For winter interest, I HIGHLY recommend witch hazel (hamamelis). Since the azaleas do well in your area, I'm guessing you have somewhat acidic soil, which they love. They're also very fragrant. There are dozens of cultivars, but I recommend arnold promise, as it is very hardy and reliable.

Fell in love with red/yellow twig dogwoods this year, 4 season interest, berries, flowers, stem color, has it all.

many newer dwarf cultivars to look into.

Thanks for the witch hazel idea, perennialfan273. I think it may get too tall for the spot, but it sounds so good I may have to find another spot for it.

MoleX, I think I may go with the redosier dogwood. Four season interest is exactly what I am looking for.

the dogwood is going to be allot of shrub for that little space... it will not be a plant and forget shrub ....

check out the link ...

and learn fast about rejuvenation pruning to keep it contained ... it will not be a shrub you shear like a boxwood ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Ken, thanks for the input and the link.

Do you think it will get to be too big even if I cut out a third each spring?

I don't want it to swallow the mailbox.

Any suggestions?

I am having a hard time picturing how this relates to the house and garden as a whole. Can you take a photo of the broader area (ie the whole front of the house from across the street) and post it? What may look best there may depend on what else you have growing across the building and elsewhere in the yard. If there is a window that looks down on the space, a view from overhead should help show the depth in all directions.

Deciduous holly wouldn't be a good choice for that space, IMO. I love them, but they are only a one season plant, since the birds like the berries so that in my area the berries are gone within about 6 weeks after developing color. So Ilex verticilata look best in an area where other landscape components can take over the interest when they aren't berried, such as a large mixed border or along a pond.

Check out Cornus stolonifera 'Farrow' AKA arctic Fire dogwood, which has twigs that shade from gold at the bottom to red at the tips. It is supposed to get only to 3-4 ft. high and wide, so should be OK for your area with a bit of extra pruning. In all honesty, the flowers and berries on most shrub dogwoods aren't too exciting, so you'll want to consider if there will be enough interest for this area in warm weather. I think that one of the smaller clematis on a simple flat black iron trellis (to go with the mailbox) where it could ramble into your shrub would be nice as well to add interest to the area. If you choose a type 3 clematis (prune to the ground in winter) it will look tidy with just the trellis in winter, no dead vines leftover.

A small evergreen with variegated or colored foliage might be nice there too. I know you took out a boxwood, but there are small variegated ones like 'wedding ring'. There are a lot of different Chamaecyparis with interesting foliage texture and color that look good year round; just be sure to check out sizes. Even one of the variegated Euonymous could creep up the wall along with whatever else you are planting there. An small evergreen rhododendron like Checkmate will stay small and has nicely colored foliage year-round, including mahogany tones in winter as well as spring flowers.

Whatever shrub you decide to plant, you can add a few small perennials at its feet until it gets larger or place pots of annuals or perennials nearby to fill in a bit.

Thanks for the thoughtful response, nhbabs.

I will put the winterberry somewhere less conspicuous.

Here is a pic of the front of the house. We moved in a year ago, and I have been busy replacing lawn with garden and a path, as you can see.

I also took out a bed of azaleas in front of the house. Now there is Ilex glabra, Kalmia, V. Trilobum, Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil," Itea Virginica, Sedum, and a few other little things.

In the bed along side the front of the house, it is all azaleas now. I may take one or two out in the future, probably the electric pink ones, but most will stay.

I like the idea of a variegated evergreen, but I would prefer to put something native. There is a variegated Am. boxwood, so maybe I will look into that. Having fall and winter interest is very important to me, and since it is against the house, I do want some kind of "wow" factor.

I appreciate your looking at the pic and letting me know what you think!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: pics here

Cute house with great personality, and you've obviously put some real work into your yard. The thing that strikes me first about the garden is that many of your plants are at about the same height, sort of a low skirt around your relatively tall house. That might be due to the age of some of your plants, since so many have been added in the year since you moved in. If you don't have some varied heights once they have grown in some, including one or two tall things, I'd recommend that you consider a clematis or another vine on a taller trellis or obelisk, and then perhaps a smaller evergreen shrub nearby. One possibility is to create a trellis that moves from your planting spot below the window across and up toward the top of the door. Or alternatively think about a tree somewhere on one side or the other of the front yard, something that will tie the house into the surrounding garden a bit by stepping down between the height of the house and the height of many of your garden plants. I might put one of the smaller bright-twigged dogwoods on the other side of the walkway, but not right next to it. That way it could be a real attention grabber in the colder weather emphasized by the white house, but not right next to the walk in a prime spot

Thanks for the advice and kind words, nhbabs!

I like your idea of adding height. Even if the shrubs grow in, in the front, none will really add height.

I like the idea of adding a clematis to the front wall, I only worry what it will look like in the winter.

Do you mean to add the cornus to the lawn area on the right? I like it.

As for adding a tree, I have been wanting to add Amelanchier Can. to the garden. I could put it in the lawn, or in the "azalea" bed, which gets sun from about 1 p.m. on.

Thanks again for your help!

For the clematis, get or make a decorative trellis and use a type 3 pruning clematis, one of the ones that is hard pruned each winter. As soon as it dies back due to frost, prune to just above the first set of buds. That way you just have your trellis in the winter, no unsightly dead vines, and a small evergreen for winter interest (or conversely a decorative pot with winter greens arranged.) I probably wouldn't put anything in the middle of the lawn, but rather extend the flower bed to encompass a new tree or shrub for the dogwood or small tree.