10 Popular Bushes and Shrubs for your garden

Green Mountain Boxwood 6-10"

Green Mountain Boxwood - Buxus x Green Mountain Boxwood is a compact, evergreen shrub with dark, oval-shaped leaves that offers a formal and neat appearance in gardens and landscapes. It is a versatile and highly beneficial evergreen shrub with numerous advantages in landscaping projects. This variety is admired for its compact, upright growth habit and lush, dark foliage. It is a conifer bush popular with landscapers, topiary artists, and gardeners. It's also known as Buxus microphylla var. japonica or Buxus X. Some gardeners call it the shrub. It's native to Asia and Europe and typically grows between three and five feet tall. Green Mountain Boxwood Is A Evergreen  The hedge is an evergreen, meaning the leaves retain color all year. The only exception is in winter if it's exposed to full sunlight. In that instance, the leaves may turn bronze. However, they only stay bronze for a short time. This popular hedge grows to a height of five feet and typically has a width or spread between two and three feet. It's prized for its dense foliage, which makes it easy to prune and shape. Gardeners can expect it to grow an average of three inches per year and reach a height of three feet within the first ten years. It can be identified by the opposite arrangement of its leaves and by its square stems. Gardeners and landscapers commonly use it as a foundation hedge, living fence, hedge maze, or mass planting for sculpting purposes. It's highly prized for its ability to take on topiary forms. The Blooms Of The Green Mountain Boxwood In the spring, it grows clusters of yellow, tan, or gold flowers. The fragrant blossoms attract butterflies, bees, and even hummingbirds. These characteristics make it the perfect outline for flower, knot, and butterfly gardens. Plants That Do Well Next To It It does well alongside many other shrubs, bushes, and flowers. Some favorites include lilacs, roses, lavender, tulips, daffodils, Russian sage, petunias and peonies. Use Your Imagination And Skill To Shape Yours It is a popular and preferred shrub by many landscapers and gardeners. It can form living fences and hedge mazes and outline flower beds and knot gardens. Skilled horticulturalists can even shape this beautiful shrub into elegant and eye-catching pieces of living art pieces. How Fast Do They Grow They are slow to moderately growing, with height increases of 3 to 6 inches per year. When mature, it may grow to be 3-5 feet tall, thus perfect for formal hedges or pruned shapes. What are the requirements for them to thrive They are adaptable as long as they get sunlight, but they do well in partial shade; they also do well in well-draining, fertile soil with a pH of slight acidity to neutral. It is a cold-tolerant plant that prefers vented conditions to minimize diseases and pest incidences in the compounds. When should I water them Water once weekly during the growing season, more frequently if the conditions experienced are hot or dry. New plants or just transplanted shrubs require slightly more water to establish good root systems but do not allow it to waterlog the soil. What type of fertilizer should one use on them Don't apply large amounts of nitrogen, but use a slow-release fertilizer that contains equal portions of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium during the early spring. Do not over-fertilize since this is counterproductive to growth and apply the fertilizer at the recommended rates as indicated in the packs. How Do I Make Mine Grow Bigger To achieve bigger expansion, plant Green Mountain boxwoods in soil with better fertility and an area with appropriate exposure to sunlight. The plants require maintenance and, therefore, should be pruned to get rid of weak branches. Regular supply of water as well as shelter from strong winter gusts contributes to good vegetation.

Forsythia

Forsythia - intermedia The forsythia shrub was introduced in the eighteenth century. Plant hunter Robert Fortune discovered it, which is known for early spring flowering on bare branches. This deciduous shrub with flowers is said to produce lactose. The early arrival of spring is signaled by the explosion of yellow flowers from the ground to the tips of each descending branch of the shrub. Before the leaves even appear, the bare branches fill with sunshine-colored blossoms shaped like golden bells. Forsythia Has Golden Bells For Blooms  Extremely fast-growing, between one and two feet per year, these shrubs benefit from regular pruning. Pruning encourages thicker growth and an increase in flower production. Because of their popularity, they are appealing grown either as hedgerows or as single bushes.  The golden yellow shrub takes up a lot of space in a garden. However, many gardeners like using flowering stems to frame or form backbones in different arrangements. This popular plant is often called "Golden Bells" due to the yellow, bell-shaped flowers born along the arching stems. Forsythia Colors and Characteristics The yellow flowers can range from light buttery to deep, rich gold. The narrow toothy leaves grow two to ten cm long and are aligned opposite each other down the gray-brown, long, weeping branches. Joining together only at the base, the four-lobed flower's petals are deep and protect the reproductive organs during rainy weather.  Height at Maturity Typically, the shrub can grow up to 9 feet 10 inches tall and sometimes even up to 20 feet and up to 9 feet wide. The winged seeds are encased in a dry capsule. These vase-shaped shrubs generally grow in a splay-like or drooping pattern, and when pruning is not kept up, the shrub can end up looking as if it were having a bad hair day. Hardy Planting Zones and Propagation Success The hardy zones are 4 – 9 and thrive in sun and well-drained soil. They grow best in full sun and well-drained soil. This plant makes for a spectacular border; with individual shrubs spaced about 10 inches apart, they will grow into a naturally dense border. Forsythia plants have big, bright yellow flowers and mid to dark-green foliage. The propagation of the shrub is simple by anchoring low-hanging boughs to the soil. Once new roots have developed, they can be dug up, cut from the main branch, and transplanted. Another method is taking cuttings from the soft wood in late spring and early summer when there is new growth and planting them in well-drained but moist soil. Cuttings can also be taken from November through February. Fertilizer and Plant Attractants An all-purpose fertilizer can be added mid-February through mid-May as a light feeding to benefit the shrubs. It is best to transplant the newly propagated plants during the dormant winter season. These plants do not attract wildlife such as butterflies or birds, so adding native plants to your display is advised.