Friend #1 (my neighbor across the street) - The house faces West and is a very rectangular 1950s rancher with a completely flat front yard... so boring! She doesn't seem to really have any interest in gardening and wants something low maintenance. Her husband ripped out some nasty looking bushes along the front of the house but they are not sure what to plant in their place. Her idea was either hydrangeas or holly. I'm thinking that it might be too much sun for hydrangeas, and if she's only planning to plant some shrubs there, something evergreen might be better for year round interest. I think holly can be beautiful, but I think it's a prickly pain to prune and they'd be located below their windows along the front of their house where lots of pruning would be necessary to keep them compact. I was thinking that maybe some heavenly bamboo and Golden Mop Threadleaf False Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Golden Mop') might add some nice color without being too high maintenance. Do you have any other suggestions? I'm going to try to get her to go with me to the neighborhood perennial plant exchange in the Spring since she's convinced she'll kill anything, free plants are a good way to start
Friend #2 - The house is facing North. She currently has a garden bed that's probably about 8ft deep lining the front of her house that is very nicely mulched but has NOTHING planted in it! It's a blank slate. She's not interested in gardening but a mutual friend and myself are tired of looking at her empty mulched garden and have volunteered to do the initial planting. The house is 100 years old and has stone steps leading up to the front door in the center of the house, so I'm thinking something quaint and pretty... something in a loose cottage style. I looked up shrubs that do well in the shade and came up with camellias, hydrangeas, and rhododendron. Are these all truly shade lovers that would do okay on the North side of a house? As far as shade plants go, there's the obvious hostas, ferns and astilbe came to mind. Do you have any favorites you could suggest?
Friend #3 - She will likely be getting her own thread since she let me take photos
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