Carol...thank you so much for your quick response!!! There is one more shrub there and we don't know what this one is either. It is about 4-5 ft tall. I meant to post them all at once but forgot to put it in the message! From Shrubs

Here's another suggestion, The Gift, which is a polyantha, but a BIG one. It is only a single. However, when in bloom it is quite spectacular. The whole plant is covered in fragrant white flowers. Easily makes it to 4 feet in California. Very bushy and round. No knees visible at all. I took a picture of Eurodesert's plant on May 8, 2011 when it was just starting to bloom: Someone else bought it, but I really liked it, and after it had been dug up and shipped, there was still a tiny sprig left in the ground where the huge mother plant had been. I asked Cliff Orent if I could have it, and he said yes, so I pulled that tiny sprig out of the ground with my gloved hand and stuck it in one of the 15 gallon pots I had purchased. Brought it home. Didn't expect it could possibly live with such rude treatment. Stuck it in the ground with a little potting soil. It took root and is now about a foot high. The link at HMF shows the same mother plant as my photo but taken when in full bloom. I don't know the date it was taken but the plant doesn't appear as large as it did in May of last year. Other pics on HMF indicate it can get big. It sure can put on impressive displays of flowers! Parentage on HMF doesn't appear to be certain (see Member Comments for discussion). I don't know about its bs resistance. On HMF there are gardens listed as growing it in Maryland, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New York. One of the New York gardens is the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, and I believe they select roses for disease-resistance. Melissa Here is a link that might be useful: The Gift at Eurodesert Roses, Morongo Valley, CA

I think it's a boxwood, Buxus.

For specific plants, you might check the garden forum for your area. I'm in Texas and an eastern exposure with morning sun is a primo gardening spot, but plants that I would use here wouldn't work for you. The Great Lakes Gardening forum is fairly slow, but maybe they just need someone to ask a question. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/grtlks Here's the Midwest Gardening forum http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/mwgard Here's the Minnesota Gardening forum http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/mngard I hope that you can get some good solid plant suggestions from those who garden in a similar climate. Ooops, I confused your post with someone from Michigan. Maybe these are helpful or maybe the wrong locale. At the left top area of the landing page for this forum, you can click 'Garden Forums' to see the complete list of Garden Web forums dedicated to gardening.