13 Best Evergreen Shrubs For Shade (2023 Updated)

This eye-catching plant is the Sunshine Ligustrum from the Southern Living Plant Collection. This shrub offers brilliant golden-yellow colored foliage that will bring great year-round color to your landscape.

New growth is lime green that will continuously intensify to yellow hues as spring turns into summer, arriving at a vibrant golden yellow. The more sunlight they get, the better. More sun produces more yellow leaves, while less sun results in more yellow-green foliage.

This is a sterile, non-invasive cultivar of Ligustrum that will not re-seed and spread. This plant looks great planted in containers, as a hedge or accent in the landscape and will also respond well to shaping into simple topiary forms.

Another advantage to the Sunshine Ligustrum is that it doesn’t bloom, which is great for allergy sufferers. When planting this shrub select a location that will receive full sun, use a well-drained garden soil mixed with your native soil to backfill the hole and use a slow-release fertilizer annually in spring to keep your Sunshine Ligustrum healthy and brilliantly shining.

Dwarf Burford Holly is a classic choice for foundation and hedge planting. Burford has small deep green glossy leaves and develops ornamental red berries in fall. Burford is easily maintained once established and pruning to maintain shape should occur in early spring before new growth begins to appear.

The Ultimate Easy-Care Evergreen Hedge That Even Grows in the Shade When you’re deciding on the perfect plant that you can use to grow a hedge, you want to find something that’s fast-growing with lustrous evergreen foliage.

But you also want a tough plant that can handle harsh environmental conditions and still look beautiful without requiring a lot of maintenance from you. Skip Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus ‘Schipkaensis’) is that plant.

It’s a trouble-free plant that stands up to poor soil, heat, cold, and drought while remaining one of the prettiest evergreens you’ve ever seen! Luxuriant and Glossy Foliage The outstanding feature of any hedge is the appearance of its foliage.

Skip Laurel is a type of cherry laurel, which isn’t a true laurel at all. This common name hints at the resemblance of its foliage to laurel leaves, which are beautifully oblong and glossy green. Think of bay leaves that you use for cooking; they’re from the “true” laurel tree ‘– the bay laurel.

Skip Laurel leaves are similar, but they are more elongated and shiny. This is no dull evergreen plant; its leaves are so shiny that they’ll look as if you polished them! But they’re not delicate ‘– they’re as durable as the plants themselves.

And if you’re wondering why it’s called “Skip” Laurel, this cultivar was discovered growing in Bulgaria’s Shipka Mountain Pass. Over the years, “Shipka” was simply shortened to a more-easily remembered nickname ‘– “Skip!” Top-Performing Hedge for Sun or Part Shade Shady landscape spots can’t always support the healthy growth of many landscape plants that are used to form hedges.

A heads-up: Although Skip Laurel is shade-tolerant, it grows best when it receives some sun. Its growth in a shadier location will be more open than in a sunnier location. Grows Quickly and Fills in Thickly Given ideal growing conditions (sun, moist soil, and a site with good drainage), Skip Laurel can sprint up to 3 feet of growth per year! Even in a less-than-ideal environment, its height can increase by 2 feet each year.

Its fast growth rate has endeared it to gardeners who don’t want to wait many years before their slow-growing plants grow large enough to give them the privacy they want from a hedge. So if you want the added bonus of fast growth from a lush and lovely evergreen hedge, don’t overlook this gem of a plant! A Hedge for Privacy The upper growth on Skip Laurels is thick and full, and the lower growth is a bit more open.

If you want your privacy hedge to form a solid wall of greenery that hugs the ground, you can plant some shorter evergreens in front of the “bare ankles” on Skip Laurels to ensure complete privacy. Space the smaller plants far enough in front of your Skip Laurels so that the mature size of both types of plants doesn’t overlap so much that the smaller evergreens get lost in Skip’s foliage.

An Excellent Green Screen You may need a smaller green screen instead of a long, continuous hedge. Living screens block undesirable views, shade sitting areas, and protect smaller plants in front of it from strong winds.

You can plant a single Skip Laurel as an individual screen, or odd-numbered groupings, such as three or five plants, to form a triangular screen or a linear screen. A Batch of Aromatic White Blooms in Spring! If you want to add a hedge to your landscape design, you’re primarily focused on the foliage of the plant you choose, which is its most important feature.

