Evergreen Trees for Landscaping – Best Trees For All-Year-Round Greenery
No matter where you live, evergreen trees are one of the most important parts of any garden. They are an amazing choice for landscaping as they provide year-round texture, color, as well as privacy. There are different types of evergreen trees for landscaping, ranging from a sunny-golden green color to the deepest emerald green to add a beautiful touch to your garden.
When planning your garden, make sure to choose the best evergreen trees for your garden. Evergreen trees are the shrubs that remain green and retain their foliage all year round. Now you must be thinking which are the best types of evergreens for your garden? Relax! We have rounded up a list of evergreen trees to help you find out the suitable ones for your garden.
Best Evergreen Trees for Landscaping
Plants that retain their greenery and leaves throughout the years are known as evergreen trees. Deciduous trees lose their foliage during the dry or winter season, but evergreen trees remain functional and evergreen throughout the year.
Adding evergreen trees to your garden is the best way to keep your garden green throughout the year. Moreover, they add a colorful, happy, and positive vibe to your garden. Here are some of the best evergreen garden trees for landscaping.
Mirror Bush
Botanical Name: Coprosma Repens
Hardiness Zone: 8-11
Size: Upto 10 feet
Sun Exposure: Full Sunlight
Soil Needs: Well-drained soil or slightly acidic pH
If you are looking for low-maintenance evergreen trees, then mirror bush is the perfect choice for you. This unique plant is a low-maintenance shrub and has shiny, jewel-like leaves. The leaves are highly shiny, and therefore the plant is known as a mirror plant.
The beautiful leaves for this plant are bright lime green or pink in the shade. It is suitable only for warm climates, but in countries with colder climates, you can grow it as indoor houseplants to enjoy its beauty.
One best thing about this type of evergreen trees is that they are easy to take care of. All you need to do is water them regularly after planting. Once the plant is properly established, you have to water it occasionally. It is the perfect plant for landscaping as it stays evergreen throughout the year and adds a beautiful touch to the garden.
Pro Tip – Do not overwater mirror bush as it can damage the plant.
False Cypress
Botanical Name: Chamaecyparis
Hardiness Zone: 5-8
Size: 20 feet or more
Sun Exposure: Partial sunlight
Soil Needs: Slightly acidic pH
The color intensity and unique texture make this ornamental evergreen plant a perfect companion for landscaping. It is the right choice not only for landscaping but to make perennial beds. Mixed borders and attractive hedge.
The beautiful upset branches of these plants look like fascinating Japanese paintings. It is a cold-tolerant shrub with pretty needles and graceful limbs. Many varieties of this plant grow in a pyramidal shape, which makes it a perfect choice for landscaping. They provide a year-round structure and an amazing specimen plant to make a vertical lined landscape. Moreover, they are right for hedges and for frontyard landscaping ideas with rocks.
Eastern Hemlock
Botanical Name: Tsuga Canadensis
Hardiness Zone: 3-8
Size: 40-70 feet
Soil Needs: Moist and cool Soil
Sun Exposure: Full to partial sunlight
Eastern Hemlock is also known as Canadian Hemlock. It is one of the best evergreen trees for landscaping due to its conical or pyramidal shape. Moreover, their fragrant and small needles provide them fine texture. The needles of this tree are light green underneath and are dark green on the top.
The bark of this type of evergreen tree becomes reddish-brown or cinnamon-red at maturity, which makes it more beautiful and attractive. Finely textured foliage and dense branching make this shrub a perfect choice for landscaping. The cute little cones of this tree add a graceful touch to its appearance.
Gardenia
Botanical Name: Gardenia Jasminoides
Hardiness Zone: 6-11
Size: 2-12 feet
Sun Exposure: Full to partial sunlight
Soil Needs: Moist and well-drained soil
Gardenia is one of the most attractive evergreen trees for landscaping due to its intoxicating fragrance, waxy, and attractive flowers. It is one of the best small trees for landscaping. Moreover, they have leathery, shiny, and dark green leaves, which makes them profoundly attractive. They are heat-loving shrubs that stay green throughout the year.
Creamy white fragrant flowers and dark green, glossy foliage make them a perfect choice for landscaping for every warm climate. Some varieties of gardenia bloom all season long. One of the most interesting features of this plant includes eye-catching scented flowers.
Inkberry Holly
Botanical Name: Ilex Glabra
Hardiness Zone: 4-10
Size: 5-8 feet
Sun Exposure: Full to partial sunlight
Soil Needs: Moist and acidic soil
This one is a slow-growing type of evergreen tree with a growth habit of rounded-to-upright. Inkberry Holly is easy to grow and care for and offers a wide range of winter colors. Due to the fruits produced by the plant, it is called “inkberry.”
