14 Inexpensive Landscape Plants

Stay under budget on your next gardening project by choosing from these inexpensive landscape plants.

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Photo By: Image courtesy of F. W. Vanderbilt Garden Association

Photo By: Image courtesy of Felder Rushing

'October Glory' Maple

'October Glory' maple is a perfect large shade tree for USDA zones 4-9. It grows to 50 feet tall and 35 feet wide at a moderate to fast rate. It has gorgeous red-orange fall color.

Flowering Cherry Tree

Flowering cherries are hardy in zones 5-8. Upright forms grow to 25-40 feet tall, and a bit wider than tall. Choose from pink or white, upright or weeping varieties for the best fit for your landscape.

Dogwood

Flowering dogwood is derived from the native eastern North American tree. This compact tree grows to 25 feet tall and wide. Hardy in zones 5-9, it provides mid-spring flowers in either white or pink.

Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)

Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) joins azaleas and magnolias as Southern staples. The small- to medium-sized tree, growing to 15 to 35 feet depending on the variety, comes in numerous cultivars, which feature flowers in lavender, pink, purple, red or white. The crape myrtles that bloom in mid to late summer are especially valuable for the landscape’s “dog days,” but there are also some that bloom in early summer. The fast-growers are also prized for their beautiful, shedding bark during winter.

'Emerald' Arborvitae

'Emerald' arborvitae is hardy to zones 4-8. At a mature size of 15 feet tall and 5 feet wide, it lends itself to large foundation plantings or small landscape screens.

Groundcover Juniper

Creeping juniper (Juniperus horizontalis) and other spreading junipers creates a carpet of blue-green foliage for full sun. Hardy in zones 3-9, they grow 1 foot tall and spread to 7 feet wide.

'Gold Mop' Cypress

'Gold Mop' cypress adds a unique brightness and texture to the landscape. At 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide, it mixes well with a variety of landscape plants. Plant in full sun, hardy in zones 4-8.

Leyland Cypress

Leyland cypress is a lightning fast grower for screen plantings. It gets quite large, 60 feet tall and 20 feet wide, at a rate of up to 4 feet per year. Hardy in zones 6-10.

Hedge Holly

Hedge types of hollies (those in the Ilex crenata, Ilex cornuta and dwarf forms of Ilex vomitoria) are useful as foundation plants and backing up color beds in the landscape. Mature sizes range from 2-10 plus feet and hardiness ranges from zones 5-9.

'Sky Pencil' Holly

'Sky Pencil' holly is hardy in zones 5-9. At a mature size of 7 feet tall and 3 feet wide, it makes a good vertical accent or small screen planting. It is useful as a container centerpiece when young.

'Nellie R. Stevens' Holly

'Nellie R. Stevens' holly provides lustrous dark green foliage and red berries. Growing 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide, it lends itself to privacy screens and large foundation plantings. It is hardy in zones 6-9.

Azalea

Evergreen azaleas come in an astounding array of forms and colors. Although popularity has shifted toward rebloomers, these good old-fashioned spring bloomers are very affordable and useful for dappled sunlight accent or drift plantings.

Forsythia

Forsythia is the classic harbinger of spring. Hardy in zones 5-8, it grows to 8 feet tall and 10 feet wide. It is useful as a hedge, screen or accent.

Gardenia

'August Beauty' gardenia is hardy in zones 7-11, and grows 6 feet tall by 5 feet wide. It is useful as an accent, focal or foundation plant.