Advice and Guidance from you super smart gardeners

[debster812]

Howdy folks,

After the winter we had here in the NorthEast, the bushes and shrubs in front of our house are positively dessimated. They all need to come out, and we are going to have to start new.

What we have (had) was your typical, cookie cutter, green shrubby bushes, with a couple of reddish twiggy bushes (I'm so knowledgeable, no :rotfl: ?)

So we would like to do something a bit different, but still get something that is pretty hardy, and easy to care for.

I just don't know enough about this stuff to even know the right questions to ask, so I figure I will start with the good people of the DIS and move on from there.

Thanks everyone

[Franniepoppins]

I like Burning Bush. It is very hardy, survives every winter. Mine started budding a month, or so, ago. And, they get pretty in the fall, bright orange.

Burning Bush (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.signaturelandscapes.com/plants/plant_images/shrubs/burning%2520bush.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.signaturelandscapes.com/plants/plant_images/shrubs/burning_bush.htm&h=248&w=370&sz=16&tbnid=u5arBN68BScJ:&tbnh=79&tbnw=118&start=9&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dburning%2Bbush%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rl s%3DGGLD,GGLD:2004-26,GGLD:en%26sa%3DN)

Francine

[Crankyshank]

I have a burning bush in my front yard- love it! So easy to care for!
Another suggestion is hydrangeas. They're hardy, easy to care for, gorgeous, long blooming, and very Cape Coddish.

[amid chaos]

Don't forget rhodies and fosythia, some ornamental grasses and azaleas.

[debster812]

Ohh--we have a burning bush on one of the 'islands' in the side yard, I LOVE it, a couple in the front would tie things together nicely.

Everything else sounds great too, except forsythia. I am WAY allergic, and it would be insult to injury to actually have some of my own :rotfl:

Keep those great ideas coming. Thanks everyone.

[Mamu]

Deb are you looking for shrubbery to go along the front of the house or just replacing some worn-out shrubs.

If it's along the front of the house you may want to visit a nursery. There great with helping to design border landscaping to fit the size of your home. They will design and give you the names of the shrubs to use. It does make a difference.

Each shrub or tree has many different species, some stay small, others grow huge. You will want shrubbery the blends in together.

Some of my favorite shrubbery are laurels, quince, viburnum, lilac, rhododendron, azalea, cotoneaster, holly, spiraea, weigela plus the many different kinds and shapes of evergreens.

I like a mixture of evergreens and flowering shrubbery.

[DebºoºS]

The twiggy bushes sound like Barberry? We have quite a few and they ugly in the winter. They should fill out quickly when the weather gets warmer unless they're deado. I tried removing some of them ,they hurt! Finally gave up with a severe cut back.
I like mountain laurel, rhodies, azealias, cotoneaster, lilacs & definately burning bush. Might try a landscaping program to design with.

[gina2000]

If you are looking at foundation plants, consider bushes that stay green all year round. Rhodies and azalea are two good examples. It's nice not to see the house foundation. I don't like having a bunch of twigs pose as winter landscape in the front of my house!!