'You can grow your own elderberries and make an immune-boosting elderberry syrup at home using the berries,' explains Diane Kuthy. Leyland cypress (Zones 6-10): A slender evergreen tree that can grow up to four feet per year. The bristly look is significantly softened once the red berries appear, as your attention will be drawn to their fleshy orbs. In Georgia, we highly recommend annual ryegrass during the cooler months. An annual or semi-annual pruning is key to shaping fast-growing plants into a hedge. Remarks: Specimen. Home. Tough tree for urban sites. Evergreen ground covers are particularly useful in establishing both formal and informal designs in residential and public landscapes. Remarks: Pink buds, white flowers. In fact, they tend to prefer a little afternoon shade here in the south, Viburnum is rated as "occasionally damaged" by deer. This evergreen also provides a habitat for wildlife. Remarks: Naturalistic. Plants are the answer! Remarks: Transplants well, adapts to poor sites. Fast-growing shrubs are a great choice for homeowners seeking quick privacy hedges. Remarks: White, pink, lavender or red flowers. This is a lovely shrub that can give any property a very classic look. Another white-flowered option is doublefile viburnum. Weed the planting site at least 6-weeks before planting, and ensure that you remove any secondary weeds sprouting when you want to plant your hedge. Remarks: Nice texture and dark green foliage with spring flowers. Remarks: Red, white and pink summer flowers. It can grow up to 2 feet per year and needs only annual pruning to keep its shape. 'With proper pruning, elderberry plants can remain as short shrubs or grow toover 10ft tall. Remarks: Blue-gray foliage. Just water and mulch your new shrub, and dont let it dry out the first season as it gets established. Specimen. Many plants are grown for foliage rather than for flowers. You have successfully removed your county preference. There are lots of varieties some deciduous and some evergreen. Remarks: Good for hot, dry sites. Sprinkler systems DO NOT provide adequate water to the entire root ball of new shrubs. Questionable hardiness in Zone 7. Evergreen Magnolias. Cherry Laurel (Prunus Novita) As a general rule, residential building lots are becoming smaller, and appropriate plant material must be selected if the valuable space is to be used to best advantage. Pittosporum. Some species have enough good qualities to serve as specimen plants. All grasses die back to the ground in winter; consequently, all will need to be cut back to the ground before new growth emerges in spring. Thuja Green Giant. Plant in full sun in any kind of soil. Shade Gardens Can Be Beautiful- Georgia Gardening Magazine, Pruning Landscaping Shrubs- Georgia Gardening Magazine, Full Bloom Nursery 6662 Holly Springs Road Clermont, Georgia 30527 Phone: 678.616.3035, Viburnum plicatum 'Shasta'- Doublefile Viburnum, Sweet Shrub Blossoms, photo by Felder Rushing, Hydrangea macrophylla or Bigleaf Hydrangea. They grayish-green leaves are beautiful, but the shrub is more commonly known for its fruitswhich also happen to be coated in a waxy substance that is aromatic, used to make soap, attractive to birds, and generally repellent to deer. It is therefore excellent as a shrub for leaf-changing color. Acer negundo (Box Elder) Hardy and fast-growing, Acer negundo (Box Elder) is a suckering, vigorous, deciduous tree of upright habit with an irregular rounded canopy of widely spreading branches. Remarks: Accent plant, native ground cover. Hardiness Zone Look-Up . This shrub is easy to train along any surface and produces dense, large glossy green leaves up to 12cm in width. It is not our intent to describe all native species just those available in the nursery trade and those that the authors feel have potential for nursery production and landscape use. For more information, visit the Language Translation page. Drought-sensitive trees and plants that are likely to show the effects of reduced moisture include magnolias, Japanese maples, dogwoods, viburnums, azaleas and hydrangeas. Check on sensitive trees and shrubs frequently. The design qualities of plants their form, size, color and texture are of major emphasis. Remarks: Yellow to orange to purple fall color. This tall ornamental grass comes in a variety of species, one of which will fit your needs. Remarks: Naturalistic or small gardens with good drainage on moist sites. If properly handled, the flower or panicle portion of several selections make excellent material for dried arrangements. This multi-stemmed shrub has striking red branches that are stunning in the winter landscape, especially against snow. Always harboring a passion for homes and gardens, she jumped at the opportunity to work on The English Home and The English Garden magazines for a number of years, before joining the Period Living team, then the wider Homes & Gardens team, specializing in gardens. Remarks: Yellow flowers late winter. What would your Peach State garden be without its own peach tree? Also, check out this photo guide to native plants. Remarks: Shade tolerant. Remarks: Glossy foliage with bright red fruits. It's available to buy from FastGrowingTrees.com (opens in new tab). Field Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Production, Master Gardener Extension Volunteer Program, Landscape Basics: Success with Herbaceous Perennials, Landscape Basics: Crop Rotation and Cultural Practices Help Reduce Diseases in Seasonal Color Beds, UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, UGA College of Family & Consumer Sciences, Flower Form: Semi-double to double rose form. In fall, clusters of small, white, well-scented flowers open at the leaf joints and are followed in spring by small orange berries. Fruit yellow, red. Its an extremely cold-hardy evergreen thats not particularly fussy. Dwarf fothergilla also performs well in full sun, though it requires moist, well-draining soil . It is winter, and yet red twig dogwood still stands out. Susceptible to mites. When possible, plant species grown straight from local seed sources. Remarks: Mass plantings, good green filler with fine texture. But for a privacy hedge, go with one of the taller types of cotoneaster, such asC. lucidus. Its leaves are gone. You might also be keen for