But when you plant Skip Laurels, you’ll enjoy a little bonus ‘– clusters of fragrant white flowers in springtime! Although individual blossoms are not large, they are showy because they’re produced in masses.

These Fruits are for the Birds When the flowers fade, small fruits aren’t far behind. The “cherry” in “cherry laurel” is a true description because Skip Laurel is in the same genus as edible cherry trees.

In fact, Skip Laurel does produce cherry fruits, but they’re not what you may imagine. Instead of the bright-red fruits that you enjoy eating, Skip Laurel bears purplish-black cherries. Many bird species relish these cherries, such as robins, cedar waxwings, and bluebirds.

Pruning: If you prune your plants each year, you’ll remove the flowers and/or cherries. So if you want to feed the birds, let your Skip Laurels grow naturally without pruning them! A Home for the Birds There’s another wildlife benefit of Skip Laurels ‘– birds love to nest in them! The branch structure and thick foliage that you’ll enjoy from this plant are the same features that appeal to birds as they seek a plant in which to build their nests.

If you want to incorporate more plants that help sustain the birds, which also add other benefits to your landscape, Skip Laurel is an outstanding choice! Pruning: Birds make their nests in.

Blue-Green Evergreen Foliage for Year-Round Interest Whether you utilize it for stately lawns or privacy screens, the Blue Point Juniper boasts glowing blue-green foliage on a broad, pyramidal form. Year-round interest and low-maintenance care make it a classic evergreen, but it’s made unique by its ability to acclimate to almost any location.

So, all these benefits make the Blue Point Juniper versatile and adaptable. You can plant this densely-branched tree nearly anywhere, as a clipped topiary flanking your entryway or as a backyard border.

Either way, you get its good looks effortlessly, without much care. Month-to-month perks make this Blue Point Juniper better than the rest. From cutting winter cold to mitigating summer heat, our Blue Point Juniper is special because it’s a proven performer.

When your Blue Point comes home, it’s ready to grow and grow well. Order your Blue Point Juniper Tree today! | 2-3 ft. – Blue Point Juniper Tree – Blue-Green Evergreen Foliage for Year-Round Interest, Outdoor Plant See how our 30 Day Happy & Healthy Gaurantee compares to Garden Goods Direct, Lowe’s.

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The Wintergreen Boxwood is a popular landscape shrub for a reason. With dense green foliage and small, smooth ovaline leaves, the Wintergreen Boxwood adds an instant dose of elegance and makes any landscape look more manicured.

Easily shaped and slow-growing. Wintergreen Boxwoods are often shaped into neat spheres, or cubes to form a long hedge. They can even be molded into creative topiaries. Plus, they’re slow-growing, meaning your shapes will stay intact longer, without constant pruning.

Manageable, plant-anywhere size. These boxwoods only grow 2-4 feet high and 3-5 feet wide, so you can easily plant them in hard-to-fill spaces. They work well as hedges, borders to sidewalks and driveways, or potted on patios and decks.

Easy-growing, even for new gardeners. One of the biggest benefits of the Wintergreen Boxwood? Its hardiness and tolerance. It’s adaptable to most soil types and is resistant to disease, pests and even deer.

This shrub is extremely low maintenance and can fill a plethora of uses in landscaping and gardening. ️ The Wintergreen boxwood is known for its tolerance of cold weather compared to other boxwood varieties.

Even through cold weather The Wintergreen boxwood shrub remains lush, dense, and dark green.

Landscape Designers’ Weapon of Choice Does your planting bed or foundation need a little something extra. but you don’t know what? Usually a little vertical height will tie everything together, particularly where a lot of low bedding flowers and plants are used.

Sky Pencil Japanese Holly adds this height without taking up a lot of space. Plus you can easily keep it at any size you want. To accent a flower bed, keep it at about 3-4 feet tall. To frame an elegant entryway, let them reach 6 feet or more.

They do great in containers or the ground. Sky Pencil is evergreen, so you get color during the winter to brighten up an otherwise brown landscape. Left alone, they grow up to 10 feet tall and still maintain a slender, columnar shape.

The Sky Pencil Holly is low maintenance and just does what it’s supposed to, without problems. Water it regularly in its first year to establish a healthy root system. and that’s it! Planting and Care 1.

