man don.. with all the posts.. it appears you are near beyond joy with this landscaper.. lol ...

i personally need some pix.. to help offer suggestions ... a good how to at the link

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

I had a Sea Green juniper outgrowing its space in my foundation beds too (south/southwest facing). And ditto a "landscape designer" had suggested it. It grew for a couple of years and then I pruned it for a couple of more years and I finally yanked it out.

I replaced it with a Picea pungens globosa which was a great choice. It is slow growing to about 3' x 3' after five or six years that I have had it. Maybe more. boy does time fly...

I also have two Green Velvet boxwoods flanking the front stairs in the same foundation. They are great plants. Grow fairly quickly, but not too fast. Minimal odor. easy to prune. Hardy for a 5a winter. I am currently running into some insect damage that is proving difficult to deal with and I have a missing section that I will have to wait for it to fill back in. But other than that, the Green Velvets are great.

Some chamaeycparis varieties might be a choice for you. They come in many sizes and do okay in partial sun (although usually like more sun). I have one called "white pygmy" that I really like.

Maybe an azalea would work.

Are you sure 3 new plants for that spot? It is hard to imagine that 3 boxwoods would fill the spot of a single juniper outgrowing its space so quickly. Figure that the boxwoods can get to 4-5' wide eventually. Do you really have that much room?

One of the hardest things in the beginning for me was proper spacing. I rarely left enough room for mature sizes. Fortunately, it is not too hard to move things around, but it is getter if you can get it right the first time.

A picture will help.

Wendyb and ken adrian - thank you for taking the time to reply to my queries and please accept my apologies for not having enough sense to post pictures! It took me a while to understand as I read through the various message boards just how difficult it is to respond to a request for advice without actually being able to see what needed solving. I shall have pictures in place by Tuesday/Wednesday July 12/13 and I look forward to reading any advice or guidence that you might have.

Wendyb - my "landscape designer" kept referring to herself as a "partner" in the company that I hired only to find out (after the money was spent and the installation in place) that this is her first year of unsupervised work and that according to the actual owner of the company, she possessed more school training than actual work experience. He admitted that it was a mistake to allow her to do the installation without supervision and that she made numerous design and installation mistakes that he personally would not have made. I've decided to contact an attorney to see if I can recover some of my expenses as it is costing me money to fix her mistakes. The landscape design company owner is not willing to work with me any further because he is "too busy" but he is "sorry for all the problems that I encountered". Someday I'll post a message in which I detail the dozen or so design and installation mistakes that were made and that need/needed to be corrected.

A wonderful juniper for tight spots is Juniperus chinensis "Shimpaku". It is a dwarf and sometimes hard to find depending where you live. Ask your garden center if he/she could find you some. Iseli Nursery sells them wholesale.

It is used extensively for Bonsai. Soft adult whipcord foliage to 3 feet tall in time.

Try a holly like Hetzi. It can be pruned to stay in the allotted space. Takes shade and stays green all winter.