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If you’re looking for ways to spruce up your outdoor space, including your backyard patio and garden, evergreens are essential to creating a new look. Along with being natural providers of food for birds and other wildlife, they have the power to bring texture, color and personality to your space all year round. Whether you’re an expert in the world of greenery or a newbie trying to expand their green thumb, we’re sharing the best evergreen shrubs you can consider adding to your outdoor space.
We’ve included a wide range of evergreens that vary in size, color and shape. Some are fast-growing, while others take a bit longer to expand. Several can tolerate poor soil conditions, along with the heat, cold and brief times of drought. Others you may love for their shiny green leaves, slight hints of color or blossoms that come up in the spring. And when it comes to choosing the perfect plant, make sure to take notice of which ones are low-maintenance, especially if you won’t have time to focus on pruning them throughout the year. For indoor options, check out this roundup of easy houseplants that are harder to kill.
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Japanese Holly
Japanese holly have small and rounded leaves that take on many forms. Place them in pots and use them to enhance your front door area.
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Dwarf Pine
These trees are perfect for small landscapes. After planting them in your backyard, you won’t have to worry about taking too much time caring for them due to their slow growth rate.
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Globe Arborvitae
This round-formed evergreen comes in many sizes — from a few feet tall to five feet in height.
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Boxwood
Boxwoods have a classic look that’s versatile. Their foliage provides color to any winter landscape, so get ready for their gorgeous look in the snow.
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Japanese Pieris
These beautiful bell-shaped flowers spruce up in late winter to early spring. Also known as lily-of-the-valley shrub, the pieris thrives in acidic soil.
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Creeping Juniper
Also known as creeping cedar, this low-growing evergreen bush can be used as accents in flower borders or as foundation plants.
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Camellia
This flowering shrub is known for their lovely blooms. When young, they grow better in partial shade, while they gradually accept more sun as they get bigger.
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Blue Holly
In order for the berries to form on these Christmas-themed bushes, you’ll need to plant both “male” and “female” plants.
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Globe Blue Spruce
The bright blue needles hold their color all year long, while the form stays in a spherical shape (ideal for foundation planting).
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Cherry Laurel
These dense wide-spreading plants grow up to 20 inches tall and flourish in the spring.
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Plum Yew
Native to Japan, northeastern China and Korea, this foliage produces edible fruit, has a rounded form and has an average height of two to three feet.
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Daphne
During the warmer months, daphne produces white to light pink flowers, along with small red berries called drupes.
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Azalea
These bright spring blooms are popular gifts during Easter and Mother’s Day. You can find them in gold, orange, peach, pink, red and purple.
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Rosemary
With a relaxing scent and flavor, rosemary makes a great outdoor shrub. They also attract pollinators, so expect to see flower bees and honeybees in your yard.
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Gardenia
These eye-catching plants feature dark green foliage and white blooms. They’re ideal additions in warm climates, with some reblooming all season long.
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Wintercreeper
Wintercreeper makes for a versatile ground cover, shrub or vine. Many of their leaves are tinged with white, gold or green, while they turn a pinkish shade in the winter.
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Photinia Glabra
This large evergreen shrub or small tree can grow up to 20 inches tall. It blooms in the late spring and has bright-red leaves.
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Rhododendrons
These vibrant blooms grow well in sunny spots with minimal shade. They come back every year and should survive the colder months.
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Oleander
While these floral shrubs are attractive garden plants, you should avoid planting them where children play. All parts of the bush are poisonous and can cause skin irritation.
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Mahonia
These flowers have a strong fragrance in warmer weather. While they’ll spruce up your outdoor space, resist any temptation to eat the berries.
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Mirror Bush
Also known as the looking glass plant, this shrub comes in a variety of colors, from creamy white and soft yellow to lime green and purple.
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Canadian Hemlock
These evergreen trees are popular for their dense yet graceful branched form. You can plant one to make a statement on your lawn or use multiple for a natural screening.
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Mugo Pine
Mugo pine can easily grow in different environments and is smaller in size when compared to other pines.
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False Cypress
These sun-loving trees make unique and vibrant borders, hedges or accent plants. They’re also commonly known as “mops” for their shaggy appearance that resembles the cleaning tool’s strings.
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Bay Leaf or Bay Laurel
The dark yet shiny oval-shaped leaves on this evergreen are used as kitchen seasoning. You can keep them in the kitchen to use as a herb or add them to flowering pots to upgrade your patio.
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Skip Cherry Laurel
Also called Schip Laurel or Cherry Laurel, these bushes are easy-to-grow and can tolerate the heat, cold or drought, along with poor soil conditions.
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Siberian Cypress
The airy and graceful branches on this fern-like foliage are low-growing and soft to the touch. It can even survive brief drought and tough weather.
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Nordic Inkberry Holly
You don’t need to consistently prune this shrub for it to keep its round form. You can look forward to the small white flowers that bloom in the spring.
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Dwarf Hiba Cedar
Use this flat-topped evergreen as the focal point of your garden or in foundation planting. The white patches sprinkled throughout add character and color throughout the year.
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Juke Box® Pyracomeles
Despite its inability to produce flowers, this disease and pest-resistant shrub has a charming look due to its shiny green leaves. If you want to give them another design, they’re easy to shape in any style.
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Assistant Editor
Mariah Thomas is an Assistant Editor at Good Housekeeping, where she covers home decorating ideas, gift guides and DIY projects.
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