since the plants you have there.. in tree/shrub time.. will get rather large .. perhaps huge ... i dont know if i would be investing in more permanent trees/shrubs ... and tend toward perennials ...

clay soil.. is a watering/drainage issue ... you dont pick plants based on such ... its just a matter of planting them properly.. and watering them properly...

i cant tell from the pic.. but if that is bare soil .. you might want to mulch it all ... if it already is.. great ...

july/august may not be a great time to be planting.. for us in warmer climes ... but its a great time.. to start looking for bargain plants... which you hold over.. until the fall planting season ...

if it were me.. i would be looking for things that get no taller than the fence.. and perhaps a foot shorter .. just to keep things in proportion to the fence ...

its obvious.. why you planted those trees there ... and it will accomplish the goal.. in tree time .. so continue to be patient in that regard... i know you want the sight block yesterday.. but that isnt how it all works... short of a huge checkbook ....

and the same logic goes with the underplantings ... just keep plugging away ...

im no good at specific suggestions .. as i always buy whats on sale.. lol ... so i guess i gave you my best suggestion .. lol

ken

ps: some daylilies there.. might add a splash of color ...

I would plant Clematis on the fence for color and summer privacy. Absolutely add wood mulch to keep weeds out.

I wouldn’t use either the juniper or the Euonymus mentioned. I would choose an evergreen groundcover. I don’t grow in clay, but some plants to check out include perennial candytuft/Iberia sempervirens, Veronica Georgia Blue, several of the perennial proundcover Geraniums such as Geranium Biokovo or Geranium Karmina.

For summer, I can see tall Phlox in there. Not sure how they do in Clay? They are long bloomers and would give you lots of color.....many to choose from. My favorite! I don’t recommend David...Way too floppy!

A low growing groundcover would knit the space together without obstructing existing plant growth. As trees and large shrubs grow they could "eat" the groundcover with no problem.

I tried phlox in the past with no luck :( rabbits ate all 3 plants! So i found birch hybrid bellflower at the nursery, says its evergreen. Would this work? If so, what to combo with it do you think? I have it pictured here next to some sedum...? I am guessing something less flowery and more foliage-y would complement.

Stupid pic isn't posting.... you know what it looks like, I'm sure!

Oy, there we go....

Mine have never been touched by rabbits and I have plenty believe me! I can’t say that about the deer though...

Heuchera Palace Purple does really well for me in my clay soil. I grow a lot of other heucheras and Palace Purple is the most care free.

I second some low growing hardy geraniums. Biokovo spreads nicely and is easy care.

I have tried a few bellflowers but they haven't lasted long for me. Not sure why exactly.

Some dianthus might be an option too. They generally are described as needing well drained soil, but I have had Bath's Pink for several years and I've been dividing it and putting in all kinds of places and it has done really well even in heavy soil, especially if there is a slope so water doesn't pool up.

I wouldn't plant a row of plants along front though. I'd make flowing groups of plants in between and in front.

Very nice looking area. :)

ETA:

How about some pollinator plants? Image groups of Cheyenne Spirit Echinacea with Tuberous Millkweed. Santa Rosa Gardens sells plug trays of these plants usually too, although you might consider doing a fall or spring planting for better survival rates.

https://www.santarosagardens.com/Echinacea-p/29.htm

https://www.santarosagardens.com/Asclepias-p/933000.htm

gardenho, maybe it was the deer then! I am not a good pest identifier after the fact... it's a guessing game.

I'm going to see how I fare with geraniums and bellflowers, grouped, not lined up! Thanks, thrills... this is the kind of advice I need.

I think I'm getting somewhere....

Now, I have probably 20 feet to the left of the evergreens I need to fill with a few more shrubs, the ones I've considered are: limelight hydrangea, ninebark, viburnum, weigela, fothergilla major? I want something at least 5' tall. Any suggestions? I don't mind pruning if needed.

Thanks in advance for the advice, I've been agonizing over this space for a long time. Landscape design just does not come easy to me!

Perhaps a mix of dwarf pennisetum such as 'Burgundy bunny' and some creeping thyme.

“Landscape design just does not come easy to me!”

I think many of us feel that way.

.....You just gotta play with it till you get it to your liking!

