13 low-maintenance shrubs that make your yard look beautiful with hardly any work

Spend less time pruning and more time enjoying the garden with these gorgeous and undemanding shrubs.

From evergreen foliage to dazzling blooms, these low-maintenance shrubs give your garden a manicured look without all the hard work. Compact varieties of common foliage plants maintain gorgeous forms without pruning, while mess-free flowering shrubs provide all the beauty of their higher-maintenance counterparts. Plants that are adaptable to a variety of growing conditions are easier to site in the garden without the need to amend soil, and drought-tolerant selections mean fewer days dragging hoses through the yard. There are even low-maintenance options for those challenging wet areas of the landscape. For the ultimate in easy-care gardening, make sure to match shrubs to your hardiness zone and allow plenty of space for plants to reach their mature size.

Even low-maintenance plants require some maintenance, especially during the establishment phase. Supplement rainfall as needed during the first year after planting to support plants as they develop healthy roots. For greatest success, match plants to their individual soil needs, paying attention to soil pH and drainage requirements. Plants that require rich soil benefit from annual fertilization in spring.

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Burning Love™ Leucothoe

• Botanical Name: Leucothoe keiskei 'Opstal 50'
• Sun Exposure: Part sun to shade
• Soil Type: Rich, moist, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic (4.5-6.5)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 6 to 10

With glossy evergreen foliage and a graceful arching habit, this compact leucothoe looks dazzling in containers and shady gardens. The foliage shifts colors with the seasons, emerging bright red in spring then taking on a deep green hue during the summer months before shifting to burgundy in fall and winter. Heat tolerant and deer resistant, Burning Love™ Leucothoe looks stunning massed in garden beds and woodland plantings.

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Mojo® Pittosporum

• Botanical Name: Pittosporum tobira 'CNI Three'
• Sun Exposure: Part sun to shade
• Soil Type: Medium, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic to alkaline (5.0-8.0)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 7 to 10

This tough evergreen shrub brightens shade gardens and foundations with luminous gold and green variegated foliage. Growing just three feet tall and wide, Mojo® Pittosporum makes a lovely accent and works equally well massed near walkways and patios where you can enjoy the orange-scented spring blooms. Plants tolerate heat, drought, and salt spray, making an ideal addition to coastal gardens.

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Dragon Prince™ Cryptomeria

• Botanical Name: Cryptomeria japonica 'Spg-3-014'
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
• Soil Type: Rich, moist, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic to neutral (5.0 to 7.4)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 6 to 9

Dragon Prince™ Cryptomeria is the ultimate low-maintenance evergreen for gardens and containers. With bright green foliage and a compact habit, plants hold their rounded form with no pruning. Cryptomeria thrives under challenging conditions, tolerating salt spray, deer and rabbit browsing, and hot, dry planting sites. The fine, stiff needles add gorgeous year-round texture to mixed borders, rock gardens, and open woodlands. 

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Abelia

• Botanical Name: Abelia x grandiflora
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to partial shade
• Soil Type: Average, medium, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic to alkaline (5.0-8.0)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 5 to 10

Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds adore the fragrant blooms that cover abelias from spring through fall. This dense, multi-stemmed semi-evergreen shrub is easy to grow and remarkably adaptable. A great many varieties are available, with modern varieties sporting colorful variegated foliage in combinations of green, pink, yellow, orange, or red. Foliage remains evergreen in zones 9 and 10.

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Encore® Azalea

• Botanical Name: Rhododendron hybrids 
• Sun Exposure: Partial shade, dappled sun
• Soil Type: Rich, medium, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic (4.5-6.0)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 6 to 10 

The Encore® family of azaleas stands apart from all others with their incredible reblooming ability, sun tolerance, and cold hardiness. These low-maintenance beauties flower spring, summer, and fall on compact plants that require no pruning or deadheading. Available in a variety of colors from white to pinks, purples, reds, and bicolor blooms.

