The first one appears to be Photinia and the second a Viburnum. I'm sure someone who can be more specific will come along.

The second one is Viburnum davidii. I had a house that came with a huge hedge of it. I never had any trouble with it except that it wanted to cut off all the lights to the windows. It gets bigger than you'd expect with time.

I hate Photinia. It wants to be a tree, but people keep trying to make it a hedge. It also gets a blight for which there is no cure.

Leaf spot is affecting Fraser photinia is this region now to the point that it is really not worth planting. Plus, it seems it likes a warmer, better aerated and more fertile soil than many people plant this much overused shrub in, so even before the disease problem it had an unpleasant image - same as English laurel which must be planted on about 10 poor sites for every good one. If you've seen one yellowish, starved laurel hedge you've seen a hundred. And both are planted where a 30' shrub will be out of scale.

But that's how big these are programmed to grow.

The Father David viburnum is also planted frequently but likewise really only looks appealing when fully content. Often it is planted to cover the ground but as mentioned can mound up pretty high over time. Each specimen produces incomplete (unisexual) flowers, to get a planting consisting primarily of "female" plants shop when the striking steel blue fruits are present on nursery stock. Otherwise you may end up mostly or entirely with comparatively boring (non-fruiting) "male" plants. It only takes a small number of these to keep multiple "females" in production.

Thanks for the IDs and the advice. I like that red foliage on the Photinia, but it doesn't sound like something I want to grow. I've seen several others in the neighborhood that are tree-size.

I'd love to grow some viburnums in our new garden, but I'd like to plant native shrubs. Can anyone recommend any?

Below is a link to a native plant list by category from the Washington Native Plant Society.
I also moved here from Massachusetts several years ago and left a large garden behind. You will love the long growing season, and the ability to have a winter garden with blooms here.
I'm sure you've heard the advice to watch your garden for a year before moving anything or planting. There can be many things still dormant.
Also, I threw anything and everything on my compost pile in MA, and never had a problem. DO NOT DO THAT HERE. I am still fighting the bind weed (white flowering "morning glory") on the bottom of my compost pile where I threw it the first year. Other weeds are a problem, too. I put all the weeds in the yard waste bin now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Western Washington Native Plants List

Native shrubs are great and I encourage planting them however I would never suggest that one limit themselves to natives only. Many commonly available native plants are more suited to very naturalistic, woodland type gardens and can look weedy and out of place in a more manicured, cultivated setting. And there's too many wonderful, non-natives that behave well, attract wildlife and are attractive additions to any garden setting to exclude them entirely.

There aren't many viburnums native to this area (V. edule comes to mind, perhaps one or two others) but that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider planting some. IMO, they are some of the showiest and often fragrant contributors to a shrubby landscape and pretty much trouble free.

Take the time to go visit some gardens; the Bellevue Botanical Garden, The Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, the Washington Park Arboretum. See what looks good to you and seems to be healthy. It will give you ideas. There may even be names attached.

I forgot to mention the Krukeberg native plant garden in north Seattle.

in the world of viburnums, you cant go wrong with "pink dawn", ESPECIALLY since you are from the east coast. fragrant flowers on bare wood starting in december(ish) and staying on till about now. you will see them everywhere, and still want one of your own.

if you like photinia, i think you'll like something like a pieris "forest flame" even more. there are a few varieties of pieris that have brilliant red new growth. great early flowers. just make sure you have a smaller variety if you do a foundation planting. look around and you'll see some 10-15 footers growing within a few inches of houses.

The viburnums native here are VV. ellipticum and edule. The last is the more conspicuous but is characteristic of cold mountain habitats in nature. The unusually good native plant garden at UBC, Vancouver, BC did manage to get some good growth from specimens there. Colvos Creek nursery, Vashon, WA has sometimes had small clonal propagations of a plant in their collections. Presumably another, genetically different seedling (or two) would probably have to be planted to get cross-pollination and fruiting - this is often the case with viburnums.

Stock of V. opulus has been circulated recently by local vendors as V. edule. Learn what the true item looks like beforehand in order to avoid coming home with the wrong plant. V. opulus is naturalized locally and has probably been mistakenly brought into cultivation here as V. edule, the assumption being that since it was growing wild it must have been the native species. The same problem has occurred with Rhododendron ponticum, stock of which continues to be displayed by some local nurseries as R. macrophyllum.

Thanks for all the extra advice. That link to the native plant list was very informative and helpful. I could get lost there.

I'd like to get out to the Rhododendron Garden soon. I'm hoping I will get there by the end of April. I love Rhododendrons. Also, thanks for suggesting the Pieris Forest Flame, sounds wonderful. I've seen a few Pieris in the neighborhood blooming with red flowers right now, I'll have to check out the one with red foliage too. And thanks for the warning about the mislabeled Viburnums and Rhododendrons, I'll try to remember that when we buy a house and start putting together a shrub wish list.

The Rhododendron Garden is devoted to wild species, many of these bloom before May. In fact, if don't make it before then you may miss quite a bit of the excitement. The Kruckeberg garden is a botanical garden with plants from all over the world, not just native ones. More information about the local collections mentioned in this thread can be found on their different web sites.

I don't know the down sides of Burning bush, Euonymus alata, but if you like red color this is sensational in the fall. The species gets very large but there are dwarf forms. Nandina gets very pretty fall color, as well as evergreen blueberries- Sunshine Blue, Legacy, etc. Blueberries are great here with the acid soil.

Since there is a wet (fall, winter, spring) and dry (summer) season here, you will have to adapt to watering in the summer. Lawn grasses tend to go brown (dormant) then come to life in fall with the rains. Bulbs do well, especially Narcissus and species Tulips. Lots of perennials do well, check that they are hardy to zone 7 or lower. Biennials love it here since they start growing with the fall rains and bloom the next spring before the dry summer comes- Forget-me-nots, money plant (Honesty, Lunaria annua), !dandelions! etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Burning bush

Thanks for the heads-up on the best time to catch the rhodies in bloom. I'll have to make time for that.

