Shrubs

Despite their diminutive size, shrubs bring big benefits to Tampa yards and gardens. Useful for accenting the lines of a home, for planting in smaller yards or for creating interest while waiting for larger trees to grow, shrubs are an attractive and affordable landscape alternative.

Shrubs are generally smaller plants used to create a feeling of balance and harmony in the garden. Shapes vary from large, dense and bushy to open and low growing. Choose shrubs that enhance the symmetry of your design. Use them to fill flowerbeds or place them in the corners of your yard to anchor lawns or smaller bedding plants. Plant them along walls or walkways to create charming, woodland scenes or in rows to create a living screen or green fence.

Among the wide varieties of shrubs that grow well in the Tampa climate are evergreen, blooming and ornamental varieties. Dark green and glossy azaleas provide bursts of vibrant color, while sweetly scented jasmine perfumes summer nights. The showy, trumpet-shaped flowers of the hibiscus transform a garden into a tropical paradise. The attractive spear-like leaves and tight branches of the Podocarpus yew pine are easily pruned into decorative shapes and the sprawling and unique sea grape creates abundant shade.