A broom shrub in flower.

A Rhododendron shrubbery in Sheringham Park.

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m (15–20 ft) tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience. Small, low shrubs such as lavender, periwinkle and thyme are often termed subshrubs.

An area of cultivated shrubs in a park or garden is known as a shrubbery. When clipped as topiary, shrubs generally have dense foliage and many small leafy branches growing close together. Many shrubs respond well to renewal pruning, in which hard cutting back to a 'stool' results in long new stems known as "canes". Other shrubs respond better to selective pruning to reveal their structure and character.

Shrubs in common garden practice are generally broad-leaved plants, though some smaller conifers such as Mountain Pine and Common Juniper are also shrubby in structure. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen.

Shrubs as a botanical structural form[link]

In botany and ecology a shrub is more specifically used to describe the particular physical structural or plant life-form of woody plants which are less than 8 metres (26 ft) high and usually have many stems arising at or near the base.

For example, a descriptive system widely adopted in Australia is based on structural characteristics based on life-form, plus the height and amount of foliage cover of the tallest layer or dominant species.^[1]

For shrubs 2–8 metres (6.6–26 ft) high the following structural forms are categorized:

• dense foliage cover (70–100%) — closed-scrub
• mid-dense foliage cover (30–70%) — open-scrub
• sparse foliage cover (10–30%) — tall shrubland
• very sparse foliage cover (<10%) — tall open shrubland

For shrubs less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) high the following structural forms are categorized:

• dense foliage cover (70–100%) — closed-heath or closed low shrubland—(North America)
• mid-dense foliage cover (30–70%) — open-heath or mid-dense low shrubland—(North America)
• sparse foliage cover (10–30%) — low shrubland
• very sparse foliage cover (<10%) — low open shrubland

List of shrubs (bushes)[link]

Those marked * can also develop into tree form.

References[link]

See also[link]

• Shrubbery
• Shrubland

Mike Harmon
Born	(1958-01-24) January 24, 1958 (age 54) Birmingport, Alabama, United States
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
137 race(s) run over 11 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 74 (Mike Harmon Racing)
2011 position	50th
Best finish	23rd - 2003
First race	1996 Winston Motorsports 300 (South Boston)
Last race	2012 History 300 (Charlotte)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
34 race(s) run over 6 year(s)
Truck no., team	No. 74 (Mike Harmon Racing)
2011 position	101st
Best finish	54th - 2005
First race	2001 MBNA E-Commerce 200 (Dover)
Last race	2012 Lucas Oil 200 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics current as of June 1, 2012.

Harmon's Nationwide Series No. 07 in 2009
2012 ARCA Racing Series
Debut season	1998
Current team	Peterson Motorsports
Car no.	31
Starts	121
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	8th in 2005

Mike Harmon (born January 24, 1958)^[1] is an American race car driver. Currently, he drives the #74 Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. In the past, he drove in the NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series, finishing 8th in points in 1997. He has also racked up 300 feature wins in short-track competition during his racing career.

NASCAR career[link]

Harmon made his NASCAR debut in 1996 driving the #24 MedPartners Chevrolet at South Boston Speedway, where he finished 31st after a transmission failure. He ran seven more races in the car that season, with a best finish of 23rd, but a sponsorship struggle caused his team to close down. He was scheduled to return to NASCAR in 1999, when he signed with Donlavey Racing to compete for NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year honors with Big Daddy's BBQ Sauce sponsoring. Unfortunately, Big Daddy's never paid, and Harmon was reportedly fired from the team during preparation for that year's Daytona 500 when he refused to let another driver try to get more speed out of the car.

In 2001, Harmon returned to the Busch Series, driving fourteen races for Mixon Motorsports in the #44 Pontiac Grand Prix. Driving mostly with sponsorship from Pegasus and Reliance Tool, his best finish was a 28th at Indianapolis Raceway Park, the only race he finished that year. He made an additional start for Moy Racing at Talladega Superspeedway, finishing 35th, and competed in two Craftsman Truck races for MB Motorsports and Troxell Racing, respectively. He made 25 starts for Mixon in 2002, with a best finish of 22nd at Daytona. The following season, he competed in a career-high total of 32 races, and finished seventeen of them. With a new team partner in Global Industrial Contractors and picking up sponsorship from The FanZ Car later in the season, Harmon had his first career top-twenty finish at IRP and finished 23rd in points.

