Flowers alone aren`t enough to make a great garden, thus shrubs fill up the empty spaces in Indian gardens. Small trees and shrubs, especially the ones that flower, such, as crabapples, lilacs and hydrangeas, are the backbone of the landscape, as are trees.

The best small trees and shrubs have flowers in spring or summer and attractive leaves. In autumn, they produce berries in reds, yellow or golds. For winter, woody shrubs are perfect for adding shape and texture to an otherwise bare yard.

Shrubs in India, offer a wide variety of colour, shape, size and adaptability. A shrub, like a tree, may be grown as a focus of attention in a lawn or rockery, surrounded by a mass of annuals, or in herbaceous border. Azalea, Buddleia, Camelia, Gardenia, Hydrangea are some. Shrubs may be grown collectively in a corner called the shrubbery or the shrub border. A carpet annual like Tagetes signata pumila or Mesembryanthemum grown as a border of the shrubbery lends it a mass appeal; lilies and other bulbous plants can also be grown intermixed with the shrubs.

An evergreen low creeping plant like pilea mucosa under a shrub breaks its aloofness. Some Indian shrubs make attractive standards, like Achania, Bougainvillea, Byra and Hibiscus. Shrubs like azaleas and rhododendrons can be grown in a mass for grand effect. The shrubs may be evergreen or deciduous. They may be foliage shrubs with very attractive leaves.

The trend is not to separate flowers in their own garden beds, but to plant a "mixed border"; small flowering trees and shrubs are planted along with the flowers to make a pleasing arrangement that looks good all season long. Trees and shrubs do not need much maintenance, if chosen carefully; they can be the easiest-care plants. A garden populated with one of this and one of that tends to look jumbled and in need of some- thing to pull it all together.

The moisture, soil and sunlight requirements of the chosen shrub should match the conditions in the yard. For example, woody plants that grow best in moist situations will do poorly in dry soil areas if they never get watered. Thus shrubs create a lovely environ in a garden and create a composite picture in the gardens of India. Red Bell Bush, Golden Shower, Purple Wreath, Moonbeam, Poinsettia, Yellow Oleander, Brilliant Gardenia, Gardenia, Hibiscus Shrub, Ixora Shrub, Camphire Shrub and Lantana Shrub are the most common shrubs in India.