frangione..I have all three of your selections in my yard. The curly leaf ligustrum is considerably fatter than the other two but its dark,dense growth is very attractive and you can selectively prune it. It does take a few years to adapt to being transplanted but once it's satisfied with the spot,the sun and the moisture it is absolutely carefree. The skypencil holly is like an exclamation point. It's hard to combine with other shrubs. It's color matches most other nearby shrubs. I have one by the front door that's thriving in an elevated,irrigated bed and I'm not happy with it because it just doesn't blend with most other shrubs. The greenspire euonymous I also have in a back yard border and also in pots waiting to be planted. They've been in those pots for more than 5 years and that limits their growth but not their vigor. Greenspire gets decimated by the deer. If you have deer browsing your yard, choose something besides the greenspire. They, like the skypencil, grow like an exclamation point although their color is somewhat lighter than most foundation shrubs so they blend without disappearing. They have occasionally gone completely dead looking,bleached out and drop all their leaves only to come back a few months with new,normal growth. I'd go for the curly leaf if I were you. Just know you should prune it rather than clip it when you want a different,thinner shape.

Good heavens, how on earth did I miss all this discussion? I guess I was busy in the bedroom. I mean, DECORATING the bedroom. Squirrel, thanks for clueing me in on my other post. D'oh!! Annz, you are right, the room with a darker color is just downright dreary. I think I made a quick reference somewhere above to having a disastrous go at it with a darker color (which happened to be blue). It was AWFUL and dark and ... just ... No. No no no no no. This room, like the bedroom I'm trying to finish, has a lower-ish ceiling and is quite shady in the summertime. "Cozy" and dark was depressing, even though it only lasted 12 hours. I just wanted to cry in there. One thing that really complicates the matter is the floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace. Of course, that doesn't go with the yellow-y oak at all. So finding a hue that worked with BOTH the brick and the oak was a chore and a half. BM Carlisle Cream was IT. For whatever reason, it just pulls the two together and now I don't hate them. I think you can see the brick fireplace on one of the pics in the link to "other pics" in my initial post. I just don't know what to think about the crown, but Squirrel, you ROCK!!! Giving me the view of so many options is incredibly helpful. I do like the "taller" base moulding -- absolutely balances better, assuming the crown stays. And the crown is definitely better wrapped, but wow, I'm not sure how we would accomplish that. I think this was all custom made for the previous owner and they told us the carpenter who did it is actually now deceased!! So ... hmm. Tell you what. The contractor is back today to install slate around the base of the brick hearth, and our area rug, which was sent out to the cleaners, should be delivered back to us today. We should be able to put the room back together tomorrow and then I'll post new pics. Maybe that will help! You are all so incredibly generous with your time and ideas. Thank you, thank you all (especially Squirrel, with your terrific mock-ups)!!

Ratdogheads - in answer to your question, I could have sworn my HOE was own root, but it was actually grafted from Jackson & Perkins about 9 years ago. I strongly suspect it has gone own root since I no longer see a graft and I didn't know to bury it in those days. I wouldn't hesitate to plant it own root. I love the changeable color and style of the blooms, all of which I think would complement Darcy Bussell nicely. In this relatively dark bloom, there are hints of the crimson-purple DB shows: She can tend toward an orange-apricot color in cool temperatures, as she was here this May: Most of the time she's a blush color with nice cupped but open blooms like this: To give you an idea of relative size, here is HOE mixed in with other large shrubs in my zone 4 pocket of part shade. The shot is a little bleached out, but HOE is the palest rose mostly in the center of the shot. You can see my 5' black fence behind it and it is already up to the fence in an average year by June as seen here: Bottom line - it's a lovely survivor for me. Cynthia

There is nothing remotely tropical about the Pacific Northwest!! Far from it! It never gets very cold nor does it get very hot in summer. It is just a mild winter area so the number of plants that can grow here and survive winter comprise a hugely large list. Any tropical plants that grow here are very cold hardy tropicals or plants that look tropical but are not. I know a lot about a lot of plants because they all grow well in my climate and I have grown or encountered a lot of them over the course of my gardening and nursery career. Zone 6&7 plants and even zone 4&5 plants grow here perfectly well....pretty much everything thing you grow, I can grow :-)) I can just add a bunch more that won't survive in a colder winter climate. And as to the tree spacing, if you select carefully for size and rate of growth and are equally careful about placement and siting, it is relatively easy to get a decent quantity of trees into a smallish area that mesh together well in terms of differing canopy heights and spreads. So they do not overcrowd each other and there are minimal concerns about poor air circulation.