I'll start with nandina, also known as Heavenly Bamboo, because I love it and because I'm literally surrounded by it! It is planted in a U-shape around my patio, and I'm reasonably certain it has been there since the house was built in 1950 or soon thereafter. In the summer, the leaves are green and the shrubs are covered with clumps of bright green berries. During the winter months, many of the leaves (and all, in the case of some young plants) will turn purple, and the berries will become bright red. My nandina is well over six feet tall and is very dense, providing complete privacy on the patio...and providing a pair of cardinals the perfect place to raise a family every year. When I was growing up, everyone I knew had nandina in their yard.
Bamboo is a stunning backdrop for a mid-century home, often planted on the perimeter of the property, but it can spread quickly and become invasive. If bamboo is what you want, it's best to plant the clumping variety, instead of the running rhizome type. The clumping variety is much easier to control.
Japanese red maple displays red foliage all summer, which becomes even brighter red in the fall, making it a spectacular focal point for a landscape. It is very common to see them here in a small rock garden near the front of a house.
Another good specimen tree is the cedar. A theme in mid-century landscaping seems to be a ruggedness, and several small varieties of cedar fit that description perfectly. Cedars have rough bark and twisted branches and can be trained to shapes.
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| Nandina behind the boxwood shrubs on my patio |
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| Nandina domestica in winter plant-pictures.net |
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| Landscaping with a stand of bamboo and rock homeaway.com |
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| Black bamboo midwestaquaticsandexotics.com |
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| Landscaping with Japanese maple buildllc.com |
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| Japanese red maple deviantart.com |
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| Landscaping with cedar trees ranchostyle.com |
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| Close-up of Eastern red cedar ehow.com |
