Pam - along the side of the house there is a 5-8 foot wide flat walkway of old bark, and next to it, covering the slope are some junipers that have been well-trimmed through the years. Since they are doing their job of erosion control, and I really don't have to look at or maintain them short of an annual trim, I will leave the ones along the side of the house (and throw in a couple arborvitae or similar to screen off the dead wood on the end) but as soon as we get into the actual yard, the bushy scary eating the yard ones will come out. Thanks for your input karinl. I am becoming more keen on including conifers in the landscape. That has been something that I'm getting more and more used to. When I first moved it, I was so against anything non-broadleaf evergreen it was ridiculous. We were going to go with an alaskan weeping cedar (and still may) but at Flower World, we ran into something called a dwarf sequoia, which was SO interesting, and we will almost certainly be using it in the landscape. I've been unable to find anything online about them. It had a similar growth pattern in that it kind of looked Dr. Seuss-y, the branches hung almost straight down, but it was gorgeous. We have 5 HUGE fir trees, one on each corner of our yard, and they ALL belong to neighbors. The people across the street from us are hoping to open up their view a bit and have spoken about wanting to go in on taking down the one uphill of us, but the people that just bought that house are like the Seattle suburb wannabes of Jersey Shore so I do not expect that they will have any interest in spending any money on landscaping. I caught them thinning out a photinia that provided privacy screening between our back yards with a sawzall (.25" thick branches). The people downhill from us are renters and based on the state of various "wear items" around their house, like the fence, I have a feeling the landlord is uninterested in investing any money in the property that they don't have to. Cliffs: It's unlikely either of those huge fir trees are going anywhere. Thanks for the kind words on the back yard. I've spend the last 2.5 years trying to whip it into shape. We have put a huge deck between the 2 decks on either side, the raised veggie beds, defined garden beds around the decks and elsewhere have gone in, I've taken out about 1/2 of the lawn, we put in a fire pit and gravel "patio" in front of the other deck to address the ongoing lawn moss and crappiness issues, and torn out about 1000 sq feet of vinca minor and 3 overgrown rhododendrons. It has been quite a project, and I feel that I've gotten far enough with it that I'm ready to start tackling the front so it doesn't look like meth addicts live here. I'm not particularly tied to nandinas, and after spending $50 today on ONE dwarf variety for vignette #1, I have been seriously rethinking my position. I have a couple more plants to move from the back yard to the front tomorrow morning, but I will post photos tomorrow once I get everything "completed." It looks FANTASTIC.

Thanks so much for the recommendations/responses. I have tried to review each and do a little more research given our specific area. My First Choice for Now: Golden Showers: Questioned/Recommended by: Denise (z9-10), SherryOcala, seattlesuze z8 PNW http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=1835 My 2nd or 3rd choice for now: Zeus: Questioned/Recommend by: rjlinva 7VA http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/pl.php?n=6655&tab=1 My 2nd or 3rd choice for now: Reve D'Or' Rose Recommended by: rjlinva 7Va and limited by Sherry http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=5197&tab=1 I like this one pretty good and per HMF it is a Tea Noisette climber. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS: Casino is a little shorter than what we are looking for. Tahitian Moon: Questioned/recommended by wirosarian z4 WI Hmmm, she is cast as a shrub or bush that can also be trained as a climber. Hmmm, think I'm looking for a more vigorus, honest to goodness climber. http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=45164 and http://www.contrarymarysplants.com/roses.htm Golden Celebration: Questioned/Recommended by: robynb (California) Most of what I read says a bush as opposed to a climber. Granted, I don't see much about growing in Zone 8b, Georgia, but, if it is cast as a bush, I think I would prefer going with at rose cast as a climber. Still, beautiful rose, just not sure it fills my request here. http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=1834

Hi all, for some reason I cannot access my old username threedogsmom so I am back to update you on what I have done so far. After moving in an living there for a bit, there is more sun than originally thought in the front yard, so I have planted a variety of evergreens, small trees, and shrubs with a few of the hostas I brought along sprinkled in. Once I have the mulch down (in next 2 weeks) I will post a few pics. I went with the first mock-up drawing in the post above, using an undulating edge for the front yard bed to break up the linear front of the house. We sourced rocks on our property to make the edge with, so it appears like a natural extension of the rock retaining wall. The color scheme overall focuses on burgundy, blue and yellow foliage/needles, with some greens mixed in there as well. Flowering shrubs are in the reddish-magenta color. For small trees, I added a Wolf Eyes dogwood, a Saratoga gingko, a Black Dragon Cryptomeria, and a dwarf columnar blue spruce, as well as a Rising Sun Redbud across the driveway on the other side. In the front entry nook to the left, I filled in with a dwarf Baby Lace japanese maple, 3 blue star junipers, and 5 golden sedges to set the color scheme. Across the walkway, there are 2 June hostas, 3 dwarf barberries, 3 Liberty hostas, Mr Bowling Ball and Fire Chief arborvitae, Amber moon astilbe, a magenta pink hydrangea, Lemon Beauty lonicera, 3 lemon thread mops, a dwarf golden hinoki cypress, purple leaf sand cherry, 2 red drift roses, 2 blue rug junipers to hang over the rock wall, daylilies, 3 dwarf Buzz buddleias interspersed with variegated liriope, golden barberry, 2 Beyond Blue fescue clumps and a Standing Ovation grass. So your eye will see repetition of the red/burgundy, then yellows, then blues as you move around the garden bed. I think it will mature very nicely as time goes on and should offer nice color and structure all year long while still being low maintenance. Pics to follow in a few weeks - working on the mulching this weekend!!

Kitty, I’m happy to hear you recommend an own root Abe Darby. I loved his blooms, could put up with some mottled foliage from RMV, but somehow DA’s on Dr. Huey have had more diseases than any other roses. I certainly don’t need the extra vigor from grafting in my small yard. I’ll bet the Love Song standards are beautiful! The blooms are large, and the color is so eye catching. I did once purchase a Love Song standard at my local nursery. I left it potted too long, and it wasn’t properly watered while I was out of town. In spite of my attempts to revive it, only rootstock came back from the base. Hopefully you get to enjoy your Love Song at the neighbor’s house, Kitty. It’s a wonderful rose in our climate. My older Love Song(that I still grow) was purchased locally, so it was large and a good rebloomer from the start. Lisa