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Help me find plants
Topic Started: Apr 11 2018, 02:59 PM (552 Views)
Roor
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bad hombre
DH and I are working on the front yard this year in an attempt to make the house more visually appealing. Yay!


Slightly shoddy mock-up of the house after we paint it, the shutters and front door will be cream though - not brown.

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So between those two bedroom windows, I was thinking of something bright like a forsythia. And over in the left corner by the wood fence will be a couple of burning bushes with a white lilac in between them. That should be good for tall bushes, what flowers or low-lying plants would look good? Or at least what colors of flowers?

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TAZ
I gerenukked my neck
Roor, my dream after we get all our inside stuff done is to scape our back yard around whole perimeter of fence and house with daylilies. I'm not talking about the orangy ones (I don't like orange). I'm talking about the fragrant daylilies. I don't know how to get any pics here. I do know they come in all different colors, different blooming times. All are like the bush type. Some are reasonably cheap, some are very expensive. Only other permanent ones I can think of besides daylilies and those you mentioned, are Rose of Sharon, or columbine or clematis. Is all I got.
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Sew Birdy
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Good Tidings
What is the exposure of the front of the house?

I would stay away from Forsythia. It is beautiful when blooming, but then it looks like sticks the rest of the year. The bloom period is like two weeks. Rose of Sharon is the same way, IMO. Lilacs are good, since they look fine when not blooming. Try Korean lilacs for a lower height. Any bushes with colored leaves are nice. Wild Plum is another nice one, though you will have to keep after it for shape.

Day lilies (I think TAZ is talking about Stargazer (or Oriental/Asian Lilies) are great low maintenance plants where the foliage looks good even when not blooming. Heuchera (Coral Bells) are great plants that come in many different varieties and are easy to grow.

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iluvsuomi1989
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Am I the only one who read it quickly and thought it said, "Help me find pants"? :$


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Roor
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bad hombre
I actually have columbines in the front, they are pretty! There's a flower bed under the big window behind those cedar planters and that's where they are, purple and blue ones next to some red Amsterdam tulips.

The nursery nearby has a ton of the bushy daylilies in white, that might look good next to the forsythia.
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Roor
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bad hombre
Sew Birdy, south facing full sun. I was hoping for something tall in that back corner for privacy, hence the lilac. But I'm open to other tall shrubs.
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monica
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I love purple and pink creeping phlox to provide beautiful and bright ground cover.

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Edited by monica, Apr 11 2018, 03:35 PM.
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Roor
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bad hombre
Monica a friend of mine has those in pots! I never knew what they were called and they're so pretty.
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monica
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Roor
Apr 11 2018, 03:37 PM
Monica a friend of mine has those in pots! I never knew what they were called and they're so pretty.
I love them. A few houses in my former neighborhood had them and I was in love with how they made their gardens look. I didn't know the owners, so I scoured the internet to find out what they were called. I didn't plant them at my old house because I knew we were moving soon and didn't want to invest a lot of time into the house. I'm dying to put them in at my new home.

I've never seen them in pots but the homes where I've seen them, it makes their gardens/front yards look gorgeous.
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LahLah
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Do you want shorter shrubs in front of the Forsythia?

Azalea. They're pretty hearty (well, in NC they are) and come in a zillion colors.

This site has pre-packaged pollinator gardens you could plant for a variety of flowers.
https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/83188-product.html

You could do weigela and keep them pruned to 3-4 ft:
Posted Image

Foxglove are kinda cool, but sorta the same shape as forsythia:
Posted Image

Dwarf nandina have really cool leaves - in full sun in the summer, they are a bright green-yellow, and in fall, they transition to a deep red.
Posted Image

I also love Phlox, although mine died in more sun exposure. It could have just been a dry year. I currently have some planted in my part sun/shade back yard.

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momof3inmn
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Lover of all things coffee!
Love burning bushes!!

How about a hydrangea tree?
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Paws4me
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Sew Birdy
Apr 11 2018, 03:25 PM
What is the exposure of the front of the house?

I would stay away from Forsythia. It is beautiful when blooming, but then it looks like sticks the rest of the year. The bloom period is like two weeks. Rose of Sharon is the same way, IMO. Lilacs are good, since they look fine when not blooming. Try Korean lilacs for a lower height. Any bushes with colored leaves are nice. Wild Plum is another nice one, though you will have to keep after it for shape.

Day lilies (I think TAZ is talking about Stargazer (or Oriental/Asian Lilies) are great low maintenance plants where the foliage looks good even when not blooming. Heuchera (Coral Bells) are great plants that come in many different varieties and are easy to grow.

I second the vote against forsythia. They grow like weeds and only are pretty for a couple of weeks. I have spent way too much time trimming those into submission. I love burning bushes. Azaleas are pretty as bushes even when not in bloom. I find hydrangeas grow well for me, but I do not know how they would do there.
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Sew Birdy
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Azaleas aren't hardy in Utah, I don't think. Isn't Nandina on the invasive list?

