Hi! I'm about to turn this strip into a flower bed (Zone 7a), and I was hoping to get some opinions. I'm planning to straighten out my neighbor's ugly red scalloping and level the area, mulch, etc. Right now I have a knock-out and salvia May Night planted in the back since that's the only spot that gets sun. The rest of the strip is dappled sunlight from my neighbor's large tree.

I was hoping for some suggestions on plantings and spacing. I want to keep the rose bush in the back, but the salvia might be moved to a sunnier spot. I'd love a low hedge (3-4' max) of some sort. My friend suggested pia mophead hydrangeas, but I don't want too much pink and I'd prefer evergreen or semi-evergreen. Also slightly compact as I don't want them to go too far into my neighbor's yard. I read another thread and sort of compiled a list of plants that I thought might do ok (cons listed):

- dwarf burford holly (this might be too tall, can I trim it to keep it at 3-4'?)
- daphne summer ice (I read these are hard to grow/transplant)
- dwarf witch alder (needs overly wet soil?)
- dwarf viburnum (not evergreen)
- euonymus (are there varieties that aren't yellow?)
- dwarf forsythia (I read they are messy)
- boxwoods (just so... boring, but I do have 3 in planters currently that I wouldn't mind moving)
- and an idea sort of out there: vase-shaped hostas? (might be hosta overkill with my neighbor's though)

I'm at the point where I've thought about it so much and done so much research that I can't decide lol. Help!

This post was edited by ayimera on Wed, Jul 23, 14 at 13:13