Questions tagged [shrubs]

Another name for a bush - shorter than a tree and with multiple stems. Use this tag with questions about caring, propagating and indentifying shrubs.

Shrubs are bushes. Unlike s, shrubs have multiple and are shorter - usually under 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be grown as shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions.

Horticulturally, shrubs are usually broad-leaved plants, although smaller conifers (e.g. Common Juniper) can be grown with a shrub shape and structure.

Botany and ecology have stricter definitions, and ecology uses these along with cover to define different kinds of landscape (e.g. "open-scrub", "low shrubland");

Use this tag for general questions about shrubs, shrubberies, and choosing shrubs for a particular location. Species/variety specific questions should use the specific plant tags instead.

425 questions
4
votes
1 answer

What variety of Goumi berry will thrive under an apple tree in USDA zone 4a?

I want to plant a goumi berry bush underneath an apple tree. My goal is to have as much fruit as I can. I am in Minnesota, USDA zone 4a. What variety should I order?
black thumb
  • 8,786
  • 2
  • 30
  • 67
4
votes
3 answers

What type of plant is this in the Arizona desert?

I want to identify this plant. It's located in Phoenix and appears to be a shrub.
user11829
  • 41
  • 1
4
votes
1 answer

What has caused this strange growth on my euonymus?

We have an otherwise apparently healthy euonymus in our garden, but a couple of branches have gone very pale, wide and flat with tightly bunched stunted leaves on the end. What causes this and is it anything to worry about?
Jez
  • 143
  • 4
4
votes
2 answers

What is this red shrub in my garden?

I've a plant growing in my garden, that I'm hoping somebody can identify. I live in zone 5b or 6a, on the Plant Hardiness Zone Map. It's about 2-3' tall, has dark red leaves, gets little white flowers in the spring, and has a dark colored…
Tester101
  • 593
  • 1
  • 4
  • 8
4
votes
1 answer

How can I add drainage to an area with shrubs already there?

I have 12 sweet viburnums (Viburnum odortatissimum) in a row as a future privacy hedge. I had to replace 2 of them just recently because they suffocated from sitting water when I had heavy rain at the end of the fall. They all discolored but only 2…
PJS1987
  • 279
  • 1
  • 4
  • 9
4
votes
3 answers

When and how do I trim these bushes?

We moved in to a house with bushes trimmed neatly, but well over the sidewalk. Do I trim this back all at once, or over a long period of time (months? Years?)? We are in southeast Michigan, and will have several frosts before spring really hits.…
Adam Davis
  • 388
  • 2
  • 7
4
votes
2 answers

What is this bush called and can it be pruned this time of year?

Can anyone identify this bush? The photo was taken in May (in South England). It is slowly turning into a kind of a tree, with long branches without any new shoots, so I would like to prune it and turn it into a low bush again but as I don't know…
eva
  • 43
  • 2
4
votes
3 answers

What is this young shrub with opposite ovate, crenate leaves and reddish stems?

I found this plant growing in my garden in the crack between two retaining wall blocks. it's currently about 14" (35cm) tall and has grown this year. it seems to branch freely; the one pictured has two branches in addition to the main stem, with no…
Niall C.
  • 7,199
  • 11
  • 48
  • 77
4
votes
1 answer

What is this shrub in Colorado with white flowers and closely spaced small ovate leaves?

I've got this bush and I'd like to get a few more but I'm not sure what it's called. It has white flowers in early June. I'm in Colorado and it gets full sun.
Ultravi01
  • 449
  • 1
  • 8
  • 14
4
votes
2 answers

Are these bushes sun damaged?

I have two of these bushes -I'm not sure what they are, maybe somebody knows? It looks like they might be sun damaged. I know that there used to be a tree nearby that provided some shade, which makes me think they are getting too much sun. They have…
Ultravi01
  • 449
  • 1
  • 8
  • 14
4
votes
1 answer

Why did the leaves on my purple leaved barberry turn green after planting?

I recently received a small potted purple leaved barberry bush. I planted it in good topsoil with a ph of about 6.0. The area gets about 5 hours of direct sun per day. There is one large boxelder tree about 25' away. Two weeks after planting, the…
J. Musser
  • 51,627
  • 21
  • 115
  • 320
4
votes
1 answer

Is this shrub a Privet?

In my backyard, there is a flowering shrub resembling privet. It's about 7' high and 9'wide It's growing in dappled shade in open "lawn" Lancaster, Pennsylvania Small, white four petaled trumpet flowers in small grape-cluster-like racemes, Ovate,…
J. Musser
  • 51,627
  • 21
  • 115
  • 320
3
votes
2 answers

Why is my Mulberry bush flowering later than all my other trees?

I have a Mulberry bush in my garden that I planted last year. I can see buds on it like the leaves are starting to grow. The thing is every other tree in my garden has flowers now, even my apple tree. Why is my Mulberry bush so far behind…
LindaL
  • 496
  • 4
  • 9
3
votes
1 answer

What is the shrubs which loses its brown bark every year?

I recently discovered this shrub in an overgrown section of the garden which is now free to breath. It is about 2.5m high and has 2m in diameter. The most significant attribute I can associate with it, is its light-brown bark which it throws of…
Patrick B.
  • 4,426
  • 6
  • 39
  • 63
3
votes
1 answer

Goat-friendly evergreen hedge plants on Iberian Peninsula

Am starting a goat and sheep farm in the drier parts on the Iberian Peninsula and would like to have a hedge dividing different parts of the land plot. In my search I came across the plant Portugal Laurel (Prunus lusitanica ‘Angustifolia’) which…