Recommend a hedge/shrub around front porch

Gardenias check all your boxes and smell fantastic when in bloom.

I had my heart set on gardenias but now people are telling me full sun is bad.

My friend told me the blooms turn brown almost instantly when in full sun and are also gangly, but the ones in good shade are immaculate.

This is what he told me yesterday.

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Purple Diamond Lorapetulam

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Loropetalum is going to be the most maintenance free. There are many varieties of loropetalum that get to be different sizes so pay attention to what variety you buy.

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I had my heart set on gardenias but now people are telling me full sun is bad.

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The old time kind like August Beauty prefer some shade. And they only bloom once.

I tried a smaller leaf new one called Scentsations and they are slow out of the gate but once they get rooted up and grow they make a nice round bush about 3’ to possibly 4’, take full sun, and they start blooming in early April and have not stopped. Just when I think they are done they bud up and bloom some more. I’ve even seen them bloom during fall and winter. They are marketed under several names depending upon where you buy them but they are labeled as “repeat bloomers”. I’ve yet to prune them and they have been in the ground 3 plus years. Got to admit it’s nice walking up to the front door and smelling gardenias.

My neighbor has a small to mid size gardenia planted as hedges in the front of his house in full sun but they only bloom for two weeks. So having said that I know they have new specimens to take full sun and thrive.

I pound Miracle Grow stakes in the ground by my gardenias and camellias twice a year and acid loving plants seem to respond to them well. I have some October Magic small leaf camellias that I also use as a hedge and they don’t grow but about 4’-5’ tall and are slow growers. I like them a lot and they were made to take full sun but I sure wish they bloomed like those gardenias I have.

These people that are growing these plants in commercial greenhouses have come out with such amazing stuff the past 10 years. I mean a no fuse gardenia bush that blooms for 6-7 months.... just amazing.

Go with some evergreens. We are converting everything to evergreen at my house - hedge/shrub-wise.

Gardenias will do fine. I have 6 frostproof gardenias in full sun, all day, and they do well. The only thing I'd recommend is make sure you get your pH straight before planting them. Add some sulfur or aluminum sulfate to the soil. It took me awhile to figure that out, but once I got the pH squared away, they took off. I use holly tone fertilizer for them because it contains some sulfur.

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Purple Diamond Lorapetulam

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This is Chinese Fringe, right? if so, gets larger than OP specs, but is a great ornamental shrub (if it doesn't give you the corona).

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y answer is Indian Hawthorne.

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Recently ripped out all of ours

I planted gardenia azaleas 2-3 yrs ago. Still small but blooming pretty white double flowers. I take care of my many different azaleas in heat of summer with watering and spraying. No problem with black scale on azalea leaves like regular gardenias.