If you’re looking for an edge in your spring planting, bare-root shrubs are an excellent option.
Unlike their potted counterparts, these plants come without soil clinging to their roots, which can lead to stronger, faster establishment in your garden.
Purchasing them during the winter months allows you to bypass the spring rush and get a head start on your gardening endeavors.
Benefits of Bare-Root Shrubs
During winter, many plants enter a dormant phase, conserving vital nutrients in their roots and stems.
Deciduous shrubs are particularly notable for this dormancy, making them ideal candidates for development and sale in bare-root form.
Growers dig these shrubs from the earth, clean the roots, and store them in materials like sawdust.
While some nurseries offer direct selection from bins, others provide top-notch varieties through online orders, shipping from fall through spring.
Opting for bare-root shrubs comes with a plethora of advantages.
They establish quickly, require less water during their initial growing season, and develop robust root systems with minimal fuss.
However, it’s essential to keep in mind that availability usually extends only from fall to spring, when the plants are dormant and ready for transplantation.
Thirteen Bare-Root Shrubs
- Prime-Ark® Freedom Blackberry: This thornless blackberry variety is remarkable for its ability to bear fruit on new growth.
Expect an abundant harvest in the first year, with the promise of two harvests in subsequent seasons—one from new canes and another from older ones later in the cycle.
- Roses: Bare-root roses offer a stunning array of colors, sizes, and fragrances, including climbing and dwarf varieties.
Their strong, woody stems ensure a smooth transplant, and they can endure frosty conditions, making early rooting a breeze.
- Lilacs: Renowned for their delightful fragrance in spring, lilacs come in various sizes and types.
Planting them as bare-root shrubs gives them a real advantage in establishing themselves quickly in your landscape.
- Forsythia: Sporting bright yellow blooms that herald the arrival of spring, forsythia needs to be planted promptly to safeguard its delicate roots, ensuring a spectacular display of color.
- Witch Hazel: With its enchanting, spider-like blossoms and graceful, arching branches, witch hazel makes for a striking addition to any garden.
Its cold tolerance makes it a great option for bare-root planting across different climates.
- Buttonbush: This native shrub is an ecological gem, providing essential nectar and habitat for local wildlife.
It flourishes in wet soils, making it perfect for planting near water sources.
- Dappled Willow: Among the diverse willow options available as bare-root, dappled willow is particularly captivating due to its vibrant foliage and striking red stems.
- Rose of Sharon: A hardy hibiscus, the Rose of Sharon can reach impressive heights of up to 12 feet.
Bare-root specimens often grow quickly, adding vertical interest to any garden space.
- Korean Spice Viburnum: This charming viburnum captivates with its deep green leaves and clusters of fragrant pinkish-white flowers, which will attract pollinators and add beauty to your landscape.
- Dwarf Fothergilla: Perfect for layering in a curated landscape, dwarf fothergilla is a low-growing shrub that dazzles with sweetly-scented blooms that emerge each spring.
- Raspberries: These hardy fruits thrive when planted bare-root in cooler weather, often yielding larger and more plentiful crops than their potted counterparts.
- Blackberries: Similarly to raspberries, blackberries adapt well to bare-root planting, benefiting from their frost-hardiness as cane-producing plants.
- Blackcurrants: Thriving in cooler temperate climates, blackcurrants are excellent perennial berry producers that flourish without the threat of summer drought or extreme heat, making them a fantastic choice for edible gardens.
Enhance Your Garden
By considering these bare-root shrub varieties, you can elevate your garden and pave the way for a vibrant, fruitful growing season ahead.
Embrace the opportunity to enhance your landscape with these exceptional plants this season!
Source: Epicgardening