Then in time, your taste will most likely change...and so will the plants!

That’s why a gardener is never done/satisfied lol!

I've had good luck with the perennial/wild geranium.

Definitely groundcover geraniums, G. 'Biokovo' or 'Karmina'. Great plants, semi-evergreen, need no attention, easy to control and never aggressive but fills in nicely. Oh, and attractive too.

I also really like the sturdier panicled hydrangeas like Limelight, White Diamond, and Quickfire. Or if you want them a bit smaller, go for Little Lime or Little Quickfire. Just be sure to leave enough room for them, and for any, check the size on a reliable site such as the Missouri Botanical Garden’s PlantFinder. They give actual expected size at maturity rather than the 5 or maybe 10 year size often given on plant tags. I don’t prune my panicled hydrangeas. It isn’t necessary if they are chosen so that the size suits the space, and they regrow fast enough that I wouldn’t want to try to control size via pruning. They range in size from Bobo, at about 4’ to some of the older cultivars like Pink Diamond getting to perhaps 12’ or more in all directions. I am less fond of the cultivars with what look to me overlarge bloom panicles and floppier stems like Vanilla Strawberry that tend to sag under the weight of the blooms, though plenty of people seem to like them.

I you have acid soil, Fothergilla has scented delicate bottle brush flowers for a few weeks in May here, and fiery late tall color. I grow hard prune (type 3) clematis into them in summer since otherwise they are sort of boring mid season. My F. Mt. Airy haven’t gotten taller than 4’ in 15 years in full sun or lots of shade. They bloom better and get better autumn color in sun. I think F. Major gets a bit taller.

Either deciduous or evergreen Rhododendrons might be nice there if your soil is acid.

i haven’t been impressed with any of the Weigela I have grown. Short bloom season, eaten by voles in winter, no fall color, and just kind of blah much of the growing season, though nice when actually in bloom. YMMV.

As far as design, having a limited number of ground covers will help tie things together, and just using one will give a different feel than if you use more than one. Periodic repetition of a relatively distinctive plant or similar foliage color down the whole length of the planting is helpful also in preventing a look of one of this and one of that. Right now you have two blue spruce, so consider adding another (can be a small cultivar rather than full sized) or another blue foliaged evergreen to add that consistent punctuation down the whole length of the bed. Do be aware that blue spruce is native to a much drier area that the NE US and so are often prone to developing fungal diseases. Mine at 10 years are to the point that I am starting to think about removing them as they have lost almost all foliage on lower branches and often have several towards the top that drop needles as well. They will disappear at some point in the next 5 years for sure. I have one bed with several different plants with dark red foliage and another with more than one gold foliaged plant to provide a similar pattern that ties the bed together. There is a poster, mazerolm_3a, who often posts photos on the perennials forum, who does this very well.

I so appreciate everyone's advice... and I have received a lot of suggestions I WILL implement!

I looked for the geraniums but couldn't find them, so I opted for candy tuft... bought a bunch.

I think I'm going to put a tree form hydrangea next to the baptisia (bottom right corner) and do a limelight at the end (left side, past the evergreens), flanked by something... I don't know, maybe a couple of blue hosta? Miss Kim lilac? We'll see. So I'm keeping with the "cool" color scheme - purples, blues, whites... with the candytuft and campanula groundcovers.

Hopefully the end product works! *fingers crossed*

NHBabs has excellent taste and advice. Ponder her message!

I will only add the I just removed a huge Euonymus planting that was old. The trunks were 3-4" thick and I was shocked to learn it was a ground cover. It grew tall and new shoots put little troublesome roots into the masonry of the house every year. It behaved far more like a gangly long-armed and vigorous shrub for me. Getting rid of it was an issue because of a wasp or hornet (some biting thing) nest for the last couple of years. Thankfully, this winter a hungry deer ate enough of it to expose the old trunks so I could cut it all down early this spring. Later somebody is going to remove the stumps with a tractor.

It seemed to be standard green winter creeper. Some varietals are supposed to be better behaved. But, I remember at one time seeing a branch that made me think these had possibly been variegated originally and had reverted.

I'm sure Euonymus is valuable for some large-scale commercial plantings. In my garden it was not at all appreciated.

A few feather reed grasses would be a nice vertical accent.