12 easy-to-manage evergreen garden plants

Although we tend to associate evergreen garden plants with boundary hedges, in reality, the potential uses for evergreens in the garden are numerous and varied. Even the classic boundary hedge does much more than just mark out a boundary: it protects privacy, provides shade, filters out noise and pollution, and acts as a windbreak. In the case of thorny plants, an evergreen hedge also acts as a barrier against intruders. If it is inside the garden, it can also segregate areas and hide unsightly features (compost bin, outdoor air conditioning unit, etc.). Today we take a look at evergreens, starting with their main function as hedges and focusing on evergreen outdoor plants that are easy to manage: they are also perfect if you are an infrequent or novice gardener.

Evergreen hedge plants

Let's start by talking about evergreens as hedge plants, which is probably their most widespread use. For a “standard” hedge you can choose from numerous evergreen shrubs, including the classic holly, privet, pittosporum and viburnum. Holly grows slowly and favours shaded spots. Privet withstands cold and heat and adapts well to different soils and levels of exposure (you can even plant it in the city, where it tolerates pollution well). Pittosporum is also a robust evergreen hedge plant that is suitable even if you live along the coast (it doesn’t mind salty winds). Viburnum tinus, also known as laurustinus or laurustine, is a very common, hardy evergreen for gardens that is resistant to both adverse climates and disease, while also requiring little care.

Perhaps less common is Loropetalum chinense, a shrub that is adaptable to all types of soil, easy to grow and very resistant to parasites and diseases. You can also keep it as a freeform hedge, that is to say, one with a non-geometric shape.

Evergreen hedges for special requirements

In more than one of its varieties, holly is suitable as an intruder-proof hedge, thanks to its leathery, toothed leaves: this is the case with the classic Ilex aquifolium and the Japanese holly or Ilex crenata. Another species to consider if you want a hedge for keeping out intruders is pyracantha, with its thorny branches. Also known as firethorn, pyracantha is an adaptable and hardy shrub that also thrives in mountainous areas and, unlike holly, grows quickly.

If you have limited space that will accommodate just a thin hedge in a sunny position protected from cold winds, an excellent solution is false jasmine or star jasmine. It is an evergreen climbing plant that you can grow close to metal fences, which then become its support. It adapts to different soils and unlike true jasmine, it can withstand low temperatures and tolerates urban pollution. You can also use false jasmine to cover a gazebo or pergola and thus make your outdoor relaxation area more atmospheric. It is essential that the structure is sturdy because star jasmine develops dense vegetation, with shoots and foliage that can reach a considerable weight in adult plants.

Evergreen hedges with flowers and berries

The main characteristic of evergreens is that they don’t lose their leaves in autumn – or rather, they slowly renew them over the course of several years – so the appearance of the foliage remains practically unchanged. Precisely for this reason, and despite the variety of green shades and foliage textures, with evergreens there is a risk of monotony in the garden, with too many identical plants all year round. But actually, many evergreens are surprisingly diverse at different times of year: for example, with its elongated flowers, Loropetalum displays intensely coloured blooms in spring, especially if exposed to full sun. In late spring, privet blossoms into small but fragrant flowers that are subsequently followed by dark berries in autumn. Pittosporum also produces very fragrant white flowers in spring. In winter, holly bears bright red berries that evoke a very Christmassy ambiance.

From late winter, Viburnum tinus graces the garden with rich, fragrant white blooms and in midsummer produces metallic blue berries, which remain on the plant for a long time (even until the next flowering season). The prickly pyracantha offers up scented white flowers in late spring and, from autumn to winter, brightly coloured berries (in yellow, orange or red shades, depending on the variety). Last but not least, in spring false jasmine is laden with spectacular white flowers that release a heady fragrance.

Although evergreens don’t lose their leaves – at least not all at once – at the end of the flowering season they do leave a carpet of dry leaves on the ground, for which a broom or blower is essential, especially in the case of false jasmine and privet.

Generally speaking, pruning evergreens is a fairly simple task. It involves removing any dry, broken or diseased branches at the end of winter and, depending on how much they grow, then adjusting their shape with shears and a hedgetrimmer (or a shaft hedgetrimmer, when working overhead or from a distance). You can find more details on pruning in our article on how to take care of evergreen garden plants.

Evergreen trees and single shrubs

You can use the evergreen hedge shrubs we mentioned above as single specimens or in groups, to form a thicket. This applies to holly, Loropetalum, pyracantha, viburnum and privet, which you can grow either as a single bush or as a small tree.

Speaking of trees, we mustn’t fail to mention those evergreen plants that grow to a significant stature once mature, such as Magnolia grandiflora and the coniferous stone pine. However, most gardens aren’t big enough to accommodate an imposing evergreen which, if planted in the wrong spot, could also reduce your house’s exposure to sunlight and heat in the colder months. We therefore suggest that an effective solution for most gardens is a small evergreen tree, such as the loquat or Eriobotrya japonica. A fruit tree appreciated as an ornamental plant, thanks to its clusters of very fragrant flowers that bloom in autumn, the loquat grows quickly, adapts to various soils and is fairly cold-hardy.

Among conifers there are also dwarf varieties, like those of Pinus mugo. These are long-lived, very slow-growing, evergreen dwarf trees that are both hardy and adaptable. Compared with standard conifers, they require minimal space (so you can even keep them in pots, without having to eventually transplant them into open ground, as happens with Christmas firs, for example).

Evergreen garden plants for borders and surfaces

Other hardy evergreen garden plants include boxwood and yew – which are slow-growing species suitable for pruning into geometric shapes to mark out borders or create low dividers – as well as dwarf pittosporum. You can also grow classic pittosporum as a small tree that can be trimmed into geometric forms, or “tame” boxwood and yew into creative shapes using ornamental pruning techniques (follow this link to our article on topiary art).

You can also use evergreen shrubs in the garden as groundcovers, which are low-growing and spreading plants that cover the ground in order to fill empty or poorly lit spaces, to create continuity between different parts of the garden, to carpet sloping ground – where cutting the grass is tricky even with a handy brushcutter – and so on. Suitable groundcover plants include dwarf pittosporum or any of the numerous species and varieties of juniper, such as Juniperus horizontalis or Juniperus squamata. Hardy juniper is also the right choice if you are thinking of creating a zen garden.

The best time to plant evergreen plants in your garden is in autumn or early winter, so that the roots have time to settle ready for growing in spring. Avoid the coldest days and when the ground is wet or frozen; in colder areas, postpone planting until spring. By the way, check out our guide on what to plant in autumn in the garden and vegetable patch.

Prepare the area by cleaning it with a brushcutter, lawnmower, garden tractor or, in the case of more stubborn and sprawling vegetation, a wheeled brushcutter or flail mower. Then prepare the ground: for a single plant, dig a hole with spade and shovel, mix the excavated soil with organic fertiliser (compost or manure), position the shrub/tree in the hole and fill it (starting at the bottom with the least fertile layer of soil, which you excavated last, and then shovelling the rest on top). To plant a hedge, till a strip of land of sufficient dimensions using a spade, rotary tiller or two-wheeled tractor, bury the fertiliser, then dig a hole for each shrub to be planted.

In any case, before planting your evergreens in the garden, we recommend that you study the site and work out your requirements before deciding which direction to take: here you will find some ideas for your DIY garden design.