The shrubs suggested will all work fine in that location. While the statement "nothing really ever stops growing at some magical height ... " is more true than not with trees, it is not entirely accurate with shrubs. There are dozens of shrubs that will literally stop putting on any significant growth once they have reached their projected mature size and others that will continue to develop in height, attaining almost tree-like proportions. The ones listed all fit into the first category :-)) No direct sun is a different situation than full shade. Unless there is a wide overhang from the house or garage roof and no close by large trees casting shade, the north side of a structure typically offers bright but indirect light. That should increase your choices. I am going to take a wild guess from your screen name that you are located in Oklahoma? All I know about gardening in OK I've gathered by watching an old HGTV program, Gardening by the Yard, with Paul James. Paul lived and gardened in Tulsa and most of the show was filmed in his personal garden. IIRC, he could grow a very wide range of plants, almost what I could here in my warmer, northwest coastal climate. The only thing I don't recall clearly was soil pH -- not sure how well he could do the acid loving Ericaceous stuff like rhodies and azaleas or pieris. If available in local garden centers, then it must be okay! And if you are not located in OK, then ignore this :-) Other small shrubs you could consider are the above mentiooned evergreen azaleas, dwarf rhodies and pieris, Leucothoe 'Scarletta', 'Gold Mops' or 'Golden Charm' threadleaf cypress, Viburnum davidii, even some of the more compact hydrangeas, like the Endless Summer series. And if your planned boxwood is indeed 'Wintergreen', it is not a Buxus microphylla (Japanese boxwood) but Buxus sinica var. insularis, or Korean boxwood. The big difference as far as you are concerned is that Korean boxwood is hardier and also much more compact. Although relatively slow growing, Japanese boxwood can get big! btw, rejuvenation pruning is seldom applied to broadleaf evergreen shrubs - this is a technique that is most appropriate to deciduous flowering shrubs, especially "caning" shrubs or those that produce multiple stems from the root crown.

It's not going to rain before Saturday afternoon ( last weather forecast) My yard has recovered just fine,and should it get messed up a bit again who cares!!!I live on a farm!! I have forgotten who wanted the sunflower seeds last fall but( whoever) I have a big bunch of sunflowers that reseeded in my vegetable garden and because I can't bare to pull up plants I left them. The result is I have very few veggies but lots of sunflowers so you are all welcome to go gather seeds.

Lisa, The staff at Hoomaluhia Gardens told me maile is shipped in from Cook Islands or other places out of state. I don't know about the other islands, but I'm guessing they must be getting close to depleting their forests too if Oahu has to go to Cooke rather than a neighbor island for maile. (Somebody should put it into tissue culture and get it going here again.) I totally agree, and try to suggest maile cultivation to folks in the plant business. Heidi Bornhorst wrote about cultivating maile in her book, "Growing Native Hawaiian Plants", but I have had no luck contacting her.

If you've got lots of time, here is how I've been told to do it, and it seems to work: (sometime around Nov to March would probably be best)using a sharp spade cut a "dotted" circle around the roots of the shrub, with a diameter as big as you want the root ball to be (as big as you can manage when you eventually dig the plant up). You do that by pushing the spade into the ground as far as you can, then lift it, leave a space about a spade-width, and do the same thing again all around the shrub. That way you are cutting off only about half of the roots. Leave it for about two months then cut the top back hard. Leave it for another month then dig it up, with a root ball at the diameter where you previously cut the "dotted line". You now have a shrub with a small top that won't overtax the cut-back roots, but with lots of new tips which is where the plant hormone that grows roots is made. As well, the roots will have branched out where they were previously cut back, so you will have more of the small hair-roots that the plant needs to get moisture and nutrients. When you replant it, make sure the hole you are putting it into is big enough, of course, but also dig up the soil around it and under it, so that the roots will easily shoot out into the soil. Water it in really well, give it a shot of seaweed, a shot of water soluble fertilizer (at the normal rate) and then add some slow release fertilizer a couple of weeks later. Keep an eye on it for awhile, and keep the water up to it for a month or so, but don't drown it. Hope it works. Alternatively, if you move it now it will eventually recover. It is pretty hard to kill a hibiscus.