I think you need to check to see how big the pieris will get, and move them away from the building. If you leave them where they are, you are either going to have to prune them every year to keep them off the siding (spoiling their shape) or they will be against the building and leaning out to get whatever light they can find.

Once you've moved them, there will be much less area left to plant. I'd suggest a groundcover, which will eventually eliminate the need to continually refresh the mulch.

Some bulbs for spring should be done blooming before the trees leaf out.

the pieris are supposed to get 3-5 feet high...do you still think i should move them? it seems like it would be such a big undertaking...

id like to do a groundcover, only the (really) bad thing is that i didnt remove the grass. i just covered it with lots of layers newspaper and put the mulch on top. i assume that if i removed the mulch and newspaper, id have to somehow remove all the grass...another big undertaking.

as i said, im a gardening newbie!

I agree with saypoint - the pieris are lovely but need to be moved, and it will be easier to move them now while they are still small.

As for the groundcover, you could wait until next year, at which point the grass should be good and dead and you can plant your groundcover more easily. Or perhaps you could afford to fill the now smaller area in front with flowers after all, since you won't need so many.

I think once the pieris get larger, they will be close enough to the windows that you won't want boxes there after all. I would take the money you would use to buy the boxes and spend it on annual flowers or ground cover instead.

the pieris are supposed to get to be 3-5 feet tall. and they are 3 feet right now. the trunks are planted 24 inches from the foundation....

i planted them in front of the windows because those are my guest bedroom windows and i wanted some privacy.

do you still think i need to move them?

{{gwi:19510}}

Yes, but how wide will they get? You don't want them right up against the building, it's best to leave some space for air circulation, getting behind to wash windows or do repairs, etc.

Do you know which cultivar you have?

its the dorothy wyckoff...its supposed to get 3-5 feet tall and wide. its already 3 feet talla nd wide.

i dont mind trimming and i dont mind it obscuring acccess to hte windows, because that was the reason i planted it in the first place (as those are 1st floor bedroom windows).

Hinted at, but not actually stated - close plantings are going to exacerbate the cracking and peeling of the paint on your clapboards. From the pictures, it appears to already be starting. Move the pieris out a ways; they seem small enough to be moved relatively easily. From experience in MD, I had a northside rhododendron, though not touching the house, restricted enough air circulation and trapped enough moisture to help rot some window trim.

It may seem tedious, hard, and unnecessary to move these plants, although most gardeners enjoy re-arranging to improve their garden's function and appearance. Most hate trying to move or rip out the mistake of previous owners, mistakes which sometimes then reveal damage. Because these plants are still manageable, this situation can be set right. Once done, you will be again at the point of considering next steps toward the goal of eventually having very little upkeep to handle. You will have lost nothing and gained several benefits:

Protection of your home.
Healthier plants.
Better looking in terms of appropriate rather than crowded spacing.

You will still have:

Same plants.
Screening of windows.

And there are psychological and physical benefits:

Lowered anxiety about whether the paint job and wood will deteriorate due to those pieris.
Spring exercise planting your beautiful shrubs.
Self-esteem up because you've gained knowledge and improved something wisely.

Yes, you calculated the spacing, but forgot to calculate appropriate distance from building. Also, a shrub doesn't reach a certain number and then say to itself, "I'm 5 feet tall and wide now. I better stop or the shrub police will come and get me." Shrubs are living and, unlike humans, continue to gain height and width throughout their lives. I think the size ranges are estimated for 5 to 10 years?, but the shrubs don't know that and they will keep growing.

What's to lose here? Re-planting 3 shrubs? Ah, c'mon! If I lived closer, I'd come by and help!

Wellspring

then i put down beautiful black mulch, which my neighbors pine tree dropped its needles on just a week later :(

Good, it's all. Revel in the imperfections.

-VW (doing an early morning Yoda *grin*)

Here is a link that might be useful: Wabi-Sabi, the aesthetic of transcience

It will be hard to water your windowboxes with the bushes so close under the windows.

Also, maybe your neighbor will just give you a bunch of pine straw in future seasons to use as mulch. It will be a lot easier to maintain.