Zigzag, I'd love to have some garden "Elves"! Heck, I'd love to BE one if I didn't have to work/commute most of my life. As for the evergreen...my (own) redesign for this foundation bed is to replace the typical, now over-grown "green worm" of boring (I guess) boxwood that was here when we bought the place. These bushes are all the same size, plain green, and prone to get out of hand twice a year. The place I moved FROM had a very formal front yard where I spent a horrible amount of time shearing hedges. I don't want to do that any more. Besides, this place is not the same kind of house as that one was. It was impressive, formal, Charleston colonial architecture...this is a very, very long one story double wide. (Hey. We downsized.) I'm thinking that shrubbery that is more varied in shape, texture and color and a lot more informal will help more than what is basically a long dark green underline along a long white house. I'm planning a curved edge to this border, a red Japanese maple at the set back corner between the main house and the room we are adding, several dark barberries or lorapetalums - something red or purple, anyway - a couple of sweet olives near the front porch along with a couple of yellow-green spireas, several variegated liriopes and a few spaces for annuals and perennials tucked here and there. I have it all drawn out on paper. I realize that many of these plants are used to death in landscapes but they should be hardy and easy to grow (important) and they can't ALL cost the earth on account of my limited budget. I do plan to spend a bit on that Japanese maple and on this vertical whatever-it-turns-out-to-be.There is just this one space between two windows where there is only boring wall. That is where I want to put a really killer vertical evergreen "something". Even though it will be in a "border" it will actually be more of a focal point (to balance the Japanese maple further down). I'd rather it did not grow higher than the eave of the house...so, not real tall. And I sure don't want to have to prune it. Oh...and elves are not in my budget. LOL But I was thinking. It doesn't actually HAVE to be a conifer. I would prefer evergreen but it could be something else if you can think of something impressive that would fit in that kind of spot. Oh, and I realize it is probably difficult to visualize from my somewhat spacy description but if anyone has helpful suggestions about my "design" I'd be happy to consider them. Just one more thing...I think those little magnolias are cute as bugs but my dh would divorce me if I planted one on the place! Even though I would be the one dealing with the dropped leaves!

I think you are boxing yourself in unnecessarily. Why not extend the beds beyond the sidewalk. Starting at the corner heading toward the garage round it out and swerve along the outside of the sidewalk, radiusing out again as you reach the front sidewalk. You could then remove the boxwoods and plant some nice tall evergreens against the house between the windows with minis in between. Then you could use the extended area for more dwarves and mix in some perrenials and annuals with maybe a Japanese Maple or Picea abies pendula to anchor the front bump out near the front sidewalk. I am sure you will get a lot of very good advice on area appropriate conifers from the experts here. Good luck. Think big. Jon

i was trying to go w/ some continuity b/c i am always experimenting w/ things and my yard gets kind of hodge-podge. What's wrong with hodge-podge?!? Unfortunately, that probably describes my landscaping "style" too. I definitely have a tendency to buy a plant because I like it (if I can afford it) without really considering how it will - or won't - fit in with the rest of the plantings. As far as your planters being dwarfed by your house, why not buy bigger planters (you have plenty of spare cash, right? :-D ) so that you can get larger trees, the trees will be happier, and the whole design concept will blend in better with the size of your house? Holly

The Bloom book seems to be a popular reccomendation. I have that one too and It's great, and a a great value. I bought a used one for 10 bucks or so. The only limitations are: just a few varities of each species are described; Adrian Bloom is from the UK and that persepctive is evident when you read the book. The former limitation a necessity becuase there are just too many cultivated plants to describe in one place. The latter is not a big deal, just a few sentences scattered throught the text like "not widely planted in Britain" and "Hardy throughout most of the UK". Might be hard to relate to, assuming you're American. And to be fair - The same complaint can be made of the confier 'encyclopedia'. RE: Gardengal's quote: "In other words, it can encourage acquisition, LOL!!" True. They will all do that. You will find yourself thinking "I have the perfect place for that". For more technical / scholarly material try used textbooks. Unfortunately, publishers are always trying to make more and more money from poor college students by frequently publishing new additions needlessly. For example, there is a textbook on plant propagation by hartmann and kester that will set you back 120 bucks or so if you buy the newest addition. But ask yourself, is the 7th edition that much better than the 6th or 5th for your purposes? I bought a used, dated book this way, "Plant Production in Containers", by professor Carl Whitcomb. And I was surprised to open it and find that it had been autographed by the author. In my opinion it was a real bargain considering it cost about 80 bucks less than the newest edition does brand new. And also, before you spend any money - check out the local library.