Shrubs

Choosing and planting shrubs

Shrubs often come from areas where it is too stressful for trees to grow, and are therefore very robust and extremely useful and reliable garden plants.

With an enormous range of shrubs offered by garden centres and nurseries it is possible to find ones to suit a wide range of sites. Selecting the right shrub for the spot and buying a good quality plant is important if the shrub is to thrive.

Shrubs are easier to plant successfully than trees although the basic principles are similar. Ericaceous (lime-hating) plants should not be planted on alkaline or limed soils.

Routine shrub maintenance

• Feeding: Shrubs are not demanding and in most cases annual feeding with 50-100g per sq m (1½-3oz sq yd) of general-purpose fertiliser every late winter will suffice. Shrubs in containers need feeding from early spring until late summer
• Mulching: Shrubs benefit form mulching to suppress needs, provide nutrients, improve soil conditions and conserve moisture. Shrubs are usually mulched in late winter, after any fertiliser application, to conserve winter soil moisture
• Watering: Although newly planted shrubs need careful watering, once established they usually need little water
• Deadheading: Although all shrubs benefit if spent flowers are cut off, if time is limited the most benefit comes from deadheading Kalmia, lilac (Syringa) and rhododendrons
• Container-grown shrubs: Need careful watering and feeding, and, every few years, repotting, either into a bigger pot or into the same pot after replacing 30 percent of roots and potting media
• Reversion and sports: Remove reverted shoots promptly
• Suckers: Remove any shoots arising from below graft level (e.g. with rhododendrons) or from the roots (e.g. with tree peonies)

Pruning and training

To keep shrubs healthy, productive and attractive as well as to restrict their size, shrubs often need pruning. This can cause gardeners concern but these simple guides should help:

• Light pruning of trees and shrubs
• Pruning climbers and wall shrubs
• Pruning evergreen shrubs
• Pruning early-flowering shrubs
• Pruning summer flowering shrubs
• Shrub renovation

Propagation

Many shrubs can be raised from cuttings; softwood, semi-ripe or hardwood. Others can be raised from seed.

Cultivar selection

There are literally thousands of shrubs to choose from and some of the best can be seen on the RHS Plant Selector. See the links below for help with choosing suitable shrubs for your garden:

• Climbers and wall shrubs
• Shade planting
• Trees and shrubs with attractive bark
• Winter interest plants
  

Links

RHS Plant Finder
AGM plants

Problems

Shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, but sometimes will start to decline for no apparent reason. This often starts with browning leaves but may indicate an underlying disease such as honey fungus, phytophthora root rot or verticillium wilt.

Yellow leaves (chlorosis) indicate a nutrient deficiency.

Newly planted trees have their own set of problems.