Planting: Choose a planting location with ample sunlight and protection from harsh winds. For best growing results, make sure the soil drains well. Then, dig the hole twice the width and the same depth as the Sky Pencil’s root ball.

Carefully place the tree in the center of the hole, hold the sky pencil straight and begin to back fill with the removed soil. Add organic matter to the soil as necessary to improve drainage. Water the planting site to settle the soil and then mulch to retain sol moisture.

Watering: Water your Sky Pencil Holly regularly to help the root system become well established. As a good rule of thumb, check soil surrounding your tree to make sure it’s moist, but not soggy. If the leaves become pale green in color this could be an indication that too much water is present in the soil.

3. Fertilizing: Fertilize your Sky Pencil Holly tree once annually with a slow-release fertilizer. | 1-2 ft. – Sky Pencil Holly Tree – Landscape Designers’ Weapon of Choice, Outdoor Plant See how our 30 Day Happy & Healthy Gaurantee compares to Garden Goods Direct, Lowe’s.

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As the fastest-growing evergreen on the market, the Thuja Green Giant is a landscape staple. It doesn’t get the diseases that can affect other evergreens, so it’s a plant-and-forget variety that transforms into a lush privacy screen.

And unlike similar varieties, it’s resistant to deer, so you’ll get a full, dense natural wall without hassle. That’s because your Thuja Green is nurtured with care from day 1. When you order your tree from Brighter Blooms, you get a healthy tree upon arrival.

Regain Privacy with Dense Holly Trees The Nellie Stevens Holly is a dense privacy evergreen that’s adaptable, dense, and fast growing! quickly grows up to 3 ft per year perfect for privacy hedges and wind screens doesn’t need maintenance.

thrives on neglect The Most Popular Holly for Privacy Quickly growing in popularity among landscape designers because they are so easy to maintain. just plant them and watch them grow into a dense green wall! This holly’s impenetrable leaves make it a natural privacy hedge and easily blocks out neighbors and noise.

Plant several in a row 5-6 feet apart and you’ll get a handsome and well-designed privacy hedge. Easy to Grow You’ll appreciate how this holly maintains its deep green foliage all year long. Nellie Stevens leaves are thick and lustrous, making it perfect for hedges.

Springtime brings the appearance of discreet white flowers that will mature into bright red berries by fall. The scarlet berries are a glorious vision against the deep green foliage, and you’ll definitely want to clip a few branches to decorate your home for the holidays.

Looks Great Anywhere Also popular as an accent tree- setting off the corners of a house or your patio. Just plant it and watch it grow, up to 3 feet per year. You simply trim it to match whatever height you prefer.

This holly does very well in urban areas where air pollution can be a problem for many trees and shrubs. It’s perfectly suited in small strips of soil along a sidewalk or street. If you’re a bird watcher, you’ll enjoy how the berries attract a variety of birds such as robins, cedar waxwings, and mockingbirds.

As a bonus for you, deer steer clear away from the Nellie Stevens Holly. This plant is happiest in partial to full sun, is drought-tolerant, and adapts to almost any soil type. Planting and Care 1. Planting: Choose a planting area with full sun to partial shade (4 to 8 hours of sunlight per day).

They need the sun to develop the pretty red fruits, and while Hollies have both “male” and “female” plants, Nellie Stevens is a variety that produces berries reliably without a “male” around for pollination.

To plant your Nellie (be sure to wear gloves), dig a hole as deep as the tree’s root ball and twice as wide. Remove the tree from the container and place in the hole (this is where the gloves come in handy) If the tree’s root ball is situated lower than the surrounding soil, pick up the tree and add some more soil to the hole.

Fill in around the tree with a 50/50 blend of the native soil you removed from the planting hole and a mixture of gardening soil. Mulch around your tree with shredded hardwood or pine straw. 2. Watering: Nellie Stevens is fairly drought tolerant.

Water new trees twice a week for the first two months. After two months, water once a week up until six months. At that time, the tree will be well-established and will only need extra water if it is very windy and sunny during the winter.

A good rule of thumb for watering broad-leaf evergreens (trees with wide evergreen leaves) is to water deeply (count to forty on each plant) once a week for the month before the ground typically freezes.

