The East bed would be ideal but a Northern exposure is the second best for Hydrangea macrophylla...I assume you are talking about macrophyllas, right? Hydrangeas go well with MANY different kind of plants...what you ultimately go with will depend on the color of your hydrangeas (pink/red, purple, blue, white). The BEST annual to use in conjunction with hydrangeas are impatiens. Just think about...they love water and part shade too! I also like using bronze-leaved begonias: pink and white specifically. Black-eyed susans look exceptional with blue hydrangeas but also with any of the other colors. I also like ornamental grass next to hydrangeas...the fine lines and of the grass are a stunning contrast to the big mopheads; a little more refined and elegant with lacecaps. Hostas are good companions as are astilbe, daylilies (Stella D'Oros skirting a bed of blue hydrangeas is picture perfect), and roses. As a devoted hydrangea gardener, I typically design around them. So, I place them where they will shine best...usually right in the middle of things, maybe a little to the back. This will depend largely on the height of your chosen cultivar and the garden cohorts you select. Have fun with hydrangeas...they are ridiculously enjoyable to grow, study, photograph, and stare at.

Hi d_giffin, thank you so much! I like the white peonies very much now. Yes, sometimes mistakes can make it better! :-) George, I want to first of all tell you how much I really appreciate you giving me all the advice! Thank you! You know, I actually realized that I might be overcrowding these paniculatas. However, I did it anyway, thinking that I might be able to severely prune these lovelies every year to keep their size down, and more importantly, I did it for a selfish reason - I know that this is not my forever house, and I probably will only be here for a few more years. I wanted to enjoy these paniculatas and so I just planted them there, realizing that they may not be fully grown before I leave... ouch! I hope that is not too selfish. You know what? The worst thing is that someone or myself will need to chop down the shrub(s). The physocarpus is Summer Wine, which is actually supposed to be only half the size of Diablo and Coppertina. So it is much more compact. The crabapple is supposed to be about 12' tall when fully grown. Yes, it may create some shade, but with crabapple, the foliage is not that dense so it should not be too much of a problem. The neighbors' shrub was always a mystery to me, until recently! They did not even know what it was - they just planted it there several years ago!!! Anyway, it's a lilac... yikes! It might get big. The thing that gets me is that the buds get eaten by the deer every year before they bloom! Sigh... I am going to advice my neighbors to prune it hard every year! LOL Anyway, if I do want to move the Limelight, since it was in a 5 gallon pot before and this is its 3rd season now, how deep and widespread should I expect the roots to be? I want to make sure that I will dig carefully just so that I won't damage the sprinkler system. The trouble is, if I did move it, I am not sure where to put it then... Hey, George, if you remember, I already removed the Pink Diamond from this bed to another corner after your advice last fall!!! :-) Thanks again!

I remember how difficult it is to get started when you have a bare, flat yard. I kept staring out the windows, trying to imagine what I could plant where. It helps if you have someone stand outside while you look out the windows. Have your helper walk around from place to place, waving his/her arms, and maybe even holding a broom up overhead. Try to imagine your helper is a bush or a tree. When your helper gets to a spot that looks good from the inside, make a note of the position, or have your helper plant a garden stake (much easier to move than a tree!) Then go stand outside, or across the street, and see if that really is a good place for a tree. Use pots of annuals which you can move around until you find a space placement that suits you. THEN dig a bed. You can always set out empty boxes, or laundry baskets or even chairs to find spots for a shrub. Anything of a similar size that's easily movable will do. Here are some general principals I've found helpful. If the front is your main entrance, plant things that you will be happy to see when you come home. Start planting close to the walk and steps. This will encourage you to expand. Take it slow. I read once that you should live in a house though one set of seasons before you do any major changes. I translated that into planting annuals at first...which will have to be redone anyway. Fall is really the best time to plant trees and shrubs, as then they will get lots of rain. And, they will be cheaper at the 'year end' sales. Plant evergreens and long season perennials in the front as you and the neighbors will be looking at this area every day. Don't be afraid to take out something you don't like. Try to transplant it, or give it away. If it lives, fine, but you don't have to put up with something you don't like. Bare ground will make you feel better than a plant that irriates you. Don't plant acid loving plants close to the foundation of the house or near the cement path or sidewalk. They won't thrive. I figured this out after losing a row of azaleas, one by one. You can buy spray paint that is specially made to be sprayed holding the can upside down, so you can mark the edges of the beds. Just make sure that it isn't 'clear' paint. (Yes, it does come that way - a friend did this!) Or take a container of flour out and use that to mark plant placement or bed edges if you want a very temporary marking. The front yard is your house's public face and a place to show off your gardening skills. Rather than screening off the street, plant so that people driving or walking by will have something pleasant to look at and your visitors will find inviting. And for safety reasons, you don't want to 'hide' your house. Burglars go for entrances that are screened off from the view of the neighbors. Re paths: Make sure you leave good access to the utility boxes. Make sure you can get a lawnmower and wheelbarrow everywhere they'll need to go. You won't want low branching trees too near paths, either. If you don't have a pleasant view out the windows, one small patch of bright color will draw your eye away from the eyesore. Try a few pots of color, just set out on the ground, and see how they draw your attention. You do want to 'hide' the foundation of the house with taller, more solid shrubs. This will help transition the house into the lot, and help it look 'planted' rather than just 'plopped' onto the lot. Place lower plants further away from the house, along the path and sidewalk. You don't have to have ANY lawn in the front, but you don't have to take it all out at once, either. Have fun! Daphne in Tacoma

What plants will grow in your planter will depend on how large it is. I can't really tell how wide the planting area is from the photos. Another thing to consider when deciding on specific plants for this planter is that it will be more exposed to winter temperature extremes than plants in the ground. You'll need to have plants that are a bit hardier than ones in the ground for good survival. So if you do Hydrangeas, consider H. paniculata varieties (such as 'Limelight', 'Quickfire', etc.) which are hardy to zone 3. You could also plant vines on a trellis (perhaps of a material and style to match whatever door or ironwork you put into your archway) such as one of the hardier Clematis. I would also plant some type of groundcover or low-growing perennial to reduce weeding and spill over the planter side and use a fine-textured organic mulch between the plants until the groundcover is established. If you enlarge the bed at the base to totally surround the planter in a relatively wide (5' or 6' at a minimum) planting bed, you can put in a variety of plants that will make the planter look like it is part of a garden. Alternatively, take grass right up to the base of the planter as in Yardvark's illustration. The current thin strip of daylilies looks awkward. Because this is a planter, essentially a large pot, you will need to have a regular schedule of watering and feeding for plants to do well.