A little while back, I posted a question on cottage-y shrubs on the Cottage Garden forum - that thread might give you some ideas. The 3' dimension is probably your biggest limiting factor (as you already realize!), but you should be able to find something that works!

OK, I am going to try posting some photos. There two were taken 4 years ago, so the roses are still small.

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{{gwi:23321}}And here's what I came home to last year. The Russian Sage was bigger by the end of the year. The hollyhock should probably go, pretty as it is. The rose on the right, by the porch, MAY be salvageable, but probably not the one in the center.

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THANKS!!
Stacey

How about some kind of a dwarf holly? Evergreen, prickly enough that your renters probably wouldn't get too close to it, could be trimmed but might not need to if you found something that stayed really small. I'm not familiar with what grows in your zone, so this may turn out not to be a good idea.

What you have looks nice, Stacy. I'd want some railings on those steps, though, if I had to get in and out in icy weather.

Hmmm...hard to tell, but it looks like you really don't have much space behind your front edging. Since you'll be there for a few years, would you be willing to move the edgers out a few feet to fit in a row of shrubs? Remembering that the shrubs should be away from the house a little bit, too.

Cute house, btw!

I think you did a nice job with your own instincts back then. I would guess that you might be able to use hose instincts and the $150 budget better than most of us. I think it looks good.

You can barely buy three shrubs for $150, but I think that you can re-create and enhance what you had back then by going with the same flow that you did before and buy a few perennials and roses. You'll get more bang for the buck and forget about winter - it will all be under snow (like it is now).

How's that global warming working out for you?

What makes you think the roses are gonners? Maybe i can't see from the pictures but what i do see is they are not doing as well as the other big one but they dont look dead to me...they have nice green foliage on them and appear healthy, but maybe they just appear that way in the photo. It seems where the large one is there are not alot of flowers around it, but the two that are not doing well seem to have alot of flowers around it and maybe it is not getting what it needs with all that is in there. I don't know i am a far cry from a expert, guess i just hate to see a rose bush bite the dust...my husband would have a million if we could he loves them! I am probably gonna catch three kinds of hades, but i think i would remove everything but the rose bushes in that particular bed, you can plant elsewhere or give them away if your not gonna use them. Then i would plant a perennial toward the front in between the first and second and the second and third roses...one that has a nice circular uniform shape and maintains it...you said virtually maintenance free right? If it were me i would plant a few hosta's there but when i have suggested that in the past there have been people that said they can't imagine them growing in the same area...but i do mine and my hosta's are huge and my roses flourish...i am in indiana though and it may make a huge difference as to where you are.

Not at all what you have in mind, but if you really like to garden, what I'd consider doing is buying some fairly traditional foundation shrubs, like yew, boxwood - that kind of thing - and plant them near the house. Then dig up the entire front yard between the shrubs and the fence. Put anything you want in there, and before you leave, grass it back over. The plants can be given away or sold in a plant garage sale. You leave the renters and prospective buyers with landscaping they should understand, but get your garden in the meantime.

Hi everyone and thanks for your ideas.

mad gallica, since I'll only be here 2 summers, I think I should get the "final" plants/shrubs going this year. I have plenty of other garden space for playing!

ymaddox, the other 2 roses both have some pretty bad disease, probably viral. If I cut off all the bad areas (which I should do) ther won't be much left. But that's what I plan to do this spring and see if they recover. If not, they must go.

If I decide to go with a more traditional, low maintenance, renter-frindly shrub landscaping scene, does anyone have any recommendations for shrubs that would look OK with that Austin rose or would I have to rip him out (waaa!)?

Hostas are great, low maintenance and fine-looking, but its SSW exposure, I would think too hot & sunny for Hostas, no?

Thanks!

Stacey

hosta's are known to be a shade plant, but there are some that do well in sun and i am not a hosta expert by any stretch of the imagination lol. What i would do is post something on the hosta forum for sun loving hosta's. The hosta's i have are in direct sun and some are in partial shade and they do great both places, i am not sure of the variety i have though...until recently i did not realize there were so many varieties. I would love to have about a thousand of them if i had the room and time :). What i like is they are virtually maintenance free with the exception of just cleaning the dead foliage each year from around them when they begin to sprout. good luck!

okay this is just my humble opinion, as a former renter with a brown thumb, the plants I apprecianted the most were peonies (I still got to see the flower and didn't have much to maintain, and I've see bulbs at Wally World for as little as $3 each) as well as boxwood (which let me get my hedge trimmers out and practice making straight lines, these are avail in 3 gal for around $5) and the pretty spiral evergreen trees (which gave a pretty English look to the garden) for a lower growing plant in front of the boxwood, maybe some dwarf daylilies, which will probably need to be divided by time you get back, but should be able to take care of themselves for the most part.

I used to live in Nebraska, I think your winters might be a little longer there in Maine, but all of these are pretty hardy, and carefree.

Enjoy your next sailing trip, do you have room for a stow-away?????

On a side note, why not price out the cost of a garden service and add it to the monthly rent? My old house was in a neighborhood that required everyone use a service for the front lawn and beds. I rented mine for a bit and the garden service already knew my plants, they did a great job keeping everything alive and neat. It may be worthwhile since you are planning on selling when all is said and done. Putting the house on the market with a well maintained garden should pay for itself (if not 100%, then pretty close).

Annette

Finally, spot on Annette. Nowhere is it written that 'ye shall garden' especially as your book seems to want to take you to sea. Keep it simple, take a picture of that David Austin rose in bloom and pin it in the cabin someplace (cost: way under $150) then replace it with something more practical. Then follow Annette's advice.