GIC-Mixon switched to the #24 in 2004 and after the Aaron's 312, he was released from the team and replaced by Shane Hmiel. He made two more starts that season, his best finish being 33rd at Memphis Motorsports Park for Oostlander Racing. In 2005, Harmon and Oostlander purchased part of the assets of Innovative Motorsports and ran the first four races of the season in the #21 Global Pigeon Supply Chevrolet Silverado, before focusing mainly on ARCA racing. Harmon attempted a Busch Series race later in the year at Memphis for Bobby Norfleet, but did not qualify.

Harmon returned to NASCAR in 2007, driving the #44/#48 car for Richardson-Netzloff Racing in the Busch Series. He made seven races with a best finish of 38th before handing the ride off to Jennifer Jo Cobb late in the season. He attempted a full season in the #84 Chevrolet fielded by the new Elite 2 Racing team in 2008. Harmon posted his best finish in the Nationwide Series to date, finishing 17th at the Aaron's 312.

In 2009, Harmon started racing in his own #84 car and then took over the #07 Chevrolet for SK Motorsports. He would also start and park in his own #24 in four Camping World Truck Series races. For 2010, Harmon has run part-time in the Truck Series for both Lafferty Motorsports and Daisy Ramirez Motorsports.

Harmon drove his own #74 Chevrolet in the 2011 season, running approximately half the season's races; he also competed in several Truck Series races later in the year. He will return to the Nationwide Series in the No. 74 in 2012.^[2]

Bristol Crash[link]

Harmon is also famous for an incident at Bristol Motor Speedway in August 2002. Harmon was practicing his #44 car, when he crashed into the track's infield entry gate in Turn 2. The gate was improperly secured and swung open when Harmon crashed into it. Harmon's car then impacted the end of the concrete wall head-on. The impact was so violent, the car literally split in half. The remnants of the vehicle were then struck by the car of Johnny Sauter, but he hit the half that Harmon was not sitting in. Harmon later walked away from the crash unharmed.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Mike Harmon at Racing Reference
• Mike Harmon at ARCAracing.com

John Ruddy

Personal information
Full name	John Thomas Gordon Ruddy
Date of birth	(1986-10-24) 24 October 1986 (age 25)
Place of birth	St. Ives, England
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[1]
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Norwich City
Number	1
Youth career
2000–2003	Cambridge Utd
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2005	Cambridge Utd	39	(0)
2005–2010	Everton	1	(0)
2005	→ Walsall (loan)	5	(0)
2005	→ Rushden & Diamonds (loan)	3	(0)
2005–2006	→ Chester City (loan)	4	(0)
2006	→ Stockport County (loan)	11	(0)
2007	→ Wrexham (loan)	5	(0)
2007	→ Bristol City (loan)	1	(0)
2008	→ Stockport County (loan)	12	(0)
2009	→ Crewe Alexandra (loan)	19	(0)
2009–2010	→ Motherwell (loan)	34	(0)
2010–	Norwich City	82	(0)
National team
2012–	England	0	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:40, 18 May 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

John Thomas Gordon Ruddy (born 24 October 1986) is an English footballer who plays for Norwich City as a goalkeeper.

Ruddy began his career at Cambridge United, before signing for Everton as a 19-year-old. He spent five years with Everton, but made just one appearance, while playing on loan at nine different clubs.

Ruddy was signed by Paul Lambert to play for Norwich in 2010 and, in his first season, was part of the team that finished second in The Championship, gaining promotion to the English Premier League. The following year, Norwich finished twelfth in the Premier League, and Ruddy was selected by new England manager Roy Hodgson for the squad for Euro 2012. However on the 25th May 2012 he was ruled out after breaking his finger during training.

Career[link]

Everton[link]

Born in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, Ruddy began his career at Cambridge United and made his professional debut in the final game of the season at Leyton Orient's Brisbane Road stadium on 8 May 2004, keeping a clean sheet and saving a penalty. Ruddy earned his place as Cambridge's first choice keeper in the 2004–05 season, making 39 appearances. He had a trial at Manchester United in November 2004, before moving to Everton in the summer of 2005 for a fee of around £250,000 that would rise depending on appearances.^[2]

Ruddy, was called into the England Under-19 squad in 2005 after being scouted by England goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence and was touted by his manager David Moyes as a future England goalkeeper.