This one is a popular choice in regions with damp soil. Moreover, it prefers full sunlight and moist soil. The most attractive part of this plant is its oval-shaped and glossy dark-green leaves. This plant is resistant to deer, which makes it a good choice for evergreen plants for landscaping.
Arborvitae (Pyramidal Form)
Botanical Name: Thuja
Hardiness Zone: 2-7
Size: 40-60 feet
Sun Exposure: Full to partial sunlight
Soil Needs: Well-drained soil
If you are looking for easy-care and fast-growing evergreen trees for landscaping, then arborvitae is a perfect choice for you. Plant several arborvitaes in a row, and in two years, they will provide you the perfect landscaping for your garden.
One best thing about these ornamental evergreen plants is that they are easy to grow and care for. Moreover, they are dense, so you can give them any shape with pruning. Moreover, if you want them in a conical shape, then you do not need to sheer the plants. They are hardy and fast-growing evergreen, which makes them an ideal choice for landscaping.
Blue Holly
Botanical Name: Ilex x meserveae
Hardiness Zone: 5-8
Size: 15 feet
Sun Exposure: Full to partial sunlight
Soil Needs: Sand to heavy clay
If you are interested in holly shrubs or trees, then you should opt for blue holly. It is also known as Meserve holly and is hybrid holly. It has shiny blue-green leaves with a bluish cast, which makes it a beautiful edition to your garden. The beautiful flowers bloom during spring, and they produce bright red berries, which become brighter in winter.
In order to get berries, make sure that your plant for male and female plant types in your garden. They have perfect winter color, which provides them a classic holiday feel.
Azalea
Botanical Name: Rhododendron
Hardiness Zone: 5-8
Size: 4-5 feet
Sun Exposure: Full to partial sunlight
Soil Needs: Well-drained soil
Stewartstonian azalea is one of the best and most colorful ornamental evergreen trees for landscaping. It is a low-spreading shrub with deep-green leaves that become chocolate-reddish during the late fall.
One best thing about these evergreen garden trees is their spring flowers. They grow beautiful bright flowers, which make them highly attractive for landscaping. Moreover, they add a colorful touch to your garden. The root system of azaleas is shallow, which makes them safe to plant in septic drain fields. If you want year-round foliage, then make sure to buy an evergreen variety of azalea.
Winter Creeper
Botanical Name: Euonymus fortunei
Hardiness Zone: 4-9
Size: Upto 70 feet
Sun Exposure: Full to partial sunlight
Soil Needs: Well-drained soil
Winter creeper is a woody flowering evergreen plant and is popular as an evergreen garden tree. This plant can act as ground cover for both shady and sunny areas. It acts as a slope cover, which makes it a perfect choice for landscaping. You can also train the plant to climb like an ive with the intent to cover fences, chimneys, or ivy.
It is easy to grow and care for plants, but it does not grow well in wet soil. Therefore, it is essential to maintain well-drained soil.
Boxwood
Botanical Name: Buxus spp.
Hardiness Zone: 5-9
Size: Upto 70 feet
Sun Exposure: Full sun to partial shade
Soil Needs: 2-8 feet tall
If you are looking for dwarf trees for landscaping, then boxwood is an excellent choice for you. It is an evergreen tree for landscaping with a mature height of only 2-8 feet tall. They are densely packed trees with light-green leaves and have a compact and rounded growth habit.
People popularly use boxwood in their landscape-design work to create attractive landscaping for their garden. Moreover, you can also group boxwood in a foundation planting or to form hedges. They respond adequately to pruning, due to which they are famous as known-garden plants. One of the best things about boxwood is that they are classic shrubs and can be used in different garden settings.
Juniper
Botanical Name: Juniperus occidentalis
Hardiness Zone: 5-9
Size: 12-50 feet
Sun Exposure: Full sun to partial shade
Soil Needs: Well-drained soil
When it comes to looking for evergreen trees for landscaping, juniper is a good choice. It comes in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Moreover, the colors of this evergreen garden tree also range from blue-green to gold.
Some juniper plants are low growing, and they hug the ground, which makes them perfect if you are looking for small trees for landscaping. On the other hand, there are some varieties that are more upright. These plants are highly cold-hardy evergreen.
