A practical, ordinary person's guide to choosing, planting, and caring for the world's most popular plants,
Shrubs & Hedges
delivers all the know-how you'll need to grow beautiful, healthy shrubs.
Whether they're
flowering shrubs
or
evergreen hedges
, these long-lived plants fill a lot of space in our landscapes; yet they don't capture as much attention as perennials, annuals, and even trees. The front doors and picture windows of millions of houses world-wide are adorned by shrubs. Despite their ubiquity,
selecting and maintaining shrubs
remains a mystery to many. Shrubs are all-too-often inappropriately pruned into "meatball" shapes, or alternatively, left to become an overgrown tangle of branches. But as you'll discover in the pages of
Shrubs & Hedges,
when cared for properly, these workhorse plants have much to offer. They
mask foundations
,
delineate property lines
increase privacy
stabilize soils
provide food for wildlife,
and
add beauty and interest
to the landscape. It’s time for shrubs to take center stage.
eliminates the ambiguities of shrub selection and care by offering:
Advice on
how to pick the best shrubs for your growing conditions
Plant profiles
of both dependable classic shrubs and new rising stars
Step-by-step
propagation instructions for making more shrubs
—for free!
Shrub identification
tips
A lesson on the value of
hedges and hedgerows
The best
shrubs for pollinators
and other wildlife
Pruning illustrations and tips
to maximize shrub performance and health
Tips for
designing with shrubs
Drawing on her
decades of experience in the plant-care and landscape industries
, author and horticulture educator Eva Monheim proves you don’t have to be a “gardener” to see the value in this extensive group of plants.