A Complete Guide to Shrub Care

If you want to get the most out of the shrubs you plant in your yard, you must learn how to plant and care for them properly. It’s true that each individual shrub species will call for a unique set of growing conditions and maintenance needs. However, there are some general principles to keep in mind that will help you support the growth of nearly any shrub you purchase. 

The goal of this article is to highlight those general principles, allow you to feel confident with the basics of shrub care, and answer a few of the most pressing questions people have about the topic. As such, if maintaining happy and healthy shrubs is your goal, reading through this introduction to shrub care is an excellent place to start. 

Shrub Planting Technique and Why it Matters

Before caring for a shrub, you need to know how to plant one. Despite what many novices assume, planting trees and shrubs is not as simple as digging a hole and dropping your plant into it. Instead, shrub planting is a detailed process that requires technique. In fact, planting your shrubs incorrectly may even cause them to fail in the first growing season. 

By contrast, a well-planted shrub is one that will not only survive but thrive in your garden. To ensure your shrubs are well-planted, follow these steps for each one you own. 

Take a Look at Your Shrub’s Root Ball

Your first step when planting a shrub is to examine its root ball. The term root ball refers to the collection of soil and roots at the plant’s base. When you get a new plant, its root ball will likely be wrapped in burlap or resting in a plastic container. 

Start by removing the root ball from its container or wrappings. The first thing you should look for is the plant’s root flare. The root flare is the point on the plant at which the main trunk begins to flare out and become roots. For sustained long-term health, the root flare should remain exposed to the air. 

However, it’s quite common for soil to cover a plant’s root flare while the plant is waiting in storage or being shipped. If soil conceals your plant’s root flare, remove it until the root flare is clearly visible. While the roots themselves should remain covered in soil, the root flare must be uncovered and exposed to the open air. 

After exposing the root flare, evaluate the total height and width of the root ball. These dimensions will be crucial to the next step of this planting process. 

Dig a Proper Planting Hole

The size and shape of the planting hole you dig are crucial to helping your plant establish itself. Recall the dimensions of your plant’s root ball and use them as a guide. 

The hole you dig should be about as deep as the root ball is tall to ensure that the root flare remains above the ground once planting is complete. Regarding width, the hole should be at least twice as wide as the root ball. Providing ample width in your planting hole makes it easier for the roots to expand horizontally once they are in the hole.

Professional Tip!

As you dig your planting hole, pile the soil in a circle or semi-circle around the hole’s perimeter. Encircling the hole with the soil will make it easier to backfill from all angles and create a “dish” (which we’ll explain in detail later) that helps hold water and allows it to seep into the soil where the roots need it most. 

Don’t Neglect Scoring

At this stage, take another look at your plant’s root ball. The odds are that the roots in the root ball are somewhat compacted and tangled with one another. Leaving the roots in this state will likely cause them to tangle further, choking each other and failing to spread through the soil as they should. 

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to remedy this situation. Use a hand rake, garden knife, or a similar tool to score all sides of the root ball. Some people are hesitant to rough up the root ball as it will cause some roots to break. But don’t worry! Breaking a few roots is not a big deal. What’s more important is loosening the root ball overall to ensure the root system has a chance to spread. 

You should give the same treatment to the inside edges of your planting hole. These surfaces typically consist of compacted soil that can be difficult for roots to penetrate. Loosening both the root ball and the interior sides of the hole gives your shrub’s root system the best chance to establish itself quickly. 

Place Your scrub in the Hole Strategically

With your root flare exposed, your planting hole dug, and the sides of the root ball and hole scored, it’s time to place your shrub in the hole. Once your plant is in the hole, your first priority is to ensure that the root flare is just above the surface of the ground surrounding the hole. 

If the root flare is too low, remove the shrub and add soil to the hole to make it less deep. On the other hand, if your root flare is several inches above the ground surrounding the hole, it’s likely too high. In that case, you should dig the hole a bit deeper. While getting the hole depth just right can take time, it’s worth it to ensure the root flare is at the proper height. 

After assessing the root ball, it’s time to ensure your shrub is straight. Step back a few feet and look at your shrub from multiple angles. If your shrub looks straight from multiple angles, you’re ready to move on to the next step. 

Professional Tip!

Are you having trouble determining if your plant’s root ball is at the right height? If so, place your shrub in the hole, then lay a shovel, rake, or any long-handled tool across the hole near the center. If the root flare is at or slightly above the level of the handle, you’ve got your planting depth right. 

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Backfill while Watering

Once your plant is in the hole with the proper depth and alignment, it’s time to backfill. If you piled your soil nearby around your hole, backfilling should be easy. Simply knock the soil back into the hole with your shovel, ensuring you fill all sides equally to ensure the plant remains straight. 

It’s helpful to water while you backfill. As you’d guess, watering during backfilling gives the roots some much-needed moisture. It also helps eliminate air pockets that will cause your plant to sink and settle over time after the planting process is complete. 

