Almost everyone who has a yard would like to have some color in it throughout the seasons. One of the most obvious ways of achieving this is with flowers. They are pretty, colorful and they grow fast, but they can be a nuisance to plant and demanding about their care. If you go away, they look bedraggled on your return. Most annual flowers need almost daily inspection to do their best. Many homeowners do not want to be tied down with just one aspect of the yard. Others do not have the knowledge or the time to serve as nursery maid to outdoor plants.

There is a way out of this dilemma. Instead of the yearly struggle with annual or perennial plants, it is possible to get a very long lasting display of flowers from blossoming shrubs and trees. Many also have good fall foliage and, when combined with evergreens and bushes that carry bright berries into winter, an attractive shrub border can be a beneficial addition year round.

The timid gardener should realize that making a shrub border is not difficult. Experienced horticulturists use shrub borders to give themselves time to concentrate on the other matters that crop up in running any garden. An effective shrub border will take some planning, but a garden center will provide information and help you fine-tune your design when you buy the plants from them.

Some financial outlay will also be involved, as shrubs and trees are not inexpensive. However, once the job is done, all the gardener has to do is sit back and enjoy the results. The initial cost is a once and only expense that pales in comparison to the regular expenditure of time, energy and money that goes into planting seasonal flats or starting seeds of annuals and perennials.

In the suburban garden, a shrub border can make the crucial difference between a yard that is open to the street and the gaze of passers-by or a cool and shady retreat offered by a varied border of flowering shrubs, trees and evergreens.

Evergreens should be incorporated because the green material gives a sense of stability and privacy during the leafless winter months. In the suburban garden, these shrub beds are often one sided along a property line, so the evergreens may be grouped toward the back of the bed. In a freestanding design, the tallest evergeens may be worked into the center of the bed.

When shrub borders are in sunny areas, juniper and arborvitae are good evergreen choices. In shady areas, hemlocks or yews can be used, but don’t line up these plants like soldiers on parade. In a shrub border, even more than in a boundary border, tall evergreens should be spaced informally, sometimes two or three to a group, sometimes one for a single accent. Plants with dense foliage that points upward is the best choice, rather than pines which point outward. Steeple points are attractive in any setting and they are intended to catch the eye in every season.

Try incorporating spreading evergreens with a more bush-like form into the middle layers, for to be a true shrub border, the plant material should be three or four tiers thick. Needle evergreens like spreading yews and plants with shiny leaves like ilex (holly) provide good contrast of texture with the leafless branches of trees. Spacing these spreading evergreens in an irregular fashion throughout the border, will tie together otherwise diverse plant material into a single unifying feature. Without this cohesiveness there is far less sense of deliberate unity and design. The various colored evergreens are also a delight to the eye in the winter months.

Any shrub border that looks and lasts well should be planned to improve with age and not become a crowded muddle. If you are choosing your own plant material, familiarize yourself with the growth habits and potential size of plants you are considering. How tall and wide will they get and is the soil to their liking? Potentially big shrubs grow much faster than small spreading shrubs. This kind of plant knowledge is why the work of landscape designers often looks so much better than the work of the careful amateur. The professionals know the plant material and how it reacts. This can make a big difference in just two or three years.

The home gardener can learn from the many shrub catalogs available, they will provide all the information you need, along with what is available in bookstores and libraries. Arm yourself with information and the shrub border will thrive.

One last note — Don’t be tempted to plant too densely at first, space the shrubs far apart to give them room to grow. A newly planted shrub border will look slightly ridiculous with the plants set apart, but will fill in fast enough to amaze even experienced gardeners. When the shrubs do not have to jostle for room and light, they will fill in faster with better form than crowded plants.

Click here for Part II - Designing the Shrub Border, Choosing Plants and Pruning.

Robin Milliken is a Landscape Specialist and Master Gardener
The Master Gardener appears monthly in The Olathe Daily News.
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