Lost your ability to hold a hose ? :)

In the front of my home and especially in a high visibility area like the front door I would prefer an evergreen, so I would think a small kalmia, evergreen azalea, abelia, or dwarf nandina.

Then I would of course remember that flowering plants flower for a very short time each season, and would probably amend my choice to a very select dwarf conifer and face it with perennials for the desired color.

What else is out there? Have a photo?

japanese azalea would work, not sure if it is hardy but gardenia brighamii would also work, I don't like the flowers and berries on nandina bushes. I keep my nandina trimmed in a formal round shape.

if you want a more care free future.. then you probably ought to be looking at a perennial to fill the spot ... ken

I am not aware of the zone the OP is in, so I am suggesting plants that will grow in zone 7a. ken may be right, plant something like daylilies. They come in many varieties so you can mix and match to create a good floral display.

The OP is "In New Jersey, 6b".

ok, I must have missed that.

I'm partial to fragrance for sites such as this. How about Viburnum carlesii 'Compactum'? Daphne?

Caldwell Home & Garden: Zone 7a lower limit 0. Gardenia brighamii hardiness zone = 10a. Lower limit +35. Is there any point at all in spreading this sort of blatant misinformation?

Thank you all for the suggestions. The Viburnum carlesii looks beautiful and may fit the bill. Thanks again.

Make sure you get V carlesii 'Compactum' as maackia mentioned. Otherwise you will have a shrub which vastly outstrips your space.

Ok, thank you, Floral.

neighbor has beautyberry in heavy shade in front of her house ... i think she has to cut it back to maintain its height .. which is within your parameters..

and frankly.. its the coolest thing i ever saw ... i have no clue if it will grow where you are in NJ .. in whatever light you have ... etc .. just throwing the idea out there ...

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=beautyberry&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiexLn9xuHNAhUDHD4KHdHlBWUQ_AUICCgB&biw=940&bih=745&dpr=0.9

i will add ... the problem with flowers alone.. is that is a rather short term show .. a week or so ...

the beauty of this bush ... pun intended ... you can have a whole season of interest .. other than a green bush with flowers for a week or two ...

still wonder if it would work for you

in the alternative.. a variegated plant would also be a longer show than just flowers ...

ken

Here here-beautyberry! Truly an under-used item IMO. The purple fruit show can go on for months under certain conditions. There are good cultivars and the plain-jane American species is just fine as is. Purple fruits look artificial in the right light, though not in a bad way. I'm about as certain as a guy can be that Callicarpa would be just fine in NJ.

thats it exactly tom ... never put my thumb on it.. they look fake ... color... texture on sight.. etc ..

ken

Like wax fruit, eh?

Just read (American Nurseryman-July 2016) that the crushed-up leaves of Callicarpa americana rubbed on the skin are a truly effective mosquito repellent! Evidently, this was an old folk remedy down south, and upon testing it out, researchers found at least three chemicals in the leaves that actually do repel mosquitoes as well as a range of other insects. Of course, pulling all the foliage off might not do much for the appearance of the shrub!

akamainegrower, I have a gardenia brighamii shrub planted here in zone 7a. It has been trimmed once in it's life and blooms beautifully every year.

Either a miracle or a faulty plant identification. The actual gardenia brighamii would not survive temperatures below freezing except for very brief periods.

Ken, thank you so much. I love the beautyberry -- purple is even my favorite color! I did a bit of research and it seems as though the bush is custom-made for my spot :D Deer may be an issue, but since it is so close to the house, it should be manageable.

Tom, mosquitoes are a big problem here -- I'm willing to sacrifice a few leaves ; )

Thank you everyone, for all of your advice -- I would be lost without this site!

I've grown several Callicarpa dichotoma 'Issai' for years, and I cut them back every spring to stubs. It gets MUCH larger than 3 feet in the season, and you'd have to keep hacking at it. A bad choice for the OP's spot. And I'm in 6A--a shorter season of growth.

Maybe a Hebe or Potentilla

Hebe is very unlikely to survive in the OP's area.

Ah Im not familiar with the OPs climate. I'm in England. They thrive here (similar to their native New Zealand I guess)

Laceyvail, thanks for that bit, but I wonder.......having seen numerous examples of the straight American species, and this in SW Florida, that were in fact reasonably compact, in situations where for certain nobody ever prunes them.......that you might be overstating just a bit, as far as the trouble this fine shrub would cause the OP in his/her spot? Not saying you are, mind you. Just wondering about all that. Plus, who knows....maybe the coppicing treatment you're using-a great idea BTW-is actually resulting in more vigorous growth within any single growing season, if that makes any sense.

As far as that goes, I've pondered using this shrub (beauty berry) here in Wisconsin. You really basically never see it around here, yet its hardiness rating suggests that it should work, especially if handled the way you (Lacey) are. I could see it being a great one. But I digress...........

GreenLarry - I'm also in England but you can find out the OP's likely winter minimum temps from their US zone. Some of their Winter temps are unimaginable to us. As are some of their Summer ones.

Just my two cents to strongly recommend AGAINST using dayliies in this situation. i made the mistake of putting them next to the door of my cottage and will be moving them asap. The late frost meant the first foliage was unsightly and then they hit another ugly period when the bloom finishes. i would only put them in a front row position if they were hemmed in by boxwood or something like it. Now nepeta or lavender... there are some perennials that step up to the plate.

How about Spirea 'Joseph's Coat'?

Maybe St. John's Wort? I think the one I have is 'Sunburst'. Doesn't die back, peeling bark in the winter, ok in a drier area with part shade.

Callicarpa Americana is quite a large shrub--not common around here, but I know a wild one that's some 8 feet tall. And the reason I coppice my C. dichotoma 'Issai' is that in a winter where temps get below zero, there's so much die back that coppicing is really the only way to deal with it. In the very few years that I didn't coppice, it got much larger than it usually gets. A great shrub for the right place, but not where it needs to be kept to a certain small size.

You might consider Deutzia. When in flower they give a 'cottage' look - to me anyway.

Caldwell's gardenia looks like the pinwheel or daisy variety. Some are hardy to zone 6.

Gardenia varieties