There are many gardeners who prefer a garden of perennial shrubs.
Now the care of such a garden can be rather specialized, and also can differ greatly from the care of a wild flower arrangement or a simulated woodland, for example. First of all, a shrub garden differs from others in that trees might be at a minimum.
Also shrubs compete much less for root space, which means that each plant has its own area to grow in and spread to an extent as well, though you should be careful to plant them a suitable distance from each other so that they do not encroach on each other, which can spoil the beauty and symmetry of a formal garden, for example, though this effect is acceptable if what you are aiming at is to create a beautiful wilderness.
Place an emphasis on attractive though small trees that will make the garden shady enough to protect your shade perennials without overshadowing them.
Try the maple paper bark – or for that matter any small tree with beautiful leaves or flowers or bark will do.
And conifers and evergreens are just perfect, as their needles enrich the soil as well, adding to the number of blossoms on your perennial shrubs, and can also lengthen the flowering period. Not to mention that the shade evergreens provide is just perfect for shade plants.
As for what perennial shrubs you should have in your garden, by all means use a mix of both evergreens and deciduous shrubs.
To make your garden even more decorative, you can plant some interesting vines at different points, with trellises for them to climb on.
Remember that most shrub gardens should provide you with a place of calm beauty all through the year – so don't pick plants that will make your garden look beautiful for a short time and then rather bleak and lifeless the rest of the time.
A mistake would be to plant shrubs whose flowering periods are all at the same time – of course, this will create unbelievable beauty in that time, but remember that for the rest of the year your garden will then be bare.
Also remember to include a selection of other plants, even if your emphasis is on shrubs – there should be some beautiful ground cover, of course, and plants of different heights should be carefully sited so that the taller ones do not hide smaller ones from sight. And of course you should choose your shrubs so that the colors will be in harmony when they flower.
Your shrub garden will be at its very best in spring time, because most shrubs blossom in that time. But if you choose carefully, you can ensure that there are perennial shrubs planted strategically that will bloom in mid summer and even in autumn.
Basic care should be taken – for example, do not forget to mulch in winter, and to mix in some compost during the flowering period of a plant, when it uses and requires a great deal of resources.
And one thing you have to remember is that they absolutely do not do well in the neighborhood of tall or very large trees – they cannot really compete with the roots of a large tree for nutrients, and those planted in the vicinity of such a tree will tend to be stunted or to not blossom as generously.
That's more or less all that you need to know about the basics of planting a perennial shrub garden. They need little care, and will touch your surroundings with beauty all the year round.
