Fast growing, hardy and evergreen - these are properties that many gardeners and hobby gardeners look for in shrubs. An extensive list of the corresponding plants makes the selection easier.
A to E
Yolk barberry(Berberis stenophylla)
- Growth type: loose, tall
- Height: 150 to 200 centimeters
- Spread: 150 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: 30 to 50 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, yellow-orange, from late May to June
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green, glossy
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: profuse blooming, also ideal as a hedge plant, very undemanding, possible freezing back
Ivy bush(Hedera helix "Arborescens")
- Type of growth: upright, compact, dense, shrubby, not climbing
- Height: 150 to 200 centimeters
- Spread: 150 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: ten to 15 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, yellow between September and October
- Foliage: all year round, dark green
- Light: penumbra to shadow
- Special features: decorative glossy leaves
F to G
Firethorn(Pyracantha coccinea)
"Red Column"
- Type of growth: stiffly upright, very fast growing
- Height: 200 to 300 centimeters
- Spread: 150 to 250 centimeters
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, cupped, from May to June
- Fire-red berries in autumn
- Foliage: green all year round, dark green
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: must be sheltered from the wind, ideal as a hedge and solitary plant, very hardy variety, robust, blooms profusely
"Soleil d'Or"
- Growth type: upright, broad growth, bushy
- Height: 175 to 225 centimeters
- Spread: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: 20 to 50 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, cupped, from late May to June
- Yellow berries in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: must be sheltered from the wind, very easy to care for, ideal as a hedge and solitary plant
Spark sheet(Photinia davidiana)
- Type of growth: broad, bushy, upright, tall ornamental shrub
- Height: 200 to 300 centimeters
- Spread: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: 30 to 50 centimeters per year
- Flowers: white, in June
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green, shiny older foliage orange-red autumn color
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: robust, bee pasture
Gold droplets(Chiastophyllum oppositifolium)
- Growth type: rosette-like, clumpy, loose, small-stature
- Height: 15 to 20 centimeters
- Spread: 20 to 30 centimeters
- Growth rate: 15 to 20 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, yellow, racemose, overhanging inflorescence, from June to July
- Foliage: evergreen, green, no autumn colors
- Light: partial shade
- Special features: loves stony locations, very hardy and fast-growing shrub species
H to J
Sky bamboo(Nandina domestica)
"Magical Lemon and Lime"
- Growth type: compact
- Height: 70 to 100 centimeters
- Spread: 70 to 100 centimeters
- Growth rate: 10 to 25 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, panicle-shaped, from July to August
- Red berries in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen, fresh shoots in lemon yellow, then lime green, orange-red autumn color
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: suitable for planting in pots and outdoors, sensitive to wind, cold protection recommended at very low temperatures
"Sienna Sunrise"
- Growth type: upright, compact, narrow, shrubby
- Height: 90 to 120 centimeters
- Spread: 30 to 60 centimeters
- Growth rate: 10 to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, panicle-shaped, from April to May
- Red berries in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen foliage, deep green with red tips, reddish autumn color
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: must be protected from the wind, suitable for planting in pots
Japan holly(Ilex crenata)
- Type of growth: shrub-like, densely branched, broadly spreading
- Height: 200 to 350 centimeters
- Spread: 100 to 300 centimeters
- Growth rate: 25 to 50 centimeters per year
- Flowers: inconspicuous, white, from May to June
- Fruit decorations in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: very hardy and easy to care for, very fast growing shoots
Japanese flower skimmia(Skimmia japonica "Rubella")
- Growth type: compact, shrub-like
- Height: 60 to 100 centimeters
- Spread: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: five to 20 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white to pink, panicle-shaped, from April to May
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green, glossy, laurel-like
- Light: penumbra to shadow
- Special features: also ideal as a tub plant, hardy to minus 17.3 degrees Celsius (winter hardiness zone 7)
NOTE: The Japanese flower skimmia should also be checked for soil moisture in winter and watered if necessary because it must not dry out.
