Holly shrubs typically have dark green foliage.
Due to their dense foliage and low-maintenance, shrubs are popular for use as hedges, such as for surrounding property boundaries, and as border plants, such as for surrounding patios. Apart from these functional uses, however, shrubs can also provide aesthetic appeal for outdoor spaces. Many varieties of shrub provide vibrant colors, particularly in their foliage, flowers, berries and bark. While some shrub colors remain year-round, many change with the seasons.
Evergreen Foliage
When choosing a shrub, consider different aspects of its foliage. While some shrubs have segmented leaves, others have pinnate leaves. Still others have no leaves at all but needles or fronds. To provide colorful foliage for an outdoor space with year round, evergreen shrubs are the best option, as they do not drop their foliage in winter. Despite their name, evergreen shrubs can display other colors. For example, the evergreen hebe shrub can have leaves that are shades of greenish-silver, gray, red, bronze and violet.
Fall Foliage
Deciduous shrubs, which in northern climates drop their leaves in fall and have bare branches in winter, are better-suited for providing landscapes with foliage that changes color seasonally. In the spring and summer, deciduous shrubs display their new, typically green foliage, while in the fall, this foliage transforms, becoming much brighter and more vibrant. For example, the deciduous Japanese barberry shrub has light green leaves during the spring and summer that change to shades of orange, scarlet or reddish-purple during the fall. Another example is the bottlebrush buckeye shrub, which has dark green leaves that change to a buttery yellow in fall.
Flowers
Apart from providing color with their foliage, many shrub varieties bloom with flowers during the spring or summer. Just like the flowers on herbaceous garden plants, shrub flowers come in an array of colors. Bottlebrush buckeye shrubs, for example, produce spiky, white flowers, while rhododendron shrubs produce clusters of bell-shaped flowers that can be shades of red, pink, orange, yellow and purple.
Berries
Berries are colorful ornamental features that can occur on both evergreen and deciduous shrubs. In many instances, these berries are red, such as the berries that grow on evergreen holly shrubs. However, the berries can also take on several other colors. For example, deciduous barberry shrubs can produce berries that are bluish-black as well as red.
Bark
Colorful bark is an especially important feature for shrubs that have drab or inconspicuous foliage and flowers. While many shrubs have bark that is a shade of brown or gray, some varieties have bark that is more ornamental. Like the seasonal changing of deciduous foliage color, bark color can also change with the seasons. For example, the Siberian dogwood has reddish bark most of the year, which changes to a more brilliant coral red in winter.
Related posts
Deep colors make small spaces feel grand.Condominiums are notorious for their convenience and their compact style. Many homeowners find the lack of small and smaller quarters challenging to decora...
Shades of tropical yellow, blue and greenWhile shades like pastel mint and bright pink found in Miami Beach look great on the exteriors of beachfront properties, indoors those colors tend to evoke...
Yellow walls and green curtains are an example of an analogous color combination.The right curtains act as a frame for your window in much the same way as a picture frame does for a picture. They...
Choose warm neutrals, golds or browns to complement oak trim.The orange and yellow undertones in oak trim can make choosing a paint color complicated. Cool grays, blues and greens can look washed...
Selecting a paint color scheme is dependent upon a number of factors.The family room is the room in the house in which people gather to hang out with each other, watch TV and unwind. The choices y...