Oh, I just checked the USDA site, and it looks like burning bush is not considered an invasive here. It is heavily overused in Massachusetts, and is a prohibited invasive there. It is almost as ubiquitous in Massachusetts as English laurel is here, although not the same pruning challenge.

Burning bush doesn't reseed here to any significant extent. Due to the difference in summer climate regimes (July precip. in Seattle less than one inch) eastern Asian origin plants that have gone nuts in the hot and rainy eastern North American summers often can't live outside of watered gardens here. I've only seen Japanese honeysuckle growing on its own here a few times, on moist sites. The Kudzu-like climber here is instead Irish ivy, native to more similar climates in Europe - in fact the bulk of the wild plant species in and around local communities are Eurasian in origin (the second major curse on local undeveloped land is Himalayan blackberry, which originates in Armenia).

there are lots of blueberry species that have fall foliage similar to burning bush. AND they have friggin blueberries! i think the choice there is clear.

speaking of blueberries, one that you can't grow in mass is "sunshine blue", an evergreen variety that will give you berries even in partial shade. HELLO.

if you like natives, evergreen huckleberry might be on your list. you will need some patience to enjoy this plant. takes a while to establish and is a sloooooow grower. from what i hear, they transplant easily. so perhaps befriend someone with a lot of land and transplant a large one.

No vaccinium growing in local gardens will produce the neon pink etc. easily and commonly gotten from burning bush. They don't call it that for nothing.

i thought burning bush was called so because it was used for smoking by native americans...

PS: i've seen blueberry bushes just as scarlet red as burning bush in the fall. generally though, they tend to be a little less saturated red than burning bush. also, burning bush is very easy to grow, whereas blueberries can be a bit more fussy.

lets focus here though: at $4 a pint, i think its worth a little extra effort to grow your own.

My favorite native is flowering currant (although I suppose the King Edward I have is a hybrid) :).

I am also in LOVE with Indian Plum which is blooming right now with lovely light green leaves and dangling white flowers. They can be grown as a shrub or in time, limbed up to be tree like. To see one, look for them in the wooded areas tucked below the evergreens.

Our native bleeding heart is also very beautiful in a more subtle way than the pink one you buy in the store.

Deciduous huckleberrys are fun for the kids and have beautiful lacy foliage.

Pacific coast irises are quite pretty. Not as tall as German irises but the strap foliage is a nice dark green and the irises are GORGEOUS!

Our native flowering Currant only looks good when it's in flower. Later in the year it is subject to a black soot mold. No Fall color, and winter branching is nothing to brag about.

I have a few growing on my property and really enjoy them when they are blooming.

Flowering currant cultivars all forms of pure species and not hybrids. Beware of seedling batches being sold as superior named forms with redder flowers. Buy in bloom to be sure of getting true-to-type stock.

Foliage of this one definitely ordinary. Bloomy currants do add some later interest when produced.

gotta agree on flowering currant having a sort of limited usefulness. i don't like their winter branching so much, they bloom for a while- look amazing at an important time of the year- then get boring.

if you have a ton of space, massed up they can be amazing.

for me: fruiting currants are where it is at. maybe not as impressive from a distance in flower. BUT, the fruits look good and taste great. so you get more "interest". they earn their keep, bribe you with little treats.

still, they have a branching structure that is not great. AND you have to be careful how you prune because they fruit on second/third year wood. so its harder to fuss with them for a great shape.

however, i love them ribes! 5 different plants in my standard portland lot (5k sq feet).

Personally, I wouldn't be without flowering currant in my garden (guess I will for at least awhile when I move). While it doesn't look overly attractive in winter, I have a big 'White Icicle' that has a great form and is ladden with flowers right now - the hummers won't leave it alone! To me, that more than makes up for the fact that it doesn't offer much the rest of the season. 'Brocklebankii', which is a lower growing, somewhat spreading form with golden foliage looks great all summer due to the color it offers. Flowers not so impressive on this one and you have to be able to tolerate the yellow/hot pink combo :-)

The white ones also have a fresher green leaf. Otherwise, they offer a change from the normal, rather strong tinting. There are also softer pink forms on the market. It might be fun to do a border planting that moves through a sequence from red through pink to white and back, with the white ones in the center.

Since these grow naturally on local sites such a display could be done in a peripheral or even mostly uncultivated area, where it could be enjoyed during bloom but was not intrusive the rest of the time.

So much new info to take in! Thanks to everyone for their contributions. Geez, I have so many questions, but I don't want to monopolize the forum.

We are planning a visit to the Washington Park Arboretum tomorrow, really looking forward to it.

One shrub I didn't see mentioned in this thread was Ceanothus. I couldn't grow that in Massachusetts, and I've seen photos of it in flower and have coveted one for a few years now. I saw a variegated one at Molbak's the other day. Boy, it was hard not to leave there without buying something that was green and growing. We're renting for a year while we figure out exactly where we want to buy, so I can't plant anything but annuals here. I didn't buy any cause I think it's still too early. But I did buy some seeds, and a book about birds.

So who has Ceanothus and what do you think of it?

I think that we all HAD Ceonothus...until last December 13th. It was hit particularly hard when the temp dropped 30 degrees in a few hours. It's a great plant: evergreen, unusual coloured blooms, deer don't eat it, it can be pruned into a hedge (our hedge is now dead in places!) and it attracts bees. I see a lot of people have given up their "zone denial" and are planning to stick to hardier plants. It's fun though to try new things and they don't cost too much if they do freeze.