I would say daylillies, iris and maybe a peony. Not sure how much space u have. And for spring blooms, throw in some tulips and hyacinth, although these must be planted in late fall.

How tall are his dwarf nandina at the present time? I ask, because most of the blue-flowering plants I can think of that flower in the summer or fall are salvias and they likely will get taller than his dwarf nandinas.

Other than salvias, there are not a lot of blue-flowering perennials that bloom in summer and would tolerate a hot western exposure and also stay short enough that they would not obscure his dwarf nandinas. However, if you'll let us known the height of the dwarf nandinas, maybe we can come up with some blues, oranges and reds.

Dawn

I love my veronica which blooms blue all summer long. It is drought tolerant and has done very nicely, neglected in a west facing bed. I've included a to Better Homes & Gardens. It comes in colors other than the one shown in the picture.

Here is a link that might be useful: Veronica

I would do a mix of salvia farinacea and stella d'oro daylilies. Both should pretty easy to find. A lot of gardeners will turn up their noses at stellas, but they work well for people who are not gardeners.

The salvia farinacea will be perennial here and take very little effort.

Here is a link that might be useful: salvia f. images

Thanks so much for all the lovely thoughts. I would love all those ideas for my garden, so we're thinking alike :-)

I thought daylilies too for long blooms and carefree, but couldn't find any in blue (that doesn't look purple). This is a single guy and although my fav. color is purple, it's not a guy color to him.

Thought about irises since they're blooming all over now ... could mix bloom times, but can't picture them being "in between" plants. The kind that flow with the bushes. The green is so sharp and angled. Also concerned about them spreading since ours here multiply pretty quickly.

This kid isn't into gardening so he doesn't dig in the dirt. Whatever we plant will have to be in June, not Fall. Hyacinth is my favorite bulb.

Salvias is another one I thought a LOT about and mentioned since it's so easy and it doesn't spread fast and seems like it would look good in front of bushes. No competition. It would definitely steal the show in a swath across the bed. We have ours lining the walkway to the door and always get great comments on it.

The nandinas are kept about 3' high so they don't cover the window (house on slab, so they're pretty low). There's only about 18" to work with before you get to the grass.

The veronica is really pretty and looking further I saw a blue one that may work for him: Veronica 'Crater Lake' -
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/zoom_w.html?zoom_pic=veronica_creater_lake_blueDSC03539_W.jpg

Not sure if we should plant something else with this (if he likes it) or go with the same thing across both sides. It's not a long amt. of space - not a huge house.

The Salvia farinacea is my favorite here but it's also definitely purple. I didn't know it would be perennial there though since it's considered an annual here, although we kept them for 3 yrs covered with leaves in the winter, but I guess they just got too cold on the last one. I put more in a couple weeks ago.

Another area he has is when you go into the covered area to walk to the door, there's some dirt on both sides that he wants to put flowers in. That would be shaded some, but with the bright west sun coming in I wouldn't think that should be a problem. He thinks it's shaded but he's probably looking at it in the morning. He works late so doesn't get in to see it at night.

Maybe some red salvias would do well there. What varieties do well out there that are perennial? That area the height wouldn't matter. Wonder if there's enough light for daylilies there? hmmm .... do they need all day sun? Seem to remember they do.

Something higher than salvias would really look better there.

Donna

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1102102}}

I'm just bumping this up. I'm still thinking about this and couldn't remember when you would be planting.

My office bldg complex went with lantana and the salvia farinacea for the summer flowerbeds. It looks really nice.

I have some salvia f. that is a lot bluer than others. There is also a perennial salvia, Blue Hill? maybe. This picture looks fairly purple, but I think mine are bluer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Hill Salvia

Thanks, Lisa, for further ideas. I like the salvia for sure, so maybe they will find some of that and he can choose seeing the actual color, cause the photo is definitely purple to him. He does like the Veronica and I'm glad for that.

Is lantana a perennial out in Okla. City?

I didn't mention in the orig. post that it would need to be perennials. He's not into gardening and doesn't want anything to do with replanting things. He has a sprinkler system installed on timer and somebody that comes to cut the bushes. Lifestyles of male singles. LOL Probably wouldn't want to be caught outside planting flowers. :-) I do love lantana and that would be great for butterflies, but here in VA it won't winter over. It did when we lived in AL.

What about verbena? Does it winter over in Okla. City?

