Kristin, Winter interest is one of my gardening mantras :-) and although I live in a different climate (zone 10, dry Mediterranean), I'm pretty sure there are quite a lot of plants you can grow in your situation to fit those requirements. Some of the plants I grow and like for Winter interest and should do well for you are hollies (what's more obvious for Winter interest?). I have several types, including green leaved ones and variegated (Golden King being my favorite). Recently I have also bought a small ilex crenata, it's still in a pot at the moment to see how it fares. Near the hollies I love the look of nandina, both the species (nandina domestica, produces berries) and the cultivar Firepower.

Other interesting small shrubs for Winter interest are ruscus, sarcoccoca, myrtle, the classic box, red and yellow twig dogwoods, pieris and the above mentioned dwarf conifers. Use them without fear, they look good with many other plants. For example, I have a golden thuya planted next to a pieris and a variegated holly. There's a climbing yellow rose, Maigold, towering above them and a Blue Star juniper and an Autumn Joy sedum planted underneath. Somehow it looks good and not at all out of place, IMO. I also have columnar conifers inter planted with roses and other shrubs and perennials in the middle of borders and they really come into their own in Winter. One of my favorite small conifers is a Mugo pine, it will take many years before it gets tall, so it's perfect for what you have in mind.

If you are allowed a small tree how about amelanchier? It has multi season interest and does not (hopefully) get too tall. If you want an evergreen tree how about another classic, the Alberta spruce?

You have really loads of options for the space you mention, good luck with your project, it sounds lovely.

Eduarda

Hi Eduarda,

I noticed while I was browsing that you seem to be the Shrub Queen :) Thanks for your suggestions.

What I decided to aim for is a couple "islands" of winter interest that will be surrounded by perennials in winter. One at each end, taller to "wrap" around the edges and one roughly in the center.

The rhodie I mentioned anchors the shadier end of the bed and I'm considering underplanting with something that will form an evergreen carpet in the shade there -- any suggestions?

At the other end of the beds it's much sunnier (and drier). The hollies I looked up are all too tall (as are Amelanchier and myrtle) -- I need to find things easily kept at 6' absolute maximum. I'd like to find something substantial though. Something with an upright habit and a strong year-round presence. Maybe *this* is the spot for a conifer, something not too expensive or hard to find with a soft shape that will blend in well? I'm not sure Alberta spruce wouldn't look like an ice-cream-cone plopped down there. I'll look at the others you mentioned.

In the middle of the beds I was thinking of an upright rosemary with iberis at the edge of the bed, and something else to bridge the height difference between the rosemary and the iberis. Maybe a compact, mounding conifer?

Kristin

Speaking of compact and mounding, be sure to put in a few clumps of Armeria (Thrift) 'Maritima Splendens'. They'll be evergreen plus you'll have the sweet little flowers.

Libby

Speaking of compact and mounding, be sure to put in a few clumps of Armeria (Thrift) 'Maritima Splendens'. They'll be evergreen plus you'll have the sweet little flowers.

Libby

ooops, sorry for the double post.

I also love nandina and it has berries. I also love cleyera, it is evergreen and has some color to the leaves and very shiny. I don't know of many trees that would stay below 6 ft, so really shrubs are what you'd need. I would definitely vote for dwarf conifers, there are some beautiful ones, but they can be more expensive. For the shade, hellebores are evergreen and bloom in winter and like shade. Even some grasses or sedges can be very useful in a border and give winter interest if you just leave them be in winter. One can attract birds and butterflies even without the "right" plants. A bird bath and a puddle dish which is a shallow dish of pebbles and water for butterflies are nice accents. Laurie

I love the look of sedums in the winter..poking those rusty dried flower heads up out of the snow. Euonymous might be a thought too.

Thanks Libby and Laurie. I like seed heads and grasses in the winter but I'm pretty sure my ILs would think they look "messy" and trim them off. There are strict limits on the kinds and sizes of water features they can have (yes, even dishes of water) because they might attract mosquitos and MIL did say that when she had a little fountain on the porch they were besieged with mud-dauber wasps.

I needed the encouragement to try conifers, though. I think I'll pick some kind of upright dwarf conifer for the sunny end of the bed, and MIL can pick out a pair of pretty metal tuteurs. In the summer dahlias can grow up through the tuteurs and they should look pretty in the winter, next to the conifer, when they're bare too. Should be a good spot to put a patch of sea thrift in front ;)

In the middle of the bed I think a little island of an upright rosemary, something with durable silvery foliage like lamb's ears, and iberis or arabis. (I know lamb's ears can take over the world if you don't watch it, but I can yank it back when I'm over there.) I'm going to put basket-of-gold alyssum at the edges to soften those landscape blocks, and maybe some aubretia for the fantastic color next to the yellow alyssum.

Are hellebores expensive? Seems to me like I've heard them talked about in kind of awed tones as if they're rare. I was thinking that Epimedium flavum would be absolutely gorgeous in a carpet there, though, and it does really well in our climate (used to lovely effect in the Japanese garden at the UW Arboretum).

I'm in Redmond, WA and have been looking for similar "bones" for my garden, and things less than 5 ft too. I've found that there are tons of hebes out there, lots are evergreen & all shapes & sizes. I have a nice hebe buxifolia that I got at Molbak's for $5 that started as about 4" but has grown to a nice size pretty quickly & looks great in a mixed border bed. Also, what about lavender? There are also some shorter New Zealand Flax that are interesting. In the fall I put in both a yellow twig & red twig dogwood as I've been admiring them in the winter locally, especially the yellow twig.

Terra Nursery has a lot of great dwarf conifers & they're at most of the major plant sales going on right now & at the Redmond Farmer's market & they are really knowledgeable too. Also, the Pat Calvert Greenhouse at the Arboretum has lots of affordable shrubs & I've had great advice from them too.

Ah! Thank you for the tip on the nurseries. Those are fairly close to where MIL lives so maybe she can go with me to find a suitable plant. I like to shop at Watson's in Puyallup, but she doesn't like to drive that far.

I was just at Home Despot and checked out their selection of evergreen shrubs; now I need to further investigate Euonymus "Green Spire". Sez on the tag 3-5' tall with a narrow upright habit, and it has a pleasing texture.

Huh. I just identified one of the random plunked-down shrubs in MIL's yard as Euonymus 'Microphyllus Aureovariegatus'. It's obviously a slow polite grower, since it's grown substantially less than the other random shrubs -- in fact hasn't given FIL a single excuse to shear it, and the shape is pleasing.

I may suggest we try moving it to the end of the bed. It's not too big yet, only about 3' tall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Microphyllus Aureovariegatus

Here's a most excellent link for you. Full of wonderful ideas for your climate:
http://www.paghat.com/gardenhome.html

You have been given a lot of good suggestions above. Just wanted to comment on your comment regarding the size of the hollies. I don't know about the Pacific Northwest, but in my climate hollies are extremely slow growers. I have planted small ones (about 1 foot tall in your terms) for about 6 years now and they have grown, at best, another foot during all this time. I never needed to prune them. As I said, it may be different in the PN because of the different climate, but here hollies, if you start with small plants, will take many, many years to reach your required height.

Eduarda