What a great assortment of plants and it looks like you have bright sunny windows--I have very little sun plus this New England weather--cloudy & cold can't wait for Spring--I hope you win the contest--I am not into Face Book --not even sure how it works-so I can't help u there--perhaps others will Good luck Mari

The shrubs suggested will all work fine in that location. While the statement "nothing really ever stops growing at some magical height ... " is more true than not with trees, it is not entirely accurate with shrubs. There are dozens of shrubs that will literally stop putting on any significant growth once they have reached their projected mature size and others that will continue to develop in height, attaining almost tree-like proportions. The ones listed all fit into the first category :-)) No direct sun is a different situation than full shade. Unless there is a wide overhang from the house or garage roof and no close by large trees casting shade, the north side of a structure typically offers bright but indirect light. That should increase your choices. I am going to take a wild guess from your screen name that you are located in Oklahoma? All I know about gardening in OK I've gathered by watching an old HGTV program, Gardening by the Yard, with Paul James. Paul lived and gardened in Tulsa and most of the show was filmed in his personal garden. IIRC, he could grow a very wide range of plants, almost what I could here in my warmer, northwest coastal climate. The only thing I don't recall clearly was soil pH -- not sure how well he could do the acid loving Ericaceous stuff like rhodies and azaleas or pieris. If available in local garden centers, then it must be okay! And if you are not located in OK, then ignore this :-) Other small shrubs you could consider are the above mentiooned evergreen azaleas, dwarf rhodies and pieris, Leucothoe 'Scarletta', 'Gold Mops' or 'Golden Charm' threadleaf cypress, Viburnum davidii, even some of the more compact hydrangeas, like the Endless Summer series. And if your planned boxwood is indeed 'Wintergreen', it is not a Buxus microphylla (Japanese boxwood) but Buxus sinica var. insularis, or Korean boxwood. The big difference as far as you are concerned is that Korean boxwood is hardier and also much more compact. Although relatively slow growing, Japanese boxwood can get big! btw, rejuvenation pruning is seldom applied to broadleaf evergreen shrubs - this is a technique that is most appropriate to deciduous flowering shrubs, especially "caning" shrubs or those that produce multiple stems from the root crown.

Sneaky little thing, huh? I haven't had to trap one of those but did have to use glue traps for field mice some years ago, had to because we had small children and anything else was dangerous for them. Our squirrels won't go after peanuts or pb but bird seeds (black sunflower currently) will lure them into the havaheart trap (we release them into the big park a couple miles away). Good luck getting that thing John, he's eating you out of flora and fauna! ;)

Oh my goodness - you are all amazing at this! I can't wait to stop by the paint store to pick up chips for all of your suggestions! Jeana these options are all fantastic, and the Kilim Beige might fit exactly what I've been imagining to add that richness compared to the BM Summer Harvest...But I will consider them all. I'll try to post actual pics on the weekend, and pics of the finished product when it is freshly painted. Roarah, you place is lovely! The gray would be very dramatic with my dark trim, but with white trim it is beautiful :)