hey liz.. royal oak eh?? [from your members page] .. grew up in livonia... and bought my first house there ... first.. refer to the link .... for a suggestion as how to proceed ... linds ... did it right.. by catching us.. when we were bored out of our minds.. prior to the weather breaking ... note the pix we requested.. as well as having her define what her goals were ... and they did not end up being what she started with ... and its your use of common terms.. that is confusing you .. and us.. as to where to go with this ... e.g... evergreens... well.. that covers a wide range of things ... i THINK you are talking about conifers ... if you are.. that is where linds started .... and that is usually the backbones of the front of ones house ... but there are many other plants that are .. in essence.. evergreen ... so you need to define what you are talking about ... and technically.. conifers are NOT shrubs.. though i also called them such for decades .... but it is not helpful in defining where we want to go .... BTW .. your link doesnt work.. and that pic is not going to be helpful to anyone defining a plan ... and take a walk some evening.. and snap a pic or two.. of what other peeps have done with the front of their houses.. to help you define what you like.. and give us some guidance as to where you want to go ... you are spot on with the foundation ... when i had my first house in livonia.. i learned that 3 feet AT THE FOUNDATION .. should be left blank ... so i could get a ladder in there.. to do gutters.. paint.. xmas lights.. window washing.. etc ... and if you agree with that.. then you should 'see' that your bed is horribly out of configuration .... lol .. i just glanced up.. and i see the neighbor still has the ugly old improperly planted conifer .... and the root of your problem might be this forum.. but you never know ...... the conifer forum is much more active.. than the shrub forum.. and not every one of the peeps there.. come thru here ... so if this post dwindles.. try over there ... my best suggestion ... is to define and build some great beds.. for planting in fall .. the next proper season for planting conifers .. and trees.. as i doubt you can properly build those beds in time ... you simply should not plant such.. in the heat of summer ... but .... once you define the beds.. and add some of your annuals.. and perennials.. then we can get the backbones in place in fall ... of my 600 conifers.. about half came in the mail ... and that is how you get truly unique things.. rather than JUST what the bigboxstore offers ... well.. that and a budget.. lol .. of course .. as compared to me in adrian mi ... you have some great large upscale nurseries in the area including bordines .. english gardens.. etc ... so.. get us some better pix.. that perhaps we can photoshop ... and lets try to find some words that explain where you want to go .. oh.. i would expand that bed to about 10 feet from the house.. which would make it only 7 feet deep to work with .. it would NOT be straight across.. and we would have to figure out how to deal with what i will guess is an arcing walkway .... [any chance you want to replace that with brick as a part of the process] ... and i would insure.. that some part of the plants introduce a vertical element.. as compared to your 1950's metro detroit ranch ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Hi Shay, Skip the Sweet Olive...one of my favorits but it is not suited as a hedge. Shearing it makes it major ugly and it never looks "right" after the first time you wack it. Besides, the leaves are to thinly spaced early in life to be a good as a hedge. Instead, find good places here and there in your yard as an accent. They appriciate a bit of shade too. Gardenias, also a wonderfull plant for a lot of reasons, will probably just shrivel up and die in the all-day sun you have along the wall. They are a plant that (like Sweet Olive) likes morning sun but all day can be hard on them. You need a hard working, utility shrub- there are many to choose from but, if it were me, given your situation, I would choose one of the cultivars of Holly. Thick, evergreen, fast growth, look great when sheared and do not need tons of water once established. Did I mention cheap? Find good sized 1 gal plants for about 4.99 at most any Lowes ect.- since you are needing a lot to go around the foundation of your house, skip the more expensive 3-5 gal ones. There are many Hollies to choose from but the one you want is "Dwarf Burford"---it is goof-proof. Always looks good, nice berries in fall and not many spines but just enough to perhaps keep an intruder from wanting to climb in a window. Tim

That Checkmate is gorgeous. But been there, not done that with the rhodies. Last year I suggested some dwarf rhodies (not for the purple color but because I like them, lol) and they were too pricey for her, and the cheaper ones were too small. My friend is not a gardener, doesn't really want to wait for things to grow, and isn't really patient in terms of experimenting. And, in her defense, I have to say that it is ME who is thinking this sea of chartreuse needs a shot of purple, not her. She seems to be very happy with things... I just know I could make her happier, lol. The trick is talking her into spending the money and convincing her that she WILL be happier! I should add that her front windows are unusually low, so we do need to keep anything we plant on the small side (hence the dwarf rhodie suggestion on my part). I also considered a cimicifuga, and while I ruled it out for these two particular spots, I may add one further along the bed (we extended one side of the foundation bed to run along the driveway). I almost responded saying that I had checked out physocarpus today and they are too big, but on a whim I just googled dwarf physocarpus and got a hit for a Tiny Wine. Only trouble is I can't find any image of it except a close-up of it's blooms. I'll keep looking. PM2, thanks for the info on the Midnight Wine. I guess this won't work for this spot, but again, maybe for the stretch along the driveway. She wants the front two beds to be pretty similar, but we are mixing things up a bit along the driveway, although trying to keep the same color scheme. Hedy, would you mind taking a look at the link below, scrolling down to Gazania's photo of her Bonfire, and telling me if yours is similar? I am going to go look up the hypericum you mentioned. Thanks! (By the way, right below that Bonfire photo is a photo of a barberry with chartreuse shrubs, justt o rub in how great it would look with my spireas....) Thank you all! Dee Here is a link that might be useful: thread with euphorbia Bonfire

Make sure to select a variety of cistus that does stay small and compact :-)) Some get to be pretty hefty shrubs - 5-6' tall and as wide. I am personally very fond of the intergeneric hybrid xHalimiocistus wintonensis 'Merrist Wood Cream'. As drought tolerant as both its parents (Cistus and Halimium), it stays small, has a longer bloom season than a regular rockrose, and has a great pale yellow flower with a burgundy center.