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Texas Gardening

Dallas Area foundation shrubs suggestions

newperenniallover

15 years ago

I recently bought a house in the Dallas/Frisco area and would like to completely redo the front flower bed. I need suggestions for foundation shrubs. Need something around 3 feet tall and they would be getting morning sun and afternoon shade. Need something rabbit resistant! Do not like nandinas and the husband has an odd dislike for hawthorns. Ideas?

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Comments (9)

debndal
15 years ago
Carissa Holly gets to 3-4 feet. There is a dwarf cleyera, Jade Tiara that is pretty, but they don't grow uniformly so you wouldn't want a row of them. Some of the abelias are nice and have white flowers. I'd mix 2-3 different shrubs for interest, rather than a long row of the same thing.
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
Abelia plants are nice but not sure if they're rabbit resistant. Nice fragrance in the spring when you have enough of them. I have a lot of them in my backyard and I never knew they'd smell that good when they started blooming in April or May. Avoid Glossy variety though.
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I have acid moist well-drained sandy loam soil and am on the edge between zones 4 & 5. Here are some plants to look at that work well for me. If there are smaller forms of Viburnum plicatum, that might work as they grow and bloom well with dappled or part shade IME. They have late spring white flowers, tidy summer foliage and red toned autumn color. Sorry about the lopsided shape of mine - a tree dropped on it. From 2013 Some of the smaller forms of reddish-foliaged ninebark might work there - I am not sure how large the smaller forms get. See fall photo with Hydrangea. There are other forms of Hydrangea paniculata than Pee Gee that have been selected for plant and blossom size, bloom color such as more lime in Limelight or early blushing in Quick Fire, or earlier or later bloom time, and you might want to check out some of these. I leave the dry blossoms on my H. paniculata for winter interest and prune them off about now. I also grow clematis (small flowered, hard prune type 3) into my H. paniculata to increase the bloom time, and since I can prune in late fall to 2 or 3 bud pairs per stem, it doesn't look messy in the winter. Here is Quick Fire with Clematis 'Little Bas' in midsummer. From clematis on hydrangea July 9, 2013 and the same plant in late September with a large ninebark, Coppertina, to the left. From 2013 Fothergilla is a shrub with white bottlebrush-shaped spring flowers, neat summer foliage (some forms bluish), and stunning red/orange/gold fall foliage. From 2013 Sorry theses Fothergilla flowers were wet, but it give an idea of their spring look. They have a lovely light honey scent.
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Consider Leucothoe axillaris - it can handle sun and shade, the occasional wet and regular moisture (thanks to the gap by the gutter). I picked up a couple of 1 gallon plants at my Home Depot recently. 'Margie Jenkins' is a cultivar of this plant and they sell that sometimes as well. The new foliage is reddish and shiny, very attractive. Also deer resistant if you need that. Here is a link that might be useful: Leucothoe axillaris
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Suggestions for foundation shrub that's shaded till noon
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Comments (6)
Partial sun in CA, especially CCCty, is like full sun in many areas. My roses do pretty well in similar conditions. On the downside, they aren't always beautiful, especially in the 6 weeks after being pruned back in late winter. I think most camellias get bigger than 4' tall, don't they? I'm just getting into them, and it's hard to find any that are listed at less than 10' mature size. 6' is a midget in camellias, it seems. You could always try the ever-dependable Euryops with its yellow daisy-like flowers. There's two varieties - dark green leafed and a gray-green leafed that is shorter (which means it tops out 4' instead of 6'). Also, there's a couple of varieties of dwarf Rhaphiolepsis indica shrubs that only get to 4', with lovely pink flowers once or twice a year. Very handsome dark green shiny foliage is evergreen, too. It needs good air circulation or it's prone to anthracnose. It has a lovely open shape and grows quickly - mine has reached the 3-1/2' mark in from a quart container, in less than four years, with very little summer water.
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Without knowing some of the information whitecap brought up, my first thought would be to go native and go with the toughest plants on the natives list. I'm in DFW but just finished planting evergreen foundation shrubs last fall to serve as the "bones" of my flowerbed. One suggestion (although not a Texas native) would be Wheeler's Dwarf Pittosporum. They only grow about 2-3 feet high and a bit wider. They're evergreen with a low, rounded, mounding and spreading growth habit and lovely shrubs. They survived the freezes we had in DFW and can take the heat as well. I only covered them when we were expecting ice but the other freezes, I didn't cover them. They've made it through with only slight damage to the tender new growth. I also find dwarf nandina really pretty as well as glossy abelia and Edward Goucher abelia. All evergreen, all fairly small at mature size (except the glossy abelia, which gets about 4 to 6 feet). I have these in my flowerbed and consider them pretty tough since they're planted in alkaline clay soil and have survived this weird winter we just had.
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dallasguy
15 years ago
I have a tea rose called "Ducher" in the front of one of my beds. It is an earthkind rose so it needs no spraying. It gets 3-4' tall and about as wide. It has great red/green foliage and white blooms from march-december. I am not sure if it is rabbit resistant. North Haven Gardens in Dallas has this plant in stock
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
I'm not sure if Ducher rose would be getting enough sun (great rose! I have it) in your bed but for less sun, I have Marie Pavie in my backyard facing east so it only gets half day of sun.I had read that it can do fine with 4 hours of direct sun.
aufelipe
15 years ago
Don't forget plain ol' rosemary. It takes almost no care, will get to 3 feet, and stays evergreen.
As a bonus you might get occasional purple flowers, and you can snip it for cooking if you like that.
dallasguy
15 years ago
My Ducher gets morning sun only as it is shaded by a big pecan tree. It is one year old and is 3x4 and blooms very well. I have another one in my backyard that gets full sun and it is 4x6. BTW I was wrong, Ducher is a china rose not a tea.