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Purple Pixie® Loropetalum

• Botanical Name: Loropetalum chinense 'Peack'
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
• Soil Type: Rich, medium, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic to neutral (4.5-7.0)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 7 to 10

This pint-sized loropetalum produces stunning purple foliage that colors the garden all year long. Plants grow just one to two feet tall, with a weeping habit perfect for spilling out of containers and over rock walls, or planting as a dynamic groundcover. Purple Pixie® Loropetalum maintains its ground-hugging stature without pruning. Brilliant pink spring blooms add rich color and texture to any planting. 

07 of 13

Bright 'N Tight™ Carolina Laurel

• Botanical Name: Prunus caroliniana 'Monus'
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
• Soil Type: Rich, moist, well-draining
• Soil pH: Slightly acidic to slightly alkaline (5.5-8.0)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 7 to 11

Cherry laurels are broadleaf evergreen shrubs that provide yearlong interest with handsome glossy foliage, fragrant spring blooms, and shiny autumn berries adored by robins and cedar waxwings. Bright 'N Tight™ Carolina laurel is a compact variety that grows 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide in ten years. Plants maintain a dense oval crown with little pruning.

08 of 13

Oakleaf Hydrangea

• Botanical Name: Hydrangea quercifolia
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
• Soil Type: Rich, medium, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic to alkaline (5.0 to 8.0)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 5 to 9

This hardy Southeastern woodland native produces bold, deeply lobed foliage and enormous flowerheads that make long-lasting fresh or dried cut flowers. The showy blooms consist of white to pink flowers packed onto pyramidal panicles that linger well into autumn when the foliage takes on brilliant wine-colored hues. Oakleaf hydrangea makes a stately accent in shady gardens and looks stunning massed in borders.

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Beautyberry

• Botanical Name: Callicarpa americana
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
• Soil Type: Medium to moist, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic to neutral (4.8-7.0)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 6 to 11

American beautyberry is an excellent native shrub for wildlife. Spring blooms attract plenty of pollinators, but vivid purple fall berries are the real draw for gardeners, songbirds, and other wildlife. The late-season fruits are incredibly showy, arranged in dense clusters circling the stems. Plants tolerate both wet and dry soil and stand up well to heat.

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Spirea

• Botanical Name: Spirea spp. and hybrids
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
• Soil Type: Average, medium, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic to alkaline (6.0-8.0)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 3 to 9 

Spirea has long been known for its adaptability in the garden, gorgeous pollinator-friendly blooms the need no deadheading, and compact rounded form that requires no pruning. Modern cultivars add unique new foliage colors that shift with the seasons and improved flowering. Established plants tolerate poor soil, heat, drought, and humidity and resist deer browsing.  

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Summersweet

• Botanical Name: Clethra alnifolia
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
• Soil Type: Rich, medium to moist, well-draining
• Soil pH: Acidic (<6.8)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9

This charming east coast native is a hummingbird favorite, with fragrant blooms opening throughout the summer against glossy dark green foliage. Butterflies, bees and other pollinators are also drawn to the numerous white to pink flowers, which are held on narrow spikes up to six inches long. Plants are pest resistant and tolerate salt, making a good choice for coastal gardens.

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Inkberry

• Botanical Name: Ilex glabra
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
• Soil Type: Average, medium to wet
• Soil pH: Acidic (4.5-6.0)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 4 to 11

An excellent shrub for wildlife plantings and pollinator gardens, inkberry belongs to the holly family and is native to Southeastern woodlands and coastal plains. Plants boast glossy evergreen foliage and black fall berries that attract a variety of birds. Spring blooms, though not showy, support a diversity of native bees and butterflies. An easy to grow shrub for those challenging wet spots in the landscape.

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Buttonbush

• Botanical Name: Cephalanthus occidentalis
• Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
• Soil Type: Rich, moist to wet
• Soil pH: Acidic to neutral (5.5-7.5)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone: 5 to 9

A tough plant for wet sites, buttonbush helps stabilize soil along pond edges and streambanks and performs beautifully in raingardens and moist woodlands. Fragrant white blooms resembling miniature fireworks open midsummer, attracting hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators. Flowers mature into showy red fruits that persist into winter, providing food for songbirds. A great problem-solving shrub for a variety of soil types.

Read the original article on Southern Living