Fast-growing, hardy and evergreen – these are characteristics that many garden owners and hobby gardeners look for in shrubs. An extensive list of corresponding plants makes the selection easier.
A to E
Yelk barberry (Berberis stenophylla)
- Growth type: loose, tall growing
- Growth height: 150 to 200 centimeters
- Growth width: 150 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: 30 to 50 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, yellow-orange, from the end of May to June
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green, shiny
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: lush flowering, ideal as a hedge plant, very undemanding, possible freezing back
Ivy shrub (Hedera helix “Arborescens”)
- Growth type: upright, compact, dense, shrubby, not climbing
- Growth height: 150 to 200 centimeters
- Growth width: 150 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: ten to 15 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, yellow between September and October
- Foliage: all year round, dark green
- Light: partial shade to shade
- Special features: decorative glossy leaves
F to G
Firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea)
“Red Column”
- Growth type: tightly upright, growing very quickly
- Growth height: 200 to 300 centimeters
- Growth width: 150 to 250 centimeters
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, cup-shaped, from May to June
- Fire red berries in autumn
- Foliage: green all year round, dark green
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: must be protected from the wind, ideal as a hedge and solitary plant, very hardy variety, robust, blooms profusely
“Soleil d’Or”
- Growth type: upright, broad growth, bushy
- Height: 175 to 225 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: 20 to 50 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, cup-shaped, from the end of May to June
- Yellow berries in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: must be protected from the wind, very easy to care for, ideal as a hedge and solitary plant
Funkenblatt (Photinia davidiana)
- Growth type: broadly bushy, upright, tall ornamental shrub
- Growth height: 200 to 300 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: 30 to 50 centimeters per year
- Flowers: white, in June
- Leaves: wintergreen, dark green, shiny older foliage orange-red autumn color
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: robust, bee pasture
Gold droplets (Chiastophyllum oppositifolium)
- Growth type: rosette-like, clumpy, loose, short stature
- Growth height: 15 to 20 centimeters
- Growth width: 20 to 30 centimeters
- Growth rate: 15 to 20 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, yellow, racemose, arching inflorescence, from June to July
- Leaves: wintergreen, green, no autumn color
- Light: partial shade
- Special features: loves stony locations, very hardy and fast-growing shrub species
H to J
Sky Bamboo (Nandina domestica)
“Magical Lemon and Lime”
- Growth type: compact
- Growth height: 70 to 100 centimeters
- Growth width: 70 to 100 centimeters
- Growth rate: 10 to 25 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, panicle-shaped, from July to August
- Red berries in autumn
- Leaves: wintergreen, fresh shoots in lemon yellow, then lime green, orange-red autumn color
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: suitable for pot and outdoor planting, sensitive to wind, cold protection recommended at very low temperatures
“Sienna Sunrise”
- Growth type: upright, compact, narrow, shrubby
- Growth height: 90 to 120 centimeters
- Growth width: 30 to 60 centimeters
- Growth rate: 10 to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, panicle-shaped, from April to May
- Red berries in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen foliage, deep green with red tips, reddish autumn color
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: must be protected from the wind, suitable for pot planting
Japan holly (Ilex crenata)
- Growth type: shrub-like, densely branched, broadly spreading
- Growth height: 200 to 350 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 300 centimeters
- Growth rate: 25 to 50 centimeters per year
- Flowers: inconspicuous, white, from May to June
- Fruit decorations in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: very hardy and easy to care for, very fast growing shoots
Japanese flower skimmia (Skimmia japonica “Rubella”)
- Growth type: compact, shrub-like
- Growth height: 60 to 100 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: five to 20 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white to pink, panicle-shaped, from April to May
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green, shiny, laurel-like
- Light: partial shade to shade
- Special features: also ideal as a pot plant, hardy down to minus 17.3 degrees Celsius (hardiness zone 7)
NOTE:
The Japanese flower skimmia must also be checked for soil moisture in winter and watered if necessary because it must not dry out.
