go to your local nursery and find plants suitable to your local area.

Creeping phlox should look good. If it gets too unkempt, just trim it. It will bloom in the spring and is close to evergreen (cold winter winds can make it a little brown, if so, just trim in the spring, after flowering. I find the lavender is sturdier than the pink, but it might just be the cultivars I have, whose names I don't know.

Creeping phlox (Phlox Subulata) ground cover for sunny dry hillside. Spring bloo · More Info

You could add some interest with summer bulbs. I'd go with alliums. Alliums come in any color from white to pink to purple, you can get them tall or short or anything in between.

Clinton & Associates | Landscape Architects in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virg · More Info

Moving water shouldn't need an algicide. Or you can replace the water periodically.. I have a stone bird bath that I spray with water and let dry to keep the algae down.

One of these decades (milleniums?) people will understand that zone is not a location. We can reverse engineer a location into a zone, but we can't reverse engineer a zone into a location.

Without a location, what you basically get is everybody's Greatest Hits of 'my favorites'. Which isn't going to be a lot of help.

So yes, get thee to a local nursery. The people there will know where you are, since we certainly don't.

I like the variety of height and texture in the photo that @Lyn Nielson posted - it is nice contrast to the more formal fountain - birds and pollinators will love the water so good to get native plants that will make them happy as well

FWIW we have SO many more birds in the our backyard after I added a fountain :)

@mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY) @Lyn Nielson I live Mason, OH. Approximately 35 miles from Cincinnati airport. Unfortunately, I've been to three nurseries and none of them have helped. Their initial reaction has always been, "What an excellent project." The second response is, "Send it to our design team; I am sure they will come up with something." I did it to three different nurseries, in person and by email, including with drawings, and received no response. As a result, I am reaching out to others outside of my immediate vicinity with as much information as possible about my problem.

sorry no ones is helping you locally.

for me, it's a great project. I would start by choosing plants you love to look at, a simple chant to keep in mind is Thrillers, Fillers and Spillers. tall plants that make a statement, plants you just love for snipping for bouquets, and draping or trailing plants. If a cottage look (mixed) isn't your thing, choose all the same color family, or colors that compliment each other.

I personally like Reds oranges and deep purples with whites thrown in... always looking for different shades of greens like chartreuse, and silver gray foliage... it's really what you like, flowers are beautiful no matter what. Tags will say full sun perennial. your nursrey only has what works for your zone, so you are good there. The sky is the limit! Have fun.

The fountain spews water all day, which is absorbed by the clay soil. Isn‘t this like leaving a hose running constantly??

I understand your desire for perennials, but keep in mind that most perennials have a short bloom time. You'll need a variety of plants to have something blooming all summer, or you'll need to focus on plants with interesting leaves, or you'll have to supplement with annuals for continuous blooms. It's not a huge space, so a mass of one or two things might be best.

I have dianthus planted around the bottom of my bird bath. They bloom all summer if dead headed, are very hardy and return year after year. Mine are the dwarf variety, not the taller ones. I'm in Northeast Ohio.

I suggest you go to your local garden centre to buy the appropriate plants for your area.

@lisedv I have an amazing garden center close by, but I don't know what choice of plants would be the most attractive in combination with my concerns.

I would drain, dry out and stain the concrete fountain a darker color.

The plants should be installed where you have the stone and pavers installed.

That would seem to make sense about my water conservation question above.

^^assuming the water recirculates up the center column - that is typically how tiered fountains are set up, often you can choose the levels

I'm sure if you explain to them what you have in mind, express your concerns, and ask that they help you with your selection of plants they should be able to help you especially that you say it's an amazing garden centre. Here where I live, on demand they will come to your home to look at your garden and give advice.

While I wouldn't expect a garden center to find it easy to design a garden, it's much easier to suggest plants for a spot as small as your fountain. One of the reasons I suggested the Phlox subulata is that is has small, short, needle-like foliage, so water splashes will roll right off and if some chemical gets on a leaf, it's small and any spots won't be visible, unlike something with larger leaves.

I'm not convinced your concerns about the water and algicide are a big deal (unless you're putting in way too much chemical), but one thing you can do is to plant annuals. At this time of the year, they tend to be cheap. You'll probably get another few months and if they shrug off all the problems you're worried about, you can get perennials in the spring. Or you could do another year with annuals, see what happens in the summer heat and then you'll know.

