30 Best Evergreen Shrubs for Your Backyard Garden or Outdoor Patio
Give your lawn year-round color with these pretty (and popular) varieties.
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If you're looking for ways to spruce up your outdoor space, including your backyard patio and garden, evergreens are essential to creating a new look. Along with being natural providers of food for birds and other wildlife, they have the power to bring texture, color and personality to your space all year round. Whether you're an expert in the world of greenery or a newbie trying to expand their green thumb, we're sharing the best evergreen shrubs you can consider adding to your outdoor space.
We've included a wide range of evergreens that vary in size, color and shape. Some are fast-growing, while others take a bit longer to expand. Several can tolerate poor soil conditions, along with the heat, cold and brief times of drought. Others you may love for their shiny green leaves, slight hints of color or blossoms that come up in the spring. And when it comes to choosing the perfect plant, make sure to take notice of which ones are low-maintenance, especially if you won't have time to focus on pruning them throughout the year. For indoor options, check out this roundup of easy houseplants that are harder to kill.
Japanese Holly
Japanese holly have small and rounded leaves that take on many forms. Place them in pots and use them to enhance your front door area.
Dwarf Pine
These trees are perfect for small landscapes. After planting them in your backyard, you won't have to worry about taking too much time caring for them due to their slow growth rate.
Globe Arborvitae
This round-formed evergreen comes in many sizes — from a few feet tall to five feet in height.
Boxwood
Boxwoods have a classic look that's versatile. Their foliage provides color to any winter landscape, so get ready for their gorgeous look in the snow.
Japanese Pieris
These beautiful bell-shaped flowers spruce up in late winter to early spring. Also known as lily-of-the-valley shrub, the pieris thrives in acidic soil.
Creeping Juniper
Also known as creeping cedar, this low-growing evergreen bush can be used as accents in flower borders or as foundation plants.
Camellia
This flowering shrub is known for their lovely blooms. When young, they grow better in partial shade, while they gradually accept more sun as they get bigger.
Blue Holly
In order for the berries to form on these Christmas-themed bushes, you'll need to plant both "male" and "female" plants.
Globe Blue Spruce
The bright blue needles hold their color all year long, while the form stays in a spherical shape (ideal for foundation planting).
Cherry Laurel
These dense wide-spreading plants grow up to 20 inches tall and flourish in the spring.
Plum Yew
Native to Japan, northeastern China and Korea, this foliage produces edible fruit, has a rounded form and has an average height of two to three feet.
Daphne
During the warmer months, daphne produces white to light pink flowers, along with small red berries called drupes.
Azalea
These bright spring blooms are popular gifts during Easter and Mother's Day. You can find them in gold, orange, peach, pink, red and purple.
Rosemary
With a relaxing scent and flavor, rosemary makes a great outdoor shrub. They also attract pollinators, so expect to see flower bees and honeybees in your yard.
Gardenia
These eye-catching plants feature dark green foliage and white blooms. They're ideal additions in warm climates, with some reblooming all season long.
Wintercreeper
Wintercreeper makes for a versatile ground cover, shrub or vine. Many of their leaves are tinged with white, gold or green, while they turn a pinkish shade in the winter.
Photinia Glabra
This large evergreen shrub or small tree can grow up to 20 inches tall. It blooms in the late spring and has bright-red leaves.
Rhododendrons
These vibrant blooms grow well in sunny spots with minimal shade. They come back every year and should survive the colder months.
Oleander
While these floral shrubs are attractive garden plants, you should avoid planting them where children play. All parts of the bush are poisonous and can cause skin irritation.
Mahonia
These flowers have a strong fragrance in warmer weather. While they'll spruce up your outdoor space, resist any temptation to eat the berries.
Mariah Thomas (she/her) is an assistant editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers home and lifestyle content. Mariah has more than four years of editorial experience, having written for TLC, Apartment Therapy, Women's Health and Avocado Magazine. She received her master's degree in journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and published her first book, Heart and Soul: Poems of Thoughts and Emotions, in 2019. She's also the founder of RTF Community, a platform for creatives of color to connect, learn and showcase their work.
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