One of the most important ways we bring these spaces to life—no matter your landscape style or functional needs—is by planting the right kinds of trees, shrubs, plants, and grasses.

Our Favorite Shrubs for Utah Landscaping

Big Rock Premium Landscaping thrives on the creative power of producing gorgeously functional outdoor spaces for homes and businesses all across the Wasatch Front. One of the most important ways we bring these spaces to life—no matter your landscape style or functional needs—is by planting the right kinds of trees, shrubs, plants, and grasses.

Our goal is to utterly transform your landscaping while ensuring that the flora we introduce not only looks amazing but thrives because it truly belongs in the environment you have to work with. Simply knowing the right shrubs for your Utah landscaping project will have a tremendous impact on the aesthetics, longevity, and cost of your space. Read on to learn more about Big Rock’s favorite shrubs for Utah landscaping!

Choosing the Right Shrubs for Utah

One of the best tips for landscaping with shrubs in Utah is to use native Utah shrubs and other drought-tolerant shrubs that will not only look great in your space but will work well in the environment and even save you money on watering and other maintenance. Let’s look at several of our favorite shrubs for your Utah landscaping project.

Hicks Yew

Common Name: Hicks Yew

Scientific Name: Taxus X Media Hicksii

Key Features: A dense and deep green evergreen shrub that can grow up to a foot a year

Ideal Growing Conditions: Any amount of sun or shade works for this adaptable shrub.

Seasonal Appeal: Berries of bright red adorn the hicks yew during the summer and into the fall, attracting birds and bringing a boost of character to the shrub.

Unique Benefits: This hardy Utah-loving shrub is great for privacy screens and can weather heavy sheering to suit your visual preferences without real concern for its recovery. Plus, it is fairly pest—and disease-resistant!

Extra Considerations: As hicks yew is establishing, it does need deep watering once or twice a week for it to create a strong root system. Adding mulch can also help retain moisture during that critical growth season.

Otto Luyken Laurel

Common Name: Otto Luyken Laurel

Scientific Name: Prunus laurocerasus

Key Features: Glossy dark green foliage showcasing upright stems that host dozens of fragrant and small white blooms each spring.

Ideal Growing Conditions: It grows well in full sun to partial shade but may prefer the shadier parts of your Utah landscape design in hotter parts of the state. Otto luyken laurel can tolerate a variety of soils as well but prefers ground watering rather than overhead to prevent fungal growth.

Seasonal Appeal: This pretty and textural shrub puts on a second show each year as initially red berries turn a deep and glossy purple-black in the autumn for a seasonally appropriate moody vibe.

Unique Benefits: One reason we think this is one of the best shrubs for landscaping is that it can be used as a hedge or screen. Because of its significant but unobtrusive structure, it is also versatile enough to create a foundational layer for other taller and smaller parts of your landscape design.

Extra Considerations: Otto luyken laurel can be toxic to humans, so it’s important to ensure that no part of the shrub is ingested—thinking of little ones here—if you add it to your Utah landscaping.

Ninebark

Common Name: Ninebark

Scientific Name: Physocarpus opulifolius

Key Features: Ninebark is a pretty deciduous shrub that forms a cascading mound of leaves that can be anywhere from yellowish to green or red to a deep purple, depending on the variety. This Utah-friendly shrub also features densely clustered bouquets of miniature pink-to-white blossoms in late spring to early summer.

Ideal Growing Conditions: Part of Ninebark’s appeal comes from its ability to thrive in both sandy and clay soils, wet and dry conditions, and a range of temperature and humidity levels.

Seasonal Appeal: Ninebark blooms into an eye-catching focal point. To encourage extra flowering, ensure it has plenty of sunlight from May through June!

Unique Benefits: Ninebark is a fairly no-fuss shrub, once established in your yard. It requires very little water, making a perfect drought-tolerant Utah shrub to add to your landscaping.

Extra Considerations: While it doesn’t require much maintenance or watering, it’s a good idea to provide mulch around the base of Ninebark each year to help the soil naturally maintain water levels and prevent weed overgrowth.

Limelight Hydrangea

Common Name: Hydrangea

Scientific Name: Hydrangea paniculata

Key Features: Everyone knows the legendary look of the hydrangea bush with its recognizable four-petaled flower cones—but it’s also known for its cold-hardy nature, making an ideal shrub for Utah landscaping.

Ideal Growing Conditions: Though it is an extraordinarily durable shrub, the hydrangea does appreciate well-drained soil.

Seasonal Appeal: The iconic flowers of the hydrangea bush can actually age gracefully past their initial summer burst, turning from their bright white-green to an eventual pink to reddish burgundy as fall progresses.

Unique Benefits: One great tip for landscaping with shrubs, particularly this super popular hydrangea, is to use them in sometimes surprising and strategic ways—like blocking an air conditioning unit from the view of the street, thereby increasing your home’s curb appeal and value!

Extra Considerations: Too much water can induce root rot in hydrangeas, so be aware of overwatering, especially during cooler months.

Boxwood

Common Name: Boxwood

Scientific Name: Buxus sempervirens

Key Features: Boxwood is a foundational favorite as an evergreen hedge or standalone shrub in Utah landscaping. Its rich green leaves soften even the most precisely trimmed walkways and provide a pop of color all year long.

Ideal Growing Conditions: Partial to full sun and well-drained soil are ideal growing conditions for boxwood.

Seasonal Appeal: Boxwood is a hardy, frost-resistant perennial so even in the harsh Utah winters, you can rest easy knowing your landscape is faring well.

Unique Benefits: Some varieties of boxwoods grow quickly, making them an ideal choice for new build landscapes and those who want privacy in a hurry. Boxwood can also be grown as individual shrubs, too, which adds to its versatility.