Create a Dish, Not a Volcano 

Here’s where many, including professional landscapers, make a planting mistake. Far too often, people choose to mound soil around the plant’s base, creating a volcano-like form with the trunk poking out of the middle. 

Taking this approach buries the root flare, which, as we have emphasized so far, is something you should never do. We won’t take a deep dive into the science of root flares here. For now, know that planting a root flare too deep negatively influences the root system’s ability to intake oxygen, makes it difficult for roots to access vital nutrients that exist closer to the soil’s surface, and can increase the odds of pest infestation and fungal infection. 

So, what should you do instead? Rather than engaging in volcano-making, use soil to form a dish-like structure that surrounds the hole you just backfilled. A small, circular mound that encloses the filled-in hole will act as a reservoir that holds water and allows it to percolate into the soil. After forming this dish, fill it with water and allow it to seep down to the root system. 

Add a Layer of Organic Mulch

The last step in the planting process is to cover the soil with a layer of organic mulch. This layer should be about two to three inches deep and will help manage soil moisture, maintain an ideal soil temperature, and suppress unwanted weeds. 

While there are many mulch options, including inorganic choices like pebbles or crushed stone, we recommend using organic mulch. Organic mulches like straw, shredded bark, and wood chips will break down over time, which continually adds nutrients to the soil, which will only help fuel your shrub’s growth. 

It’s true that using organic mulch is more labor-intensive, as you’ll need to replace it every season or every few seasons. However, the added nutrients that organic mulch supplies are worth this effort. 

Watering Tactics for New and Established Shrubs

Even the least experienced gardener knows that water is essential to the well-being of plants. However, the amount of water you provide for your shrubs depends on several factors. Of course, each species will call for varying water volumes. However, the age of your shrubs plays a role as well. 

Watering Newly Planted Shrubs

Most shrubs need the most water just after you finish planting them. The reason for this high water need is a phenomenon called transplant shock. Transplant shock refers to stress that plants undergo anytime you move them from one growing location to another. 

Whether your plants are brand new or you’re moving them from one garden location to another, they are likely to experience some level of transplant shock during the process. The good news is that transplant shock is not an everlasting condition, and it’s something that you can help your plants overcome. 

One of the simplest ways to reduce stress on your newly planted shrubs is to water them more frequently than you normally would. In fact, it’s often best to water a new shrub once every one to three days for the first few months of growth. 

Watering frequently during these initial months keeps the roots moist and helps them adapt to their new environment. As the roots strengthen and spread, the shrub will successfully establish itself and begin to put forth new growth as the growing seasons unfold. 

Watering Established Shrubs

While watering new shrubs is straightforward, watering needs for established shrubs are a bit more nuanced. After all, each shrub species and cultivar has a specific watering preference. Some shrubs survive well with natural rainfall alone, while others need regular watering during their active growing season throughout their entire lifespan. 

The only way to know what’s best for your shrubs regarding water needs is to study. Taking time to research your shrub’s water requirements will make you well-prepared to keep the soil as moist as necessary to support healthy growth. 

What’s the Role of Mulch?

Mulching is a standard practice in plant care that many people take for granted but don’t fully understand. To help your understanding of this fundamental gardening task, we’ve listed the primary functions of using mulch below:

• Maintain soil moisture: When soil has direct exposure to sunlight, it dries out more quickly. Mulch is a protective layer that makes it more difficult for water to evaporate out of the soil to ensure your plant’s roots have access to the moisture they need. 

• Maintain soil temperature: Exposed soil is also more vulnerable to temperature changes. As is true of humans, plant roots prefer a stable temperature that changes gradually as the seasons progress. Mulch acts as an insulating layer to prevent extreme soil temperature changes. 

• Suppress weeds: Mulch is not a guarantee that you won’t have weeds in your garden beds, but it can help. By limiting the amount of sunlight that reaches the soil, mulch can prevent many weeds from poking up around your shrubs. 

• Enrich the soil: If you choose an organic mulch, it will break down over time and add nutrients to the soil below that will aid your shrub’s growth. 

We recommend using organic mulch due to its ability to enrich the soil with additional nutrients. However, choosing this route requires more maintenance. Since organic mulch breaks down, you’ll need to replace it. It’s often best to add a new layer of mulch at the start of every growing season or every other growing season. 

Feeding Your Shrubs with Fertilizer

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Do you want to do everything in your power to encourage vigorous growth in your shrubs? If so, then you should not neglect fertilizer. While plants are able to draw nutrients from the soil on their own, fertilizer adds a considerable amount of essential plant fuel that encourages your plants to grow more quickly than they otherwise would. 

One visit to your local garden supply center will reveal that there are several fertilizer options you can choose from. Some are specifically formulated to support certain types of plants or certain plant attributes, such as flowering, while others are general fertilizers that are broadly applicable to many plant types. 

