When you consider your landscape, you'll find that shrubs are one of the most versatile elements that you can employ. Shrubs can serve as a background for your flower or vegetable garden, as dividers between different areas of the yard, and even as privacy screens (otherwise known as hedges).

Shrubs come in a wide variety - over a hundred different genuses, with a variety of species within each genus: There are shrubs with brilliant flowers, or evergreen shrubs for all seasons.

What exactly are shrubs? According to the dictionary definition: "A woody plant of relatively low height, having several stems arising from the base and lacking a single trunk; a bush." A rose bush is a shrub, for example, but so is a flowering dogwood. Have you heard that a dogwood is a tree? Well, some dogwoods are shrubs, and some are trees! Just as some lilacs are shrubs and some are trees. It all depends on how tall the individual species within the genus grows.

So there's quite a bit to learn about shrubbery before you decide on which ones you'll use in your landscaping endeavors. It's always best to consult with your local gardening experts while you're working on your design.

Website Wandering

But even though you'll want to talk to local gardeners about what would be best for your landscaping plans, you don't need to deal locally to acquire the shrubs. (Although it's always nice to support local businesses.) And you will find that there are restrictions - some states do not allow you to import certain plants – Hawaii and Alaska are simply too far away.

But take a jaunt around the web to see what's out there.

For example Direct Gardening offers everything from bulbs to fruits and nuts to hedges to shrubs to vines and water plants. Their website has plenty of photos of all their offerings so you can see what everything looks like. (They also sell what they call "Pre-planned gardens" - a mixture of several different but complimentary plants that will all grow well in the same type of conditions.)

Nature Hills Nursery is another online business that offers a wide variety of starter plants. And their website has a feature in which you input your zipcode, and it comes back with the "zone" in which you live - and the flowers, plants, shrubs and trees that grow best in that zone.

Pruning

The major maintenance for shrubs is pruning – you simply must prune your shrubs, not only to improve their appearance but also to help them grow healthy and strong. Hedge clippers and hand pruners are must have tools, loppers and a small pruning saw will also come in handy.