Here are 5 reasons why you should include them...plus some sparkling evergreens to try in your garden:
1.Year-Round Visual Interest
Evergreens retain their foliage throughout all the seasons, unlike deciduous plants that lose their leaves in winter. This constant greenery gives you something to look at in the garden even when other plants have died back or gone dormant, adding a sense of permanence and stability. They can ‘anchor’ the garden by creating a consistent, solid foundation around which other more transient, seasonal plants can be layered.
2. Defining Space and Boundaries
Evergreens are often used for hedges, borders, or screens. They help garden owners to define specific areas of the garden, creating separate “rooms” or providing privacy from neighbours. Their dense growth and consistent shape can also obscure unsightly views or structures.
3. Texture, form and contrast
While seasonal flowers and foliage provide much-needed colour and vibrancy, evergreens can add invaluable texture and form. They have a variety of shapes – from upright ferns to rounded shrubs and fan shaped small trees – which helps to keep an interesting, balanced layout throughout the year. With deep foliage colours from rich green to the palest apple green, not to mention deep burgundy, evergreens create a contrast with other plants. This contrast helps to highlight other flowering plants during their blooming period, the evergreen foliage acting as a backdrop for colourful perennials, flowers, or annuals. The leaves themselves are often textural, catching the frost to create their own focal point in winter
4. Protection for Other Plants
Evergreens can protect more delicate plants by acting as windbreaks or providing shade. This is particularly beneficial for more tender plants that need shelter from strong winds, heavy snow, or harsh sun exposure. In smaller gardens, evergreens can often be pruned as a smaller substitute for trees with underplanting to create a more manageable ‘pocket garden’ effect.
5. Support for Wildlife
Last but not least, evergreens provide important shelter and food for wildlife, particularly in winter. Birds can nest in the dense branches, and the foliage offers shelter during cold weather. Some evergreens also produce berries that provide food for birds and small mammals.
So don’t overlook the role of evergreens in adding versatility, permanence, food and shelter, as well as year-round beauty to your garden
Move over Box hedging...here are a few interesting and reliable evergreens to try:
Arbutus unedo (Strawberry Tree) – a spreading mid-sized tree with shredding brown bark, bright green leaves, white Autumn flowers and red fruit. Perfect for a sheltered spot.
Sarcococca confusa (Christmas Box to you) – a rounded shrub with pointy, glossy leaves, a beautiful vanilla scent from its white winter flowers, and black berries for the birds. Perfect for a shady border near a path to enjoy the scent.
Mahonia Soft Caress – none of those spiky, thuggish mahonias – this is a compact evergreen shrub with bamboo-like leaves, fragrant lemon-yellow, upright flower spikes in autumn and blue berries in winter.
Euphorbia Humpty Dumpty – a particularly well-behaved euphorbia with grey-green evergreen leaves then bright yellow-green flowers with a red eye to contrast with spring bulbs.
Pittosporum Bannow Bay – perfect for a low informal hedge, this compact shrub has rich crimson leaves with pretty, apple-green spring growth and scented mauve flowers. Can be grown loose or clipped.
Trachelospernum jasminoides (Star Jasmine) – an evergreen climber for sheltered walls and fences, with red/burgundy winter hues and fragrant, white, early summer flowers
Garrya Elliptica (Silk Tassel bush) – a wall shrub with dramatic silvery catkins from midwinter, its green leaves with a grey underside can be used in flower arrangements.
*A reminder that plants and their berries are for looking at, not for eating, unless you are a bird!
If you’re looking to refresh or redesign your garden, evergreens are a great way to add year-round structure, texture, and interest.
I specialise in designing beautifully planted spaces, here in South Bucks, which combine flowers, foliage, forms and textures to breathe life into your garden all year round.
Let’s bring your garden to life— get in touch today – emma@mypassionforplants.co.uk! 🌿✨
If you would like to talk about your outdoor space, fill in the form below
or contact Emma Hanford on 07702 599562 or emma@mypassionforplants.co.uk