Whether you take the time to find a fertilizer that’s uniquely formulated to your shrub’s needs is up to you. But if you want to keep this matter simple, look for an all-purpose fertilizer with an equal blend of the three primary plant nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N-P-K). N-P-K ratios like 10-10-10 or similar typically work for nearly any plant in your garden. 

As is true regarding watering needs, each plant will have different fertilization preferences. Again, studying and researching is the best way to know what your plants require. Still, many common shrubs will respond well to one application of a nutrient-balanced, slow-release fertilizer in the early spring and one in the fall. 

Know When and How to Prune

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Similar to roughing up the root ball during planting, pruning is another essential shrub care task that makes many novices hesitate. But if you know when, how, and what to prune, the odds that you harm your shrub during the process are quite low. 

Pruning Timing

Let’s begin with timing. In most scenarios, it’s best to prune your shrubs in the early spring, just before they return to their active growing phase. With that said, pruning in fall is also a viable option for many plants. 

What you’ll want to avoid is making significant pruning cuts during the hottest and coldest parts of the year. Pruning in the presence of extreme temperatures makes it difficult for your plant to heal its pruning wounds and makes it more susceptible to disease. 

Additionally, if you have flowering shrubs, you’ll want to study their bud-setting habits. Some shrubs set their flower buds on the previous season’s growth. If you prune one of these shrubs in early spring, you risk removing some or all of the coming season’s blooms. For these kinds of shrubs, it’s often best to wait for the bloom period to end before you perform pruning. 

What to Prune

You now know when to do your pruning, but you still need to know which part of the plant you should remove during the process. Thankfully, pruning with the goal of sustaining a plant’s health is more straightforward than you might guess. When pruning, focus on removing the following:

• Broken and damaged branches

• Diseased portions of the shrub

• Crossing branches 

• Branches that grow towards the center of the shrub

Removing the branches listed above helps your shrub allocate its growing energy towards its healthiest limbs rather than those that are destined to fail anyway. The result is a healthier, more vigorous shrub that stands a better chance of looking great for a long time. 

Managing Pests and Diseases

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The theme of researching the needs of specific plant varieties remains true in this section as well. As you might guess at this point, each plant has a list of pests and diseases to which it is most susceptible.

Amazingly, some plants have admirable pest and disease resistance, making them unlikely to encounter these problems in their lifetimes. At the other end of the spectrum, certain plants seem to be under constant threat of a wide range of insect and disease complications. 

Infestations and infections are most common when a plant does not receive the growing conditions it prefers or proper maintenance. For instance, plants that don’t like wet soils can quickly develop root rot, among other issues, when their soil becomes waterlogged. 

The only clear path forward when mitigating such problems is to arm yourself with the knowledge of which pests and diseases are most common for your plant. Supplementing that knowledge with a clear understanding of your plant’s preferred growing conditions and strategies for how to respond to pests and diseases goes a long way toward keeping your shrubs in peak condition. 

Change Your Care Routine Based on the Season

Our final shrub maintenance suggestion is that your care routine should be well-suited to the current season. As each year progresses, temperatures and precipitation levels vary, which influence what kind of maintenance tasks you should perform for your plants. 

For instance, springtime is often the ideal time to prune, fertilize, and mulch around your shrubs. When summer arrives, pruning becomes less advisable, but water needs often grow. Autumn typically presents another chance for pruning, mulching, and fertilization, while winter is often a time when it's best not to do any plant maintenance at all. 

Again, combine this information with all the other knowledge you’ve picked up in this article and any specific facts you know about the species you own. Doing so allows you to set up the ideal care routine that perfectly matches the time of need and your plant’s needs. 

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Frequently Asked Questions about Growing and Caring for Shrubs

Shrub care is an in-depth topic, and an introduction such as the one above surely leaves you with at least a few questions. To help you better understand shrub care, here are a few answers to some of the most commonly asked questions on the topic. 

Should You Amend Your Soil Before Planting Shrubs?

If your soil lacks nutrients, drains too quickly, or becomes waterlogged too easily, amending it is an excellent idea before planting your shrubs. Typically, adding organic soil amendments like compost or manure will help increase plant nutrients while also enhancing drainage qualities. 

Should You Fertilize when Planting a Shrub?

There’s actually a surprising amount of debate over whether it’s advisable to fertilize your shrubs during planting. While some include fertilization as a standard part of the process, others claim that doing so can do more harm than good to your plant’s roots. 

If you’re worried about this topic at all, simply wait at least one year before adding fertilizer. Fertilizer is certainly not necessary for plant establishment, and the potential downsides may make waiting worth it. 

How Can You Tell if Your Shrub Has a Pest or Disease Problem?

When a shrub has a pest or disease issue, signs of the issue will most likely be visible on the leaves. For example, if the leaves of your shrub become discolored or deformed or change their texture significantly, there’s a chance that your plant has an infestation or an infection. Wilting, bark damage or a general lack of growth can also point to a pest or disease problem. 

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