Foundation Planting Design Principles

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  1. Do you need to hide your foundation? Brick or stone foundations are nice to look at. 3 feet of concrete is not. If you don’t need to hide it, you don’t need lots of evergreens.
  2. If you have a lot of concrete showing, can you add soil and build a low retaining wall to make the foundation disappear? Can you paint and texturize the concrete?
  3.  If at all possible, avoid a narrow bed all along the house. Wider beds are better and allow for layering of plants.
  4.  If a walkway leading to the front door forces you to have a narrow bed, consider a bed on the outside of the walkway. Tie the curve of this bed into other curves in the front yard.
  5.  If your house is tall, sweep the bed lines outward on one corner so you can use tall plants to reduce the scale of the house.
  6.  Never put large trees right next to the house. Keep them out far enough so that won’t harm the siding. Watch out for the dripline if you don’t have gutters.
  7.  KNOW THE MATURE SIZE OF THE PLANTS YOU ARE ADDING. Dwarf is a relative term. A dwarf spruce simply means it doesn’t get 30-40’ tall.
  8.  Try to use colorful and variegated foliages to add interest in different seasons. Consider using a blue, burgundy, silver, or gold foliage theme to connect the design together.
  9.  Do a SUCCESSION OF BLOOM chart for the plants you are using. The old paradigm was rhododendrons, azaleas, andromedas, mountain laurels… they all bloom in the spring, leaving the planting boring and green the rest of the year. Keep the color interest going through summer and fall months.
  10.  Intersperse deciduous flowering shrubs that will bloom in the summer and fall between the evergreens and spring bloomers.
  11.  Layer perennials in front of the flowering shrubs. Use only perennials that:
    1. Have a long season of bloom
    2. Have excellent foliage all season
  12.  Never use perennials that go summer dormant or get ratty looking in late summer. Save them for the perennial borders in the back yard.

THEN- PROPER PRUNING IS VITAL!

 

In an effort to provide horticultural information, these educational documents are written by Nancy DuBrule-Clemente and are the property of Natureworks Horticultural Services, LLC.  You are granted permission to print/photocopy this educational information free of charge as long as you clearly show that these are Natureworks documents