Planting Landscape Shrubs
Preparing to Plant Shrubs
Walk around your yard and look at every possible arrangement of your shrubs before digging their planting holes. It’s easier to move the shrubs before planting than to transplant.
Place the shrubs in their containers atop the ground in possible spots you might plant them. Observe the groups, then note each plant from spots you’ll spend time in your yard.
If some shrubs only will be seen from one side, keep their best, most shapely side facing that direction. Move and rotate each plant until you’re satisfied, but keep in mind the recommended spacing for the species.
Shrub Planting Situations
When planting shrubs, there are at least six different situations you may encounter. Each requires a different approach and method of planting.
- When planting a shrub in a bed of newly prepared soil, dig a hole the same depth and slightly wider than the plant’s rootball [See: Soil for Trees and Shrubs].
Remove the shrub from its container and untwist any encircling roots, cutting them if necessary. If the rootball is matted, cut three or four slits starting from the rootball’s bottom to halfway up its side. Fan out the roots and then place the rootball in the planting hole.
Finish by backfilling the planting hole with soil from the bed. Water the shrub well for the first two weeks until it becomes established.
- If a shrub will be planted into an existing bed, dig a hole the same depth as the rootball but three times as wide.
Use a pitchfork or other tined tool to poke holes in the surrounding soil. Work out from the planting hole in a radial pattern—these holes will loosen the soil and allow the plant’s roots to eventually reach out into the larger bed beyond the planting hole.
- To plant a containerized or balled-and-burlapped shrub grown in soil similar in texture to your native soil, place the rootball in the planting hole.
Position the shrub’s depth, keeping the top of the rootball even with or slightly higher than the surrounding soil. Backfill the planting hole with native soil and water.
- For a shrub grown in soil very different in texture from your native soil—for example, a shrub in coarse potting soil while your native soil is clayey—gently wash away the shrub’s rootball with a garden hose.
Stop removing soil when the rootball is half of its original size, with many roots exposed but still clinging to some soil.
- Place the rootball into the planting hole and set its depth to the soil mark on its trunk. Backfill the planting hole with native soil a third full.
Water thoroughly to settle the soil and finish filling the hole with more native soil.
- To plant a formal hedge perfectly straight, sink a stake in the ground at each end of the planting line. Tie a string between the stakes as an alignment guide, keeping it fairly high above the ground. This will prevent it from breaking as you dig planting holes, making the job much easier.