Can't even begin to recommend anything without a photo of the space - in relation to house, driveway, etc, etc. and knowing how much sun? Full Eastern sun? Drainage good? Other trees nearby? Windbreaks? How much maintenance are you willing to put forth? That's a very deep space. Hollies are great for year-round interest, but not sure what you don't like about them. Spines? Because there are many spineless ones. And the berries are gorgeous! I'm a fan of 'year-round interest', but that means different things to different people. Some people like big tufts of dried grasses rattling around in winter. Not me! I favor broadleaved evergreens mostly, for year-round curb appeal. Do you need 'anchor' plants for corners? Big, Tall and conical or upright (to 15 feet or more): Blue Maid holly (not that spiney) Fosters Holly, Sunny Foster (spiney) Emerald Colonade holly (no spines) Spartan Holly (no spines) Yaupon Weeping holly (no spines) Cherry Bomb Holly (virtually spineless) Virginia Holly (nearly spineless) Arborvitae (conifer) Chamaecyparis (conifer) looser form Camellia japonica and sasanqua. (japonicas need morning shade) scores of varieties to choose from Chindo viburnum (gets quite tall!) Evergreen Dogwood (Empress of China) early summer bloom! Taller Rhodies (catawbiense, roseum elegans) Ternstroemia gymnanthera (Japanese cleyera) Photinia serrulata, Fraser's Ligustrum japonicum Spreading to rounded, medium height (2 to 8 feet) Aucuba (variegated and green) Otto Luyken Laurel Abelia Daphne Lorapetalum Blue Diamond Distyllium myricoides or hybrids Kalmia Mahonia 'soft caress' Osmanthus x burkwoodii Gardenia (Frostproof, Chuck Hayes) Leucothoe (requires some shade) Needle palm smaller Rhodies (Percy Wiseman, Yaku, etc). Pieris Euonymus japonica 'Silver King' Illicium Spreading or smaller camellias (Winter's Fire, Bonanza, Ashton's Supreme, etc.) Danae racemosa (poet's laurel) Low to spreading and ground covers (under 2 feet and evergreen): Holly fern (C. falcatum and fortunei) Autumn fern Mount Vernon Cherry Laurel Azalea Chinzan Sarcocca hookeriana humulis (needs shade) Pachysandra (variegated or GreenSheen) Variegated liriope Euonymus fortunei (kept clipped) That's just the tip of the iceberg. You could mix in more die-down perennials as you see fit. They're not my thing because I don't like the Fall cleanup! You might consider: Japanese anemone Montauk Daisy Salvias Oriental lilies (Stargazer, Casa Blanca) Asian lilies Sorry, I'm a bit biased toward evergreen!

Hi, I have two small Sweetbay Magnolias - and might get rid of one, depending... Is Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana var. virginiana) self-fertile? Does anyone have just one specimen growing in a region where there are none nearby and yet still get fruit? Thanks, Steven

Dig Doug, what do you think about the blue cascade distylium? This is what the landscape designer suggested: Front entry island bounded by drive: o Tree removal: selected tree removal to provide better environment for understory and lawn plantings. Leave desirable and healthy specimens. Consider limbing up to raise canopy and structural pruning of existing trees to remain to improve light conditions for understory and lawn. o Create a semi-circular shaped lawn in island to relate to main body of house front corners. Consider adding a border planting at edge of lawn to transition to natural area beyond. Border plantings to consider include big blue liriope, Bordeaux dwarf yaupon holly or Wintergreen Boxwood, etc. Plant spacing close to provide instant hedge or border effect. o Consider adding “drifts” of raised beds with broadleaf evergreens/southern indica azaleas/ blue cascade distylium,etc. and native flowering shrubs/hummmingbird clethra/little henry itea,etc. along with a few cluster groupings of Brodie Eastern Red Cedar o Add 3-5 Flowering Dogwood and Forest Pansy Redbud between Cedars and street for additional color accent · Front foundation: o As started with Boxwood parterre/hedge planting to frame front bed between drive and foundation on either side of entry porch and corner Accent upright evergreen/Italian Cypress/emerald arborvitae/Spartan juniper o Theme tree: between house and parterre/hedge centered in middle – single stem Natchez (white) Crape myrtle (or as selected single stem crape myrtle) o Groundcover mass underplanting with dwarf gardenia or crown jewell gardenia · Brick planter: o Blue Cascade or Emerald Heights Distylium back planting with dwarf plum yew groundcover mass in front OR Duke Garden Plum Yew in back with Dwarf Gardenia or Crown Jewell Gardenia as groundcover mass · Left front foundation next to path to backyard: o Blue Cascade Distylium next to foundation with Boxwood or Dwarf Bordeaux Yaupon parterre/hedge with Miami Crapemyrtle centered on window. Mondo grass, liriope spicata OR dwarf gardenia as groundcover between parterre and foundation planting o Work to improve existing lawn: provide more sunlight through tree thinnings/removals/raising canopy where possible, add dolomitic lime at 50lb per 1000sq ft along with a complete lawn fertilizer for cool season grass/fescue per label · Groundcover mass between drive and natural area on side: Baltic Ivy or Vinca major or Liriope spicata

In New England you can count on PSC being short lived due to the multitude of diseases and insect that infest them. So plant where it can be replaced in 10 years. Look at Pieris and Kalmia/mountain laurel for part sun evergreens. Many rhodies will work well in part sun as well. Consider also that there are many evergreen groundcovers that work in part shade. Choose which plants to buy small vs. large. For instance, the Kalmia may be slower growing, so don’t buy as a tiny plant. The panicled hydrangeas will get to 2/3 of their mature size in 4 years from tiny twigs if given good drainage and a fair amount of sun, so you can get them smaller initially. Be sure you have some type of plant, preferably evergreen, that repeats down the bed for continuity. Otherwise you get a random look of one of this and one of that and there is no cohesion. So look at which plant or two you will have repeats of and which will be single features. For instance, most forsythia is a one shot wonder. I love its bright yellow in spring, and one I have has nice autumn color, but it has a tendency to not share space well and look like a bad hair day much of the summer. So put it out on the edge of the lawn where you can enjoy it from inside during black fly season or spring rain, but where it will be part of the background during the rest of the year. Mock orange is similar, but often has a lovely scent, so put it near a door you use or under a window you sit near when It is open. Both forsythia and mock orange come in a range of sizes, so choose carefully for what you want as far as size and growth pattern of the cultivar. edited to add: Skip the privet. Seeds invasively, smells rank when in bloom.