hey liz.. royal oak eh?? [from your members page] .. grew up in livonia... and bought my first house there ... first.. refer to the link .... for a suggestion as how to proceed ... linds ... did it right.. by catching us.. when we were bored out of our minds.. prior to the weather breaking ... note the pix we requested.. as well as having her define what her goals were ... and they did not end up being what she started with ... and its your use of common terms.. that is confusing you .. and us.. as to where to go with this ... e.g... evergreens... well.. that covers a wide range of things ... i THINK you are talking about conifers ... if you are.. that is where linds started .... and that is usually the backbones of the front of ones house ... but there are many other plants that are .. in essence.. evergreen ... so you need to define what you are talking about ... and technically.. conifers are NOT shrubs.. though i also called them such for decades .... but it is not helpful in defining where we want to go .... BTW .. your link doesnt work.. and that pic is not going to be helpful to anyone defining a plan ... and take a walk some evening.. and snap a pic or two.. of what other peeps have done with the front of their houses.. to help you define what you like.. and give us some guidance as to where you want to go ... you are spot on with the foundation ... when i had my first house in livonia.. i learned that 3 feet AT THE FOUNDATION .. should be left blank ... so i could get a ladder in there.. to do gutters.. paint.. xmas lights.. window washing.. etc ... and if you agree with that.. then you should 'see' that your bed is horribly out of configuration .... lol .. i just glanced up.. and i see the neighbor still has the ugly old improperly planted conifer .... and the root of your problem might be this forum.. but you never know ...... the conifer forum is much more active.. than the shrub forum.. and not every one of the peeps there.. come thru here ... so if this post dwindles.. try over there ... my best suggestion ... is to define and build some great beds.. for planting in fall .. the next proper season for planting conifers .. and trees.. as i doubt you can properly build those beds in time ... you simply should not plant such.. in the heat of summer ... but .... once you define the beds.. and add some of your annuals.. and perennials.. then we can get the backbones in place in fall ... of my 600 conifers.. about half came in the mail ... and that is how you get truly unique things.. rather than JUST what the bigboxstore offers ... well.. that and a budget.. lol .. of course .. as compared to me in adrian mi ... you have some great large upscale nurseries in the area including bordines .. english gardens.. etc ... so.. get us some better pix.. that perhaps we can photoshop ... and lets try to find some words that explain where you want to go .. oh.. i would expand that bed to about 10 feet from the house.. which would make it only 7 feet deep to work with .. it would NOT be straight across.. and we would have to figure out how to deal with what i will guess is an arcing walkway .... [any chance you want to replace that with brick as a part of the process] ... and i would insure.. that some part of the plants introduce a vertical element.. as compared to your 1950's metro detroit ranch ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Kristimama - I use Black Magic potting soil. It seems to be widely available, and it was highly recommended by a very knowledgeable person on this forum. It's a tad expensive, but since my roses have so much to contend with already, I felt they deserved it. I should have mentioned that I have only had roses for about 4 years, so I'm far from expert. I've learned a lot, however, due to volunteering once a week at the Sacramento Historic Rose Garden in the old city cemetery (a wonderful place to spend a few hours, working or not!). I also should have mentioned that my roses are about to face an even more challenging environment: After yellowjackets came every summer that we've been here (4 years), last summer they built a nest in the rolled-up "privacy screens" on the balcony, directly above my roses. The exterminator said that they would be bound to come back, as they find those rolled-up screens to be a perfect nesting site (it keeps them warm, etc.), and that it would be best to keep the screens rolled down. They're part of the balcony (i.e., the property of the apartment complex), so I can't get rid of them. They are down now, as I am allergic to bees and wasps. SO... the roses (and my other plants, succulents) will get even less sun than before. This coming summer is an experiment - I'm hoping that the screens being down will produce a dappled shade effect, thus shielding things from frying, while still letting in enough sunlight to keep everything more or less happy. We shall see. As Amelia Peabody would say, "Another challenge! I'm up to it!" -- at least, I hope so. Laura

I bought all my manzanitas as 1 gallon pots from Pete at East Bay Wilds. My Dr. Hurd is just about 5 ft after 5 years. It can get to be 15ft if it is happy. I hope it gets to be at least 8 ft. Everything was installed at once in the Fall of 2013. Regarding the desert willow, I have Timeless Beauty in my yard. It is on the smaller side - up to 15 ft. It doesn't reseed and seems to grow on the slower side. I guess it just depends on what your needs are in terms of a tree/shrub. I am making a note of your CA native grass resource. I have a few non-native grasses that I need to replace - thanks! If you ever want someone to come give you some advice on your yard, I can certainly drop by. I am not a design/professional architect, I am just passionate about native plants and will give any feedback for free. I can certainly tell you if you have a Toyon in your yard :)

Where are you in the PNW that routinely sees July temps in the 90's or above? I have lived and gardened here all my life and have yet to encounter a similar situation. Most part shade plants will tolerate those conditions with ease, although I would not include bigleaf hydrangea in that mix. There is not much that can't handle late afternoon PNW sun as long as one supplies it with adequate water......... ETA: Interior valleys where precisely.......if on the eastern side of the Cascades, that is a significant departure from what is typical PNW growing conditions.