Beating Around the Bush

Bushes, hedges, shrubberies...

You just knew these guys were going to show.

Over the years I have grabbed bushes from different places for use in wargaming. 
For this post, I thought I would show the handful of types I have and how they compare.

First up are Christmas bushes I got during one holiday season.  They are inexpensive and still available in various Christmas Village packages, are made of plastic bristle brushes with painted beads of styrofoam attached.  I am not all that fond of them, but they are functional.

Oh Christmas Tree...

The figure next to them is from Blue Moon's gothic horror line, 28mm.  This is a good match for this model and these work nicely with this scale.

What are you doing behind these bushes?

Here they are with 6mm Romans from Baccus.  Compared to the miniatures, these look like small trees rather than bushes.

Zentraedi Regult battlepod from Robotech

The next type are hedges that come from Citadel/Games Workshop.  These are also a brush type with flocking material glued on.  These came as part of a tree set and I am not sure if they are still available for sale.

The bristles show through the flocking which ruins the effect.

Your mother wants to know where you've been.

Again, these work well with larger scale/size miniatures, but perhaps not so well with smaller ones.

Tall hedges.

The next ones are from Gale Force Nine, they are sold as hedgerows and are made of cast resin that has been painted.  They perhaps have a less 'realistic' look to them but they are sturdier than the brush kind and don't shed flocking material when handled.
They are sold as appropriate for 10-15mm miniatures, but they are mostly scale neutral.

(I neglected to take a picture of them without any miniatures standing nearby.)

Out drinking again, eh?

On the taller end for bushes/hedges with 6mm, but make good looking overgrown bushes or small trees.  Messy, much like my yard.

The following hedges are sold as HO scale railroading terrain.  They are of the plastic scrubbing pad type, cut in strips and with flocking material glued on.

Scrub a dub-dub, a hedge not to rub.

HO scale is 1/87, which is roughly three times larger than 6mm miniatures.

She will never approve of you.

They work as low hedges/bushes in 28mm, for some lovely landscaping.

A good height for 6mm.

Lastly, some shrubs that I put together while watching television.  I had several 20x40mm Litko bases that I wasn't planning on using and  came up with this purpose for them. 
I glued rocks and sand to them, then on top of that some flocking grass and clump foliage from railroad modeling.  I made at least twenty of these, some with rocks, some with flowers, some just  plain.

These have a more natural look that the others lack, but are also the kind to be less likely to be found in well maintained grounds or yards.

Aren't you gonna do something about these weeds?