The firethorn should have bloomed regardless. Were you snipping at it?

You might try 'Graham Blandy' box or 'Sky Pencil' holly, if you want something that vertical. To be 5' tall yet less than 3' wide I will have to be something with a narrow shape, or pruned into one.

Or boxwood 'Green Tower'. I have some in full sun and some in full shade, and they seem happy either way.

Here is a link that might be useful: green tower boxwood

Hi bboy, I think the problem was 'pyrancatha scab' - many of the leaves turned black and fell off, including whatever berries were there. I did cut out as much of the black stuff that I could though. There are still plenty of green leaves, but I have no idea how to get rid of the scab or maybe blight?

I'll look up 'Glaham Blandy' box and Sky Pencil 'holly'
Thanks so much for your help.

hoovb ~ I like the idea of the green tower boxwood. I looked it up to see if it is sold anywhere around here. So far, I can't seem to find it. I'll keep looking though.

Thanks again.

If you had berries appear after it was there for a year you got flowers. But if it is scabby you don't want it anyway. That and the fact that it is a stiff thing with nasty thorns and smelly flowers.

The basic set of quality shrubs used for hedges and hedge-like effects is yew, holly and box. You can identify and plant cultivars that tend to approximate the desired size and shape or you can use other kinds, sheared to fit the space. Either way at some point you will have to prune to control size.

Yes, I was going to say that if there were berries then you definitely had flowers. But keeping a Pyracantha hedge to 3ft was never going to be easy and would require frequent clipping and possible loss of flowers, even it it had remained healthy.

Dwarf cultivars are on the market, but the one(s) in garden centers here don't seem to be very disease resistant.

I'll be removing the pyracanthas next weekend. I think today, I'm going to head off to a few nurseries to see what they have. Thanks for helping and giving me so many good ideas. What about taxus yew? Thanks again.

Maybe consider Osmanthus x Burkwoodii.

It will need shearing, but it blooms in Spring and has fine foliage. No spines.

Should be trouble free in your area, but don't hold me to that!