Do We Call Them Shrubs? Or Bushes?

Shrubs are a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant. We distinguish them from trees by their multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 18 feet tall.

A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience.

Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen.

Small, low shrubs such as lavender, periwinkle and thyme are often termed subshrubs.

The word bush can also refer to a type of plant community, as in the Australian bush. This is often characterized by scrubby, open woodland.

The word is a generic term for Eucalyptus-dominated woodland in particular.

Garden Shrubs

Shrubs in common garden practice are generally broad-leaved plants, though some smaller conifers such as Mountain Pine and Common Juniper are also shrubby in structure.

The Common Purple Lilac, Syringa vulgaris, is a well known shrub loved by gardeners all over the world for its beauty and fragrance. It has one of the most powerful fragrances emitted by a plant.

The Compacta Burning Bush has an outstanding red fall color. The corky wings on the twigs of the shrub hold winter snow, outlining the branch structure.

The Amethyst Coral Berry produces deep purple-pink fruit. This shrub is great for the home garden by providing vivid color in mid-summer.

Pruning

When clipped as topiary, shrubs generally have dense foliage and many small leafy branches growing close together. Many shrubs respond well to renewal pruning, in which hard cutting back to a 'stool' results in long new stems known as "canes."

Other shrubs respond better to selective pruning to reveal their structure and character.

The Meadowlark Forsythia is noted for the cold-hardiness of its buds and its blooming ability in exposure to temperatures that are below-zero.

Parts of this article come from www.wikipedia.com.

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