Specialty Gardening: suggested foundation plants for zone 9 cottage garden, 1 by jkom51

jkom51 wrote:
Vibernum tinus, easily available at any big box garden center, is evergreen but gets taller than your 5' requirement. Easily pruned, however, which will keep its ranginess in check.

I prefer to work from evergreen plants first, then perennials, then annuals. My preference is for evergreen so I have very little room for deciduous and annual plants.

Depending on how wide a stretch you have to fill in your 6' deep bed, group the evergreen plants that are your "bones" every 4-6' apart, gauging from the mature width of the evergreens. Vary the plants within the group by leaf shape/size/color: for instance, you decide on two V. tinus plants. Use one each to anchor two different groups, surrounding them with different evergreens/perennials. This will give the eye a reason to move across the bed, but give enough consistency without being boringly identical.

A 6' deep bed is sufficient to design your plantings in curving lines, which will be visually attractive.

Oh, if you like variegated plants, variegated euonymus is a fast grower, appreciates pruning, and sets off green-leafed plants very well. Here is a very young one, surrounded by (R-L) a white-flowered pelargonium, spikey bearded iris leaves with one in bloom, an 'Occold Gold' pelargonium with red blooms, and a pink-flowering coleonema in the background.