Rhododendrons
Botanical Name: Rhododendron macrophyllum
Hardiness Zone: 4-8
Size: 12-25 feet
Sun Exposure: Full sun to partial shade
Soil Needs: Well-drained and low-nutrient soil
If you are looking for a large plant for landscaping, then rhododendrons are an ideal choice. These large and beautiful plants can be the centerpiece of your garden. These large shrubs produce purple or pink bell-shaped flowers along with thick and evergreen leaves, which makes them highly attractive. With consistent watering and partial sunshine, you can keep these evergreen garden plants healthy and beautiful.
Pro Tip – Rhododendrons need plenty of water, so make sure to water them properly.
Spruce
Botanical Name: Picea pungens
Hardiness Zone: 2-7
Size: Up to 75 feet
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Soil Needs: Well-drained, rich, sandy, and moist soil
If you want to create beautiful landscaping for your garden, then you can grow source plants in a row. There are different varieties of spruce, including blue spruce, green spruce, and colorado spruce, and white spruce.
Among different types of spruce, blue spruce is a popular choice as they are perfect to create a privacy screen in the garden. Moreover, they are one of the best outdoor winter plants to add beautiful colors to your loving winter garden. These plants are amazing garden accents and especially weeping or dwarf trees for landscaping.
Yew
Botanical Name: Taxus
Hardiness Zone: 2-10
Size: Up to 75 feet
Sun Exposure: Full sun to shade
Soil Needs: Well-draining and medium-moisture
There are different types of shrubs and evergreen trees for landscaping, but yew is one of the best. They are profoundly adaptable for landscaping and are an amazing choice to make garden order. Moreover, you can also use this plant in a mass planting.
One interesting thing about this evergreen garden plant is that they are confiners, so they grow cones and not flowers. Moreover, they also gesture evergreen needles and also range in shapes and sizes.
Pro Tip – It is a good idea to grow yew plants in fall or spring.
Japanese Holly
Botanical Name: Ilex crenata
Hardiness Zone: 5-8
Size: 5-10
Sun Exposure: Full sun to partial shade
Soil Needs: Well-drained
This is a good choice for evergreen trees for landscaping as they are fairly low-maintenance. Japanese Holly is an amazing evergreen garden tree that has small and rounded leaves and is present in various interesting forms. They create strong architectural shapes, which makes them an ideal choice for landscaping.
You need to water these shrubs during dry spells only. Moreover, it requires feeding around once a year. Make sure that the soil where you grow the plant has good drainage to keep the plant healthy.
Mugo Pine
Botanical Name: Pinus mugo cultivars
Hardiness Zone: 2-7
Size: 3 to 5 feet
Sun Exposure: Full sun to partial shade
Soil Needs: Well-drained soil
Mugo pine is a slow-growing evergreen garden plant. It takes various years to attain mature size. Therefore, you can also plant it in a tight space without the requirement of too much pruning. Another best thing about mugo pine is that it is deer resistant, which makes it an ideal choice for landscaping.
If you are planning to make a rock garden, then mugo pine is a perfect choice. It is good for mass planting when mixed with other plants. The colors of this beautiful plant range from gold to deep green, which makes it highly attractive.
Mahonia
Botanical Name: Mahonia aquifolium
Hardiness Zone: 5-9
Size: 6 feet
Sun Exposure: Partial shade
Soil Needs: Well-drained, moist
Mahonia is one of the best evergreen trees for landscaping as they are easy to grow. They have beautiful and spiny leaves that are divided into leaflets. Moreover, they have attractive yellow flowers that are dense and have spikelike clusters.
The blooms of mahonia are followed by attractive berrylike, red or blue-black fruits that attract birds. Their bright flowers appear in early spring, and by late summer, they convert to berries. The most attractive feature of this plant is that they have an evergreen flowering shrub.
Cedar
Botanical Name: Cedrus deodara
Hardiness Zone: 7-11
Size: 40 to 50 feet
Sun Exposure: Full sun
Soil Needs: Well-drained, sandy
Cedar is a famous evergreen tree for landscaping for weeping habits. It is popularly used for landscaping in gardens and can also be used as a specimen tree. One best thing about this evergreen garden tree is its elegant blue-green foliage and striking form. Some of the cedar plants grow tall, so make sure to read the complete plant description before purchasing it.
In order to grow this plant, it is better to opt for a site with full sun. However, it can also tolerate partial shade. Make sure to give the plant a lot of water during its first growing season.
Final Words
You can make your garden more attractive and beautiful with proper landscaping. In this regard, evergreen trees for landscaping are an amazing choice. These trees are perfect for managing a green touch to your garden throughout the year. Make the landscape of your garden mesmerizing with evergreen trees, and do share your experience with us by dropping a comment.
