Ornamental shrubs, photos of which we will present in this article, are often elements that harmonize the overall picture, as well as emphasizing the necessary nuances of the site so that it looks harmonious, bright and attractive. They are like strokes on a canvas, able to properly dilute the flowerbeds with the necessary details, and place accents in certain places. Any gardener, summer resident, owner of a personal plot would like to do everything neatly and correctly so that fruit trees, vegetables, beds with herbs are in their places.
Depending on fantasy, plot size and preferences, ornamental shrubs (see photo in the article below) can become a backdrop for other plantings, an interesting element of various garden compositions, hedges, and also act as the main nuance that attracts attention.
In this article we will look at the most popular decorativetrees and shrubs planted in summer cottages and in the territories of private houses. It is unrealistic to cover the entire spectrum of these representatives of the plant kingdom, but it is worth paying attention to the main flowering and decorative foliage.
Main placement criteria
First, choose ornamental trees and shrubs that will feel comfortable in the climate of your area. A certain variety should be selected precisely from this factor.
The next nuance is its location. So, if you buy a sun-loving representative, it should be planted in a sunny place, in which there will be a huge amount of light without a hint of shade. While shade-loving ones should only be placed in shaded areas, possibly in the shade of large trees or buildings. This is important, because the wrong choice of location will affect the lushness of the flowers or the brightness of the colors of the foliage on the shrub, as well as its overall viability.
The overall picture of your garden should also be taken into account when choosing a particular plant (we will give the most popular names of ornamental shrubs in the article below). In a small area, lush and tall specimens will look out of place. At the same time, frost-resistant, flowering, beautiful, low bushes are ideal, in addition, they will delight you with their appearance until frost.
Flowering shrubs
Some ornamental flowering shrubs are also fruit-bearing. We will indicate this nuance in the description.
Mock orange or jasmine
Well, how to do without it?! Thanks to its enchanting aroma, itloved and known by almost everyone. At the moment, you can find multiple hybrids and varieties of this ornamental shrub - all of them are incredibly attractive. They differ in shape, size, aroma and color of flowers. In our case, we are talking about a white-flowered representative - disease-resistant, frost-resistant, unpretentious (it can be placed in a place lit by sunlight or in the shade).
Spirea
Spirea is very beautiful and very unpretentious. Varieties of this ornamental shrub can bloom in spring and summer. Moreover, if you calculate the time correctly, you can plant these 2 species so that one first blooms, and the second just begins to bloom at that time. Some varieties have very beautiful foliage - Pink Ice, Waggunta. For this reason, they can easily be attributed even to ornamental leafy plants.
Spirea blooms luxuriantly and profusely, leaning literally to the very ground with branches plastered with white flowers. Slow-growing, low Japanese spirea blooms with lilac-pink lush inflorescences. She is very attractive and serves as a honey plant.
Kalina
Kalina is both an ornamental shrub and a fruit specimen. A unique plant in every sense: the berries are useful, widely used as a medicine, beautifully blooms with white large spherical inflorescences. Also noteworthy are the foliage, which ranges from bright green to red to gold.
Rosehip
Some ornamental shrubs that can grow in the country, in the recommendations and presentation are not evenneed, an example of this is a wild rose. It is outwardly very attractive, useful in so many ways, it will decorate your site in the spring while it blooms with red or pink flowers, and it will also create a reliable prickly barrier if you plant it along your fence. In some of its varieties, the flowers are not inferior to roses in their beauty, and varieties with red healing berries will give you a natural natural "medicine", whose valuable qualities are well known to many.
Lilac
With many shades and colors, fragrant lilac! Without it, it is difficult to imagine a local area or a summer cottage, whether it is a multi-storey or private house. Lilac is a fairly large (up to two, three meters or more in height) shrub. But even in a small area, at least one bush can be planted. There are many different plant varieties. The shrub is unpretentious, resistant to cold, beautiful in itself.
Black elderberry
Black elderberry is an ornamental shrub or small tree. The shrub differs from others in its bark, which has a grayish-brown color. This plant is all strewn with a huge number of yellow little lentils. Opposite and long leaves have a rather complex structure. All leaves consist of another 6, on average, ovoid pointed leaflets.
Hydrangea
There are shrubs that bloom and grow in those places where a huge number of others refuse to give color and develop. And if we consider such ornamental trees and shrubs, hydrangea is exactlysuch a plant. She prefers moist soil and shade. This frost-resistant shrub blooms with lilac, snow-white, blue, pink, lilac large "balls". If the flower is cut and placed in a vase, it will last for a very long time.
Hydrangea ornamental shrub has a long flowering period, starting in July and ending in September. Some varieties bloom until October. This is a very non-capricious plant that feels good on acidic soil. It is worth noting that most garden and flower representatives do not like him very much. It can be used in single plantings, while it looks very harmonious with clematis, rhododendrons, roses, lilies, various fern varieties, hostas.
Forsythia
Forsythia shrubs are real "suns" in your area! It blooms in early spring with bright yellow bells, and foliage appears on the shrub after the flowers have fallen. Approximately three weeks lasts for abundant flowering. This is a very thermophilic representative, which shows its decorative effect as much as possible in the warm regions of Russia. It looks great surrounded by various bulbous flowers or as a plant planted separately. Suitable for creating hedges, but does not like cold winds, drafts and waterlogged soil.
Wolfberry
We continue to consider ornamental trees and shrubs. Wolfberry belongs to the Volchnikov family. It is an evergreen or deciduous shrub, widely known for its poisonous berries andwith their fragrant flowers.
deciduous shrubs
This is a different category of shrubs. No summer cottage is complete without them. It will not be possible to talk about all good specimens in one article, but let us draw your attention to the most popular individual representatives. In most cases, decorative deciduous shrubs do not require special care; their longevity is considered a separate plus. So, having planted a bush once, creating comfortable conditions for its existence, it will be possible to admire it for many years.
