8 Shrubs That Turn Into a Mess Fast

Some shrubs look tidy and well-behaved at the nursery, but give them a year or two and they’ll start taking over your yard. Whether it’s wild growth, constant shedding, or bare spots that never bounce back, some shrubs are more trouble than they’re worth.

If you don’t want to spend every season pruning, digging, or apologizing for the state of your landscaping, it helps to know which ones are going to turn into a headache. Here are the shrubs that seem fine at first—but get real messy real fast.

Boxwood

Boxwoods seem like the safe, classic pick—until they start browning from the inside out or get eaten up by spider mites. They need constant shaping to keep from looking scraggly, and once they go bare in spots, they don’t recover well. If you don’t keep up with trimming and airflow, they’ll turn into an eyesore that drags down the whole front yard.

Forsythia

Forsythia looks great when it blooms, but give it a couple of seasons and it’ll be growing in every direction. It sends out long shoots fast and turns woody if you don’t stay on top of it. You’ll be cutting it back constantly, and half the time, it still looks unbalanced and wild by midsummer.

Privet

Privet grows fast—too fast. It’s sold as a good privacy shrub, but it spreads aggressively and can quickly outgrow its space. Once it gets leggy or overgrown, you’re stuck doing heavy pruning just to keep it from taking over. It also self-seeds, which means you may find baby privets all over the yard by fall.

Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon can be pretty, but it’s messy. It drops petals constantly during bloom season and seeds itself everywhere. You’ll end up with little sprouts popping up all over the yard. The branches get woody fast, and unless you prune it hard each year, it gets misshapen and sparse.

Nandina

Nandina gets labeled “low maintenance,” but once it starts getting tall and leggy, it turns into a lopsided mess. The berries can be toxic to animals, and the stems break easily in storms. It doesn’t shape well, and you can’t really clean it up without cutting it way back.

Lilac

Lilacs smell great, but they don’t always stay tidy. They’re prone to powdery mildew in humid areas, and older bushes get woody and bare at the base. They sucker out at the bottom, sending up new growth that makes them look weedy if you don’t prune regularly.

Burning Bush

Burning bush puts on a show in the fall, but the rest of the year it’s pretty dull—and high maintenance. It grows quickly and needs constant shaping or it’ll swallow up anything nearby. It also self-seeds aggressively and spreads like crazy if you’re not careful.

Viburnum

Some viburnum varieties grow into neat, dense shrubs—others turn into sprawling, leggy plants that drop leaves constantly. They’re also prone to leaf spot and mildew, especially in the South. If you get the wrong variety, you’ll spend more time trying to make it look decent than enjoying it.

*This article was developed with AI-powered tools and has been carefully reviewed by our editors.