Viburnums are pretty, and birds love the berries. Also Dogwoods-red twig or variegated.

Posted Image
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Roor
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bad hombre
Okay, no forsythia. Hydrangeas grow here! And I've never heard of viburnum but I like those too. These are great ideas, thank you!
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sashakitty2708
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I like spirea

Posted Image

and abelia

Posted Image
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Figment
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Peanut Butter Tree aka Clerodendrum trichotomum.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/sagebudphotos/CLTR/Arbre_inconnu_75015_600.JPG

The last tree I’m familiar with to bloom, late Aug.-Sept. sweet scent (six weeks) grows fast.

Grow a Clematis on your light pole.

Edited by Figment, Apr 12 2018, 12:14 AM.
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Bets
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I prefer white/cream flowers on shrubs most of the time because I feel they look really elegant but, I don't like when they expire and turn brown because they can sometimes be very noticable and look neglected .

I think that gold/yellow flowers would really pop against the dark green siding, but the white/cream flowers will coordinate with the shutters after they are painted.

But your house is very nice so it will probably look good with anything you choose.
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Starfish
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hammer5ed
iluvsuomi1989
Apr 11 2018, 03:27 PM
Am I the only one who read it quickly and thought it said, "Help me find pants"? :$


You're not the only one.

Roor, all 3 of those plants you mentioned have a very brief window of flowering, and then don't look like much for the rest of the year. SLC and Toronto are almost the same hardiness zone.

I have Annabelle Hydrangeas; they are pretty low-maintenance requiring pruning of last year's flowerheads in the spring. I don't cut the canes back at all because my soil is poor so they stand upright better with several years' worth of growth. I also staked them to the fence last year; so far they've been staying upright better.

Annabelle Hydrangea

Next to my Forsythia :$ I have a Purple Smoke Bush. Because you get tired of all-green foliage, all the time. I don't have to do much to it. Perfect! Because I often go weeks without time to garden.

Purple Smokebush


Autumn Joy Sedum (Stonecrop) are succulents and require virtually no tending; just remove last year's stalks in early spring before they sprout. Mine flower white with a tinge of pink later in the season.

Autumn Joy Sedum


Posting before I mess it up.
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Starfish
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hammer5ed
South facing...you could do roses, but they require significant tending.

With your colour scheme, I'd suggest sticking to white/cream perennials, then you can try out pops of colour with annuals until you find what pleases you.
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blkcat
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My house is light yellow with white trim. I'm thinking about putting dark blue shutters on it at some point. I'm going to plant blue/purple hydrangeas around the front. Below the hydrangeas I'm going to plant yellow and orange annuals. Before I do this I have to move all of the hostas from that area and put them on the shady side of the house. Right now they're in full sun and they're not happy.

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Roor
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bad hombre
Figment
Apr 12 2018, 12:13 AM
Peanut Butter Tree aka Clerodendrum trichotomum.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/sagebudphotos/CLTR/Arbre_inconnu_75015_600.JPG

The last tree I’m familiar with to bloom, late Aug.-Sept. sweet scent (six weeks) grows fast.

Grow a Clematis on your light pole.

We actually took out the light pole :$

It didn't work and we couldn't figure out what it was wired to.
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Roor
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bad hombre
The description I'm seeing on annabelle hydrangea suggest morning sun, would full sun just toast them to bits?
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Figment
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Laughing, I hate when I can’t figure out electrical stuff.

How about putting up a screen between the windows and growing a Cecil Brunner rose. This is year three for mine and I’m expecting an explosion of growth since it’s well settled in now. Perfect tiny pink roses about thumb sized, with a cinnamon scent.
http://www.ludwigsroses.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/CecileBrunner5.jpg


http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/rose-garden/cecil-brunner-climbing-rose.jpg
Edited by Figment, Apr 12 2018, 12:33 PM.
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Roor
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bad hombre
Okay this new MS Paint program, paint3d? Is awesome. I'm having too much fun.
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Figment
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Share!
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Starfish
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hammer5ed
Roor
Apr 12 2018, 12:27 PM
The description I'm seeing on annabelle hydrangea suggest morning sun, would full sun just toast them to bits?
That I don't know. Mine don't get full sun. But they certainly reach towards it.

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Roor
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bad hombre
Figment
Apr 12 2018, 02:03 PM
Share!
The pink tree on the right is an eastern redbud we planted last week (I think?) and should look like that eventually lol. I didn't center the left hydrangea under the bedroom window because I got lazy. And that's a lilac in between the two white hydrangeas then a burning bush on the left. It's kind of funny trying to add bright shrubs to a pic taken when everything else is dead for the winter. DH has the skills to photoshop the front door white, I have no idea how to do that part.

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