Selective vision is a good skill to have, Marianne -- it's always something. And everyone probably grows roses that won't survive the historical, but rare, extremes of where they live. Here, all it would take is a winter with temps going into the Farenheit teens, as it periodically does, and I know there are roses of mine that are likely to be lost or very damaged. I try not to think of that. A winter without snow is the truest and worst test of hardiness. In western Massachusetts, in winters with little snow the mortality would definitely be worse. On the other hand, if the snow laid deep all winter, the plants were protected, but the voles would take advantage of added cover and access to strip every bit of bark and roots beneath the snow line sometimes. I still remember the spring after one winter of deep snow and feeling pleased to see the perennials and roses emerging from the snow one day. The next day, every plant in 15' of one border was totally wilted and, upon investigation, none of them had roots -- all eaten. The only happy note was that a patch of bracken fern I had been fighting for years suffered the same fate that winter and never returned.

Thank you for that tip akamainegrower. I will definitely not plant those trees if they won't do well in Massachusetts. Definitely wouldn't want to plant something just to have to get rid of it because it didn't make it through the harsh winter. akamainegrower and ken_adrian, I'm not sure what you mean by no tree stops growing when it reaches its mature height. If that were true we would have trees thousands of miles tall. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you? Sorry LOL tornado3800, thank you for the suggestions. Unfortunately I don't like the look of the paperbark maple, and we don't want a tree with pink flowers, which the redbud has. :/ ken_adrian, thank you for the "congrats" :) i didn't even realize i said it that much LOL davidrt28, it does actually get pretty hot over here in Massachusetts in the summer time, with temps often up in the 80s but "feels like" temp in the 90s, due to the super high humidity. Yesterday I didn't even want to go outside because the air was so thick and humid, it was difficult to breathe. Although, I would much rather have this weather than the bitter cold temps of winter with its cloudy, dreary skies. The lacebark elm would probably get too tall for us, but thank you for the suggestion. :) We have solar panels on the roof we don't want to block the sun from shining on them. We still are not sure what we want to plant in the corner and middle of the back fence, but we think we found a tree to plant in a row along the side fence... the Crimson Pointe. What are your thoughts on that? I looked it up, and it grows in our zone, meets our criteria for "mature height", and my fiance likes it a lot, even though it flowers (finally one we both like). We would plant several in a row for privacy on the side from the two-story neighboring house. Does anyone know what the growth rate is like for a Crimson Pointe? I attached a picture of a row of them I found online. Thanks so much for all the tips and suggestions everybody :)

Hi Sedum ...yes, I was thinking that people who work with plants are probably not usually that interested in computers, I suppose, but what about all of us here on GW? We are all pretty good in that department? Does it take that much to update a website? More than adding an entry to a blog, let's say? I can't imagine that it would be more than an hour job once a week and many of their employees might be capable of doing it. Am I wrong? You are right Mahoney's doesn't update theirs, BUT they do have an email newsletter, in which they send out specials with photos and everything. I get one. Weston Nurseries...not sure if they update theirs, but they have that gardener's club and when you join they send regular email letting you know what is on sale and if they have special seminar weekends, etc. I receive that one too. I can understand that they are below their usual sales. There has not been a lot of planting weather so far. Once I get past a certain period, I sometimes will just forget my plans and make do with what I have. Soon it might be a little hot to be planting or moving anything without having to really babysit them. I will usually wait for the fall to start making any other major additions in the perennial or shrubs category. Thanks for the link...I missed that article yesterday. Well...I am still in a buying mood though, as I have hardly bought a thing! Two NG impatiens, 1 six pack of pansies, 3 tomato plants and one coleus and one abutilon and that is it. I attribute that to winter sowing more than I do the weather though. Actually though, the last time I was at a nursery, a lot of their plants looked worse from the rain than mine did at home. I do have a hankering for some really new and cutting edge annuals...maybe flowerfields or proven winners and some really exotic coleus, but of course those are the most expensive and anyway, I am not seeing anything I really can't live without. And the PRICES!! Wow, I am having sticker shock and so thankful I did winter sowing this year. I really don't think I would feel comfortable buying everything that I would want for the season at the prices of plants. I think I used to buy 6 packs for around $3. Am I remembering right? Now I have to buy one special annual for $5 or $6. If I could buy 6 packs or even 4 packs for around $4. I would be buying a lot more. If nurseries would offer the quart sizes like Lexington Gardens does for perennials, I would buy more. If they would stop using the most popular sought after annuals to make up $40. hanging baskets and not sell them in smaller sizes, I would be buying more of them. That reminds me of something else that Lexington Gardens does that I really appreciate and use. They print up a simple typed list in booklet form of everything they are planning on having in stock for the season. They just leave them at the checkouts, so the first time I visit there in the early spring, or whenever they come out with it, I pick one up and the next time I am looking for something, I can see if they have it. Thanks again Sedum, for the link and the conversation. :-)

