Shrubs & Bushes

Shrubs, along with a tree or two, are the quickest and easiest way to form the ‘skeleton’ of your garden, and they have other advantages.

They are mainly low maintenance plants that forgive a little neglect, especially during a dry spell; many have year round interest with flowers, fruits, gorgeous foliage in autumn and sometimes colourful bark that stands out when all else is grey in winter; they encourage birds and butterflies into your garden and can be a constant source of greenery for cut flower displays. Where there's plenty of room, you can grow larger, faster-growing shrubs and avoid clipping, although topiary is currently very fashionable.

Shrubs can be tough in exposed sites, in poor sandy soils and in drought conditions: evergreen shrubs may have moisture retentive foliage such as needles, or silvery foliage plants which have water conserving hairs.

Conifers are making a comeback and are ideal because many of them will tolerate a dry, sunny spot, and with their strong shapes - upright columns and cones, or unstructured and prone - they come in varieties of blue, green and gold.

Lots of structural evergreens look good together, but you can still have colour with flowers and fruiting shrubs such as mahonia or holly. Hydrangeas love a damp situation and their flowers in shades of blue, pink or white provide interesting shapes even in winter.

Our friendly and knowledgeable staff at Fosseway Garden Centre will be delighted to offer advice, whether on choosing specimen ornamental shrubs or shrubs for hedging.

Visit us for more Shrubs & Bushes info