Japanese red maple
If you prefer a riot of red, plant a Japanese red maple in your yard. This shrub is distinguished by a voluminous crown, its foliage at first has a rich green color, and closer to autumn it gradually becomes orange, after which it turns into a carmine, bright red hue. The Japanese maple actually has a huge number of varieties, each of which has attractive foliage colors in its own way. Variety Aconitifolium - red-orange leaves, carmine-red - in Vitifolium, dark red, almost black-red leaves in Atropurpureum. They look great in every place of the site, they prefer partial shade, they are in perfect harmony with various coniferous representatives, hostas, ferns.
Rowanberry
Fieldfare is very unpretentious, beautiful in bloom, grows rapidly, while its foliage deserves close attention. Openwork leaves of the plant have an unusual feature- gradient, smooth transition between shades. Red, orange, yellow, green, pinkish - these colors blend smoothly with each other on one separate sheet. It resembles a bright bonfire from a distance; throughout the season, a riot of colors is observed, especially closer to autumn. It can be used in group plantings to hide ugly landscape details, it grows well in partial shade and sunny areas. Fieldfare is not very picky about the soil, although nutritious, loose and moist soil is more preferable for it. Drought is undesirable for him.
Birch
Considering beautiful ornamental trees and shrubs, it is simply impossible not to mention birch. These trees reach a height of 45 meters, although there are dwarf species up to 2 meters. Young branches are usually painted in a reddish-brown hue and covered with small "warts". On the branches, the buds are located alternately and are covered with rather sticky scales. Bright green small leaves with pronounced triangular veins with two slightly rounded corners. They are cut along the edges with teeth. Young birch leaves are mostly sticky in spring.
Bubbles
This plant is interesting in that it has a completely different color of foliage depending on a particular variety. This is a fairly non-capricious plant, but on loose, slightly moistened soil it will feel more comfortable. It is actively used in landscape design: some varieties can be cut, thus giving them any shape, some varieties are used to create hedges or borders. Heattractive and good on its own, as well as in the company of other representatives of garden plants.
Hawthorn
Also, the ornamental hawthorn shrub comes to mind, which has such a huge number of varieties that any gardener among them can find a shrub to his liking. All kinds of figures can be formed from it, while its fruits are healing, used in official and traditional medicine. And this is far from being the case for all ornamental trees and shrubs.
Hawthorn in its "behavior" resembles something boxwood, looks great in the design of hedges, in a single copy and group plantings.
Ornamental trees and shrubs: elm
This is a large deciduous tree reaching 40 meters in height. In this case, the diameter of the trunk can be up to 2 meters. In the genus there are species that grow in the form of shrubs. Their crown can be cylindrical wide or spherical. Sympodial branching, in other words, the tip of the axis (main branch) stops growing at a certain moment, while its place is occupied by a lateral one growing in its direction. Thus, over time, a “ladder” is obtained along the tree trunk.
Hedge
This is one of the most popular, favorite and interesting horticultural "structures". In the role of "building" material here are green spaces. A hedge, depending on the final result, can be designed in the form of a low curb or a green high wall. Can be customized in any length or shapethis fence. It is worth noting that this is a creative activity that almost always gives an excellent result. A green fence can hide the unsightly parts of a summer cottage (fence, old fence), highlight separate zones on the territory, and also emphasize other design accents.
Juniper
This is one of the popular, favorite, easy to care for and trim plants for hedge decoration. It prefers sunlight, is resistant to cold and drought, but it must be protected from too wet soil. It should not be planted if your site is dominated by clay soil. The bushes are seated from each other at a distance of about 70 cm, they are cut twice a year. It is worth remembering that juniper grows quite quickly.
Hop
Hop is a climbing vine and a shrub at the same time. Frost-resistant, unpretentious, prefers moist soil, does not need frequent adjustments. The plant produces medium-sized buds that add beauty to the bright green dense foliage. He needs a strong and reliable garter and support.
Turn
Turn (blackthorn) reaches a height of 2 meters, blooms with white, densely arranged flowers to each other, has numerous spines. When planting a turn to create a hedge, you will need to fix each bush, tie it to a peg. Thus, you will set the shrub in the right direction, at first support it, then it will gain strength. After planting, the seedlings need to be watered regularly for the first month. Blackthorngrows very quickly, while producing rich blue fruits - plums (slightly tart, tasty).
It is worth noting that everything depends only on the availability of free time and your imagination. It should always be borne in mind that a lot of space is needed between tall shrubs. Also, do not forget about the climatic features of the region when choosing plants.
Advice on planting and choosing shrubs
Most often, shrubs are planted in autumn before frost or in early spring, as soon as buds begin to awaken on the trees, while the snow has already melted. At the same time, pits for planting in the spring must be prepared in the fall - fertilize, calculate the width and depth of the recess for a specific variety of shrubs. Buy seedlings only in reliable places - flower shops or special nurseries. Before deepening, the plant can be kept in water for several hours with a growth stimulator added to it.
In addition to the agrotechnical features of each individual species, you need to remember elementary formulas:
- Medium-sized plants should be planted one and a half meters apart.
- Dwarf and low representatives are deepened from each other at a distance of 60-80 cm.
- Tall specimens - not less than 2 meters.
The ornamental shrubs presented in this article are the most adapted and popular for our regions. Match green residents to your own color and taste, and let your site become even more attractive and unique.
