Types of Evergreen Trees and Plants

Incorporate different types of evergreens into your landscape.

Incorporate different types of evergreens into your landscape.

Evergreen trees and plants provide year-round color and texture to your home landscape. Plant different types of evergreen trees and plants throughout your landscape to create a smooth transition across the entire property between seasonal gardening. Use evergreen trees to shade your home during the summer and block cold winds through the winter. Prune evergreen shrubs into hedges to provide a constant garden backdrop when perennials die down.


Pine trees help provide shade for your landscape.

Plant conifer trees for shade and landscape borders. Alaska cedar trees (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) grow best in moist atmospheres along the Pacific coast in zones 4 through 8. They reach heights up to 130 feet in the wild with yellow male cones and green female cones with purple tints. Cultivars include the “Pendula.” The white pine (Pinus strobus) and Swiss mountain pine (Pinus mugo) grow well in zones 3 through 8. White pines grow up to 80 feet tall with a spread up to 40 feet. Their cones measure between 6 and 8 inches. Swiss mountain pines grow up to 20 feet tall with cones measuring up to 1 1/2 inches long. Cultivars of Swiss mountain pines include “Compacta” and “Gnome.” Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) grow along the Pacific coast in zones 7 through 9. They reach up to 300 feet with a trunk diameter up to 30 feet. Bald Cypress trees (Taxodium distichum) belong to the redwood family and reach heights up to 90 feet with a 35-foot spread, growing well in zones 4 through 11.


Yucca plants produce clustered flowers.

Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) and yucca (Yucca filamentosa) plants are broadleaved evergreens that grow well in zones 4 through 9. Candytufts grow up to 12 inches tall with a spread up to 3 feet. Their showy white flowers cover most of the plant and bloom in late spring. Cultivars include “Christmas Snow,” “Purity,” “Pygmea” and “Snowflake.” The yucca plant reaches 4 feet tall with an equal spread. Their creamy white, bell-shaped flowers measure 2 to 3 inches wide, growing in a vertical branched cluster up to 6 feet. Yuccas tolerate a variety of soils and include cultivars such as “Bright Edge,” “Color Guard” and “Variegata.” Southern magnolia trees (Magnolia grandiflora) are broadleaved evergreen trees that grow best in zones 7 through 10A. They grow up to 80 feet tall with a 40-foot spread with large, showy, creamy-white flowers. They prefer acidic, well-drained soils. Cultivars include “Cairo,” “Gloriosa,” “Goliath,” “Hasse,” “Lanceolata” and “Victoria.” Other evergreen flowering plants include the Kaffir lily (Clivia spp.) and Rhododendron spp.


Creeping junipers provide year-round color.

Plant evergreen ornamental varieties for year-round specimen plants. Grasses include blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) and tall blue fescue (Festuca amethystine). Blue oat grass is a semi-evergreen fountain grass. It grows well in zones 4 through 9 and needs dry, well-drained soil. Tall blue fescue grass grows best in zones 4 through 8 and in moist, well-drained soil. Both grasses needs full sun to part-shade and complement rock gardens and perennial beds. The holly fern (Cyrtomium falcatum) is a spreading ornamental, producing glossy evergreen leaves measuring up to 2 1/2 feet long. It grows well in zones 10 through 12 and needs part shade to shade in moist, well-drained soil. Plant holly ferns in borders or in conservatories. Creeping junipers (Juniperus horizontalis) grow in a creeping habit up to 1 foot in length. They do well in zones 4 through 9 and prefer heavy soils. Creeping junipers grow best in sandy or rocking sites and on sea cliffs or swamps. Cultivars include “Bar Harbor,” “Plumosa,” “Prince of Wales” and “Wiltonii.”


Holly shrubs produce showy berries.

Prune and shape evergreen shrubs to provide year-round hedges, ground covers and privacy screens in your yard. The scarlet firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea) and Chinese holly (Ilex cornuta) shrubs produce red-colored berries and dark-green leaves. Scarlet firethorn grows best in zones 5 through 9 and reaches 6 feet tall with a spread up to 10 feet. Cultivars include “Lalandei” and “Wyattii.” Chinese holly shrubs grow well in zones 7 through 9 and tolerate salt sprays and drought. Cultivars include the "Burfordii." The Chinese holly and Oregon grape holly (Mahonia aquifolium) prefer acidic, moist, well-drained soil. Oregon grape hollies grow best in zones 4 through 8 and include cultivars such as “Compacta,” “Mayhan Strain” and “Orange Flame.” New leaves are reddish-bronze and turn bluish-green when mature. The wintercreeper euonymus (Euonymus fortuna) is a broadleaved evergreen shrub, growing well in zones 4 through 9. They grow up to 12 inches tall and have dark-green serrated leaves measuring up to 2 inches long.

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