Ripping out an old flower bed. Tell me what to plant!

We’re in the midst (the soul-grinding-never-ending process) of rehabbing a house built in 1945. The house faces west, and the large, railed front porch had a flowerbed below/in front of it. It was filled with Nandina and English ivy that trailed up the large brink corner posts of said porch.

Well, I despise Nandina, so we ripped it all out, along with most of the English ivy. What should I plant here, now? I’d like to have some Hydrangea and some other flowing things that compliment each other for some prolonged color spring through fall. I’m not terribly partial to azaleas, as I think they are over-done in my particular neighborhood (a historic district in Little Rock, AR). The area gets full sun from about 1pm until around 6pm as of today, June 30.
I’m good with plants, but it’s the “design element” of the whole thing that’s stumping me, here. I don’t want it to be just a row of shrubs in front of the porch.

Oh, and I’m thinking of raising the beds slightly with some stacked stone. There’s a small retaining wall to the left of the front porch that we will also replace with stacked stone to match.

My neighbors and their property values thank you. :wink:

One of my favorite shrubs is the beautyberry.

For some color in the azalea time slot, since you don’t like azaleas, how about weigela? Another early bloomer is viburnum. I have a Burkwood viburnum, and it’s flowers smell heavenly! The Korean Spice viburnum is another scented one.

If you want something that blooms after the early stuff but before the hydrangeas, consider a deutzia. There’s a gazillion varieties and sizes. I have a variety called “Magician,” with pink flowers.

Daylilies come in a gazillion varieties and colors, too, and are pretty indestructible, to boot.

For late summer when there’s not a lot going on, I really like caryopteris. It’s a beautiful shade of blue.

You also might look for something with winter interest. Winterberry holly (a deciduous holly) is nice. Get the kind that has persistent berries and you’ll have color for a long time. (You have to have a male and female to get berries, but one male will pollinate several females, and you can put the male somewhere less visibile.)

As far as the design stuff goes, think about variety in texture and height. There are lots of ornamental grasses that can provide a different shape and texture. Drive around and look at landscaping you like. Have fun!

Oh, thank you,** freckafree**! Those are lovely and not something I have seen on or around my street. I do like to shake things up a bit!

Garden phlox is my favorite perennial. Gets about two to three ft tall.

Coreopsis is another great perennial and easy to grow. Theres several varieties and colors to pick from. I have moonbeam in my yard.
http://goshenenterprises.com/newplantcatalog/plant.php?p=178&cat=12

I have a full bed of lavender

I’m in Little Rock too. So what I grow will work for you too.

I bought my lavender from here. They have over a dozen varieties. My local nursery only had one variety.

Abrialii is really pretty and easy to grow.

heres their full list of choices
http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/lavendercareandtips.htm

I am in California where the climate/flora is extremely different, but the following design principles have always helped me:

  1. short stuff in the front, tall stuff in the back. Seems too obvious but you’d be surprised.
  2. Look for year-round structural interest. Contrasting foliage (spiky, large, tiny, reddish, chartreuse, etc.).
  3. Stagger the blossom period so that you don’t have one amazing three week period surrounded by an uneventful rest of the year.
  4. Keep a firm sense of how much room each plant will ultimately need. Use annuals to fill in the bare spots.
  5. Don’t put in one of everything that occurs to you (this is my favorite mistake). Use groups of three and five, repeated.

If all your bed gets is afternoon sun, shade lovers won’t do well, and some sun lovers won’t get enough hours. You’ll have to experiment. I have a bed like that and it has been a struggle over the years to find things that are happy there.

I’ll second the daylilies - they are indeed hardy and tough, and they make such a lovely clump with their arching leaves. I’m also very fond of peonies for a perennial that is almost a shrub.

Another one of my favourites is silver mound artemisia. It looks great at the front or filling in a corner of bed with its soft, silver fronds.

I have to say, though, my criteria for plants is probably different than yours - my priorities are hardiness and drought tolerance; I have little use for plants that need coddling in my area.

ETA: All good advice from Ulfreida, too. Five hours of sunshine is pretty much full sun; shade-lovers aren’t going to be happy there. The flowers come and go, but the foliage lasts all season. That’s my first focus at this point; getting nice flowers is a bonus.

Lavender is one of my favorites.
Another one is tiger lilies.

I love my butterfly bush and pampas grass. They are probably too tall for a flower bed but I think they both come in shorter varieties.