This plant combination relies on low-maintenance shrubs to provide year-round interest with minimal fuss. The palette looks simple at first, but these nine plants offer a good range of foliage texture, plant shape, and size. It's designed for filtered sun to open shade, with regular, even water.

Evergreens form the structure. Slow-growing evergreen shrubs are naturally low-maintenance, and they're a big part of why this combination is so easygoing. Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Korean Gold', a plum yew, is a narrow, upright conifer whose new growth is golden yellow. It can be used as a hedge or as a backdrop for the rest of the scheme. Near the front of the border, the dwarf hinoki cypress Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Dainty Doll' is compact and slow-growing, with foliage that suggests swirls and waves. Rhododendron 'Cinnamon Bear' is a compact rhododendron grown for its foliage. New leaves emerge pale and felted, and the undersides carry a dense cinnamon-brown indumentum that stays as the leaves mature. Its white spring flowers are a welcome bonus. Rhododendrons grown for their foliage too often come with washed-out pale pink flowers, and white is cleaner and far easier to work into a plant combination. Together with the autumn fern, Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance', these shrubs frame the plants that change through the year.

Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon' is a top choice for small gardens. It's relatively slow-growing and keeps a compact habit that isn't likely to outgrow an urban garden. Its bronze-tinged new foliage turns more golden in summer and develops good fall color as the season winds down. Quick Fire hydrangea blooms over a long period, starting in early summer and staying attractive into late fall. Its flowers open as tight clusters of ivory and change through the season to blush, then pink, and finally dark magenta-pink by fall. The dried heads hold on after the leaves drop.

A tapestry of evergreen perennials covers the ground, providing colorful flowers, weed suppression, and a natural mulch. Epimedium × rubrum sends up small rose-red flowers in spring, and its new foliage is edged in burnt red. Bergenia cordifolia 'Winter Glow' has large, glossy, leathery leaves that often take on red and bronze tones in winter, followed by magenta flowers in spring. Geranium × cantabrigiense 'Biokovo' forms a dense mat with pink-blushed white flowers in late spring and early summer.

A bronze-gold undertone ties the scene together: the burnt-red edges on the new foliage of the maple and epimedium, the emerging fronds of the autumn fern, the fuzzy indumentum of the rhododendron, and the golden tips of new growth on the plum yew. These moments create a cohesive story that unfolds through the season.

This combination is flexible, and two of its plants are easy to substitute. Many dwarf hinokis with rich green foliage could stand in for 'Dainty Doll'. Match its growth habit, rate, and size, and the substitute will play the same role. The same goes for 'Cinnamon Bear': another compact rhododendron with good foliage and bronze indumentum can fill its spot.

Upkeep is minimal, but timing matters for the fern. It holds its fronds through winter, but cut it back in early spring, as the new fronds begin to swell at the base and before they unfurl, so the task doesn't break the delicate new growth. That one step takes it from okay to fantastic. Cut away the previous year's epimedium foliage in spring too, so the flowers and new leaves show, and give the hydrangea a spring pruning.

A planting plan for this combination is available to purchase and download. It includes two layouts:
— A one-sided bed, 20 by 7 feet. The front is its best side, but the back looks good enough to face the street or a neighbor.
— An L-shaped corner bed, 25 by 25 feet and 8 feet deep, best viewed from inside the curve. It looks good from all sides, and its back side works for a street-side front yard corner or facing a neighbor.
Buy and download the planting plan.