evergreen shrubs and plants to establish quickly for reasons of privacy or shade. Why not add them to your kitchen garden ideas? It tolerates sand, chalk, clay or loam, as long as they are well draining. There are plenty of Viburnum that will do well in pots, and Viburnum tinus is one of the best value options for many growers. Female has fuller plumes. Some make statement specimen shrubs, while others are useful low-growing plants that form attractive mounds. Easy to grow and quick to establish, there are many varieties of hydrangeas that produce flowers in summer and fall. Hardiness and disease and insect resistant qualities are also considered when selecting good landscape plants. In most places, there are no restrictions to growing these shrubs but you need to first check with your local authority on what species are allowed in your locality. for pricing and availability. Needs good drainage. Remarks: Dark green foliage. The berries, which are bursting with immune boosting vitamins A, C and D, come next, ripening between July and September, depending on where you live. Plant these beautiful, versatile plants for privacy in a hurry. Remarks: Bright pink and spring bloom. Creamy white flowering clusters bloom in spring. In addition, they are valuable in small lots where ground space is at a premium. This beautiful evergreen shrub has interesting puckered leaves and pretty white fragrant flowers, followed by showy red fruit. Horticulture. Remarks: Compact, dense pyramidal specimen. Elizabeth MacLennan is a fact checker and editor with a background in earth sciences and sustainability. Bulletin If you dont have years to wait around, no worries. This dense hedge stays a golden color year-round and does not require pruning. This white-flowering native plant is a standout in the garden with its handsome burgundy foliage that lasts all season, topped with creamy white flowers in early summer. Tired of seeing your neighbor taking out the garbage in his pajamas? Some of the trees commonly planted in Georgia should not be used because of undesirable characteristics. Varieties to Try: Diablo, Summer Wine. Remarks: Orange or scarlet red flowers in spring. One of the tallest shrubs is arborvitae (thuja) which can grow up to 50 feet tall, particularly the 'Green Giant' cultivar. It is an aggressive grower, capable of growing up to 3 feet per year, and it gets a bad rap for being difficult to handle. Here in the Atlanta, Georgia area there is a specimen that has reached 20 feet in height from seed in two years! They are smaller than japonicas in every way. If I could only take ONE shrub with me to live on a deserted island, it would be a Viburnum. Yellow Hawaiian Sunset Hibiscus Flowering Shrub in 2.37-Gallon (s) Planter. Disease resistant. WARNING: The berries of some varieties of elderberry are toxic when eaten raw, so to be on the safe side, always cook the elderberries before you try to eat them. Landscape Remarks: Plumes less showy than annual species. Also called fringe flower due to its beautiful, showy blooms in shades of pink, white and purple, this graceful, vase-shaped shrub reaches maturity relatively quickly. Many are desirable because of their evergreen foliage. Remarks: Fragrant summer flowers attract butterflies. Also known as leyland cypress, leylandii is a hybrid of Alaskan cedar and Monterey cypress. Panicle Hydrangeas love and need sun, too much shade will drastically decrease blooms. Shade for Zone 8. Shade in Zone 8. Remarks: White to rose colored flowers in January and February. Elderberry. 1. Plants infull sun will obviously require more frequent watering than those in shade. They can be a focal point, a blooming hedge or a group of three next to the patio. resources. ; Rake the area smooth. She has written for lifestyle magazines for many years, with a particular focus on gardening, historic houses and arts and crafts, but started out her journalism career in BBC radio, where she enjoyed reporting on and writing programme scripts for all manner of stories. Create a more interesting landscape by selecting varieties of Japanese euonymus with gold-, cream-, or white-variegated foliage. All of the grasses listed in this section are perennials except for two of the fountain grasses which are annuals. Also to Gerald E. Smith, Extension Horticulturist (retired), University of Georgia, for helpful suggestions in the original revision. This white-flowering native plant is a standout in the garden with its handsome burgundy foliage that lasts all season, topped with creamy white flowers in early summer. It grows fast when young (at least 30cm a year); more slowly when mature. Some deciduous trees in this group provide good fall color. Remarks: Specimens with red or green foliage. That is where adding woody and leafy plants come in handy. Smaller leaves, smaller size and smaller blossoms. Drought tolerant and pest free. If it flowers in summer, it's safe to give it a trim in winter or spring. A general rule of thumb is to soak the rootball of newly planted shrubs every 3-4 days (including rainfall). Native Plant Alternatives to Common . This shrub also makes a great hedging plant. Remarks: Large palmately compound leaves. There are many excellent plants in the large shrub class which are particularly useful as heavy screening and hedging or as specimens because of their outstanding foliage, flower or fruit. Pampas and the other selections in the ornamental group are used as specimen or accent plants, for contrast in shrub borders or herbaceous borders and for informal mass plantings. These oblong-shaped leaves are up to 6 inches long (only 4 inches long in the Skip Laurel) and up to 2 inches across. The glossy leaved evergreen schip laurel, or cherry laurel Prunus laurocerasus Schipkaensis' is a popular shrub that can be used for fast-growing hedges. Add a low dose of plant food to the soil when planting your hedge. Do your research on potential plants before purchasing and installing. Remarks: Accent for restricted spaces. But the citrusy smell of its white blossoms is enough to invite comparison. The mostly pink, magenta and purple conical shaped flowers of buddleja are a favorite plant for pollinators, so excellent to include as one of your wildlife garden ideas. Then dig a hole twice as wide and just as deep as the pot.