Best shrubs by sizes

I’ve lived in Texas for more than 70 years. I’ve helped gardeners across Texas for almost 60 years. Before that, I had my own nursery and landscaping business in high school and college in Brazos County. I feel like I know the plants of Texas fairly well.

With that in mind, and because the spring planting season is only weeks away, I’m going to give you a short list of plants that could make up the framework of your new design projects. I’ll arrange them by mature sizes. That’s because I hate to see people plant big shrubs in short spaces, then have to resort to whacking them back to keep them in bounds.

Here’s my list of the best shrubs…

Low shrubs to 24 to 36 in…
Dwarf nandinas, most notably Harbour Dwarf, Harbor Belle, and Flirt, are outstanding either as very low shrubs or massed as a tall groundcover. Best of the true dwarf shrubs are dwarf yaupon, dwarf Chinese and Carissa hollies and Wintergreen and Green Beauty Japanese boxwoods.

Medium shrubs 36 to 72 in…
Choose from and include dwarf Burford holly, Italian jasmine (hard to find but worth the search), Sea Green juniper, bridal wreath spiraea, taller nandinas (trim berries off by mid-February to prevent problems with birds) and several of the abelias.

Tall shrubs 6 to 12 ft…
Willowleaf holly (may be labeled as “Needlepoint”), Mary Nell holly, Oakland holly, and a maybe a few flowering shrubs such as forsythia, smaller crape myrtles and most varieties of rose-of-Sharon.

Very tall shrubs 12 ft. and taller…
Tall varieties of crape myrtles, Nellie R. Stevens and yaupon hollies and Warren’s Red possumhaw holly.

It must be noted that this list is far from complete. Soil and climate will have a large impact on how well other types of plants will do in various areas. Your local Texas Certified Nursery Professional will always be your best source of final advice for your precise needs.