Unlike Conifers, broadleaf evergreens not only have foliage that lasts throughout the entire year, but also offer colorful new growth in the spring, showy and even fragrant flowers, bird-friendly and ornamental fruit, and often have fall color, in addition to their year-round greenery!
There are many far more unique evergreen shrubs for you to choose from aside from the typical Yews, Junipers, and evergreen Rhododendrons and Azaleas!
Check out something unexpected to add color to your landscape all year round!
Unique Broadleaf Evergreen Shrub Options For Cold Climates
Check out these leafy evergreens to add interest to your winter months and make the neighbors' heads turn, but also have a trick up their sleeves all year round.
Massachusetts Kinnikinnick
Also known as Bearberry, Massachusetts Kinnikinnick are groundcover shrubs are cold-hardy down to zone 2, these low-growing shrubs handle salt, poor soil, and drought!
- 12 inches tall and 8 - 10 feet wide!
- Red and gold tinted fall color
- Pink and white flowers in early spring
- Red berries in fall for Birds
Wintercreeper Euonymus
Wintercreeper Euonymus are tough and adaptable shrubs with endless versatility in the landscape! These broadleaf evergreens handle zones 4 to 9, sun and shade, heat and cold, and can be shrubs, climbing vines, or groundcovers! Plus these broadleaf evergreens have some showy fall color too!
- Wide range of sizes and variegated forms to choose from
- Versatile in size and shape
- Very rugged, adaptable, and hardy
Leucothoe
Most Leucothoes are for warm growing zones, but Girard's Rainbow Leucothoe, Coastal Dog Hobble, and Squirt™ Leucothoe handle growing zones 5-9! These are colorful tropical-looking mid-sized shade-loving shrubs. These shrubs can handle some shade and are always neat and tidy. Plus colorful new growth and often having variegated foliage or colorful fall tones in addition to the flowers in spring!
- Colorful pointed leaves in the spring and fall plus some variegated forms
- Showy flowers are fragrant
- Partial to full-shade locations
Oregon Grape Holly Shrubs
The Oregon Grape and its smaller Compact Grape Holly form are wonderful edible landscaping shrubs hardy throughout zones 5 to 9. The showy flowers bring in butterflies and bees, and grape-like fruit feeds us and wildlife galore!
- Leaves have pointed serration and resemble Holly
- Showy yellow flower clusters
- Powdery edible blue fruit
- Bronzy new growth and burgundy fall color
Cherry Laurel Shrubs
Hardy zones 5 and 6 and up to zone 9, these evergreen shrubs have showy flowers and unique fruit for birds too! Many varieties have glossy leaves, but all have Prunus family fruit that is technically edible for humans but is usually best left for the birds. Tolerating some shade, the creamy white, fragrant flowers are a sight each spring!
- Sprays of fragrant white flowers
- Prunus family berries/fruit
- Glossy evergreen foliage
- Handles part shade
Mountain Snow™ Pieris
Mountain Snow™ Pieris, also known as Japanese Andromeda, are showy in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. Delicate flower buds appear in summer and hang on, adding some gentle elegance through the harsh, winter months. Tolerating zones 4 to 8 with ease! The bronzy-red new growth adds to the spring effect!
- Bronze-red new growth
- Cold-hardy
- Tolerates full shade
- Fast growing rate
- Can naturalize in some areas
Pink Abelia Bushes
Abelia Bushes typically grow in hot climates, but the Pink Abelia is hardy zones 5 to 9. These shrubs remain evergreen in frost-free climates and have showy fall color and fragrant blooms that resemble Weigela flowers. Bronze purple fall color adds to the overall effect! Also known as the Edward Goucher Abelia, they bloom in flushes over most of the season, filling out into a soft, flowering mound.
- Fragrant lavender-pink flowers
- Bronzy purple fall color
- Award-winning
- Tolerates some shade
Evergreen Holly
Evergreen Holly has the best of both worlds with red or orange berries for birds on the female shrubs. Widely adaptable and cold and heat-hardy, both evergreen and deciduous Holly are overall fantastic shrubs!
- Honey Maid Holly has glossy, spikey blue-green and white variegated leaves year round!
- Japanese Holly and Inkberry Holly have more delicate foliage without spiny leaves
- Dwarf Burford Holly and Dwarf Yaupon Holly are great native options and handle hot climates and wet sites
Year Round Greenery For You!
Check out all these unique shrubs that are sure to set your landscape apart, every one of them is sure to not be found in the neighborhood!
Cold doesn’t bother these hardy broadleaf evergreen shrubs and they will add greenery all winter, flowers, and fruit, along with showy color in the spring, summer, and fall!
Add structure to your landscape, define your spaces, add privacy all year round, and add color through the bleak winters with these cold-hardy shrubs!
Nature Hills has plenty to choose from to make your landscape unique to you!
Happy Planting!