I guess it depends on the way you want to go with your front yard. If you want it to look like everyone elses in the neighborhood nandinas or hawthorns would be fine. I just thought that suggesting an old garden rose would be something different. I have Marie Pavie too and it is a great rose. However, I think that the foliage on Ducher is more interesting. I like the red and green contrast of the stems and leaves and Ducher is much fuller and shrub-like in its growth.
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
Dallasguy,

Thanks for the information. It's my first year growing Marie Pavie and Ducher (and Grandma's yellow roses). I've grown Mutablis and KO roses for several years and I thought they were easy to grow so I figured I'd add more colors to my yard with Marie Pavie, Ducher, and others that I plan on getting more.

Funny that you mentioned about having a yard looking like everyone elses in the neighborhood. Boring...
dallasguy
15 years ago
Cool Lou, where are you getting your roses from? I am getting into the china,bourbon and tea roses. I started with some knockouts and floribundas but am getting rid of the knockouts as you tend to see them everywhere. Knockouts are a great landscape rose, but like a Monet painting, up close they look like a mess compared to the china and tea roses. Whoever did the marketing for the knockout series is a genius, as there are many other roses out there that are a lot more interesting looking that have the disease resistance, fragrance and continuous bloom.

Randy
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
Randy, I get mine from Petal Pushers in Cedar Hill. It's the closest to where I live and they have good selection of old roses. Weston Garden and North Havens have them but they are a little too far for me.

For internet, I buy roses from Chamblee's and Vintage. China roses are supposedly easy to grow here in Dallas area so I'm trying White Pearl in Red Dragon's Mouth, Bengal Fire ( Miss Lowe?), and Cramosi Superiuer (never could spell that right). I am also trying Mrs Dudley Cross... I got a another Marie Pavie from Vintage as I've read that it's different than the eastern ones so I'm curious to find out if that's the case.

I don't know about KO roses... I'm one of very few (3 or 4) in my neighborhood growing KO roses. There doesn't seem to be very many "gardeners" here. Maybe it's the rocky soil that they just gave up trying to plant something. It's not easy and it is very time consuming compared what I've experienced elsewhere.

Right now, I'm just enjoying this

MUCH needed rainfall... :)

Lou

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