Taller than 2 1/2'.

Thank you. I read online that they can be kept to 2' by pruning. Is that not the case? They would be planted directly in front of some windows, and we want the light from those windows coming in to the house, so we really don't want anything too tall.

You don't want to waste your energy and stress any plant by butchering it to what you want, rather than what the plant wants.

The barberries were likely planted under windows as a security measure, in addition to the fact they take zero care and look good. Barberries were very useful for security before we recently thought it was a good idea to pay lots of money monthly for electronic security. Nonetheless,

The cultivar 'Otto Luyken' is overplanted and trite in the PacNW, stays 2-3 feet, and its job is to be a boring green background for other plants, and they also tend to attract critters such as aphids, which do not kill the plant, but may help weaken it if butchered regularly or neglected.

You have not given us enough information to make an alternate plant recommendation. Good luck in your search.

Dan

Thank you, Dan. I looked them up again online and saw that they are in fact wanting to be much taller, so they are ruled out--I am not one to torture plants or to try to fight my site or my soil.

In case you or anyone would like to recommend something else, here's additional info:

I'm looking for foundation shrubs that will stay under 2.5" or who can be kept that height without being tortured. I prefer natural shapes--nothing carved into balls or flat-tops.

I do not like junipers. I would like something green, not red or purple. Does not have to be evergreen. If it has flowers, they must be white. Non-flowering is also fine--the shrubs are not responsible for being a wow-factor, I've got lots of room for flowering perennials to do that.

We're in central Kentucky, slightly clay-ish soil but well amended by previous owners. The house is brick on a concrete foundation and I've read that'll make it too alkali for azaleas so close to the house. No experience with azaleas, so don't know if that's true.

The location gets full sun in the morning, and is shaded by the house by mid afternoon.

Looking at the plant list of my local independent nursery, I ran across the Sweetspire variety "Sprich", also called Little Henry, which is short, cute, natural in form and has white flowers. Other than that, I have no ideas.

Looking around my neighborhood (built in the 1960's), you'd think there was a law passed that boxwoods and yews are the only foundation shrubs allowed, so I am not getting lots of ideas from what others have done.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Otto van Luyken laurels get much taller than 3 feet tall in my zone 7a NC garden (more like 5 feet tall if pruned) and being in the cherry family are susceptible to the very same borers that infect many of the laurel family plants. I know I have lost over 10 or so Otto Luyken laurels in my garden, others in my same neighborhood have lost them as well but continue to replant them and lose them, and there have been articles in the local newpapers that they are not good plants for us here for that reason. Don't know if you have the same issues with them in your zone, but I would advise against planting them.

The Seattle arboretum has 'Otto Luyken' well above head height. Like other English laurels its leaves are too large in size to make a good background. It also has a perky appearance due to the leaves pointing up - too active in effect to fade into the background.

It does combine well with Chinese witchhazel. It also gets Prunus Shothole in my area, making it look like someone fired a shotgun through it.

If English laurel is, in fact what you are asking about the only one dwarf enough to stay below 2 1/2' for a reasonable period of time is the creeping, mounding flowerless cultivar 'Mt Vernon'.

Speaking of flowering, in my area English laurel is spread by birds and is a nuisance plant. Some urban parks have massive, self-sown specimens.

An edge of a park near a friend's house is a gathering spot for drug deals etc. I think much of the attraction of this location is the screening provided by the unnatural thicket of English laurel, English holly, Irish ivy etc.

Huh. I don't remember seeing that cultivar in the Arb, nor do I remember seeing one that large. But I don't care for the plant so don't look for it, even when I rode to the Arb just to see the witchhazels...

Dan

It seems abelia x grandiflora fits the bill. 'Little Richard' has evergreen foliage, compact growth, white slightly fragrant blooms, and tops out at 3' (easily pruned to 2.5' if you're firm on that).

Thank you, Mbuckmaster! Online reviews for Abelia look great.

I'll look around to see if I can find it here.