Hearty Shrubs Options For Your Southwest Florida Property

Shrubs are an instrumental part of every property’s ecosystem. They provide shade, improve soil stability, enhance air quality and create habitats for all types of wildlife. Of course, shrubs and small trees are also beautiful to look at, especially when you choose varieties that add seasonal interest to your landscape.

Benefits of Shrubs to your Property

The aesthetic value of shrubs is one benefit that can protect you from an unattractive view. Use shrubs wisely and your neighbor’s junkyard will cease to exist when you’re enjoying your morning coffee on the patio. You can also use shrubs to grow a living privacy boundary and to separate one area of your yard from another. On top of that, landscaped properties have a greater value than their bare counterparts. Established trees and shrubs are particularly appreciated because it can take some time for them to reach a mature size. Households that have established landscapes appreciate home values 5 to 20 percent higher than those that don’t.

Shrub Varieties to Consider

• Firebrush

Hamelia patens can be a shrub or small tree. It has beautiful orange to red flowers that bloom year-round — unless nipped by the cold — and small red berries. Butterflies, birds and even hummingbirds are attracted to it. In years with cold spells, it will die back but return in the spring as a small shrub that can grow quite large. It likes sun or shade.

• Dwarf Ixora

The Dwarf Ixora is a stunning addition to a garden in the warmer parts of the country, making Florida an ideal location. Its striking red blooms have earned it its name as the flame of the woods. It is relatively easy to take care of with the proper moisture and soil conditions. For your effort, you’ll enjoy a beautiful display of flowers all season long.

• Gold Dust

Light up a shade border with a Gold Dust plant, also called aucuba. This slow-growing, evergreen shrub has yellow speckled foliage or bright green glossy foliage depending on the cultivar. It keeps its leaves year-round, providing color and texture when other plants go dormant for winter. Gold Dust plant is grown for its berries as well as its leaves. Female plants produce bright red berries in fall when a male pollinator is nearby.

• Crotons

Popular as hedges and foundation plantings, these plants can also punctuate perennial beds and borders in the tropics and subtropics. Different varieties grow different sizes, but you can find types that grow from 4 to 10 feet tall and wide. Most are relatively slow growers as landscape shrubs and take well to pruning. Once established, Crotons are relatively drought tolerant, so they are easy to care for. There are varieties that thrive in full sun and others that prefer part shade, making it easy to use them in your landscape.

• Viburnum

Why are we all not planting more hedges and massing these wonderfully versatile shrubs? They hold their own in every season from bloom of spring flowers to, for many species, late summer to fall fruits and colorful fall foliage. And, they are so undemanding and unfussy, filling in just about every sort of garden puzzle.

We hope these shrub options opened your eyes to what is available for your Florida property. For more information on how Estate Landscaping can take care of your landscaping needs, give us a call at (239) 498-1187, or Contact Us.