plant is either male or female. Unlike plants that have both parts, the Dwarf Yaupon holly cannot pollinate itself.

  Its flowers are small and insignificant, but the evergreen foliage is a dark, eye-catching green that makes an excellent foundation plant to be included with other flowers. Fruits are typical of the holly plants and are round red balls. Reaching a mature height of about 2 feet, the Dwarf Yaupon can spread up to 5 feet. It does well in full sun or partial shade, well-drained soil and also makes and excellent hedge plant.

Camellia

• The camellia is a broadleaf evergreen that has a deep, shiny green all year-round and erupts with flowers in the late winter and early spring months. The shrub can reach a mature height of up to 20 feet, and each rose-like flower can be up to 5 inches in diameter. There are more than 3,000 different varieties and cultivars, with flower colors that include pinks, reds, white and combinations.

  The camellia does extremely well in the warm temperatures of the southeast. It can adapt to a number of different soil conditions, but should be planted somewhere it can receive plenty of shade. This makes it an excellent shrub to plant alongside a home or beneath large trees.

  A native of Asia, the camellia has figured into folklore and mythology for thousands of years.