Extra Considerations: English boxwood is a bit temperamental and can be vulnerable to fungus, so opt for Japanese, American, or green velvet varieties.

Cotoneaster

Common Name: Lowfast or Bearberry

Scientific Name: Cotoneaster dammeri

Key Features: This low-growing shrub brings a little organized chaos to your yard with crisscrossing branches and plenty of sturdy oval leaves all year—but don’t worry, they share the spotlight with pretty white blossoms come spring!

Ideal Growing Conditions: Cotoneaster has the propensity to grow wherever it is planted so make sure to space plants about 5 feet apart to give them space to really thrive. They need a bit of water as they’re establishing but then happily enjoy a weekly watering the rest of the year.

Seasonal Appeal: Cotonfast offers plenty of visual appeal yearlong but brings winter landscapes to life with its generous display of bright red berries.

Unique Benefits: Because it can spread quickly and easily, cotoneaster makes a great groundcover, especially as a mass planting or to fill in gaps in more diverse landscape designs.

Extra Considerations: Cotoneaster can actually serve as a deer deterrent so consider planting it near more vulnerable areas of your landscape design to ward off unwanted pests.

Tall Hedge Buckthorn

Common Name: Tall hedge buckthorn

Scientific Name: Rhamnus frangula

Key Features: You can really transform your landscaping with these fast-growing and column-like deciduous shrubs, full of medium-green foliage with a spring bloom of white flowers.

Ideal Growing Conditions: Buckthorn isn’t terribly picky when it comes to growing conditions. While it does like full sun, it does well on little water and can withstand deeply cold temperatures in the winter.

Seasonal Appeal: Tall hedge buckthorn foliage turns a pretty yellow in the fall, adorned by dark, almost black berries.

Unique Benefits: These giants of the shrub world can easily grow up to 15’ tall and around 4’ wide and are easily trimmed to create perfect privacy screens for your property.

Extra Considerations: The appearance of the buckthorn’s berries in the fall creates an inviting environment for a variety of birds so plan on an influx of flying friends at summer’s end if you use buckthorn as one of the shrubs in your Utah landscaping.

Creative Ideas for Landscaping with Shrubs

Some of our favorite tips for landscaping with shrubs in Utah revolve around the creative process. We each have our own unique style, maintenance preferences, and budgets, but rather than constraining your landscape design, choosing to work within those parameters can be part of the fun of creating a special space that works specifically for any individual’s needs.

Use Shrubs That Emphasize Your Style

Using shrubs that emphasize a particular style is key to unifying your landscape and architectural design plans. And while many shrubs can cross-over between landscape styles, you want to have a general understanding of what your aesthetic entails when it comes to shrubbery. Here are a few examples of popular landscape styles, their aesthetics, and a great shrub to complement them.

Xeriscaped Landscape Design

Aesthetic: Natural, low-maintenance, wild but thought-out
Favorite shrub for Utah landscaping in this style: Blue fescue

Farmhouse Landscape Design

- Aesthetic: Casual, inviting, homey
- Favorite shrub for Utah landscaping in this style: Juniper.

English Garden Landscape Design

Aesthetic: Orderly but happy, natural but pruned
Favorite shrub for Utah landscaping in this style: Boxwood

Mountain Landscape Design

Aesthetic: Rugged, organic beauty
Favorite shrub for Utah landscaping in this style: Salvia

Contemporary Landscape Design

Aesthetic: Uniformity, clean lines and color
Favorite shrub for Utah landscaping in this style: Yucca

Arrange Like Shrubs Together

Another tip for landscaping with shrubs: arrange like shrubs together. This doesn’t mean that variety and playfulness have no place in a well-organized landscape design! But it is wise to place plants and shrubs with similar needs in terms of maintenance together for ease of care and health of the vegetation. So, think in terms of watering needs, soil types, sun exposure, and mulching or fertilizing requirements throughout the year when you plan which shrubs will go where in your Utah landscape design.

Bend to Your Budget

Trust that we mean this in the best possible way—focusing on what you can afford helps to emphasize what you really want in your space. If you absolutely have to have a boxwood hedge, that allows you to prioritize what you want most and fill in the gaps with the rest of your budget. Make a list of splurges and basics, and plan your landscaping with shrubs accordingly.

Caring For Shrubs in Utah Landscaping

The best way to care for your landscape shrubs is in a preemptive manner. First, choose native Utah shrubs for landscaping in Utah for the best success rate in the health and longevity of your plants. Doing so will likely mean you’ve chosen plenty of shrubs that require little maintenance, but you will want to ensure that you have a watering system in place (whether that’s a sprinkler system or you with a spray hose) so each area of your landscape receives the water necessary for proper growth.

Other tips for caring for your shrubs properly include an individual species assessment for:

Winter care
Pest protection
Pruning
Mulching and fertilization needs

Doing this will help ensure that your favorite Utah shrubs remain a happy and healthy part of your perfect landscape design.

The Importance of Shrubs in Your Utah Landscaping

While a beautiful variety of trees, swathes of green grass, and colorful flowerbeds can draw the eye in great landscape design, choosing the right shrubs for your Utah landscaping often forms a foundation from which other elements can fully flourish, visually and physically. Not only that, but they play a critical role in providing shade and wildlife habitats, improving soil stability, boosting air quality, and increasing the natural beauty and variety of your outdoor space.

At Big Rock Premium Landscaping and Design, we appreciate the power of understanding and utilizing the best shrubs for Utah landscaping. With years of expertise in creating beautifully personalized and functional outdoor spaces, we know how to guide our clients to what will work for and be loved by them best.

Ready to see how Big Rock could help transform your landscape design? Book a consultation with our friendly team of experts today!

shrubs utah landscaping