What is perennial ....

Good for foundation planting

Likes full blazing hot sun in Summer and being next to a brick wall

Well behaved (as in won't propagate itself via seeds & runners)

Evergreen

Won't mug your foundation

Compact (as in doesn't require constant pruning)

Is not a water hog

Likes sandy/clayey soil?

I offered up my bed in front of the house on Craigs list and everything was gone 6 hours after I listed it. It was old and full of monkey grass, spiderwort, uninteresting iris and those red amaryllis you see everywhere. I'll spend the rest of the summer clearing the weeds and whatever tries to come back. I'd like to start trading for plants I'll need within the next few weeks .. would love some ideas of what to do with it other than azalea. The only absolute requirement is "well behaved".

X

Lawsy, Xeramtheum, that's a daunting list of requirements! Only thing I can suggest is to start searching plants of the southwest. Things like Salvia and many of the succulents can take both high heat and minimal water, and will grow here, but you'd have to be pretty creative to come up with a combination that would please the eye. The good news is there's so many variations of Salvia, you're bound to find some that will work. The bad news is, there's so many of them to sort through... Same with the succulents. Good luck!

Well one can always hope there is a "magic" plant. Most of my garden life has been spent dealing with fussy britches plants for other people and I haven't paid to much attention to perennials until the last couple of years .. Being solo and getting older tends to limit some things .. I'm learning fast from my mistakes in choices .. just trying not to make as many as time goes on. So far I've learned that hardy gingers and daylilies are essentially fool proof for a lot of things and can tolerate a little benign neglect plus the bugs seem to pass them by for the most part .. but I can't envision my front yard totally comprised of gingers and daylilies.

As I said, the only absolute requirement is well behaved.

X

I don't know if you're going to find any such "magic" plant(s). The only think that comes to mind is a groundcover of Liriope muscari (clumping lily grass - it's evergreen; it does tend to spread albeit more slowly than L. spicata) interplanted with daffodils appropriate for your zone for spring color and maybe some daylilies for summer color. But you probably tried something similar in the past and weren't happy with it. So, I'm out of ideas :-/

Might want to check around sites like this. http://www.plantsofthesouthwest.com/

You might find something in here as well. http://www.amwua.org/plants_index.html

I'm having trouble coming up with plants off the top of head. I only thing that comes to mind is some sort of lantana.

Since we are in similar zone I would consider permanent planting in the background and then add extras in the front. I experienced your problem with age and realized that I did not need an entire yard that needed constant care. This is what I did.
I call it layered planting and this was done in the front of my house. I wanted it to look good but not require constant care. I had the regular azaleas that had been there since the beginning of time and knew that it would be very expensive to replace all of them. I came in front of them and planted varigated pittisporims. I did this on the sides and at the center I used firepower nandina for some contrast. In areas where I needed height I used Japanese yews, You can then always add perennials of your choice if you want more color. Have you considered having just a perenial bed seperate from your permanent planting? Something that will be easy to maintain yet blooms all season. I have done this and will be glad to give you a list of plants if you are interested.

I took a hard look at everything yesterday and decided on sod .. The house actually looks neater and cleaner without all that greenery next to it .. I still have the front bed to work with by the street .. The hard part was finding sod this time of year .. I managed to find some that was half dead but got it for a dollar a piece and was able to cover the whole area where the plants were taken out and have a few bits left over .. I watered it in good after laying it this morning and after the rain we had this afternoon it's looking much better ... I'm still debating whether or not to take out the lone white azalea bush or to just prune it down to the ground and let it start over.

I'm thinking hardy bulbs like crocosmia, tuberose, iris, anemone, alstromea and perhaps two or three evergreens for year round color and daylilies.

There is a deep green podocarpus that stays low that I think is interesting. Can't think of the name but it always reminds me of a bonsai the way it reaches out not up. It might be called birds next podocarpus???

I would definitely prune that azalea hard. Contrary to popular belief. there is still plenty of time for it to come back this year. It may not bloom as well next year but it will bloom.

Be careful, Crocosmia is not a no work plant, at least around here it is not. Hard as I try, I'll never be rid of them and they are always falling over and looking shabby.

Sedums like Autumn Joy fill in nicely and attract lots of bees an butterflies. If the areas gets enough sun you can leave the seed heads on for winter interest.

I don't think you could go wrong with daylilies; so many colors and sizes to choose from. Have fun.

Have you thought of using some "Short" cannas ? I have found them to be the most hardy,no fuss, and so easy to grow. I hardly do anything to mine,and the foilage is lovely even without the bloom. Just a thought.
Lynda