I might rethink the dogwood placement now while it's small. If it is the Cornus Florida we commonly think of when we hear dogwood, in a few years it will begin to outgrow its space.

Mature Height/Spread: The flowering dogwood will grow 40 feet tall when grown as an understory tree in a woodland setting. In the sun, the same tree may only grow 15 to 20 feet tall and wide. Spread can be greater than height at maturity.

If it's a Kousa Dogwood (C. kousa)
Mature Height/Spread: The kousa dogwood will grow 20 to 25 feet tall and wide. When young, it grows stiffly upright, but with age spreads more broadly with horizontal branching.

That being said about dogwood and if your preference runs along the more cottage garden look (dense plantings, no ground showing), just add a couple more of everything you have - the heather, hostas, rhododenrdron, etc. will all get bigger each year and gobble up more of the open space. Adding some of the taller sedums or a few clumps of stately Siberian Iris would give you height. Using annuals for real punches of color is an inexpensive way to cover some ground while permanent plantings are filling in. If you do move the dogwood, a simple trellis with a clematis (Jackmanii can't be beaten with its big purple flowers) would provide vertical interest between the stoop and window.

But, my question is - is it the spring bed around the lilac that bothers you the most right now? It's a small area, so not much is needed. Some folks cringe at the mention of Stella d'Oro daylilies, but two of them (three would be one too many) planted a little forward and to the sides of the lilac would give you all the coverage you'd need for the die back on the tulips, etc. Stella might be common as dirt, but it's a performer and the straplike foliage stays clean, and arching until you cut it down late in the fall. If you cut out the spent stems, you can get repeat bloomings until the first hard frost. They're fairly shallow rooted so wouldn't interfere with the lilac root and would need dividing only every 3-4 years - giving you all kinds of new plants to put elsewhere around the yard or to give away.

Less is often more. I'd be tempted to move the pachysandra elsewhere, and if/when you lift the tulips and daffs (the blue flowers are Muscari or grape hyacinths) after blooming or when the foliage starts to go, replant them in tighter drifts - could even intermingle the purple and rose hues; I see some pink ones there too. But I don't see any clash if they get mixed up.

Hostas are shade tolerant but would probably survive in the sun there with plenty of water. I'm not sure when lavender blooms - probably long after the lilac. My house is hidden behind an ancient lilac hedge and they start budding out anytime between mid-May and the first of June here in zone 4.

Thanks for replying to my post.

Yes, my current area of focus is the spring bed, as you called it. I had not thought of lilies, because I have an asthmatic reaction to the scent of lilies (at least when they are cut and indoors). I want to stay away from anything strongly scented. Do you think I could walk past them on the walk and not smell lilies? Is the Stella D'Oro different than other lilies (is it a color difference, scent, height, etc.? -- I really know nothing about lilies, except they are pretty (and smelly in enclosed rooms:)

Oddly, though lavender is of course scented, I haven't had a problem with it in my friend's garden (and I do so love how it looks!).

I do take your point that it is a small space and less can be more (as long as it covers all the dirt...). That is why I am seeking feedback, because I have no sense of volume, how fast things grow and whether pruning each spring can allow things to stay in small places, etc.

The kind of lavender I was thinking of for that spot (it's really 3 spots beside the lilac because there are 2 sides by the walk and another space behind the lilac by the driveway) is 'Munstead' Lavandula angustifolia (2" bloom spikes spring to summer / 12"-18" H x 18"-24" W) and I thought it would really 'fill' the space all around the lilac. (but perhaps too much...too crowded? would I be better off picking something less wide for the height and a mixture of perennials to fill the space?) Perhaps just the lilac and the lavender would fill the space in a boring way, not leaving space for other colors, heights and textures?

I could get 3 different types of lavender (1 plant for each side) for some variety of color... but I wonder if that's enough of a variety. Or perhaps just one or two lavender plants directly in front/back of the lilac and other varieties of perennials along the sides?

I do plan to get rid of the pachysandria and bunch the bulbs together. I was naive and believed the "plant 6 inches apart" instructions (why do all plants say that?!?!)... I didn't do the full 6" but it still looks stupid to not have them clumped together. I read another forum about mistakes by beginners, and though I cringe when I see this part of my garden, I do appreciate that my beginner mistakes could be so much worse!

In the other garden, the dogwood is a Florida. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but I picked that one because it's flat on the back and has growth to the other 3 sides. Having to move it would be a pretty huge problem (I'm disabled and had to beg my neighbor to all heavy lifting and planting, and I can't imagine asking him to dig it up again...) That being said, tell me more. I had assumed that careful pruning would allow it to grow out in the directions and keep it not to close to the house. (Since the branches aren't very dense, I don't mind if it grows past the windows)... are there other problems we didn't anticipate? If it must be moved eventually, it would obviously be better to do it when it's smaller (though having just planted it last year, and it having a rough summer last year with leaves curled, I'm just hoping it is alive and going to bud this year... another reason I don't want to mess with it, unless I need to.

And thanks for the advice for the other garden. I will look into the varieties you mentioned. I was fairly pleased with how that garden turned out (it filled out a lot over the summer). I am waiting to see how everything returns this spring... before I start buying new plants to fill in the gaps. It's a work in progress and I only had so much money for garden center 'shopping accidents' last year.

I'm a bit unclear on how a perennial goes from small when you plant it to big by the end of the summer and then dies back over the winter. And then how does it get bigger if it's regrowing 'from scratch' every spring/summer? This is just my 2nd spring, so I guess I'll have to see with my own eyes. I'm hoping to add some snapdragons to the back of that garden, and some coleus and impatients in the shade under the andromeda bush. And then see what else sparks my fancy when the garden centers start selling perenials, which should be soon.