Thanks for the additional photos and the bed measurements. I am fairly sure from looking at your photos that your house doesn't face due north, since in all your photos there is sun either on the front of the house (first photo, taken either early morning or late afternoon) or on the bed itself (last two photos, taken an hour or two before or after noon, based on the shadow from the house next door.) So you should probably go to Google Earth (which always has north up like a map) and find your house to figure out what direction it's really facing before we go any further on plants. It looks more like it gets close to a half day of sun and even when in shade, the shade will be bright, so you have more flexibility on what you can plant beyond shade plants. I'd still love a photo from across the street or plot plan that shows how deep the lot is and how wide, so I can figure out where to put a tree or two which are the only things large enough to ground your house and how to pull the landscape out some to also help ground the house. I would also love to be able to see both corners to see how to frame the front of the house, perhaps some flowering small trees or a taller spire of an evergreen. I still think that a more vase-shaped medium sized tree such as a Heritage birch would look great offset from the house, both over toward the right side and well out into the yard. Plant it so that the ultimate width won't overflow into the neighbor's yard. I am thinking generally that the front beds need to be made just a bit deeper and planted with two rows of shrubs and in front of that a row of perennials in just 2 or three colors with several plants per group for mass effect. One row of shrubs should be all one kind of evergreen that will stay below window height or shorter, one a long flowering shrub such as one of the reblooming Hydrangea macrophyllas such as your current Endless Summer (since it is doing well) or one of the longest blooming, and then a front row of perennials in just 2 or three colors. Depending on the evergreens and the flowering shrubs, you might have either closest to the house (though plant leave at least 2 feet with no plants behind the ultimate shrub size for maintenance and to prevent house damage.) On the walkway side, the perennials can be on the side away of the walk away from the house, continuing across the entire front in a straight line but filling in back to the shrubs on the right side of the house. This will give you something with enough mass to be visible against the house from the road (unlike the current one of this and one of that), and walking to the house will be through the garden rather than in front of the garden. Look at the first photo in thisthread from the blog of a wonderful landscape designer in the Detroit area, Deborah Silver, for something of the effect I am thinking of for your house's shrubs. She used H. paniculata Limelight, a taller hydrangea that is only just starting to bloom here, but you can choose one that will reach a height that come to just about your window sill level. The evergreens provide some color and structure for the five or so months that the Hydrangeas are bare, but don't need to be a formal sheared hedge as this yew hedge is. They can be a looser, naturally low growing evergreen. For your proportionately taller, narrower house (compared to the one in the blog), I would plant the trees off the corners, whether small flowering trees or taller narrow spires and a larger tree off to the side farther out into the yard toward the road as I mentioned above. You might even consider a medium hedge out closer to the road (though not close enough to be in conflict with winter snow plowing) to help bring higher the "ground feel" from the road (which looks like it must be lower than the house) to balance the house height. Something low maintenance with flowers such as some of the newer low care shrub roses or rugosa roses, or Hydrangea paniculata might work. For your current plants, move them to the back or side yard if you have a place for them, or advertise them as free if the taker digs them.