Time to Plan the Backyard

I met with a landscape "consultant" last week.  Her name is Gaby, she works at Smith, and she knows the local scene.  We walked around the yard and talked  possible specimen bushes and trees. Gaby told me that the only ordering I would need to do this fall would be for those more unusual plants; more common local plants are readily available in larger sizes in the spring.

I made a list of her suggestions.  Some of them I knew.  Then, I went home and looked them up on-line.  I narrowed down the possibilities.  Here are my current candidates:

This is Cryptomeria Japonica Gracilis.  I had one of these when we lived in Chatham.  I have always loved the way the plant seems to swirl.  (My father loved this tree).  It grows to 18-24 feet.  It is a candidate for the back corner of the yard. 

It has a junior relative, Cryptomeria Black Dragon.  I had one of these in Asheville.

 

 It grows to 8-12 feet.  I could use one or two along the beds that will border the fence along the back and side. I would pair it with rhododendron  Chionoides--a white flower with a slight pink cast to the interior--deep blue hydrangea and maybe some Shasta viburnum.

I also like dogwood.  I love the way it branches horizontally.  Its not as unusual to me as Japanese Stewartia  ( grows slowly up to 40 feet) or Serviceberry bush  ( grows to 35 feet) though. The Stewartia has really cool bark.

Serviceberry in fall

Serviceberry in spring

Stewartia

Stewartia blossom

Another candidate is the River Birch.  It also has very cool bark.

This one grows a little faster--up to 35-40 feet.

I am trending toward a white spring blossom.  I do love this though:

Its the (you guessed it)Japanese Maple "Bloodgood". Gaby says its very hardy around here.

On Sunday we are going to meet on the Smith campus.  Gaby will show me mature specimens.  That will help.

I want to create a repeating pattern that I can use for foundation planting all around the house. I want to use deep blue and white as the dominating blossoms.  They will jump out against the yellow house.  There will be a large perennial bed in the center of the backyard and a perennial bed in the front right corner of the front yard.  I can go crazy with color in those.  I will draw a rough plan and post it next.