Why Evergreens Shouldn't Be the Only Plants in Your Garden
Updated: 5 days ago
Design Thinking - Part 17
By Ian Green, Pre-Registered Member of the Society of Garden & Landscape Designers
Stand at your kitchen window in April and look at the garden. Now think back to how it looked in January. If you'd struggle to tell the two apart, the garden has probably stopped giving you a reason to go outside.
That's the quiet problem with a garden planted only with evergreens. It stays green, it stays tidy, and it never looks bare. But it also never really changes, and change is what draws us out into a garden. The first blossom, a tree turning colour, frost catching on seedheads. These are the moments that make you open the back door and walk out to have a closer look.
Evergreens are some of the most useful plants I work with, and they appear in almost every garden I design. But they do their best work as the backbone of a garden, holding everything steady while the rest of the planting moves through the year.
A garden that changes gives you a reason to go outside
Most of what surrounds us at home stays the same. The walls, the furniture, the view down the street. A garden is one of the few places where something different is happening every few weeks, if the planting allows it.
That change creates anticipation. You notice buds swelling at the end of winter and start watching for them to open. You see the first leaves of autumn colour and go out to look at the rest. Without really thinking about it, you spend more time in the garden because there's something new to see.
An all-evergreen garden takes that away. It's often described as "fine", and it usually is. But fine rarely pulls anyone outside on a cold morning.
The tree that changes the light
If there's one plant that shows why change matters, it's a deciduous tree.
In summer, when its canopy is full, it gives you shade exactly when you want it. A seat beneath it becomes the coolest place in the garden, and the light that reaches the house is softened and filtered through the leaves.
In winter, the leaves have gone. Low sun passes through the bare branches and reaches the windows, the patio and the borders beneath. At the time of year when light matters most, the tree steps aside.
An evergreen can't do that. It casts a bigger shadow in December as it does in June. On a smaller plot, or anywhere near the house, that difference changes how a room feels for half the year.
And the tree gives you more than light. Blossom in spring, a full canopy in summer, colour in autumn, and then the shape of its branches in winter, which is often when you see its character most clearly. One well-chosen tree can mark every season on its own.
A multi-stem Amelanchier is a good example, with spring blossom and strong autumn colour, and birch brings pale bark that really shows up once the leaves have dropped.
Where evergreens earn their place
None of this is an argument against evergreens. It's an argument for using them where they do the most good.
They're at their best as structure. They frame boundaries and screen views you'd rather not see, and if you're overlooked, they give you privacy all year. They anchor the corners and ends of borders so the planting has a clear edge. Repeated through a garden, a single evergreen shape gives it rhythm and makes different areas feel connected. And in winter, when much of the garden has retreated, they're what holds it all together.
Plants like yew, Portuguese laurel, Viburnum tinus and Osmanthus do this well, though the right choice always depends on your soil, light and space. (I've written more about that in Right Plant, Right Place.)
It's also worth being clear about maintenance, because evergreens are often chosen on the promise that they need little attention. Hedges and clipped shapes need regular cutting to look their best, and some popular choices come with their own problems. Box has been badly affected by box blight and box tree caterpillar in recent years, leaving many gardens with gaps that are hard to fix.
Building the garden around the structure
Once the evergreen framework is in place, everything else has something to relate to, and this is where a garden starts to feel alive.
Deciduous trees and shrubs bring the biggest seasonal shifts. Dogwoods with coloured stems can light up a border once their leaves have fallen, giving you something to look at from the window on a grey February day.
Perennials and grasses carry the garden through summer and into autumn. Many hold their seedheads well into winter if you leave them standing, giving shape and texture, catching frost, and providing food and shelter for wildlife. Grasses bring movement and sound as well, something I explored in Gardens Aren't Just Seen.
Bulbs fill the gap at the start of the year. Planted beneath shrubs and among perennials, they flower before the rest of the border has woken up, then quietly disappear.
Each layer has its moment, and the evergreens stay steady beside them all.
Finding the balance
There isn't a fixed ratio of evergreen to deciduous that I'd apply to every garden. It depends on the site and on how you use it.
I usually start with the view from the house in winter. The windows you look out of most between November and March should look onto something with structure, and that's often where evergreens belong. Boundaries that need screening all year point the same way. But where you want winter sun reaching the house, a deciduous tree is almost always the better choice.
Size matters too. In a small garden, every plant needs to earn its place across more than one season, because there's no room for something that looks good for three weeks and dull for the rest of the year.
The kitchen window test works here as well. Picture the view in January, then again in July. If the two pictures are almost identical, the balance probably needs shifting.
If your garden is already mostly evergreen
You don't need to start again. Mature evergreens have taken years to grow, and many are worth keeping.
Small changes can make a real difference. Lifting the lower branches of a larger shrub opens up space for planting beneath it. Removing one or two plants that are doing the least work creates room for a deciduous tree or some seasonal shrubs. Underplanting with bulbs and shade-tolerant perennials adds a spring layer without disturbing the structure. A well-placed tree can also become a focal point that changes through the year (there's more on that in Garden Focal Points).
The aim isn't to replace what's there. It's to give it something to work with.
Structure that holds, planting that moves
Evergreens are the reason a well-designed garden still looks considered in February. But it's the plants that change around them that bring you outside, to see the first blossom, to walk under the autumn colour, or to notice how the winter light is reaching places it couldn't in summer.
Good planting design uses both. The evergreens hold the shape, and everything else tells you what time of year it is.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are evergreen plants low maintenance?
Some are, but not all. Hedges and clipped shapes need regular trimming, and some popular evergreens, such as box, are prone to pests and disease. Low maintenance usually comes from choosing the right plants for your conditions rather than from choosing evergreens alone.
How much of a garden should be evergreen?
A deciduous tree gives shade in summer and lets light through in winter, when the sun is low and light is most welcome. It also changes through the seasons, with blossom, leaf, autumn colour and winter branches.
How can I add seasonal interest to an evergreen garden?
Start small. Add a deciduous tree as a focal point, underplant shrubs with spring bulbs, or replace one or two tired evergreens with plants that offer blossom, autumn colour or winter stems.
Will deciduous plants make my garden look bare in winter?
Not if the garden has good structure. With evergreens providing the framework, bare branches, coloured stems and seedheads become part of the winter garden rather than a gap in it.
Can I plant a deciduous tree in a small garden?
Yes, and in a small garden it often makes even more sense. Choose a tree with a naturally compact or upright shape, and think about where its shade will fall in summer and where you want light in winter. A multi-stem tree can also feel lighter and less imposing than a single trunk, while still marking every season.
Thinking about your garden?
If you're planning a new garden, or you have one that feels like it's standing still and you're not sure how to change it, I'm always happy to talk it through.
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About the author
Ian Green is a garden and landscape designer with over 25 years' experience, working with clients across Lincolnshire, East Midlands and beyond. He believes that the best gardens start with listening to the space, and to the people who'll live in it.
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