K to L
Cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus)
“Mano”
- Growth type: roundish
- Growth height: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: 10 to 25 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, from May to June
- Foliage: evergreen foliage, dark green, reddish shoots
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: insect-friendly, sensitive to wind, very easy to care for, also suitable for pots
- Caution: poisonous berries
“Hibani”
- Growth type: upright, bushy
- Growth height: 200 to 300 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: 30 to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: inconspicuous, white, grape-shaped, in May
- Fruit decorations in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen, initially reddish, later dark green, shiny, no autumn color
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: suitable as a pot plant, hardy down to around minus 35 degrees Celsius, plant protected from the wind
“Greentorch”
- Growth type: upright
- Growth height: 200 to 250 centimeters
- Growth width: 80 to 140 centimeters
- Growth rate: 20 to 30 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, creamy white, grape-shaped, from early April to May
- Fruit decorations in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green, no autumn color
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: easy to cut, very hardy, suitable as a solitary and hedge plant
Creeping Spindle (Euonymus fortunei var. radicans)
- Growth type: ground-supporting, creeping, climbing shrub
- Growth height: 20 to 30 centimeters
- Growth width: 80 to 120 centimeters
- Growth rate: ten to 20 centimeters per year
- Flowers: inconspicuous
- Foliage: evergreen, orange-red in autumn
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: fast-growing plant ideal as a ground cover or small individual shrub, undemanding in terms of care
Privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium “Argenteum”)
- Growth type: upright, slightly vase-like, dense
- Growth height: 60 to 200 centimeters
- Growth width: 60 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: inconspicuous, white, panicle-shaped, from May to June
- Small, spherical, black-bluish berries in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen foliage, gray-green, edged with white
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: very robust, extremely cold-tolerant and easy to care for
M to S
Moss Juniper (Juniperus sabina “Rockery Gem”)
- Growth type: flat growing, horizontal branches, low-growing coniferous shrub
- Growth height: 35 to 50 centimeters
- Growth width: 200 to 350 centimeters
- Growth rate: 30 to 40 centimeters per year
- Hardy needles in blue-green
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: Deep-rooted, no special care requirements, moderately hardy - protection advisable in long-term cold
Decorative Mahonia (Mahonia bealei)
- Growth type: upright, few branches
- Growth height: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Growth width: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: 15 to 30 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, light yellow, grape-shaped, from the end of February to May
- Blue-black fruits in autumn
- Evergreen Shrubs
- Leaves: blue-green, thorny teeth, reddish autumn color
- Light: partial shade to shade
- Special features: very hardy, insect-friendly, deep-rooted, likes sandy gravel soils, pot planting possible
Snowball (Viburnum bodnantense “Charles Lamont”)
- Growth type: dense, bushy, upright, “airy” branched
- Growth height: 200 to 250 centimeters
- Growth width: 200 to 250 centimeters
- Growth rate: 15 to 35 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, pink, panicle-shaped, from January to April
- Foliage: deciduous, blue-green, thorny teeth, reddish autumn color
- Light: partial shade to shade
- Special features: not suitable for container cultivation, does not tolerate winter sun
NOTE:
The winter quickball “Charles Lamont” is one of the deciduous, summer green plants, but thanks to its winter flowering, the shrub still brings color to gardens and should not be missing from the list.
Snowball (Viburnum tinus “Lisarose”)
- Growth type: dense, well-branched shrub, upright
- Growth height: 80 to 150 centimeters
- Growth width: 60 to 100 centimeters
- Growth rate: 15 to 30 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, pink-white, early November to mid-April
- Foliage: wintergreen, medium green
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: strongly scented, can be planted as a solitary plant, very hardy shrubs
Sackelblume (Ceanothus impressus “Victoria”)
- Growth type: bushy, branched
- Growth height: 80 to 100 centimeters
- Growth width: 50 to 70 centimeters
- Growth rate: ten to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, deep blue, panicle-shaped, from the end of May to July
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: robust, very fast-growing, ideal for bed and container planting, hardy down to minus 17.8 degrees Celsius (hardiness zone 7)
- numerous other fast-growing sackflower bushes available, none of which are wintergreen
T to Z
Peat myrtle (Pernettya mucronata)
- Growth type: low-growing shrub
- Growth height: up to 40 centimeters
- Growth width: up to 50 centimeters, wild varieties in the bed up to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: five to ten centimeters per year
- Flowers: mostly white, bell-shaped, from May to June
- Berry formation in shades of white, red and lilac from September to December/January
- Foliage: evergreen leaves, dark green, shiny
- Light: sunny to partially shaded
- Special features: ideal for bed and container planting, conditionally hardy - in pots up to minus 10 degrees Celsius for a short time, in garden beds up to minus 15 degrees Celsius, sensitive to cold frosts
NOTE:
A fast-growing peat myrtle can occasionally freeze back in winter. This means it doesn't die automatically, but can sprout again after being cut back in the spring.
Grape Myrtle (Leucothoe w alteri)
“Rainbow”
- Growth type: small shrub
- Growth height: 100 to 130 centimeters
- Growth width: 80 to 120 centimeters
- Growth rate: six to 15 centimeters per year
- Flowers: fragrant, simple, white, grape-shaped, from May to June
- Foliage: solid green, green-pink or red marbled, wine-red autumn leaves
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: requires slightly acidic to acidic garden soil, very hardy variety
“Scarletta”
- Growth type: small shrub, wider than tall, bushy, dense
- Growth height: 30 to 40 centimeters
- Growth width: 60 to 80 centimeters
- Growth rate: five to ten centimeters per year
- Flowers: white, fragrant, from May to June
- Foliage: evergreen foliage, red, bronze-colored shoots, scarlet in spring, green in summer, wine-red autumn color
- Light: partial shade to shade
- Special features: ideal single or group plant, also suitable for heather gardens, requires constant soil moisture, fast-growing shrub variety
