Goals? Geographic location?

I like Dig Doug’s rendering. I see he mixed mulch and rock. Is that just for interest or is there a reason for it?

Thank you Molly D. and Dig Doug's Designs! We put down rocks because the mulch was splashing back at the house when it rained. We are looking to move all plants except the hydrangea because we do not like the looks of those plants. We are hoping to get ideas for shrubs to put in place of those current plants/shrubs. Dig Doug's Designs what are the names of the trees and shrubs. I really like the maple colored trees and the white flowered plants/shrubs.

Embothrium we are in a Zone 5 area. I would like names of shrubs/plants to replace all existing trees/shrubs except the hydrangea, which is the 2nd flowering plant to the right of the stairs.

Depending on how large you would like them to get, and wide, and on your soil type, I would look at doing native shrubs in your area. I’m in 6 (Ohio), so I’ll give a few examples that are in my area. Native planting are the best way to go, they maybe be slightly harder to find, but they evolved there and will grow well, not need nearly as much work once established, and have natural defenses against the “pests” that live there. Plus they are so much better for the local wildlife and environment in general. Below are some I used in my front bed.

* Viburnum (blackhaw, maple leaf, blueberry muffin)

* chokeberry (red & black)

* spicebush

* witch hazel

* dogwood (red-osier)

* Nannyberry

* Juniper

* Inkberry Holly (evergreen)

* Potentilla

* Ninebark

Thank you Kristin or letting me know about native plantings.

No problem! It’s a real passion of mine and I started a native landscape design business last year. I’ve redone 4 homes now on my own and they are all extremely happy. One of the homes had a salt water pool, so I even found plenty of natives that were salt tolerant even though we are in Ohio! I mainly focus on bird and pollinator gardens, but that’s because i have a Master’s in Wildlife Biology. I’m more than hap to help from afar if you message me with your specific location and send you a list of natives that you should be able to find locally, or if you have any more questions.

Zone 5 isn’t enough info since that only tells us average winter cold. A general geographic location is needed since eastern WA, parts of the area around Denver, southern NH and much of the Great Lakes are all zone 5, but have quite different summer heat, soil pH, and soil texture, and so will make different plants happy.

I'm in southern NH

Hi "The Plant lady"

Would you know which plants are ideal for a front yard with full sun all day long? I live in New Carrollton, Maryland.

Thanks!

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5965627/help-with-curb-appeal-the-maple-and-also-full-sun-plants I need help!

@the Plant Lady: Native Landscape Design I live on the outskirts of Nashua NH. Any suggestions would be helpful and appreciated. I really liked most of the plants/shrubs you listed, but we have a few of those currently and we are not fans of them for our yard. I really like the brown/maple tree that Dig Doug's Designs pictured, I just don't know the name of it.

Thanks for adding location. I am about an hour north of you, just north of Concord, NH.

IME the Plantlady’s suggestions will all grow well here but are all far too large for your space. In a short time all will be well over the window sills and pushing against the house, and planting overly large shrubs with the plan to keep them in check via pruning isn’t practical. Soon you will need to pull them out due to size. I grow most on the list., just not in a foundation bed. For instance, witch hazel/Hamamelis virginiana gets over 12’ tall and wide, red twigged dogwood gets to 8’ tall and suckers so it can get very wide, and spicebush gets to over 8’ tall and wide. Blue muffin Viburnum is a dud and everyone I know who has planted it in this area has removed it due to poor autumn color and serious damage from Viburnum beetles. Maple leafed Viburnum might be small enough but will want shade in the hottest part of the day to be happy, and can be difficult to find in nurseries, though the Native PantTrust in central MA sometimes has it.

The dark leafed maple you noticed in Doug’s sketch is a Japanese maple and will also be too large for the space between the walk and the house, though you could plant one between the walk and the street. On the right side, you could swing the bed out wide to place one diagonally out from the corner of the house. Japanese maples vary quite a bit in size, with some growing slowly and not getting much larger than 6‘ tall and wide and others reaching 30+’, so do research if you want this option. You will also want to research hardiness of particular cultivars and choose one that won’t have severe dieback in particularly cold winters here in New England. I can’t grow them at all because I am in a cold pocket, but there are some in my town in better microclimates.

I will strongly suggest that as a part of revamping this bed you remove the white rock and any underlying landscape fabric. Otherwise you will be struggling with weed control and with soil health in the bed. Rock mulch works well in areas that are drier than New England but doesn’t work well here because seeds blow in, sprout in our ample moisture, and are difficult to remove. They will also sprout in organic mulches like shredded bark or leaves but are far easier to remove. Landscape fabric gets tangled with weed roots and interferes with movement of water, nutrients, and air in the soil.

I will want some more info to make suggestions that will work for you.

How big is the bed by the walk front to back? Would you be willing to make the right bed come out farther from the house so there is additional room to plant?

What direction does this side of the house face, and how much sun does it get? Is it all day sun or all day shade or morning only sun or . . . ?

Do you like gardening or do other interests take up most of your time?

The Zone 5 that includes much of western WA is Sunset Climate Zone 5 and not USDA Hardiness Zone 5. With the USDA Zone that happens to line up pretty well with our part of Sunset 5 being USDA 8 - we definitely do not have USDA 5 average low temperatures!

The local natives do better thing has a certain extent of truth to it but still each kind of plant will differ in characteristics including which particular site conditions it does well in. With this latter aspect not always being automatically predetermined by geographic origin. This is how it is possible to grow natives well that are from the same region but not the same part of that region that the planting site is located in. And how it is possible for plants from regions on the other side of the planet to become major pest species that proliferate by the millions under North American conditions - if only North American native plants are the ones that really thrive here this would never happen.

My apologies - I meant eastern WA of course. I will correct above.

(I don’t do well with right and left either!)

Angela, here is one plant to consider - Bono panicle Hydrangea.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5962812/a-bobo-border#n=23

It doesn’t IME get much taller or wider than 4’, blooms for 3 months, tolerates half day to all day sun, and is hardy to zone 3.

Because half our year is not growing season plan to have evergreens, either perennials or shrubs, or both. I will make suggestions when I know sun exposure and bed size.