Greenery & Small Shrubs

The low and mid layer of a planting scheme. That covers ornamental grasses from 30cm mondo grass up to 115cm yucca grass, succulent bowls at 19cm and 20.5cm, clipped forms such as the 50cm topiary shrub and the 65cm umbrella tree, a 70cm by 45cm handmade bonsai, and trailing pieces including the 60cm geranium hanging bush.

Yes, the two terms describe identical products. Fake shrubs, artificial shrubs and artificial bushes are all used interchangeably by shoppers and by suppliers. The meaningful distinction in this range is between a clipped form such as the topiary shrub, which holds a defined outline, and a loose form such as the ornamental grasses, which read as informal planting.

The grasses in particular. The 75cm and 115cm yucca grass in green, burgundy and black and the 30cm mondo grass are UV resistant with UVTex inhibitors bonded within the leaf, so they hold colour in an unshaded courtyard through summer. The 38cm dense grasses work along a paved edge where a garden bed would need soil depth that is not available.

This page mixes shrubs with grasses, succulents and trailing greenery, so it suits building a whole low layer at once. Artificial shrubs and bushes is the deeper selection of shrub forms alone, which is the better starting point when you already know you want clipped or bushy structure and nothing else.

Low grasses do this best. The 30cm mondo grass and the 38cm dense green and burgundy grasses sit below the canopy line of a 180cm tree and hide the pot rim and the join between vessel and floor. Two or three pots grouped asymmetrically around the base read better than a symmetrical ring.

Yes, the yucca grasses and the ornamental grasses are supplied planted, and the quoted height includes the pot. The yucca grass is available in green, burgundy and black at 75cm and in green, burgundy and black at 115cm, which allows a run of matching heights in contrasting tones along the same line.

It works well, because the contrast does the styling. A clipped sphere from topiary balls and plants gives a hard geometric form, and the loose 75cm yucca grass or the 40cm lavender beside it softens the edge. Repeating that pairing along a run gives rhythm without looking like a nursery display.

Outdoors, a hose rinse two or three times a year clears dust and pollen from between the blades, which is where it settles on a grass rather than on the surface. Indoors, a hair dryer on a cool setting shifts dust from fine foliage such as the mimosa and the grape vine more easily than a cloth, which tends to catch on the stems.