I always like the bad news first - the crepe myrtle is too close to the house and should be moved while it still can be. The boxwood will eventually outgrow it's little space, but that can take a hard pruning to keep it for a few years. The fallen leaves are okay. The silvery plants are Dusty Miller - and I think the snaps, plumbago, alyssum, and dianthus are fine. A nice change from the tortured into submission evergreens in some yards. Snaps will wilt when they need water; but they'll put out more bloom spikes if you pinch off the spent ones. Your conditions in zone 8 are much different than mine in zone 4 - we rarely get prolonged heat enough to bake a garden like you probably do in Houston. I wouldn't plant anything directly over the buried downspout extension - too easy to forget it's there and slice through it with a shovel or something. Some more snaps underneath the arrow, some more allysum on the up side of the dianthus and you're all set.

hey.. you again .... time for some re-evaluation of your domain .. eh??? they sure look like juniper.. juniper are conifers.. not shrubs... pruning conifers can be a whole lot different than pruning shrubs ... there is a conifer forum.. but most of us are in both forums.. first.. i would get a better picture of the needles.. and buds.. and maybe a cone if you can find one.. and ask for an ID at the conifer forum ... i suspect.. that these MIGHT get as big as your house ... if so ... perhaps its time to move them.. or be rid of them.. rather than forcing them into something are will not want to be .... go out there.. and really study a branch ... 6 to 12 inches down the branch.. there will be a color change on the branch.. this is PROBABLY your annual growth rate ... if they are growing a foot per year... and they do this for the next 20 years ... are you willing to try to beat them back with a stick???? .. once or twice a year???? you might want to think about that ... shovel pruning is a one time job.. lol ... ken

What mild weather? Here in Long Island NY it is below 30 at night, and we have a foot of ice everywhere,the result of that snowstorm two weekends ago. I cannot wait for spring. My only hope is that I do notice the sun stays up later in the afternoons. When I leave work at 5, there is still a little light to drive by. But it hasn't been warm enough for any yard work. Except I did shovel the back steps so my dog can go potty.Tee hee.

One of the orange twigged cultivars of Cornus sanguinea that became prevalent on the market awhile back. Since my recollection is that the normal green leaved versions of the same species do not tend to show this same kind of browning in this area I've tended to assume it was sun damage to the yellow parts of the otherwise paler green than typical leaves of these orange twigged forms. Your second picture might also tend to confirm this, as it appears the damage is confined to the yellow portions of the leaves and not the green. Various partly yellow or white horticultural forms of conifers may also do this, with only the palest parts of the foliage being subject to browning by full sun exposure - or perhaps frost in some instances.