K to L
Cherry laurel(Prunus laurocerasus)
"Mano"
- Growth type: round
- Height: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Spread: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: 10 to 25 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, white, from May to June
- Foliage: evergreen foliage, dark green, reddish shoots
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: insect-friendly, sensitive to wind, very easy to care for, also suitable for buckets
- Caution: poisonous berries
"Hibani"
- Growth type: upright, bushy
- Height: 200 to 300 centimeters
- Spread: 100 to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: 30 to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: inconspicuous, white, racemose, in May
- Fruit decorations in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen, reddish at first, later dark green, shiny, no autumn color
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: suitable as a container plant, hardy to around minus 35 degrees Celsius, plant sheltered from the wind
"Greentorch"
- Growth type: upright
- Height: 200 to 250 centimeters
- Spread: 80 to 140 centimeters
- Growth rate: 20 to 30 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, creamy white, racemose, from early April to May
- Fruit decorations in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green, no autumn colors
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: easy to cut, very hardy, suitable as a specimen and hedge plant
Crawler(Euonymus fortunei var. radicans)
- Type of growth: lying on the ground, creeping, climbing shrub
- Height: 20 to 30 centimeters
- Spread: 80 to 120 centimeters
- Growth rate: ten to 20 centimeters per year
- Flowers: inconspicuous
- Foliage: evergreen, orange-red in autumn
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: fast-growing plant, ideal as a ground cover or small single shrub, undemanding in terms of maintenance
liguster(Ligustrum ovalifolium "Argenteum")
- Growth type: upright, slightly vase-like, dense
- Height: 60 to 200 centimeters
- Spread: 60 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: 20 to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: inconspicuous, white, panicle-shaped, from May to June
- Small, spherical, black-bluish berries in autumn
- Foliage: evergreen foliage, gray-green, with white margins
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: very robust, extremely cold-tolerant and easy to care for
M to S
Moss juniper(Juniperus sabina "Rockery Gem")
- Type of growth: flat growing, horizontally running branches, low growing coniferous shrub
- Height: 35 to 50 centimeters
- Spread: 200 to 350 centimeters
- Growth rate: 30 to 40 centimeters per year
- Hardy needles in blue-green
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: deep-rooted, no special care requirements, conditionally hardy - protection advisable in prolonged cold
Ornamental Oregon Grape(Mahonia bealei)
- Growth type: upright, not very branched
- Height: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Spread: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Growth rate: 15 to 30 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, light yellow, racemose, from late February to May
- Blue-black fruits in autumn
- Evergreen shrubs
- Foliage: blue-green, thorny teeth, reddish autumn color
- Light: penumbra to shadow
- Special features: very hardy, insect-friendly, deep-rooted, likes sandy gravel soils, planting in pots is possible
Snowball(Viburnum bodnantense "Charles Lamont")
- Growth type: dense, bushy, upright, "airy" branched
- Height: 200 to 250 centimeters
- Spread: 200 to 250 centimeters
- Growth rate: 15 to 35 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, pink, panicle-shaped, from January to April
- Foliage: deciduous, blue-green, thorny teeth, reddish autumn color
- Light: penumbra to shadow
- Special features: not suitable for cultivation in buckets, does not tolerate winter sun
NOTE: The winter snap ball "Charles Lamont" is one of the deciduous, deciduous plants, but through the shrub's winter flowering brings color to gardens anyway and shouldn't be included in the listing miss.
Snowball(Viburnum tinus "Lisarose")
- Type of growth: dense, well-branched shrub, upright
- Height: 80 to 150 centimeters
- Spread: 60 to 100 centimeters
- Growth rate: 15 to 30 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, pink-white, early November to mid-April
- Foliage: evergreen, medium green
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: strongly scented, plantable as a solitary, very hardy shrubs
Sacflower(Ceanothus impressus "Victoria")
- Type of growth: bushy branched
- Height: 80 to 100 centimeters
- Spread: 50 to 70 centimeters
- Growth rate: ten to 40 centimeters per year
- Flowers: simple, deep blue, panicle-shaped, from late May to July
- Foliage: evergreen, dark green
- Light: sun to partial shade
- Special features: robust, very fast growing, ideal for beds and tubs, hardy to minus 17.8 degrees Celsius (hardiness zone 7)
- numerous other fast growing saccharose shrubs available, none of which are evergreen
T to Z
Peat myrtle(Pernettya mucronata)
- Type of growth: low-growing shrub
- Growth height: up to 40 centimeters
- Spread: up to 50 centimeters, wild varieties in the bed up to 150 centimeters
- Growth rate: five to ten centimeters per year
- Flowers: mostly white, bell-shaped, from May to June
- Berry formation in white, red and lilac tones from September to December / January
- Foliage: evergreen leaves, dark green, glossy
- Light: sunny to partially shaded
- Special features: ideal for planting beds and tubs, conditionally hardy - in pots up to minus 10 degrees Celsius for a short time, in garden beds down to minus 15 degrees Celsius, sensitive to cold frosts
NOTE: A fast growing peat myrtle can occasionally freeze back in winter. As a result, it does not automatically die, but can sprout again after being pruned in spring.
Grape myrtle(Leucothoe walteri)
"Rainbow"
- Type of growth: small shrub
- Height: 100 to 130 centimeters
- Spread: 80 to 120 centimeters
- Growth rate: six to 15 centimeters per year
- Flowers: fragrant, simple, white, racemose, from May to June
- Foliage: continuously green, green-pink or marbled red, wine-red autumn leaves
- Light: sun to shade
- Special features: needs slightly acidic to acidic garden soil, very hardy variety
"Scarletta"
- Type of growth: small shrub, wider than tall, bushy, dense
- Height: 30 to 40 centimeters
- Spread: 60 to 80 centimeters
- Growth rate: five to ten centimeters per year
- Flowers: white, fragrant, from May to June
- Foliage: evergreen foliage, red, bronze-colored shoots, scarlet in spring, green in summer, wine-red autumn color
- Light: penumbra to shadow
- Special features: ideal single or group plant, also suitable for heather gardens, requires continuous soil moisture, fast-growing shrub variety