In September 2005, Ruddy signed for Walsall on loan,^[3] making four appearances in League One before returning to Everton. Loan spells with Rushden & Diamonds and Chester City followed.^[4]

Ruddy made his first and only appearance for Everton in February 2006 in unusual circumstances. Nine minutes into the match against Blackburn Rovers, Iain Turner was sent off for handling outside the area. Since Turner was substituting for injured first-choice and second-choice keepers Nigel Martyn and Richard Wright, it meant that Ruddy was the only keeper left who could play. Ruddy went on to keep a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory.^[5]

In September 2006, Ruddy went on loan again. A one-month deal was agreed with Stockport County,^[4] which was extended to three months after some impressive performances. He then agreed a one month loan with Wrexham in February 2007,^[6] but failed to establish a place in the team during his time at the Racecourse Ground and the Red Dragons decided against extending the loan beyond the initial month. On 21 April, Ruddy completed an emergency one-week loan to League One side Bristol City,^[7] and helped them move closer to promotion, by playing one game – a 3–1 win over Carlisle United, and later joked he would ask if he were eligible for a runners-up medal as City finished second and won promotion. In January 2009, he went out on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season to Crewe Alexandra.^[8]

His numerous loan moves meant that Ruddy had played for eight clubs before his 21st birthday.

Motherwell[link]

On 24 July 2009, Ruddy joined Scottish Premier League side Motherwell on a six-month loan deal, to vie with Michael Fraser and Sebastian Kosiorowski for the number one jersey.^[9] When the original loan deal expired in January 2010, the Fir Park club decided that they wanted to keep Ruddy for longer and an extension of a month was agreed with Everton. On 27 January 2010, it was announced that both Ruddy and Everton teammate Lukas Jutkiewicz were to extend their stay at the Scottish Premier League side until May 2010.^[10]

Norwich City[link]

On 5 July 2010, Ruddy signed for Championship side Norwich City for an undisclosed fee, and was given the number 1 shirt, last worn by Michael Theoklitos. He made his debut for City against Watford in the opening fixture of the 2010–11 season which Norwich lost 3–2 at Carrow Road.^[11] He kept his first clean sheet of the season in a 1–0 away win against Scunthorpe United on 14 August 2010. In Ruddy's first season for Norwich he played 45 out of the 46 league games helping City to the Premier League.^[12]

Ruddy started the 2011–12 season as the first choice keeper again for Norwich, starting the 1–1 draw at the DW Stadium against Wigan Athletic.^[13] He received his only red card of the season in the match again Chelsea after a foul on Ramires.^[14]

Ruddy was voted Player's Player of the Season following Norwich's twelfth place finish.^[15]

International career[link]

On 16 May 2012, Ruddy received his first senior international call-up when Roy Hodgson selected him to be a member of the England squad for the 2012 European Championships.^[16] However, a broken finger ruled him out of the tournament, with Jack Butland called up to replace him.

Personal[link]

Ruddy is engaged and will marry his fiancee Laura on 2 June 2012.^[15] He is nicknamed "The Iceman".^[17]

Honours[link]

Individual[link]

• Norwich City Players' Player of the Year: 2011–12

Career statistics[link]

As of 16 May 2012

Season	Division	Club	Appearances	Clean sheets	Notes
2003–04	Third Division	Cambridge United	1	1
2004–05	League Two		42	12	Sold to Everton for £250,000
2005–06	League One	Walsall	4	1	On loan from Everton
	League Two	Rushden & Diamonds	3	1
	League Two	Chester City	4	0
	Premier League	Everton	1	1
2006–07	League Two	Stockport County	11	4	On loan from Everton
	League Two	Wrexham	5	1
	League One	Bristol City	1	0
2007–08	League Two	Stockport County	12	9
2008–09	League One	Crewe Alexandra	19	6
2009–10	SPL	Motherwell	34	14	Sold to Norwich for Undisclosed fee
2010–11	Championship	Norwich City	46	11	Promoted to Premier League
2011–12	Premier League		37	3

References[link]

External links[link]

• John Ruddy career stats at Soccerbase

v t e England squad – 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship 1 Martin 2 McMahon 3 Wilson 4 Mills 5 Wheater 6 Cranie 7 Leadbitter 8 Noble 9 Blackstock 10 Fryatt 11 Holmes 12 Ifil 13 Ruddy 14 Jarvis 15 Jones 16 Morrison 17 Smith 18 Taylor Coach: Hunter