Evergreen Shrubs for a Greener Winter

by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener

 

 

Autumn colors are spectacular, but as those gorgeous leaves drop, the mountain landscape can suddenly feel bare and exposed. Deciduous plants, which lose their foliage, often leave gaps in your yard, exposing you to prying eyes, reflecting sun glare, and a general feeling of emptiness. For the next few months, evergreens must take center stage. If your yard feels dreary right now, you know you don't have the right mix of evergreen trees and shrubs.

 

The good news? It's the perfect time to plant evergreens, and we have a fantastic selection available at Watters Garden Center right now. Planting through winter ensures the plant develops deep roots before the intense summer heat returns.

 

Here are the Top 10 1/2 most reliable evergreen shrubs you can plant now for continuous color and privacy all winter long:

 

This is a strict foliage plant. If you love the blue look of a Colorado Spruce but lack the space, this juniper is your answer. It's a small, slow-growing spreader with short, striking blue needles. It looks fantastic when contrasted against shrubs with yellow or golden foliage. It stays low, making it perfect for the front of a border or a rock garden.

2. Green Mountain Boxwood

Boxwood provides essential, reliable green structure. Varieties like 'Green Mountain' are slow-growing, dense, and ideal for creating edging borders along pathways or around flower beds. They are well-suited for shaping as topiaries or simply leaving natural to form tidy, rounded mounds. They hold their green color beautifully through our cold snaps.

 

3. Golden Euonymus

This is one of the most popular hedge plants because it is extremely tough. Its bright foliage provides year-round appeal. It can be sheared into a formal, dense hedge or left to grow into a natural form. This density makes it an excellent visual and sound barrier. For long hedgerows, mix a couple of varieties for an even more interesting texture.

 

4. Gilt Edge Silverberry

A splendid Arizona native that deserves more attention. This shrub has brilliant golden-yellow margins on bright green leaves, providing incredible year-round interest. It's superb as a hedge or screen that tolerates our high heat and wind. Bonus: tiny, fragrant flowers appear, followed by red fruit, and it's impervious to javelina and deer.

 

5. Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina)

Despite the name, it's not an actual bamboo. It's an evergreen shrub with delicate, bamboo-like foliage, graced with clusters of white flowers in spring, followed by bright red berries throughout winter. The foliage itself often takes on bright red and purple highlights in the cold. It's versatile, handling most amounts of sun, soil, cold, or heat.

 

6. Magical Amore Holly

A classic broadleaf evergreen that provides deep, dark green leaves and, on female plants, contrasting bright red berries. They are perfect for north-facing borders, screens, and foundation plantings because they tolerate shade better than many other evergreens. They are easy to grow and generally avoided by mountain wildlife.

 

7. Mint Julep Juniper

This improved juniper offers a crisp, wintergreen color and is perfect for larger, sweeping hedges, privacy screens, and specimen plantings. It's incredibly tolerant of salt and harsh conditions, making it an excellent choice near sidewalks, driveways, and roadways where snowmelt runoff occurs. It's rarely damaged by animals like deer or javelina.

 

 

8. Mugho Pine

With its dense, symmetrical growth and compact, rounded form, this dwarf pine is a favorite for confined spaces. Its stunning green foliage sometimes develops a golden hue in the coldest months. Its slow growth habit makes it an ideal specimen in smaller gardens or for massing in larger landscapes.

 

9. Oregon Grape Holly

Often mistaken for true holly, this is a perfect mountain evergreen. It's tough! Solar yellow flowers cover the entire plant in spring, followed by an edible summer berry. Heading into winter, the leaves turn a mixed cranberry and orange color that remains until the spring blooms. This shrub thrives in full sun, heat, and wind, and requires less water than many non-native species.

 

10. Privet

Privet offers a dense, dark green texture that forms a thick hedge. It's often a better residential choice than faster-growing hedges because its waxy leaves retain moisture, resulting in a lower-maintenance hedge with fewer bug problems and lower water needs than some other dense screens.

 

 

10 1/2. Red Cluster Berry Cotoneaster

I call this the half because it's a bit larger, growing up to 10 feet tall and wide, but its impact is enormous. It features white flowers in the spring, evolving into bright red berries that remain on the plant throughout the winter. It's an easy-to-grow, sun-loving plant that serves as a vital food source for our local birds during winter.

 

Don't let your landscape go bald this winter. Bring in these reliable evergreens now for color and privacy that lasts all the way through to spring.

 

Would you like me to go over the proper steps for planting a large evergreen shrub in cold weather? Visit me at Watters Garden Center anytime