HesapHanem

Shrub Spacing Calculator

Enter your bed size and spacing to find how many shrubs to plant.

How it is calculated

The tool assumes each shrub takes a square of ground whose side equals the spacing: shrubs = ⌊area ÷ spacing²⌋. Area is in square feet and spacing is the distance between plant centres in feet. The result is rounded down to a whole shrub, because a part-plant cannot be planted, so a leftover strip smaller than one square is ignored. It also shows density = shrubs ÷ area × 100 (plants per 100 sq ft, two decimals) and repeats your spacing. Area and spacing must both be above zero. The calculation is a simple grid: it does not subtract a margin along the edges of the bed or the room taken by paths, and a staggered (offset-row) layout at the same spacing would fit somewhat more plants.

Worked example

A planting bed covers 250 sq ft and you want shrubs 4 ft apart. Each shrub takes 4 × 4 = 16 sq ft. Number of shrubs: 250 ÷ 16 = 15.625, rounded down to 15 shrubs. Density: 15 ÷ 250 × 100 = 6.00 per 100 sq ft. The spacing is shown as 4.00 ft. The 0.625 of a plant left over is not counted, so you would plant 15 and treat the remainder as extra gap or edge margin.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering metres or square metres; the tool works in feet and square feet, so 25 m² is about 269 sq ft, not 25.
  • Using the plant's nursery pot size or current width as the spacing instead of its expected mature spread.
  • Entering the spacing as the area each plant needs (for example 16) rather than the distance between plants (4); the tool squares the spacing for you.
  • Expecting a hedge to be counted this way: for a single row, divide the length by the spacing rather than using bed area, since the grid assumes plants in rows and columns.
  • Forgetting that the number is rounded down and has no edge margin, so a bed shaped as a narrow strip may end up with fewer plants than the grid suggests.

About this calculator

Planting shrubs too close wastes money and leads to overcrowding as they mature; planting them too far apart leaves gaps and lets weeds take hold. The fix is simple geometry: dividing the bed area by the area each shrub’s mature spread will occupy tells you how many plants a bed can hold at a given spacing.

This calculator takes your bed size and desired spacing to estimate the number of shrubs needed to fill it evenly. It’s a routine step for landscape designers and nursery staff quoting a planting job, and for home gardeners planning a hedge or foundation planting who want full coverage at maturity without buying (and later ripping out) more shrubs than the space needs.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    Spacing has a bigger effect than it first appears, because it is squared. In a 400 square foot bed, 3 ft between centres gives 44 shrubs while 4 ft gives only 25. Choose the spacing from the plant's mature spread on its label rather than its size at purchase, then use this count to estimate how many to buy. Which shrub are you planting, and what spacing does its tag recommend?

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