Spherical shrubs occupy a place in landscaping with their lovely and changeable forms. As a major type of plastic seedlings, we often see them in roads, parks, courtyards and other places. This paper attempts to systematically understand these green seedlings that appear around us every day from nine common ball shrubs in the north.

Shrub ball

Spherical bushing

1. tortoise shell and holly ball

Tortoise shell and holly ball

Morphological characteristics: evergreen shrub, a variety of Ilex obtusifolia, with many branches, small and dense leaves, protruding leaves, thick leathery, oval to long obovate. Flowers are white, fruits are spherical and black.

Growth habit: shade tolerance.

Garden uses: garden color blocks, bonsai, courtyard planting, solitary planting, clumping planting, sticking planting, block planting, and can also be used as hedges.

Detailed introduction of tortoise shell and holly ball

2. Photinia rubra

Photinia rubra

Morphological characteristics: Evergreen shrub, 4-6 meters tall, leathery leaves, oblong to obovate-lanceolate, with a tail tip at the top. New leaves are red in spring, green in summer, red in autumn, winter and spring, with heavy frost color and good low temperature color. The leaves are waxy, with irregular small serrations around them, and the branches at the top are bright red as fire.

Growth habit: Photinia rubra has strong adaptability, low temperature tolerance, barren soil tolerance, saline-alkali tolerance and drought tolerance. Sex likes strong light and has strong shade resistance, but under direct light, the color is more vivid.

Garden application: In spring and autumn, the new buds and tender leaves of Photinia rubra are fiery red, with bright and lasting colors and strong vitality. In hot summer, the leaves turn bright green, which brings a fresh and cool feeling in hot summer. Be a hedge and lie like a fire dragon; Pruning and landscaping can be varied, with lush foliage, pleasing to the eye and beautiful landscape effect.

A detailed introduction of Photinia rubra ball

3. Buxus macrophylla

Buxus macrophylla

Morphological characteristics: Buxus macrophylla is an evergreen shrub or small tree, with slightly quadrangular branchlets, dense branches and spherical crowns. The single leaf is opposite, obovate or elliptic, with blunt teeth at the edge and dark green luster on the surface. Cymes are axillary, with long stems and green and white flowers. Capsule spherical, reddish, aril orange.

Ecological habit: Buxus macrophylla is a temperate subtropical tree species, which is widely cultivated in the north-central provinces of China and also distributed in Japan. Like light, but also more resistant to yin. I like warm and humid climate, and I am cold-resistant. It needs fertile and loose soil and is very resistant to pruning and shaping.

Garden use: This species is a foliage tree with dense branches and leaves, evergreen seasons, light green leaves, mottled flowers and various varieties. Gardens are often used as hedges and background planting materials, and can also be planted on the edge of grass or on both sides of garden roads; If it is modified and shaped, it is more suitable for planned symmetrical implantation.

A detailed introduction of Buxus macrophylla ball

4. safflower beech ball

Safflower beech ball

Morphological characteristics: alias red eucalyptus, red eucalyptus. It is an evergreen shrub or small tree of Hamamelidaceae. The shoots are covered with dark red star-shaped hairs. Leaves alternate, leathery, ovate, entire, tender branches reddish, overwintering old leaves dark red. 4 ~ 8 flowers are clustered on the raceme peduncle, showing a terminal head shape or a short spike shape, with 4 petals, lavender and linear. Capsule woody, obovoid; The seeds are oval, black and shiny. The flowering period is April-May, and the fruiting period is 9-65438+1October.

Growth habit: like light, slightly tolerant to shade, but the leaf color tends to turn green on cloudy days. Strong adaptability and drought tolerance. Like warmth and cold resistance. Strong germination, strong branching ability and pruning resistance. It is barren-tolerant, but suitable for growing in fertile, moist and slightly acidic soil.

Garden use: Red maple is a kind of ornamental tree, with bright leaves and lush foliage all year round, especially when it blooms. It is often used to arrange color blocks or trim them into spheres, and is also a good material for making bonsai.

A detailed introduction of the red maple ball.

5. Pittosporum ball

Pittosporum ball

Morphological characteristics: evergreen shrubs or small trees, up to 3 meters high. Dense branches and leaves, chatting in the canopy. Most of the leaves are clustered at the top of the branch, and the leaves are alternate, sometimes in a whorl shape at the top of the branch. They are thick leathery, narrowly obovate, 5-12cm long and1-4cm wide, with an entire edge, a rounded or concave top, a wedge-shaped base, a petiole, a bright green surface and yellow and tender new leaves. Cymes are terminal; The flowers are white or yellow-green, fragrant, and the stalk is 0.8- 1.5 cm long; Sepals, petals and stamens, 5 each; Ovary superior, densely pubescent. Capsule is nearly spherical, angular, up to 65438 0.5 cm long, first green, then yellow, 3-lobed when mature, with woody petals; The seeds are bright red with mucus. Flowering in May, fruit ripening in September -65438+ 10.

Growth habit: Pittosporum is a subtropical tree species, so it likes warm and humid maritime climate and is resistant to light and shade. The requirements for soil are not strict, and clay, sandy soil, alkaline earth and neutral soil are all adaptable, with strong germination resistance and pruning resistance.

Garden use: In warm climate, this tree species is an ideal flower bed landscaping tree or landscaping tree, especially suitable for coastal planting. Do more houses, foundation planting, hedges. Plant potted plants in the north and use greenhouses in winter.