Oh Kath, it sounds like you've already planted those alberta spruces. I think this is a mistake. Your front entry is so pretty...really a focal point of the house, with the stone, the columns, the beautiful color of the door, and the side windows. Why, in the world, would you want to be put clumpy, bumpy, lumpy, dime-a-dozen dwarf alberta spruces there? Dig them out and put them somewhere else where they are not "specimens"...include them in a planting with more elegant beautiful things and they actually can be an asset. DON'T obscure the best feature of your home. Remember, you are dressing your home like you dress yourself. Show off your best feature. Think of it this way: say you have a beautiful, graceful neck and collar bone. Show them off with a lovely, fine, delicate necklace of diamonds...don't cover them up with a clunky, boring, bought-at-Walmart acrylic scarf. I know that the thought of digging up plants and moving them is a pain, but it will be worth it. (By the way, I'm the plant-moving queen. My neighbors joke that I don't look at home without out a spade in my hand. I'm ruthless that way. And, believe it or not, I've never had a plant die because I dug it up and moved it.) You could dress up your front entry with a large (and I mean good-sized)pot of beautiful annuals. Or you could go the trellis and roses route on the side to the left, with a shrub rose off the bump out to the right of the door. A small bed of well-chosen perennials with some height is also a good idea. Sorry for complicating the picture. Patty

The reason the nursery is having a sale on shrubs is that this is the wrong time of year to plant shrubs. They are best planted in fall or early spring. That said, even though it's the wrong time of year, you can still plant now -- but you must take extra good care of your shrubs if you want them to survive and do well! Dig a large hole, add appropriate amendments (depending on your soil), and water regularly through the fall. [I will confess that I planted my small dwarf mugo pines this time of year two years ago -- and it was blistering HOT and we were still in our multiple-year drought. They survived and have done well ... and I am now in the process of moving seven of them (couldn't begin until last week, and if I wait till fall they'll be larger than I can handle). I will baby them ... and I'll be embarrassed if any of them die....] Here's the Shrubs forum's FAQ, which includes info on how to plant a shrub: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/shrubs/ Make sure to plant your shrubs well away from the house. You want to leave at least a foot or two between the house and the shrubs, for window-washing, painting and house maintenance, as well as maintenance of the shrubs. Note that whatever you plant will be growing, so you want to plant it far enough from the house that after several years there will still be that foot or two of clearance between the house and the shrub. For instance, if the shrub's mature size is 5' in diameter, place its center 3 1/2' from the house (2 1/2' for half the mature width + 1' for clearance). It might be advisable to move the rhodie and azalea. Do you know what cultivars they are and what their mature size will be? Azaleas vary considerably in size. Many (most? all?) rhodies just keep growing and growing and growing. About that asymmetrical roof: I'm not a professional designer, but here's what I'd do: center a small tree (or large shrub) between the windows (not directly under the peak, but midway between the windows). The idea is that its crown will conceal the location of the peak. You might want something evergreen; I'm not sure how effective bare branches would be in the winter. The tree should be located several feet from the house. You want something with a relatively narrow crown, because you don't want to block the windows (or shade the front yard any more than it already is). You want something which will reach the height of the roof relatively quickly -- yet you don't want something so huge it will endanger the house. The shape should be rounded: you definitely don't want one of the narrow columnar evergreens or anything triangular (pointy Christmas-tree type). Unfortunately I am not knowledgeable enough to suggest what tree (or shrub) would be appropriate for your zone. But unless the nursery is also having a sale on trees, you have plenty of time to do research. Good luck!

Did yours make it through a winter just fine without any extra protection, Jolana? When I first saw them, I didn't think it would survive for me out here in Spicewood. We carry a few things that are actually tender perennials but will likely be hardy inside Austin due to the heat island effect, so I thought that was one of those. Now that I know better I plan to get one as soon as we get more in. I hope it's as easy to start from cuttings as many have said on the pages I've read about it since I know a lot of people who will want one once they see it in my yard! Here's another unusual justicia we get sometimes: White Shrimp Plant. I have the yellow one that has the upright blooms of clear yellow (not the floppy one that's kind of greenish yellow) and it's doing great! I love that thing. Can't wait to get one of the white ones.

Thanks - to answer a couple of questions, I am in Z 7 - I think I said that in my original post. DC Metro area. The infected roses have not yet been dug up - that will be done by the same company that will be replacing them, and I'm not sure what the little round evergreen bushes are. Also to clarify - my house is on the tour primarily for the "home" part of "home and garden" - my yard is nice but definitely not the feature, as is the case with most of the other houses as well. I don't know much about gardening, other than raised bed veggie gardening (what I know about rose rosette disease came from googling "what's killing my knockout roses") and have a service come to mow/weed/prune/etc., so I'm not sure I'm the best person to be educating people about anything...I just wanted the house to look as nice as possible curb appeal-wise before hundreds of people come tromping through. That's very helpful about Miss Kim. Maybe given the time crunch I will just have this landscaping co. replace the roses in the back yard which are completely dead and crispy as I think I can find some plants and shrubs I'll be happy with back there, and hold off on making decisions on the front...the roses in the front are not in quite as bad shape as the ones in the back. (this landscaping co. is well regarded locally and offering a 20% discount to houses on the tour, which is why I wanted to use them and do this now if possible).