Texas Scarlet Quince - Brilliant orange-red flowers in May bloom before the leaves appear. Shiny green foliage and a mounded shape make this a great accent plant for smaller areas or in front of taller shrubs. It's apparently only 2' tall, so could go well in front of the roses, maybe.
I thought some columnar juniper - in a nice silver blue, of course - would be a good addition, but these all seem to get 10-20' tall and reach that height relatively quickly. Nonetheless, tempted to try a Blue Arrow in place of the scraggly old mockorange beside the window out front.
The only one that's a little smaller (3') seems to be Juniperus communis 'Miniature'. At that height I could use it for an accent just about anywhere.
The hunt for the columnar juniper took me to the Rideau Woodland Ramble catalogue, where I found a bunch of intriguing items:
* I'm not usually keen on spreading/groundcover evergreens, but Picea Mariana Ericoides is pretty cool:
* As an alternative to a Blue Globe Spruce, Picea pungens 'St. Mary's Broom' is pretty gorgeous.
'Sester Dwarf' is also cute, although I'm not usually too keen on that super-pyramidal shape.
* Loving the texture on Pinus leucodermis 'Smidtii' and Pinus strobus 'Blue Shag'.
Would need to check if these are vulnerable to those goddamn sawflies, though...and yep, the intarwebs indicate that those little bastards like all kinds of pine, and given that these are dwarf white pines especially, either of them would probably be heartache waiting to happen. Sigh.
Summersweet (clethra) - especially Sixteen Candles and Ruby Spice - is also very pretty, although largeish; not sure if I could squeeze it in.
...and a little more googling reveals that summersweet needs consistently moist soil - so much for that idea!
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