I can't offer much help because it looks great to me now!

SouthCountryGuy, you are too kind! But you see, that little dwarf mugo pine just has to go.... most of it has gone brown!!!

I was just even thinking of putting two small red twig dogwoods (e.g. Arctic Fire or something like that) next to the large Elegantissima, so that during winter, there will be a grouping of three masses of red twigs.... or even yellow twigs, if these exist as small shrubs at all (I don't think so?)!

The only thing is, these dogwoods look kind of "blah" during the growing seasons - they look like just a bunch of leaves.... hmm.... so that is not terribly exciting, is it?

Does it have to be a shrub? I don't see any flowers.

I can understand if you've changed your mind about the mugo pine being there if you think it doesn't fit in..but as far as winter damage - I really think it will recover from that and do better in the following years. Just give it a good watering this spring. The first year I had mine, it got quite a bit of browning and didn't look all that great, but it has improved every year since.

Secondly, I wouldn't recommend replacing it with a standard sized mugo. Those get to be very large. You'll even find with your dwarf one, that it won't be long before it takes up a fair bit of space. I pinch the candles in spring in half so that it remains denser and more compact. Mugo's can get to be quite sprawling otherwise. Depends on the look you want.

I agree with everything weeper said about the mugo.

My concern is that I'm wondering if you are allowing enough space for the mature size of the trees. It's difficult to judge distance from the picture, though.

I'm speaking from experience of planting trees too close to each other or structures. Once I realized my mistake, it was too late to change. I think the showy mountain ash and the pine will get quite large. You may not need any shrubs in between them.

So my advice is to always check to mature size of trees when planting. It's not like planting a perennial where you can easily change things around after. I'm currently revamping a foundation bed where I've made these mistakes. We just dug out a dogwood that was beautiful, but too large for the spot.

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments! I really appreciate it.

In terms of space, it is spaced right there - I had done some measurements before hand and everything is good there.

The only thing is, do I keep the dwarf mugo pine or not? Over half of it looks brown now! It's terrible. I will try to prune the brown bits, but I am not sure how it will look..... if it looks terrible, I may just replace it.

I know, I am brutal.... our growing season is so short that I don't have too much time for plants to recover over years!!!!!!!! Sorry.......

CLBlakey, I think this area has to be balanced with a shrub there. Otherwise, it may look a bit off balance.... there are many other areas with flowers or flowering shrubs in my yard, sorry that I didn't show them.

Anyway, thanks again everyone! You have really given me something to think about now.

Birds nest spruce or other Norway spruce would be very nice. How about a yew?

I remember I planted a dwarf mugo pine many years ago and it just went kaput like yours.

Another great choice could be the globe blue spruces.

shazam, thank you!

I just went to prune my little dwarf mugo pine.... oh my goodness, after I have pruned all of those brown bits, half of it is gone!!! Very unsightly indeed.... sigh!

I also saw a globe blue spruce one day and thought that it was very nice too. I have got to look at the dwarf spruces and see if I should just replace this poor thing....

Thank you again!