Thanks bullthistle. I'm just trying not to repeat the problem the previous owner gave me by having no 2 plants the same! So where you draw the line between too much variety and enough to provide interest? I read somewhere this morning a suggestion to keep evergreen foundation plants the same habit, but different colors and textures. Is that the idea? And it's true, everyone knows the foundation is there, but much like underwear, I just don't want to look at it! :) On the other hand, I certainly don't want a dense, sheared wall of yew. There must be a happy medium...

Japanese Yews, although somewhat overused, would be the best bet as per your specific request of a fast grower, easy pruner. I will add that Japanese Yew will grow fairly well on the shady side of the house, better than almost any other evergreen. They grow nicely in even very poor soil, which is often encountered near a house's foundation. Also, once well established, they are the most drought tolerant of all evergreens I know of. J. Yews come in a variety of forms...upright, for columnar or cone shaped bushes, spreading, for mounded shaped bushes, and even spreading/creeping for use as groundcovers. One has to content oneself with dark green foliage if J. Yews are chosen. The varieties of foliage form and colors of Junipers and Chamaecyparis, which are also possibilities for you, but they for the most part are not good pruning candidates and should be left to reach the size potential the reach, often a bit too tall for any but very large houses. All hollies are rather slow growing, about a foot or less a year. A male pollinator is needed if berries are wanted. Good soil is needed, certainly they wil not thrive in anything but good soil, unlike J. Yews. The best designed foundation plantings I have seen are predominantly the various J. Yew forms (all pruned), interpsersed with: Junipers, Hollies, Rhododendrons and Azaleas, Chamaecylaris, and perhaps even Euonymous (all unpruned, growing free form as the plant is programmed to grow). Rootman

We will definitely look into the viburnum. Thank you, laceyvail. rhizo_1, thank you for responding. We sheared them from the time we planted them, twenty-five years ago - They actually are 20 - 25 feet tall and about 10 feet wide. We have had to use a bucket truck for the past 3 years to get the job done. Since we have to remove them, we would prefer something more manageable (height, width, pest-resilient, etc.) -

A scarcely known broadleafed evergreen that does well in alkaline soil and can take considerable sun is Arctostaphyllos x coloradensis (Hybrid Manzanita). It was introduced by High Country Gardens a few years ago and is also being sold now by Lazy S'S nursery in VA. It doesn't get very tall, but it's quite handsome I think. I've had very good luck with mine.