is that string the dimension of the new bed?

if so.. congrats on being one of the few peeps we dont have to discuss tripling the bed.. lol ..

if you define your goals.. then plant selection is easy ... why would you want a line of conifers along the deck? .. do you need a site line block??? .. cant think of many other things that would be evergreen in z4 ...

ken

No, I meant in a line along the side of the house, like as a backdrop to a perennial bed. Trying to picture how it would look in winter when things in front are dead but I still want something green to look at. But I just can't picture how to work evergreens into the space and what to plant. A few dwarf alberta spruces would probably look dorky! But I wouldn't know where to place just one. And I don't even know if I like those things, anyway. So, that's where I'm at.

I took pictures of dwarf norway spruce and weeping norway spruce when I was at an arboretum a few weeks ago. (Are those trees or shrubs? I don't even know.) And I have found that there are various sizes of blue spruces. I just sort of want a vision of what to put there before I start wandering in the nurseries and buying up expensive plants that aren't as easy to move as a daylily!

I might start looking at nurseries, making lists of who grows what and then taking the time to research on sites such as MOBOT the actual expected sizes and growth rates rather than what the plant tag says. When I went looking for plants, I found that in my rural area I had a quite limited selection of smaller evergreens suitable for foundation plantings, but mail order dwarf evergreens tend to be quite small and take a good amount of time to reach a larger size. Along with conifers, you could also check out PJM group rhododendrons (or the related Aglo and Olga Mezitt) which should all be hardy enough for 4b. Figure out what height you want. You could also consider other types of winter interest if you want some other plants than evergreens, something with interesting winter branches (such as red-twigged dogwood which comes in a range of sizes and also some with variegated leaves) or deciduous winterberry holly which has striking berries for several months in fall and early winter. I also enjoy some of the dried winter flowers such as Hydrangea paniculata and H. arborescens.

There's also a conifer forum here that may have suitable suggestions of you tell them you want things likely to be found in a local nursery rather that from a specialist via mail order.

It's a nice size flower bed, flowerdot.

How about drawing some shapes in that space to show us the sort of look you would like? I think this would inspire people to give suggestions of trees and shrubs that would become those sizes and shapes. Oh, and maybe put an E for evergreen or a D for deciduous or E/D if you don't care which.

We do like to make things difficult.

Backdrop evergreens? Yew, boxwood, arbs, juniper, rhoddies. Dwarf Alberta's are a possibility.

Each choice has advantages and disadvantages. Yews can be large, boxwood may not be large enough. An arborvitae such as holstrup (about 3' wide, 6-8' tall) may be about as close to ideal as you can get.

This is the stage when I've found people tend to obsess over details that fade later in this process. The finished bed will hold the eye better than you think, even in winter. And just a couple plants with winter structure, be they evergreen or just shrubs, can go a long way to breaking up such a space.

Thanks, all. I still don't really know what I want, because I don't know what will look good. But it sounds like including deciduous shrubs with winter interest can contribute a lot, so I will think more about those.

Ooo, and I just looked up winterberry holly, and it is preeeetty. I'm going to add it to my must have list, if not planted here, then somewhere!

If evergreen I'd suggest a globe or nesting type shape for the foundation backdrop.

You really don't want anything more than 3-4' tall in that location.