Shrubs – Tree Farm & Nursery

S & J Nursery’s North Florida

Shrubs for the Jacksonville

| St. Augustine Area Landscape

What makes a plant a
shrub? Is a shrub a bush…or is that something different?

How do these shrubs or
bushes fit into the North Florida Landscape and what is their function?

North Florida | Jacksonville | St. Augustine area landscape…

How do I know what’s right for my garden?

There are three major considerations you will need to be familiar with before you start browsing for landscape shrubs for the garden.

1 – Sun Exposure

Well first things first, you’ll need to see what type of sun exposure you have in the are you will want to plant in. Is it full sun all day long? Or part sun being sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon or vise versa? Or
is it partially shaded by a large tree like a pine or an Oak or Maple in the area where it will receive sun for a little bit in the morning and then filtered light throughout the day and sun again for a few hours in the
afternoon? Or just filtered light all day? Look at the area your thinking of adding landscape plantings to a few times during the day preferably morning noon and evening to get a good picture of what affects the sun exposure to the planting site.

2- Soil conditions

So after you’ve determined how much sun a given area gets during the day the next consideration will be what type of soil the shrubs will be planted in? Is it clay, is the soil mostly sandy or nice black dirt that all of us
North Florida | Jacksonville| St. Augustine area gardeners dream about?

Soil conditions can effect what type of plant we choose and what amount of preparation needs done before planting large areas of landscape. If you have really sandy soil or heavy clay soils you may consider amending the
entire area with some compost so that you can broaden the type of plant that will thrive in your landscaped area. You don’t have to be stuck with Junipers and Schillings just because you have sandy soils, its just going to take more initial work on your part to be able to plant a broader selection of plant material. If you have pretty good darker colored dirt that drains fairly quickly after a rain you should only need just a bit of compost in each
planting hole at the time of installation to get your new plantings off to a good start.

3 – Water and Drainage

Last but definitely not least among pre-planting concerns is water. How much of it is that area going to get and how long does that water stick around once it gets it. Is there large thirsty trees near the planting area that
will be taking up alto of the available water from local rainfall?

What about what type of soil that was again? Sandy soils tend to be well draining and can literally dry out just hours after being watered while clay soils seem to hold on to every drop of water for just days and days before
finally drying out.

Water and drainage conditions are the hardest obstacle’s to overcome in the landscape, and often the major player in the long term health of our plants. Getting low lying areas with clay soils to drain during our Florida rain season enough for plants that prefer well drained soils to thrive just isn’t going to happen long term. I can’t tell you how many times new homeowners planted a hedge row of ligustrum shrubs in an area that they did just great in until the next years rain season hit, one tropical storm later and they all died seemingly overnight. On the other end of the spectrum planting water loving plants like Hydrangea into a well drained really sandy soil is just wasting water on a plant that is never going to be happy.

Getting familiar with the areas of your landscape after a rain helps you protect your investment. Knowing the path that the water will take during a storm and how quickly does it go from soaked to dry when its all said and
done will help you to get the right plant for the right place. You’ll be amazed at how much variance you’ll find in each landscape area.

S & J Nursery’s North Florida

Shrubs for the Jacksonville

| St. Augustine Area Landscape

What makes a plant a shrub? Is a shrub a bush…or is that something different?

How do these shrubs or bushes fit into the North Florida Landscape and what is their function?

North Florida | Jacksonville | St. Augustine area landscape…

How do I know what’s right for my garden?

S & J Nursery Low Growing Shrubs

Perfect as Groundcovers

S & J Nursery Smaller Shrubs for

Foundation Plantings

S & J Nursery the Happy Medium – Moderate Sized Shrubs for Middle of the Border Plantings

S & J Nursery Larger Shrubs for the

Back of Borders

and Foundation Plantings

S & J Nursery Flowering Shrubs for

Added Curb Appeal

S & J Nursery Fragrant Shrubs

S & J Nursery Shrubs for

Foliage Color in Northern Florida

S & J Nursery Shrubs for

Privacy Screens and Barriers

S & J Nursery Shrubs for Moist Garden Sites

in the North Florida Area

S & J Nursery Drought Tolerant

Shrubs for Low Water

Gardening and Xeroscapes

S & J Nursery Salt Tolerant

Shrubs for Northern Florida

S & J Nursery Shrubs for the Shaded Areas of

the North Florida Landscape

S & J Nursery Shrubs for Full Hot Florida

Sunny Spots in the Landscape

S & J Nursery’s “Florida Friendly” Landscape Shrub Selections

What makes a plant a
shrub? Is a shrub a bush…or is that something different?

How do these shrubs or
bushes fit into the North Florida Landscape and what is their function?