The thing that first jumps out at me is that those birch are going to grow hugely larger that they are now, soon make it very difficult to grow all the other, smaller kinds of plants in that same space. (Unless and until the trees are spoiled by bronze birch borer). Otherwise maybe you should try looking for a garden coaching service that can come to your planting site, help you work through your reorganizing. And give you a different perspective from what you have been getting from the nursery up to this point.

Do you think the Birch trees will take over everything? Again, I was guided by a nursery (who does landscaping design) to plant the trees in that exact space/spot. They came out to the yard and everything. The goal was to block our neighbor, who's yard/house is very rundown. Ugh, makes me nervous!

They look like white Himalayan birch, which in time produces a full sized tree over 60' tall. But along with European birch this kind is now being hammered by bronze birch borer in the Pacific Northwest. It has been said the insect tends to focus on drought stressed or otherwise unhappy larger specimens so you may not see any problems with yours for some time. But around me here in the Seattle area it seems to be doing a very good job of finding and infesting pretty much all of the many European birch on local sites.

If kept what your birch planting will probably first be noticed as doing is filling up the planting bed there with many small thirsty roots. So that the other plants start to struggle during the summer dry season.

A summer dry season that is a normal occurrence in this region - any gardening involving keeping lawns green and plants of foreign origin with summer wet climates in their backgrounds looking good will involve diligent watering every year.

I did a little dive and remembered the name is Jacquemontii, which seems to be a Himalayan birch. I am just feeling defeated at this point...not sure why we were recommended this tree now. By the way, I'm in Tacoma. If we were to replace them, do you have any recommendations. It's just frustrating because we've put a lot of time/money into this project.

Personally if I was trying to hide something I'd choose an evergreen kind of plant. But trying to fit a row of trees in that narrow bed is always going to be problematic - maybe what you need instead is a sufficiently high trellis added to the top of the fence - if possible - with climbing plants growing on it.

You should also consider time: both the time it takes plants to mature and choosing plants to provide four season interest.

I planted a peony Bartzella six years ago. It is large and green, but I got one bloom last year and two this year. And, no, I didn't give it too much nitrogen. I'm hoping for more blooms next Spring. My point is, gardens take a long time to mature.

How do camellias do in your area? That could provide evergreen interest with winter bloom, and they can take some shade as the trees grow. How about a fig tree?

A garden is an ongoing project. Don't feel bad that you want to make some adjustments.

I'd like to know the measurement of the bed I marked in orange.

It looks like most things were planted too close to the fence. In the future plant at least a eighteen inches out.

The bed is just shy of 3' deep. It is a narrow space. We tried to space plants the best we could, again, using the guidance from the nursery. I almost feel like we tried to get too many plants in this space...the hydrangeas, daphne, and rose we have are filling out the space well, but that really doesn't leave space for other plants we incorporated like the coneflowers and peonies. But, again, we were advised that all of these plants could coexist in this size space.

I'll check out the book. Thanks for the recommendation.

I will say, none of this was rushed into. I planned my vision for a year and then worked with a trusted nursery owner to plan out what would grow best in this space. I think my issue is I might have been directed to plant too much in this space. In regards to my trees, I was told they would grow more columnar and were the right trees for this space. Trust me, I wouldn't have just thrown in a bunch of trees that would take everything over, not intentionally anyway.

Our whole home/yard has been a huge renovation project (1938 Tudor that needed a lot of love inside and out...with a front yard that was infested with junipers and a backyard that was consumed by a deck and not much else). We have put a lot of love and sweat into our place and hope to reside here until we can no longer walk up the stairs. This is a forever place for us and we are trying to do things intentionally.

I feel a little defeated with the responses. I am all for constructive criticism, however, I am now stressing about trees that I loved prior to posting my original comment. My main objective was getting some insight for what to replant in that one space that didn't really come together well. I also understand that it takes time for things to fill in...if anything I'm shocked at how fast things have grown in two years!

Unfortunately, just being a nursery owner does not make one particularly adept at landscape design. Their ideas on plant selection and plant combinations may be fine for this area but putting them all together and with proper spacing and massing maybe way off.

One of the most frequent comments made on the Landscape Design forum is about planting beds that are too narrow in depth (front to back). And 3 feet is just simply too skimpy to accommodate more than some smaller perennials or annuals. You need to pull that out to at least double the depth and more is better if you want to accommodate shrubs and trees.

At this point you may be best served by hiring a local garden/landscape designer to help you work with what you have rather than ripping everything out and starting over. Many will offer consultation services that involve a site visit, evaluation of the problem and suggestions/sketches on ways to remedy and for a very affordable hourly fee. And while many ornamental birch trees ARE suffering in this area, infestation by BBB is not a foregone conclusion - the UW suggests that existing trees that receive plenty of water, fertilizer and mulch are most likely to survive, as are those planted in cool, moist, shaded areas. But if the birches do need to be replaced, we are not short of very sun tolerant, more compact growing choices :-)

I would be willing to sacrifice lawn space to keep the Echinacea.

Friends with a long established white Himalayan birch even experimented with paying to have it treated with pesticides considered suitable for excluding bronze birch borer and it was still decimated afterward. Even native stands of paper birch north of Everett are now displaying dead upper crown sections. Native as in growing where environmental conditions suit them to the extent that they are a spontaneous natural feature. And which in addition are examples of a North American species that - unlike European and Himalayan birches - has some natural resistance to this North American native insect.