Choosing Shrubs for Your Yard: A Complete Guide

Shrub Basics

Shrubs transform a plain yard into a showplace. They bridge trees and groundcovers, soften edges, protect soil, shelter wildlife, and screen eyesores (HVAC units, meters, trash areas). Evergreen or deciduous, they offer flowers, berries, cones, interesting bark, and winter architecture.

Add blooms with these flowering shrubs.

Types and Uses

Accent pools, patios, entryways. Thorny varieties deter shortcuts. Conifers (dwarf forms for small lots) bring blue, variegated, or green foliage and weeping/prostrate/topiary forms. Native shrubs—adapted to local climate/soil—need less water, resist pests/diseases, and support wildlife.

Weather Considerations

Where water is restricted, choose drought‑tolerant shrubs: olive, butterfly bush, potentilla, barberry.

Avoiding Deer Damage

Deer ignore plants with thorns, resinous wood, aromatic foliage, or silver/gray fuzzy leaves. Lists vary by region.

Native Shrubs for Beauty and Low Maintenance

• American arborvitae
• American beautyberry
• American holly
• Bayberry
• Bottlebrush buckeye
• California lilac
• Carolina allspice
• Chokeberry
• Dwarf fothergilla
• Mountain laurel
• Oakleaf hydrangea
• Oregon grapeholly
• Rhododendron (some)
• Serviceberry
• Sweet pepperbush
• Viburnum (some)
• Virginia sweetspire

Shrubs That Attract Wildlife (Berries)

• Barberry
• Bearberry
• Beautyberry
• Blueberry
• Brambles
• Cotoneaster
• Dogwood
• Euonymus
• Firethorn
• Holly
• Juniper
• Viburnum
• Wax myrtle

Popular Shrubs at a Glance

American holly – 30–40′, pyramidal, glossy spined leaves, red/yellow berries (female), Zone 5.

Boxwood – tiny oval glossy leaves, shears well, 20′, sun/light shade, Zone 6.

Andromeda (Pieris) – 4–12′, broadleaf evergreen, fragrant white urn‑flowers spring, slow, shade, Zones 6–9.

Forsythia – bright yellow trumpets on bare stems early spring, 8–10′, Zone 5.

Harry Lauder’s walking stick – ornamental filbert, coarse veined leaves, 8–10′, Zones 4–9.

Japanese barberry – 2–5′, tough, versatile, red berries persist, Zone 5.

Korean stewartia – delicate white blossoms early summer, orange‑red fall, patchy bark, Zones 5–7.

Lace‑cap hydrangea – flat clusters of tiny fertile flowers ringed by showy sterile ones, blue/pink, early summer, Zone 6.

Lilac – fragrant pink/white/lavender sprays spring, heart‑shaped leaves, slow, long‑lived, Zones 4–9.

Mountain laurel – broadleaf evergreen to 15′, intricate starlike flowers late spring, Zones 4–9.

Oleander – heat/drought/salt tolerant, narrow evergreen leaves, colorful flowers all season, all parts poisonous, Zone 9.

Pyracantha (firethorn) – thorny, white spring flowers, orange/red fall berries, evergreen, easy but hard to prune, Zones 5–9.

Plum‑leaf azalea – fragrant orange‑red midsummer flowers, evergreen, 10′+, Zones 5–8.

PJM rhododendron – compact evergreen 3–6′, pinkish‑lavender spring, purplish fall foliage, Zones 4–9.

Seven‑sons flowers – soft green foliage, 6″ fragrant ivory clusters late summer, moist woodsy soil, 15′, Zones 5–8.

Grow Hydrangeas