I do have a perennial lantana but it's pink and yellow. It's a special breed of perennial lantana, I think, not the usual annuals they have Lowes. I've occasionally been able to overwinter regular lantanas because I'm a big mulcher.

What about a verbena? I bought purple last summer and it came back this year. It did great until I moved it last week.

Donna,
I have the Blue Hills salvia that Lisa mentioned, and it's very definitely blue, not purple. It's beautiful and a fast grower, and it bloomed profusely all through the very hot summer we had last year. Mine is in full sun from morning til night, so it will do fine in a west-facing area. It starts blooming in April and blooms until it freezes in the fall.

By the way, I love your user name!

Suzie

Lantana is not a perennial here, except for one or two types. I have a friend who overwinters hers, (it is a large bush), but I've never had any luck with it.

The only verbena I know that is supposed to be perennial is homestead, but it is purple.

Blue is tough, and perennial blue is even tougher! I would take him to a nursery or even Lowes and HD and let him look. We can give you the name of some nurseries in the area if you like.

If you want to holler at me when you get here, I'll be happy to meet you and tell you if it's hardy here.

I would still recommend the stella daylilies. They are short, hardy and easy to find! They are yellow/gold though.

Lisa

If you want to order plants, Bluestone is a good nursery. I've ordered from them a number of times.

Lisa

Suzie, thanks for letting me know about the Blue Hill Salvia that Lisa recommended. I did email our son that name and told him to google images so he could see that there were some photos that it was blue. After all they didn't name it Blue Hill for nothing, right? :-)

Lisa, you are so kind to offer to assist even out there. What a dedicated lover of plants you are! I think we'll be fine once he decides what to do. Taking him to a nursery is what I'd like to avoid since I remember my early days of gardening when I didn't know what would survive where and how important sun/shade, water, etc. was. I just saw something I liked and that was it. I figured I could make it work. LOL We all know that isn't how it goes.

He's also not an easy decider on topics where he's not real knowledgeable about, so deciding this way with one choice at a time is good. I think he'll go for this one vs. the Crater Lake Veronica with the longer bloom time on the salvia. Regardless, we'll have two options to have in case the place doesn't have it. June is a bit late on nurseries as they sell so much in May.

I'd love recommendations on nurseries. I was going to just look them up online when I had the definite of what he would consider. I'm thinking we may need to have him pick them up so he'll have them to put in. Since his sprinkler runs on a timer he can just sit them in the sun somewhere that the sprinkler will hit in the backyard until it's time to plant. I just want to definitely have them.

So .. thank you SOOOO much for being so helpful. WOW! It's amazing how a little help from friends makes a world of difference.

Thanks for the comment on SharingSunshine. It's actually part of the corporate name of the place I work: TheHerbsPlace.com. But it goes well on a gardening forum, doesn't it ... since we're all sharing the sunshine in our gardens. Thanks for making me think of it a different way, Suzie.

Also ... thanks for the Bluestone recommendation. If we must go that route we shall.

Blessings to each of you!
Donna

I'm not sure which side of the city he's on, but here's a start

Precure Nursery on Reno, west of Council. I like this one, it is not as large as TLC, but it has a nice range of plants.

TLC (the one on Memorial (between OKC and Edmond) is the largest), the staff is pretty knowledgeable, it's a bit pricey, but for a wide range of plants, it's probably the best.

Anyone else want to jump in here? Those two are the ones I go to the most, but I know there are more.

Lisa

I think there is a Precure also on 63rd & Meridian, but haven't been there. I usually hit TLC on Memorial or Horn's Seed Co on NW Expressway & Classen if I want something special. The Lowe's at Memorial and Penn and the Home Depot at Memorial just north of Penn are also pretty good with decent plants at a reasonable price. HD beats Lowe's on price for many of the plant items I buy. For a newbie, the 1 yr guarantee at the big box stores could be good for basics.

I also think that the big box plants have had to deal with neglect and sometimes they seem to be a little tougher in my yard than TLC's babies.

Thanks for the names. He lives in Yukon, but my husband has family in OKC that lives near Warr Acres. Since our son has a roommate we don't stay there. I've not had good luck with big box stores. They seemed to have "drugged out" plants and when they hit my native garden that I don't fuss over, they get whimpy, whine and die. The year guarantee won't help him if they die. He wants something that we can put in and he can water and enjoy. The landscape guy will fertilize when necessary I'm sure ... but I don't find a lot of selection at Lowe's, etc. Just a lot of what they do have but not much variety. It may be different there. We also don't have a Home Depot. We get our plants from a place that buys the plants within our state and that have not saturated them with chemicals so they could make a thousand mile trip w/o dying in a tractor trailer. LOL

Glad to have some names to begin with. I will wait till Monday to call since Sat. will probably be a day when they will not want to answer the phones.