Ornamental cabbage has big leaves and will last well into the late fall and maybe the winter. That will certainly give you an idea of whether big-leaved plants are going to suffer under your fountain. That said, there are plenty of pretty plants with masses of tiny, needle-like foliage. Coreopsis is another one that should work for you.

The phlox won't be that expensive (note this is creeping phlox, not garden phlox) so you can get some now and if it doesn't work out, it won't be a big investment.

https://www.botanicalinterests.com/community/blog/zone-6-perennials/?srsltid=AfmBOopzG0d5Xbl8DjoZNT0DnxL1cF5f7YNReKghgUfP0bIZVjp-Fhg4

@BeverlyFLADeziner The suggestions you offered are lovely. But the area under the basin is only dirt and not set up for water.

Since you don't want a variety of blooming plants like a cottage garden, why not just go with a ground cover? Will you be needing to get to the fountain for maintenance/cleaning? If so, pick a ground cover you can walk on.

I saw some variegated Japanese iris today that I thought would be quite nice planted around that fountain. Small (< 2ft) fountaining ornamental grasses would also work. The tricky part is going to be finding something large enough to spill over the lower coping, but small enough that it doesn't overwhelm the fountain itself.

If you look at the third picture Beverly posted, that seems like a reasonable look to aim for, though there are two kinds of plants - daylilies and bearded iris. I'd skip the bearded iris. Daylilies can look ratty this time of year, but pulling out the dead leaves isn't hard.

Water splashing out of the fountain shouldn't be a problem for most plants. Since the water is moving, algae isn't going to be a big issue. IME, algae collects on the fountain itself, but not in the water under those conditions.

Do you remember what variety of boxwood you planted around the house? The issue with boxwood and sun is that in a cold winter, when the ground is frozen, boxwood can't move enough water to keep hydrated, and burns. So people build shade covers for them. I don't think the hardier, English/Korean box hybrids would have trouble in your climate, but Korean box is not a small plant, and the hybrids don't tend to be small either.

This is a mix of annuals and perennials in a barrel, but would work for you.

Since you seem to like the more formal look of boxwoods, perhaps some small thujas might work? Like Tater Tot or Anna's Magic Ball? They are supposed to get to about 1-2 feet and 2-3 feet tall and wide respectively. I don't know if it would be too moist here for them but maybe not.

And perhaps if you want color in summer you can put some taller potted annuals closer around the base of the fountain.

Beautiful fountain, btw!

:)

Dee

Edited to add, I forgot to also mention dwarf hollies, like Gem Box or Strong Box, which is about 3x3. These look more like boxwoods than the thujas.

@JT7abcz The information you provided is so helpful because it comes from first hand experience! I just googled "Can liriope survive in full sun", this is the answer I got, "Yes liripoe can survive in sun, but may require more consistent moisture to prevent the leaves from yellowing or browning, which can be a sign of too much sun or stress.While it performs best in partial shade with a balance of sun, it is a very tough and adaptable plant that can also thrive in full sun if given consistent watering." Wow!...who knew??? And you are right, this fountain is HEAVY! We did exactly what you said, and had it placed on a concrete platform. I like the idea of river rock inside the border to help with the dampness of the soil. If I find the right plants, you wouldn't even see them.

@mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY) I had to look up Japanese Iris and was pleasently surprised...."Yes, variegated Japanese Irises can grow well in full sun though they can grow in full sun, they prefer full sun to partial shade with consistently moist to wet, acidic, and humus-rich soil, ideally in a location that simulates a pond edge or water feature. Ensure the soil remains damp by providing a watering schedule of at least two inches per week to prevent the rhizomes from drying out, especially in a sunny full sun location" . Another great consideration.

"Unfortunately, I've been to three nurseries and none of them have helped."

Unfortunately, local nurseries are not what they used to be...with I'm sure a few remaining exceptions here and there.

An idea is to see how fountains have been planted in various public parks. But the only one I can think of, off the top of my head, does it this way:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/r2GwtCcoTQ67n8xi9

(there at least used to be water plants in the water - but I haven't been to that garden in > 10 years)