If you have several days above 50 to 60 degrees in the winter, it doesn’t hurt to give your Nellie Stevens Holly trees a drink. 3. Pruning: Holly Trees grow tall and shapely without much pruning. If you want a bushier, rounder plant, cut off the top of the tree.

This will cause buds in the interior of the tree to sprout and the tree will have a fuller look. You can also hedge or prune these trees for shape. Always cut back to a leaf to hide your pruning cuts.

4. Fertilizing: Fertilize Hollies in the spring and fall with special fertilizer made for acid-loving plants. Holly-Tone is widely used for fertilizing. | 5 Gallon – Nellie Stevens Holly Tree – Regain Privacy with Dense Holly Trees, Outdoor Plant See how our 30 Day Happy & Healthy Gaurantee compares to Garden Goods Direct, Lowe’s.

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Dense, Fast-Growing Privacy The Cryptomeria Radicans evergreen tree is a unique landscape conifer that creates a fast-growing screen in just a few years! The soft blue/green needles do not sting young children or gardeners.

Established trees can even tolerate droughts as well! Even deer leave them alone! These trees enjoy full sun and will thrive in growing zones 5-9. They can grow as much as 3-4 feet in a single season to create a dense privacy screen around a pool or garden in just a few years.

They have the additional value of not being overly wide; they will not overtake the footpath or cause your neighbors to complain about branches coming onto their property. Plant these conifers as close as 5 feet apart and wait for them to fill in the gaps in a few years.

They’re known to be more resistant to browning than other varieties so your evergreens will look healthy all year long. Look for some slight darkening as the year comes to a close, then in spring, the bright green new growth will start again.

Use the conical shape to create a hedge along your property line or plant in a group behind a light blue spruce, a white flowering Rose of Sharon tree or perennial garden. | 3-4 ft. – Cryptomeria Radicans Tree – Dense, Fast-Growing Privacy, Outdoor Plant See how our 30 Day Happy & Healthy Gaurantee compares to Garden Goods Direct, Lowe’s.

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The commonly named ‘Christmas Box’ or ‘Sweet Box’ is one of those plants that just lifts your spirits when you pass it by. The glossy evergreen leaves of ‘Winter Gem’ produce glorious little flowers, resembling little fireworks, which emit the most sensational and sweet vanilla fragrance you can imagine, especially on sunny days.

The white flowers emerge from pinky-red buds and are followed by glossy, round red berries that ripen to black adding interest to your garden for even longer. Easy to grow, in pots or borders, or sun or shade, plant it where you can enjoy those amazing winter scent every day – tough and tolerant of most conditions, ‘Winter Gem’ is especially valuable for shadier areas.

Supplied as an established plant in a 15cm pot, ready for immediate planting out.

The Skyrocket Juniper shoots up as a silvery spire in your garden, making a dramatic accent, or framing doorways or drives. Highly tolerant of sun and drought, yet super hardy in the coldest areas, this is the ideal choice for any climate.

For sunny, dry gardens this plant can’t be beaten. – Drought and heat tolerant – Hardy to minus 35 – Perfect upright accent bush – Silver-blue foliage is dynamic contrast with background green plants – Tough, reliable and needs no trimming Accent plants are essential in creating a garden picture.

None have the impact of the Skyrocket Juniper, shooting up like a silver needle from among your other plants or framing your front-door. Use it too for a screen in a confined space or as specimens along your drive for a majestic effect.

Very drought-tolerant but also the idea choice for cold regions too, Skyrocket should shoot to the top of your shopping list.

The commonly named ‘Christmas Box’ or ‘Sweet Box’ is one of those plants that just lifts your spirits when you pass it by. The glossy evergreen leaves of ‘Winter Gem’ produce glorious little flowers, resembling little fireworks, which emit the most sensational and sweet vanilla fragrance you can imagine, especially on sunny days.

The white flowers emerge from pinky-red buds and are followed by glossy, round red berries that ripen to black adding interest to your garden for even longer. Easy to grow, in pots or borders, or sun or shade, plant it where you can enjoy those amazing winter scent every day – tough and tolerant of most conditions, ‘Winter Gem’ is especially valuable for shadier areas.

Supplied as an established plant in a 15cm pot, ready for immediate planting out.