Small tree for front porch

[Ranulf]

I'm looking for a couple of small trees/bushes for my small front porch. Something to take away from it looking empty, probably two, one at each column of the porch.Not much of a green thumb here, so looking for some basic ideas. They would need to survive sun in the summer mornings/day and around 30F in the winter here in the northwest US.

TIA

 

[Scarpozzi]

Hang some strings from your porch and put planters at the bottom. Order some rhizomes and plant hops.... You can put them close together and harvest!

 

[edro]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2409803

Container trees/shrubs are not easy, they take some attention.

 

[rocco518]

Not sure where in the northwest, but you need to consider the climate zone, as well as wether you want foliage all year round with some evergreen type plant, or decidious, where it drops leaves in the fall. If your far northwest, like Oregon, Japanese Maples are phenomenal trees that wont grow very tall, ranging anywhere from 36" high to twenty feet high. Boxwoods, rhoddendrons, azaleas, hollies. Figure out your climate zone. Upright shrubs like arborvitae, Dwarf Alberta Spruces stay small as well as narrow, without a need for excessive trimming.