Maybe instead of autumn color a conical conifer with winter color.

Alanc23 the sand cherry is beautiful!!

Ninebark is often suggested as a substitute for Barberry. There are cultivars with red leaves (like diablo) but the wild version has green leaves. Can be pretty tall and spindly. Virginia Sweetspire?

Do you have Japanese beetles? If so, consider sand cherries with reservations. They're in the rose family and ones I've seen here in New England are decimated by Japanese beetles by the middle of July.

If you are willing to consider conifers, there are a couple of beautiful blue ones that are about 2-3 feet wide and like pencils.

Dark green conifer? De Groot's spire.

Yes I had a HORRIBLE plague of Japanese beetles this year and nothing worked!! Not pesticides (sprayed at night to avoid hurting Bees), not spraying them hard with the “jet” setting on the hose, not even picking them off one by one and smothering them with soap and oil, not baking soda mixtures or soap mixtures on the leaves. It was terrible and I noticed they attacked mostly fragrant roses like my sweet drift and the lavender crush.

Hm I think I’ll have to consider conifers! I saw my neighbor had a really beautiful blueish bush too, even though it’s not pencil sharped it have me an idea to include something like that (maybe it was Russian sage?). But I like your idea of using conifers :)

Good. Would you like to tell us about the space you have for whatever you plant?

Yes :) it’s fhe garden in front of my house, I have a colonial so the front door is smack in the middle, and two long and skinny gardens are on either side. When looking at the house, the left side it slopes quite a bit, so you can see the foundation and siding meeting. I just want it to be lush and full. The right side is slightly shorter but completely flat.

Everything is in its first year because we’ve only moved here for one year. Previously it was disgusting and there were some half dead trees and extremely Old mulch. It’s come a long way in just a year :)

i can post photos in the morning

Photos always make it easier for me to offer suggestions.

Hi everyone, I completely forgot to post photos. Im in graduate school full time and working, and about to graduate all while looking for a job, so my brain has been extremely scattered.

Here are photos (excuse the messy mulch I had to do some digging I’m thinking of redoing both areas with natural wood chips next spring), this area is about 22-25 feet long (I did measure I just forget which) and 8 feet wide. The lighter green plant in the middle is a hardy hibiscus. The two dark green plants on either side are JFK roses (because of the angle they look close but they’re further away than they look). I also have a lily turf and sedum tucked into opposite corners. With some small variety Snow Fountain shrubs.

Another angle of this garden (bare spot potentially for barberry substitute)

On this right side it’s also about 8 feet wide and 15-17 feet long (not including the portion wrapping around the corner). It also has the same pattern of JFK roses, hardy hibiscus, sedum and lily turf and Snow Fountain shrubs. Around the corner my peppermint pop hangs out all alone but there’s not room for friends and it’s doing extremely well.

Next time you replenish your mulch, consider a browner, more natural shade. I think even (free) wood chips would look more attractive than red. Best of all would be a living groundcover to unify the bed. Sorry for the unsolicited advice that you weren't looking for. I wouldn't have bothered except the taupe color of the house is very handsome and deserves a classy mulch!

Thanks kitasei,

yeah I really am regretting the red mulch. I’m realizing it looks much better at commercial locations than it does for home gardens. It cost quite a bit so I’m mad at myself. But live and learn I suppose. My neighbor actually just got 200 cubic feet of absolutely beautiful natural wood chips for the slope in front of her house so I plan on asking her what company she used.

Funny you should mention plants as ground cover. Today I bought a few ajuga (without knowing what they were), I wonder if these will be too aggressive for the area?

Thanks for complimenting the color of the house! Ironically I somewhat dislike it because it’s far darker in person and was thinking of repainting that grayish blue color :)

And thank you for not taking offense at my comment. At the risk of making you feel worse, though, I have to share my own conclusion about ajuga. After wisteria and trumpet vine, it is the plant I truly regret buying. Aggressive is too mild a description. It fries in the summer sun (I'm zone 6b). And it's actually pretty flat. Have you discovered wild geranium yet? That's my favorite.

Oh no worries, I’ve gotten lots of feedback about the mulch this season hahah. Plus if other Gardners on this site can give me helpful suggestions that’s what it’s all about.

ah crap. Well maybe I’ll dig them up and put them in pots instead or just toss them.

i haven’t heard of wild geraniums before (still very new to gardening). I’ll look into them :)

The geranium doesn't even have to be "wild" to be a great ground cover. All the macrorrizums are heat, wilt and weed proof. Bivoko, Karmina, Max Frei, ATJOhnson , and of course....Rozanne.;.. are all excellent groundcovers that bloom at least a month (esp in Rozanne's case, months and months)

I'm crazy about perennial geraniums.

Blueberry bushes have nice fall color though it might be bigger than what you want

Thanks for the photo; you have reasonably deep beds. I don't honestly see a need for a narrow shrub, so I would go with one of the suggestions above such as one of the smaller ninebark/Physocarpus with red foliage like Tiny Wine (though tiny is a real exaggeration) or for red fall color high bush blueberries or a carpet of low bush blueberries. Virginia sweetspire/Itea has red fall color as do many of the geraniums Marie mentioned, so there are lots of options several of which have ornamental flowers as well. One advantage of using a taller groundcover such as the geraniums or low bush blueberries would be that it will pull attention from and to some degree cover the concrete foundation.

To change the mulch color, a light layer of brown mulch will make it fade into the background, no need to remove the old mulch. You should pull the mulch away from the spot on the house side where it comes up against the siding. Perhaps a judiciously placed rock will keep it from moving back down with rain and weather.

If you want a narrow item of focus, a clematis on an obelisk trellis works well. You can add lights for the winter.

Marie those are beautiful! I just looked them up and think they would be a great addition. I always love hearing about others gardeners favorite additions :)

Bob, that’s a good idea! I could even get dwarf varieties to minimize the size. They need other blueberry plants around to produce the berries right?

Babs, that is fantastic advice about the clematis. I appreciate your other ideas too! Everyone has been so wonderful about sharing their ideas :)

it seems everyone has had such great ideas, ill have to see if I have a way to incorporate probably the blueberries, clematis and geraniums space-wise and absolutely keep everyone updated

Wild blueberries in fall color, but cultivated ones also look this bright red IME.