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts. Sorry to raise even more questions!

Regards,
Diane

If you're just looking for a groundcover, you can't go wrong with Ceratostigma plumbaginoides (Leadwort). It's late to come up, which makes it perfect for spring bulbs, good green foliage with gorgeous blue flowers in late summer, good fall color and will grow in both full sun and considerable shade. It spreads pretty fast, but is easy to control. Fully hardy in zone 6.

BTW, Cornus florida are native here, and I have never seen one anywhere near 40 feet, in sun or in the woods.

Lavender need full sun and the poorest, dryest soil you have. Not really a good companion under lilacs and other small trees.

Can you clarify for a newbie what/when "late to come up" means? In this part of the season, when the only thing alive in the garden are the green shoots and beginnings of flowering daffodils, etc. would the Leadwort be ground cover? When you say it's late to come up, does that mean I'd be looking at the dirt around the daffs until it appears? I was not familiar with this plant and it looks lovely. But I wasn't able to find information about what it would look like early in the spring after winter die-off.

I'll bow to laceyvail's greater knowledge, but having spent 30 some years in Maryland where dogwood did (pre blight)/does abound, it does have the potential to reach some size. On our wooded lot, in the forest-like setting, the native dogwood tended to have tall slender trunks with a lacey canopy. However, a lovely one in the open on the front lawn was a sizeable tree, both height and width-wise. I'm just saying the potential for some growth is there and the OP's is planted close to the foundation.

Daylilies (hemerocallis) are different from lilies (lilium) and without putting your nose right in the throat of a daylily - like Stella d'Oro which is yellow flowered - you'd get no hint of a scent.

Some other groundcovers to consider:
Phlox subulata (moss phlox)
Moss pink, moss phlox or creeping phlox is a pretty common rock garden plant, but it also makes a good ground cover on poor, bare soils. It does do better when not competing with other things, though. It'll form a dense mat of foliage, which is covered in spring with masses of flowers in pink, purple, or white. Mine will often get a light reblooming throughout the summer and into the fall.

Sedum (Stonecrop). Many different kinds ranging from tiny mats only a few inches high to plants 2 feet tall. They're used as ground covers, in rock gardens, on slopes, between stepping stones, etc. Most sedums are spreading or creeping plants that will root from broken branches or fallen leaves. Very easy, undemanding plants.

From "How Stuff Works" - How to grow leadwort: Plant in well-drained soil that is rich in organic matter. Leadwort likes full sun or part shade. It will rot if the soil stays too wet, especially in winter. In most of growing Zones 5 and 6 plants die to the ground in winter. Apply a light winter mulch, and wait until growth resumes in mid-spring to cut stems back to the ground. Plant only in the spring: Leadwort needs a full growing season to get roots established.

Uses for leadwort: Plant as a ground cover under shrubs and small trees and interplant spring-blooming bulbs such as crocus and daffodils."

Late to come up means literally that - other plants may be well up before a "late" breaks ground in the spring. I experience that with platycodon which is the last to break ground here. Having gardened a long time, I know where the patches of it are so I know not to dig or plant over them. It's always good to put a marker over late breakers to alert you. And most information on any kind of plants will show you pictures of them at their peak of magnificence -rarely their fall die-back or spring emergence looks. You're kind of left to figure that out on your own.

It's all fun and it's all a learning process no matter how long you've been at it. Despite any degree of gardening expertise, no one's immune from unintended consequences - something that just doesn't look right, failure to thrive or survive a winter even though it's supposed to, doesn't make the neighbors stop dead in their tracks. A good local garden center can be a wealth of information.

Around here, plumbago usually starts growing around the end of May. Before that it looks pretty bad.

Personally, I think the pachysandra wasn't a bad idea. It just needs some time to get established. *If* the lilac thrives, and generally lilac and pieris do not like the same things, it will spread and throw up new branches right in the middle of anything planted around it. For that reason around here, lilacs are often planted by themselves in the middle of the yard. If they get too rambunctious, the lawnmower takes care of it.

Yes, the dogwood really should be moved. It's much too close to the house for anything that has any pretentions to tree-ness.

If you go over to the New England forum, there is a thread on Favorite Nurseries. It's fairly old at this point in time, dating back to I think 06. However, somebody has resurrected it. It has a lot of general Boston area entries. Wait a week or two, then start visiting some. That will give you a much better working knowledge of what is out there than anything we can say here. Most perennials can be available in small sizes for small money.

Your flowers are very colorful, but the heights of the bulbs and flowers are not matching those of the established shrubbery. The scale of the new plantings seems to be working against their composition. Try planting your lower growing plants from low to high. Or try planting a lower growing ground cover (leadwort shouldn't be considered a groundcover due to it's limited season)which unifies the entire bed together.

My leadwort is coming up now in zone 5b/6. The earliest daffs are gone the mid season ones blooming and the latest are yet to open. It certainly is a groundcover, just not an evergreen groundcover.

GGG, did you not happen to notice that there has been NO activity on this thread for thirteen years?? Nor has the OP been heard of since then..........

GG48, I inadvertently replied to the wrong post:)

Diane, The Sequel: No Longer a Newbie

I love Alexander's White candytuft for ground cover to cover fading bulbs. It blooms about the same time as the bulbs, and the white blooms are a beautiful contrast to the bulb colors. Candytuft is also evergreen.