Did a google search to get a look at it. That's beautiful. Cool find!

A very handsome plant! What else are you planting? I love shrubs, even more than perennials.

Carol:

Now that you asked. I had a very steep hill leading to my woods in the back of this new home. To get rid of it, I had a landscaper build terraces (with more terraces this Fall) with 6" x 6" x 8' treated lumber. The height of the terraces are up to 7' to provide near level areas.

On the left side and rear of the house where I am working are three levels--the upper terrace of 50', the lower terrace of 100', and the lower garden encircling the 100' lower terrace. This eliminates the 20' drop from the rear of the house to the bottom of the yard leading to my woods. The terraces were built around and down the hill in 45 degree angles facing the house. So, I have a lot of nice corner areas for planting things. If its hard picturing this area, just imagine a jagged 3-layered cake with the corner from 3 to 6 on a clock cut out where the house sits.

I am currently working in this area. I have my last 15 yards of soil to put in the 100' terrace--that makes a total of 75 cubic yards of fill. The upper 50' terrace is filled and the bottom garden is about half planted.

On the upper 50' terrace (about 10' wide), I am using Pencil Hollies to hide the house foundation (I have a walkout back door in the back basement). I still have the corners of the upper 50' terrace to fill with plants. The middle area between the two garden areas here will be covered with grass to form a walkway through this terrace.

On the top right of the 100' terrace that is adjacent to the wood of the 50' terrace, I am planting Girard's Fuschia azaleas--a nice pink/purple bloom in the Spring. I am also using Purple Passion Rhodendrons (big purple blooms) with the Girard's. To break up the green, I am adding Wine and Roses Weigela. I bought 4 Crape Myrtle Chickasaws (bloom bright rose/pink on deep green foliage) and I am thinking of planting them in this area with the Wine and Roses, Girards, and Purple Passions. They will add some bloom from late July through October. I also have added 2 Ninebark 'Summer Wine' opposite the Purple Passions, Girards, etc. on the other side of the 100' terrace.

The lower 100' terrace is about 20' across as you walk into it. So, I will have about 10' of grass between both gardens on this terrace--a walkway through this terrace.

Below the 100' terrace is another garden that I am working on and have about half done. This garden slopes down to the back yard below the terraces. The purpose of this garden is to soften the look of the massive amount of wood in the lower terrace. This garden begins at the left front of the 100' terrace and runs down in a circluar fashion encircling the entire 100' terrace. In this garden I planted--from the front--a 'Pink Velour" Crape Myrtle, 2 Edward Goucher Abelias (their flowing shape works nicely to soften the wood), 6 'Rose Creek' Abelias (I read that deer do not like Abelias), 5 Mountain Fire Pieris (supposedly deer do not like them either), 2 Blue Prince hollies and 2 Blue Maid Hollies, and various Spiraea. I have yet to plant 4 more 'Edward Goucher" Abelias. On the far right of the lower garden as it encircles the right side of the 100' terrace, I am planning to plant the Ninebark 'Coppertina'.

I still have about 15 to 20 shrubs waiting to plant--the Edward Gouchers, Purple Passion Rhodendrons, various azaleas, the Chickasaws, some Pencil Hollies, and I forget what else.

I think I will need about 100 more shrubs to finish this area.

After that, I move to the right back and right side of the house and have a couple more terraces built. I already finished the upper 60' terrace there with 33 rose bushes in full sun, Mountain Laurel in the mostly shade areas, azaleas, etc.

Carol -I'm glad YOU asked, I've been keeping mental notes on Bob's choices and was really curious as to what else was going into the garden. Sounds good so far!

How are you making the choices? You seem to be looking for specific plants for specific spots and not just heading to HD and grabbing 5 each of burning bush, alberta spruce and arborvitae..... with a few stells D'oro daylilies thrown in.... you know, the usual stuff.
Kato

Kato:

Normally, I use two nurseries out here in the country. One sells annuals, perennials, and some shrubs--Wine and Roses Weigela, Midnight Wine Weigela, Ninebark, etc. They sell these shrubs for $8 or $10. However, this nursery sells few Evergreens.

The second is more of a full service nursery with a variety of shrubs. Its prices are about 60 percent or less than those near the area of Route 202 and Routes 30 and 1. This nursery had a 40% off sale and still does until Labor Day. For example, I picked up 4 large Edward Gouchers for $12 each, the Girard Fuschia azaleas and several others for $12 each, and fairly large Purple Passions for $17 each.

I keep a mental picture of how I expect the bare landscape to look. Then I mentally plant parts of it. I look for shapes--narrow vertical, pyramid, round, leafy or stringy like the Edward Gouchers, etc. I also look for colors of blooms and foliage.

When I did the front last year, I bought 6 Girard Fuschia azaleas. They bloomed together this year and I really liked the look so I bought 6 more for the side of the house. Next Spring, all 12 of these azaleas will bloom together at different parts of the house. I did the same with the Purple Passion Rhododendrons and now have 5 of them.

Often, I will go to the nurseries and just look at the plants and then think about the ones I like. I'll keep them in mind as I look at others. Once in a while, I will go down to the Route 202 area and see if I can find anything special or different.

Bob,
Sounds like I am pretty close to you.
What nursery do you use?

I use Groff's in SE Lancaster County (Coppertina source) and Britestar Garden Center on Route 10 just north of Oxford. Britestar can be reached by going West on Route 1 and going north about 300 yards on Route 10. The link below shows Groff's.

If you go to Britestar, go just south of the Route 1 interchange on Route 10 and have lunch at Margherita's on the right. You can get some cheap eats too. I often get a "luncheon special" 12" steak and cheese sandwich, large diet coke, and outstanding french fries (must be about 1 pound of them) for $6.

I might make a trip down to Styer's in the near future to see if I can find anything different. If you like Dragon Lady hollies, Britestar had three 3' plants for $59 each. I think 4' plants are priced at around $150 at Styers. Last year, I bought 3 Nandina 'Gulfstream'. At Britestar, they were around $24 and at Styers they were in the $45 range.

If you are looking for something, let me know. I am going to Britestar tomorrow and I can see if they have it and check the price.

Here is a link that might be useful: Groff's Plant Farm