The Difference Between Trees And Shrubs
 (Read 100+ times)
By Glory Lennon
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Trees as shrubs.
The amazing thing about plants is their ability to be whatever we, the imaginative gardener, wants them to be. Vines can be trained as trees, trees can be shrubs and shrubs can be vines. It all depends on how you look at it or perhaps what your imagination can come up with.
For now let’s take the tree that can be a shrub. First, we should discuss the difference between a tree and a shrub. The tree is defined as a tall, perennial plant with one main, woody trunk which grows branches at a distance up from the ground to form a canopy. The shrub, on the other hand, is a short, multi-stemmed, woody, perennial plant. With these definitions it’s easy to see where the confusion can start. There are many small, multi-stemmed trees like Crape Myrtle and those with branches starting low to the ground like the Norway Spruce yet they are both called trees.
Many evergreen trees with columnar or conical shapes when planted close together can make a wonderful, tall windbreak. In this manner they take on the attributes of a shrub. This way they form a dense hedge just like a row of shrubs. Arborvitae, Hybrid Willow, Smoke Tree, Canadian Hemlock and the Russian Olive all can take the place of a shrub when pruned properly.
By chance a deer did me a favor once by nipping a tiny tree, Little-leaf Linden to be exact, and causing it to grow many branches instead of a sole trunk. It was unusual and I like anything unusual in the garden. The deer inadvertently took my tree and made it into a shrub. Who knew deer could do good in the garden?
So, what gives? Are they trees or are they shrubs? All I can say is a tree by any other name still looks good. The fact is depending on its usage a tree can be a shrub. Whether you prune a tree into a shrub or vice-versa no matter where you put it in your yard it will make a statement and that statement will be that you are an extraordinary gardener.
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
 For more garden talk, funny short stories and romantic novel excerpts visit http://www.helium.com/users/32782
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