Well....half of 3 feet is 1 and a half and half of 5 feet is 2 and a half....combined that makes four feet spread of the shrubs. If you plant them 4 feet apart, they will end up touching....if they grow to 3 and five feet respectivly.
Linda C

You know, I had insomnia the other night and thought about my question and decided to start opening windows when I spray paint ;O)

OK, so I have a new twist on the question...I think I need to move my shrubs closer. I want them to hide the foundation of my house. I have a link to some pics of what I am talking about:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1783795&a=31775964&p=72652905

Since the euonymous is supposed to get 5' wide and the boxwood 3, they will barely touch..not much good for buffering the foundation (I think they are closer to 4-5 feet apart). Sooo....I will have to add another shrub in here. Any suggestions? I was thinking of putting a smoke bush where the eonymous is....but wonder how boxwood would look with it. I don't plan to shape the boxwood...I want it to keep a natural shape. Smokebush would give height by the steps...that was my thinking (and the foliage would tie in with the sandcherry). But again..not sure how boxwood and smokebush would look together.

I'd love to have your thoughts.

Please keep in mind that this is a new planting....I am making over my entire yard...moved into a house that was totally neglected. This is where I am starting and these plants were just put in last fall.

Thanks,

Val

Here is a link that might be useful: Foundation Plantings

You know, I had insomnia the other night and thought about my question and decided to start opening windows when I spray paint ;O)
OK, so I have a new twist on the question...I think I need to move my shrubs closer. I want them to hide the foundation of my house. I have a link to some pics of what I am talking about:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1783795&a=31775964&p=72652905

Since the euonymous is supposed to get 5' wide and the boxwood 3, they will barely touch..not much good for buffering the foundation (I think they are closer to 4-5 feet apart). Sooo....I will have to add another shrub in here. Any suggestions? I was thinking of putting a smoke bush where the eonymous is....but wonder how boxwood would look with it. I don't plan to shape the boxwood...I want it to keep a natural shape. Smokebush would give height by the steps...that was my thinking (and the foliage would tie in with the sandcherry). But again..not sure how boxwood and smokebush would look together.

I'd love to have your thoughts.

Please keep in mind that this is a new planting....I am making over my entire yard...moved into a house that was totally neglected. This is where I am starting and these plants were just put in last fall.

Thanks,

Val

Here is a link that might be useful: Foundation Plantings

sorry about the duplicate post.

Given that the listed width is, at best, an approximation I think you are fine with current spacing. If they touch, fine. If they don't touch they still cover the area you don't want seen well enough and you can plant other things in front of them if there are gaps (if you wish to. Visually a 6" gap between shrubs is still a complete screen in most cases.)

What you don't want is the shrubs growing into each other to the point is looks like a mess. This can be OK with some things if they are all similar looking, but with different looking plants the look often isn't pleasing.

When in doubt go with more generous spacing in all directions, not less.

Now if only my neighbors would adopt that philosophy when deciding how far from their home to plant their tiny new trees ;-)

At 3 feet apart they will eventually mix it up....unless you trim them. The box wood will spread 18 inches from the base....the stem...trunk.
The euononomys ( or however you spell it!) will spread 2 1/2 feet from the base. If you planted them 3 feet apart (measured at the trunk) they will soon be touching.,,,,in 2 or 3 years that is.
Leave them alone.....fill in with perennials like perovskia, shasta daisy, coreopsis....and your iris. It will be lovely!
Linda C

rofl...

yes, definately increase the ventilation when painting ;)

you don't need to move your shrubs- or add more of them.

what you need to do is move those irises to the front of the bed so that they won't be lost when your shrubs mature :)

because you're really underestimating what they're going to look like, mature- hide your foundation? yeah, they'll do that- what you want is to keep them from colonizing so much space that you can't get back behind them.

and not pruning then doesn't help them- especially not the boxwood. you can prune the GENTLY to encourage a less formal shape- but if you don't give them the occasional trim to encourage branching, what you're going to get is a big, loose thing that looks like a teenager with absent parents- lanky, unkempt, and unruley.

trust me- my folks let a baby privet hedge go for three or four years, and it doesn't look anything like a hedge, in fact, you can hardly see it from the road (maybe 10 feet away) it's so open and lanky.

Linda's got it right- in the center of each 'gap' put a clutch of your irises for spring, and then a shasta daisy or coneflower or something for later in the season.

smoke bushes are stunning, they 'go' with just about anything, and theyre one of my favorite plants ever- but they also get bigger than you would think. so unless you are in the mood to prune it into a standard- I'd rethink putting one in that bed, since it will brow faster than the others, and crowd them out in three years.

Thanks everyone for your input! I am SO RELIEVED to not have to move anything, LOL! I will give haircuts to the shrubs...thanks for the tip.

Val