I'm looking for ideas for the area between the fence and the road.

-->>> i would start inside the fence.. and worry about outside the fence in future years ...

do you have a plan for such ???

if so.. it might help determine the outside of the fence plan ...

ken

I used to have a deep perennial border inside the (old, but in the same place) fence. It became overgrown and weedy during an especially overly busy couple of years. I decided to shift my border to the outside of the fence for some privacy, with a future plan to put in some foundation plantings, potentially. Thank you for your comment!

I know how frustratingly vague this will sound, but you sound like you have three very solid options, and enough experience to make any of them happen. So any feedback I could give would be secondary to what you most like from those three options. I will say that with the upcoming Onyx painting, the midwest modern would give you a great chance to use strong and vibrant color to complement the dark house color, and the cornus in particular would look amazing during the winter months. But it really depends on your vision. My own house is a colorful cottage style muddle still in development... but I like it, and it makes me happy, so really that's what matters! Picture all three and think about which style would make you smile when you arrive home! Good luck!

Thank you, Jenn. I really appreciate your comment. And yes, ultimately I know it comes down to my own opinion but I like all 3 options quite a lot. The interior of our house leans modern, so I am definitely drawn to the midwest modern idea but I love flowers, too. The back of our land borders a dirt road so I guess if I go modern and somewhat minimalist out front, I could do a big, flowery hedge along the back. Decisions, decisions! I am grateful for your opinion. I am so glad your home makes you happy!

If I were you I’d do a row of Russian Sage in front. they won’t need water once they’re established, and the Lacy look could be nice with the dark house?

Thank you, Faith! Russian sage is such a pretty plant. I think it would be a good addition if I went with a grassland theme. I would also include Rudbeckia or Ratibidia of I did that. So many great ideas!!!

What's the distance from the road to your fence? In other words, how deep is the bed? How high is the bottom rail of the fence from the ground? Do you want to cover the fence, or would you like, say, some tall groundcovers (2-2.5 feet) along the fence?

Hi Deb - The bed is 18 feet deep, and the bottom rail of the fence is about 10 inches from the ground. I would like to have some taller plants (maybe shrubs?) but more than anything, I would like to help the new fence look a bit more grounded in the landscape. 3-rail is common in our neighborhood because many of our neighbors have horses but it looks pretty stark right now.

Thank you for considering my question!

That's one deep bed, and it allows for layering. When you mentioned that you're painting your house black, red roses and Pawnee Buttes sand cherries sprang to mind because they would look dramatic with black. Linda Campbell roses grow 5-6 feet tall and about 5 feet wide. Pawnee Buttes sand cherries get about 2 feet tall and 5-6 feet wide. You might also consider groundcover roses, especially the meidilands. I've found fire meidiland roses to be quite drought-tolerant. They grow in a southeast-facing border along the sidewalk in front of my Fort Collins home. Pawnee Buttes and Linda Campbell are quite drought-tolerant, once established. Here are other ideas for tough growing conditions: Kick-ass plants.

Thank you, Deb! Great blog, too. Looks like we're (nearly) neighbors! I like your ideas but I'm more partial to pink roses. Do you have any that you're especially fond of? I'm not against a really hot pink. Do you have any experience with low gro sumac? I wonder how it would perform in this very sunny south facing bed??

I think that the shrubby dogwoods would look lovely along the fence all winter against the dark house and the snow. My memory is that Midwinter Fire has a nice clear yellow fall color. But it would be a plain green blob all growing season. Consider planting type 3 (hard prune) clematis a few feet away from the dogwoods to crawl up and over the shrubs to add flowers. And/or give them a simple combo on the house side of one type of perennial such as the Russian sage along with a contrasting groundcover with similar watering needs such as Sedum Angelina. Keep it simple and use a combo of mulch, edging, and little supplemental water to keep the perennials less weed infested. The dogwoods will need irrigation, and it might be good to plant them in a bit of a swale so that any precipitation is captured and held long enough to soak in. They are happy with wet to average soil.

Great suggestions! Fortunately this bed is a swale, and we will run drip line, so I think the Cornus sanguinea could work. I agree that they would be a bit of a green blob in the summer but that's probably ok! The contrast of a dark house with lots of foliage is really pretty, in my opinion. I never thought of the idea of clematis growing over other shrubs. I'll do some research! I also like your suggestions for some plants on the inside of the fence. I just won the war with Japanese knotweed (really pretty plant but oh my goodness, look away for a moment (or, in my case, a couple of very busy growing seasons) and it will eat your yard!

Hello again, Robin. Cornus is a good suggestion, especially for winter interest. You could always intersperse more colorful shrubs between it. For example, plant 5 dogwoods, then 3 or 5 of something else, then 5 dogwoods again to create a sense of rhythm. If your soil stays wet, roses may not be a good choice because they don't like wet feet. However, if you do have a better area for roses, you might search among High Country Rose's pink roses. The JoAn's perpetual pink looks particularly luscious.

Oh my, JoAn’s Pink Perpetual is a stunner! I might need one (or more) of those! Other than along the irrigation ditch (runs every 2 weeks June-October), nothing gets wet feet for long around here, except for the beginning of last summer when I woke up most days wondering if we'd been transported to Oregon! I've grown Isanti dogwoods (sericea) before but never Midwinter Fire (sanguinea)... I prefer the summer look of Isanti but the winter display of Midwinter Fire might be worth abandoning an old favorite! Thank you so much for your input!

Clematis growing over Fothergilla “Mount Airy”which are gorgeous spring and fall but green blobs midsummer. Sorry they are sideways.

Clematis growing into Hydrangea paniculata Quickfire, not a green blob.

You could also look into some of the Cornus with variegated leaves, either green and white on red stems or green and gold on yellow stems if I am remembering the choices.

Beautiful! I have had a bias against variegated foliage in the past because it looked kind of sickly to me but I think if I decide to do a mass planting of Cornus it would be nice to get a bit of variation in the foliage. That, plus the possibility of some Clematis tumbling over top, has me pretty excited about this option. Thank you for your suggestions and pictures!

I think I'm convinced that dogwoods are the way to go. A few more questions, if you'll indulge me... Should I do a single line of dogwoods underplanted with something else, or should I do a few "layers" of dogwoods, with no underplanting? If a mass, should I stick with one species or a variety? Here are a few examples of mass plantings of dogwood:

Midwinter Fire

Red and yellow

A little bit of everything!

Personally, I would underplant, regardless. I really like Veronica Georgia Blue, but I don’t know how it does in your area. If foliage diseases are an issue in your area, I would do one row for better air circulation.

Otherwise, it is up to you what looks good, how much space you have vs. how wide your selections are, and how much pruning work you want to do. In order to maintain bright stem color, you want to either cut 1/3 of the oldest stems each year or cut the whole thing back every 2-3 years in spring. It’s the young stems that are really bright.

Gorgeous photos BTW.

Veronica is a great idea! There are plenty of varieties that do well in my zone (maybe Veronica liwanensis?) so I'll take a look. I also like Hardy Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) or possible something else with some floral interest? Maybe some flower carpet roses like Deb suggested...