Hugs to you guys! (I grew up in PA and that's a Jersey term :-).

Donna

I've purchased a few things from a nursery in the Warr Acres/Bethany area. I think they do mostly home-grown. Lemme see if I can think of the name and location. It's near my grandma's house, so ya know, sometimes you just get a yen to pull over an buy some plants when you are on your way to a visit. :)

Oh yeah, Horns! How could I forget them!

Precure on Reno wouldn't be horribly far away.

I buy a lot from Lowes, but usually from their clearance rack. Mia and I live in the same neighborhood, I see we hit up the same places!

Mia,

You might be thinking of that Grandpa's Green Thumb nursery...on 50th, west of MacArthur?? I pass it on Sundays as I'm coming home from church :~)

Sharon

Thanks, Sharon, that's it. I've bought only a few bedding annuals there, so not sure how select the specialty varieties are, but I remember the staff (maybe even Grandpa himself!) was very nice and helpful and the plants did well.

My mother-in-law loved to shop at Grandpa's Green Thumb, and she was a wonderful gardener and very particular about her plants. I remember one year taking her to several different places looking for geraniums. She wouldn't buy them if they didn't fit her criteria, and Grandpa's Green Thumb was the place she finally found just what she was looking for. Since it's on the west side of the city, it isn't too far from Yukon. It is smaller and doesn't have the variety of the large nurseries like TLC. I like TLC's variety and their helpful staff. TLC has a one-year warranty on some things, I think it's perennials, shrubs and trees.

Good luck!

Suzie

Go to TLC together and pick out plants. It will be fun.

Here is a link that might be useful: TLC

Thanks again for all the info. My in-laws shop at TLC. Apparently they were the ones that redid their entire landscaping remake quite a few years back. So they like them ... but I will check all places since our son REALLY likes the Blue Hill Salvia so that's where we're going to try to go with this small project. You would think we were building a rocket ship. LOL

I would order the Blue Hill Salvia, I'm not sure I've ever seen it on the shelves around here.

Planning is half the fun :) (well, I hear it is! I don't plan very much!)

Lisa

LOL - so funny, Lisa! Planning is hard for a garden, cause when you think you've got a plan, you see plants that aren't on it and continue to revise and revise and revise.

Thanks BIG for the tip on the Blue Hill Salvia not being available locally. I have been waiting for our son to tell me whether he wants that on the side of the walkway that goes into the door since he has a small bed on each side. He's into pretty BASIC so I imagine he'll want it all the same. Figured I'd order it right away if I found a nursery with it in OKC, so I hadn't called yet.

I guess I'll still call though ... maybe they'll have something similar and I could swap it out and have him go pick it up and be sure that he LIKES it if it weren't Blue Hill. He's not great on decisions, so this simple plan has certainly seemed rather complicated while he ponders. LOL As you would imagine, I'm a fast decider. It comes from my hubby :-) but he's a great balance for me so I am NOT complaining.

I guess Phlox would be to tall?

I think Summer Phlox would be too tall and it really takes over too quickly. He will not want to pay to have it managed since he uses a guy to do the gardening and he's supposed to just trim and mow. Also I don't know if there's a true blue summer phlox. I googled but most of them came up purple looking. I love my phlox here but I keep it in pots since it's hard to keep from the other plants in the garden ... besides the deer like it here.

Okay, Oklahoma friends ... here's another one for you. He had a tree planted in the front yard - out from the flower bed we were talking about, so it's west sun and no shade from anything else.

He now wants to replace that cause it died and was taken out. He mentioned a Japanese Maple, but I know they are fussy and I don't think they like that much sun, so not in favor of that.

Mentioned a cedar for cover and berries for birds (I'm really a fan of gardening for birds), but his grandmother is allergic to those so can't do that and they do get a bit taller than he wants.

Thinking a white Crape Myrtle since he doesn't want a tree that will grow over his house and could fall on roof in a storm.

Do Crapes do well on west side?

What other options would he have that wouldn't be fussy?

Thanks so much.

Here is a link that might be useful: