bushes for landscaping

[Brett Hartwig]

what are some good bushes to plant for a new house...looking for something to take up space on the south side of our house. Thinking of 6 or 8 holly bushes or something similar to fill a 30 foot stretch on the south side of our house.

 

[Norm Reeves]

Can be trimmed to any shape....even Mickey Mouse, if you want!:grin:

 

[Richard L]

freeport,

You might want to do what I've done in the past. Call a landscape designer and have them look at your house and give them an idea of what you want. They will come up with a design and the specific plants and locations. You can take it or leave it, or better yet get a few designers to give you their thoughts. Often their ideas are free but some will charge you for their design work and landscape diagrams. Some will even do the work, and do it in stages so the cost does not hit you all at once.



Once you talk to a few landscape designers, you will have a better idea of the types of plants, and the colors that will go well with the color of your house....and if you want to do it yourself, you will know the plants to buy, and plant them yourself. At least this way you will know what plants fit your weather, and lifestyle.



I bough a new home about 3 years ago. It came with minimal, but attractive landscaping. Last spring I hired a landscaper to design additional landscaping to build on the original plants that I had and add more, including adding 3 more planting beds, widen my driveway, put in a concrete pad in the back yard for a storage shed, add a new entry walkway, and change out all of my sprinkler heads, and relocate some sprinklers for the new design. Total cost: $5600



He subcontracted the concrete work to a concrete paving company, be his crew did all the rest of the work.



They knocked it all out in two days and I got a one year guarantee on all the plants. They did a great job, and my neighbors were all very complimentary about the work and wanted to know who did the work. They just came back last week to switch the location of two plants that got put in the wrong place...:supercool:



....Rich

 

[Mark K 2]

I planted dogwoods. Regular and variegated. Those things are hardy. I'm in Wisconsin and they handle the winter weather well.

 

[EddieS'04]

Triming shrubs and bushes. Are a person with OCD, nightmare...:bwahaha:

Ask my Mom............:bwahaha:

 

[Richard L]

Mark,

I don't think those are dogwoods...the look more like varigated Euanamus (sp?) shrubs. I had the exact same shrubs at my old house. Dogwoods are a small tree form with pinkish blossoms in the spring.



...Rich

 

[Andy Chase]

Currants and you can make some wine with the berries that is pretty tasty!:haveabeer:

 

[Mark K 2]

I don't think those are dogwoods

They're dogwoods. Namely, the Ivory Halo Dogwood. Every nursery has them and they're dirt cheap. They're the old standby for Wisconsin landscaping because they overwinter well.

 

[Richard L]

Mark,

Yes I looked up the Ivory Halo Dogwoods and that's what they look like. If you look up Variegated Euoynamus you will see that photographicly, the silver (green and white) variety look just like your dogwoods..:grin: I guess there is some differences that may not be obvious in the photos.



When I grew up, we a few Dogwood trees in our yard and they don't look anything like your dogwoods...they look more like a small tree and had pale pink flowers in the spring. :supercool:



...Rich

 

[H D]

I though the same about the Dogwoods. Those certainly aren't the type of Dogwoods that are everywhere in Georgia. These are what I'm used to:

Loropetalum is a good looking bush that grows easily and looks good...in Georgia anyway. I googled images of them but they all looked like what I wanted to post, just all in different stages.

 

[Richard L]

Hugh,

Yep, that's the same kind of small decorative dogwood tree that I grew up with in Northern Ohio. That appears to be a white flowering Dogwood, while ours had pale pink blossoms.



I looked up Dogwood and that's what I got as well....However if you look up the Ivory Halo Dogwood, you get exactly what Mark has....which looks like a silver variegated Euoynamus that is very popular down here in Texas. I know they are winter hardy here, but don't know if they would survive a Wisconsin winter?



....Rich

 

[Gavin Allan]

We have both the trees and the bushes in Missouri. I really like the bush called "Red-Twig Dogwood". The sticks are bright red!

 

[Bill V]

I'm with Rich. Talk to a pro. Even if it's just a matter of going to a reputable local garden/landscape store with some photos, and pick their brains for ideas. Not only will you get some good ideas, but you'll also get info that is far more geography-specific to where you live than most of us here will be able to provide. (And by geography-specific, I mean both in terms of what will grow well in your climate, as well as what the general preferences/trends have been in your region.)