Category Garden

The Bush Anemone or Carpenteria californica is an evergreen shrub native to California, as its botanical name suggests. It has a structure with erect stems, not very branched, of a reddish-brown color; the leaves are alternate, without petiole, oval, 10-15 cm long, bright dark green, shiny and leathery.

About ten species of deciduous shrubs, originating in Asia, belong to the genus forsythia; the most commonly cultivated is a hybrid between F. suspensa and F. viridissima. The zabel forsythia is a fast-growing shrub, which can reach 3-4 meters in height. It constitutes a fairly informal bush, with erect stems, poorly branched, brown in color; the foliage is green, oval or lanceolate, develops after flowering.

This genus of plants includes 4-5 species of shrubs or small deciduous trees, originating in central-northern America. They have an erect stem, densely branched from the base, to form a roundish shrub, up to 3-4 meters high; the bark is smooth, greyish-brown in color, cracked in specimens of many years.

The Chionanthus virginianus is a shrub, or small tree, with deciduous leaves, native to North America, which can reach 6-7 meters in height. The trunk is erect, often slightly twisted, sometimes consisting of 2-3 close stems, well branched, to form a roundish crown; the bark is light brown, with the age of the plant it tends to flake, remaining always quite smooth.

Sea buckthorn The genus hippophae is part of the Eleagneaceae family and includes 3 species: the H. rhamnoides, H. salicifolia, and the h. Tibetan. Only the first plant, of which we will discuss in particular, is widespread in cultivation because it is the only one with ornamental qualities. The rhamnoides, which is also called sea buckthorn, is a shrub that easily turns into a tree.

Mimosa The mimosa (acacia dealbata) is a tree originating from Tasmania, but which, having arrived in our country in the mid-1800s, has adapted very well to the climate of the Ligurian Riviera and to that of the southern regions and the great lakes: it has even entered be part of the landscape of these places thanks to the irrepressible flowering which, among the earliest, announces the arrival of spring.

The peach blossom or Cydonia is a small deciduous flowering shrub originating in China and Japan. It consists of dense tufts of slightly thorny branches, with a smooth green-brown bark; the leaves begin to grow during flowering and are brownish in color as soon as they are sprouted, becoming bright green as they grow.

The Exochorda x macrantha is a medium-sized deciduous shrub native to central-northern Asia. It has thin, arched stems, of brown or red-brown color; the habit is roundish and the adult shrubs reach 3-4 m in height. In late spring this plant produces numerous small white flowers; in the summer, the fruits take the place of pentalobate woody capsules, which remain on the plant for months.

Native to central and southern Europe and northern Africa, the genus includes 45 species of shrubs and small evergreen or deciduous trees used to form hedges. Spontaneous in Italy, it is an evergreen shrub from two to five meters high, often cultivated as a hedge. Privet is a genus of small shrubs or trees of the oleaceae family.

It is not always easy to find a shrub that fits perfectly into our garden; a common problem is the hedges, which very often are formed with the same, usual plants; very beautiful and easy to grow, certainly, but also so common and widespread that we often lose interest in them.

Genus consisting of about eighty species of evergreen shrubs originating in Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia, most of which come from Australia; there are numerous cultivars, almost all of which are hybrid varieties of Leptospermum scoparium. This shrub has erect stems, vertical, branched in a disorderly fashion, thin, woody, dark in color; the small leaves are of various shapes, from needle-like to lanceolate, up to oval or round and in the rotundifolia variety, they have a dark green color; in some species they are pubescent.

The Olivagno or Eleagnus is a genus that includes about 50 species of evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs, originating in Asia. The stems are erect, dark in color, densely branched, hardly reach their imposing size, usually remaining below 4-5 meters. E. angustifolia has small, lanceolate leaves, silver gray in color; many species have variegated leaves, of different shades of green.

Solanum rantonnetii is an evergreen shrub native to South America. These shrubs are dense and roundish in shape; they have semi-woody stems, very branched, and small lance-shaped leaves, of a bright green color, with a slightly wavy edge; from April to the first cold they produce innumerable little purple flowers, with a yellow center, gathered in small bunches; the flowers are followed by fruits that appear as orange, round, inedible berries.

The pieris (once grouped in the genus Andromeda) are evergreen shrubs, of medium or small size, widespread especially in the mountainous areas of central and eastern Asia; some botanical species are also present in the American continent, but in European nurseries there are mainly hybrids and species originating in Asia, in particular Pieris japonica and its hybrids.

Callicarpa The callicarpa is a nice and pleasant shrub in every period of the year: it embellishes our garden with its leaves and its flowers, from spring to autumn, but it reserves us a surprise giving us beautiful purple berries, similar to candies, that persist for most of the winter, since they are not particularly fond of birds.

Aronia A medium-sized shrub, native to North America; develops numerous erect, densely branched stems, which reach 90-150 cm in height. The lanceolate leaves are bright green, they become reddish or orange in autumn, before falling. In late spring it produces large bunches of pinkish-white flowers, with five petals; in summer, small roundish, pendulous fruits, which turn black when ripe, occur.

Aucuba Aucuba japonica is a small upright evergreen shrub originating in Japan. The adult specimens reach about two meters in height, although often the dimensions of these plants remain smaller; the foliage is dense and roundish, the branches and the stem are bright green.

The Lauroceraso The lauroceraso is a shrub, or small tree, originating from Asia and Europe, very common in Italian gardens; it belongs to the genus prunus, as well as many highly cultivated fruit plants. It is a vigorous and resistant shrub, evergreen, with dense and compact vegetation; the leaves are oval, lanceolate, with toothed margin, slightly leathery and shiny, dark green; in spring, at the apex of the branches, small star-shaped white flowers bloom, gathered in erect panicles; they have a very intense aroma, which can be unpleasant.

The Protea cynaroides brings together a hundred of evergreen shrubs, originating from Africa; they produce long erect stems, sparsely branched, rigid and thick, which can reach 100-150 cm in adult specimens; the leaves are elongated, oval or lanceolate, dark green, waxy.

The genus Veigelia, Diervilla includes twelve species of deciduous shrubs originating in northern China and Korea, then imported into Europe, more precisely in England, for the first time in 1841. From this first Weigelia florida, over time were born of the hybrids that have reached the hundred.