YouÂre from Philly, I am (was) from across the river in Cherry Hill. IÂm relatively new to OGRs I have about 25 most are in their 1st season. Listed are oneÂs that IÂve had for at least 2 full seasons. Except as noted, none have any winter kill at all and look well with once per month spraying for BS: Archduke Charles  a nice little rose, little being the operative word. I donÂt know how people get them to be big. Souvenir de la Malmaison  healthy, vigorous. Sombreuil, Climber  itÂs big. GetÂs BS (or what looks like it to me) but looks ok. ItÂs thorny, not for the faint-hearted. Louis XIV  short, a good little guy. Cramoisi Superieur  hasnÂt done well for me, I keep hoping. Frau Karl Druschki  has many good qualities, but good rebloom isnÂt one of them. Field of the Woods  ItÂs done well for me, itÂs still hard to see behind James Galway but soon it will be big enough. Austins I have a lot more experience. Currently I have The Squire  up until recently an excellent shrub. ItÂs only drawback is it get more BS than I would like. ItÂs not done well the last 2 yrs, I canÂt figure out why. The Dark Lady  spÂed this year, too much BS and in summer the red turns magenta. But it is a good bloomer. James Galway  never any disease, minor winter kill, THORNLESS. The only negative (and that is subjective) is itÂs not a good rebloomer. It has a great spring display, this one is more OGR than modern. Heritage  probably my favorite Austin and is thornless. Crocus Rose  Most years gets BS but grows fast enough for it not to show. This year it didnÂt get any despite less spraying. Maybe itÂs the Daconil I havenÂt used it for awhile. Abe Darby  getÂs more BS than I would like but I really like the peach color so I put up with it. Winchester Catherdral and Mary Rose  I havenÂt grown them for awhile so I donÂt remember exactly much about them, but I kind of miss them, esp WC, so I guess they did OK for me. Gone and to be forgotten: Golden Celebration  didnÂt like anything about it. Lillian Austin  nice except it got too much BS. Traviata is listed as a HT but really has the habit of a good Austin. ItÂs a really good shrub, gets big, and so does itÂs thorns. IÂm hoping my branching into OGRs works better than when I tried HTÂs. I still have a few, and I really like and want to keep most of the ones left, but there are so many dogs out there IÂm not sure I would do it over again. Good luck with yours

I disagree on the pic being nice. The over saturated picture above makes the plants look like plastic. The post is not relevant to the question as as far as I'm concerned it's nothing more than an advertisement, and a poor one at that. I doubt sun and drought tolerant plants are a primary concern in this case. It's the north side of a house in New Hampshire. The placement of the plants shows me a case of 'even space-itis', more common with rock positioning than plants. Why are all the rocks in the 'stream bed' the same size? Why are plants placed in front of the boulders? Do they need to be hidden?! Pros should be able to do much better, even in Poway. Kaitlin, The first thing I would do is enlarge the bed, it's too small proportionally to the house and limits your choices as to what can be used. I would also pretty much stick with evergreens next to the house and deck. Deciduous plants used in a foundation situation don't do the job in winter. The gaps, when used with evergreens looks like missing teeth to me, snow or otherwise. I used to design and install a lot of yard makeovers as well as new garden construction. As a landscaper, I would kill the lawn, till it in, throw the edges in toward the back of the middle and cover the whole area with trucked in topsoil, leaving it low around the edges to make room for the mulch. Now you can plant, and the digging is fast and easy! I would have evergreen plants about waist high around most of the deck with something taller where it meets the sidewalk. Those plants can act as a railing for the deck on the deck side. On the side facing the driveway I would plant those 'railing plants' several deep so as to appear as a drift instead of a hedge. That gives the bed some visual flow and can be enhanced from there by adding different plants to enlarge the drift and conform to the shape of the bed. In front of the glassed in area I would take a different approach and design the area looking at it from the inside. Lower evergreen shrubs next to the glass in the middle and a little taller on the edges. There's room for a small deciduous tree out in front of the glass a ways and another on either side, one being on the other side of the walk. Those trees should have an interesting branching form for Winter interest and good Fall color too. Japanese maples come to mind. :-) You don't want something that looks like a brush pile when the leaves are gone. (Lilac, Quince, etc. An evergreen groundcover that can handle shade is a must in my book. It ties it together. The small leaved deciduous trees gives it shade further out in the sun in the summertime and the groundcover swallows the leaves in the Fall. I'm not too familiar with what you can grow in your Zone, but I'm sure the people that are can help with plant selection. It's the concept is what I'm communicating. Mike

Lazy gardens - there is ant much space to widen the sidewalk. We don't mind the walkway for now but we will keep it in mind for future projects! Yardvaak - that looks great! Thank you. We actually just limbed up the tree but maybe should have done a bit higher. Any specific plant recommendations? I guess you tried to draw in crape myrtle on the left? Hedges in front of the door? What specific shrubs did you envision? Also ornamental grass on the corner of the house?? I like the idea of connecting the oak tree with the other bed - nothing is growing there anyways.. other than weeds so maybe some ground cover there, although I cannot decide whether I want pachysandra or Vinca minor there?

id probably come out 15 or 20 feet out from the picture window.. and plant a nice flowering tree .. like a redbud... it will block the view from the street thru your front room ... https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub you can definitely shop ... but plan on fall planting .. unless professionally installed AND GUARANTEED ... zone is simply min temp on the coldest day of the year ... so it means little for the rest of the year ... and that is why big city name is better ... id probably come out 15 or 20 feet out frmo the picture window.. and plant a nice flowering tree .. like a redbud... it will block the view from the street thru your front room ... same with the window bank on the right ... maybe a crabapple or magnolia [something other than another redbud] ... etc .. again.. 15 feet or so out ... the only thing in the small walkway bed nest to the house on the right would be perennials ... there really isnt space there for shrubs or trees ... as you can see what nightmares you were left with there .... foundation plantings are planted to HIDE THE FOUNDATION.. not on the foundation ... so unless you are willing to expand the bed in front on the left.. again.. perennials ... if you want some shrubs in there.. you would put them 5 to 10 feet out ... to give them room to grow ... one trick.. is to take a latin name to a search engine.. and SEE pix of the future potential of things you are thinking of planting .. and if its big.. dont plant it where you will have to start pruning it in a year or 2 ... e.g. the eastern redbud ..note the latin name in the search: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=Cercis+canadensis&iax=images&ia=images it flowers on bare wood.. usually the first tree in spring to bloom.. in my MI anyway ... it would probably be helpful to see the situation without oall the old carp.. to give better suggestions ... do read the rest of the link on proper planting... if this will be DIY ... if you are new to the house.. have miss dig mark all your utilities.. so when you dog.. you dont screw anything up ... ken ps: there is little instant gratification with trees and shrubs ... huge plants cost huge money.. but take a long time to get established.. and growing to expectation ... often.. a smaller specimen takes the transplant easier.. recovers faster.. and can outgrow a huge transplant.. in say 5 years ... aka tree time ... and would cost a quarter of the huge tree ...