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The drip line of your roof is an important factor in locating foundation plants even in regions which do not get much or any snow and ice. Falling rain should reach the plants, so, except in unusual cases, they should be placed at least a foot beyond the drip line. At first they may look as though they were sitting out there by themselves, but in time, as the branches spread and the plants get larger, they will gradually reach back to the house and occupy all the space provided for them.

Plants under Eaves

When under unusual circumstances, you have to place plants under the broad eaves of a mod em type house, it is perfectly all right to do so if you make sure of a constant and sufficient supply of water for them. Do not wait until the soil is bone dry before applying water; set up a regular schedule of watering (adjusted to the weather, of course) so that the plants will never be in danger of injury from drought.

Mulch

If you do not choose to maintain a ground cover under the plants, the next best thing is a layer of mulch which will keep the soil cooler in hot months and keep a supply of moisture in the ground over a longer period. This practice is absolutely essential to success in regions where several months of hot, dry weather are the rule.

The temptation to grow flowers in the midst of the foundation planting is widespread. My own view is that theoretically and ideally there should be no flowers in the public area, including the foundation planting. However, the desire for flowers is so strong that it is next to impossible to convince the average home owner that he should not have some annuals or perennials in his front yard.

If you feel that you must do that, one permissible way to do it.

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Keep the number of flowers to a minimum in the front yard, certainly not more than a dozen. This is logical since spring-flowering bulbs bloom when there is little if any competition from other flowers and only three or four will be enough to attract attention. In addition to using small quantities, use only those that are not too formal in habit such as Narcissus, Grape-hyacinths, Crocus, Snowdrops, and Scillas.

Plant them in a naturalistic manner. The best way to achieve this is to take a handful of bulbs, throw them where they are to be used, and plant each bulb where it falls. A solid line of formal plants like tulips or most hyacinths running around the edge of a shrub border ( called a “shoestring planting” by professionals) is unattractive and inexcusable.

Flowers in Boundary Planting

One other place where you might wink at the rule prohibiting flowers in the public area is off at the sides of the property where perhaps a boundary planting is located. Here you might even include a few low growing and soft colored annuals or perennials as well as some spring-flowering bulbs.

Flowers a Distraction

The use of flowers is basically wrong because you must remember that the first and most important object of the public area planting is to focus the attention of the observer on your home. This cannot be accomplished if there are bright spots of color here and there to attract their attention.

Inspect Other Landscaping

Test this statement when walking or riding past certain homes where a spectacular flower bed or some other bright colored feature inadvertently draws your attention to it. Probably you will not be able to remember what kind of a house it was! In other words, from the landscaping angle the correct place for flowers is in the backyard, which will be discussed in a later chapter. Except for the few situations above described, there is no excuse for the use of flowers in the public area.

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If you have ample property on one or both sides of your house, extend the corner plantings so as to improve appearances even more. You might call this “adding living architecture” to the house in order to make it look lower and wider. With geometric figures and illusions created by horizontal lines breaking vertical lines. We want our homes to look low and wide because that gives a feeling of stability. Hence, as a general rule, the more we avoid sharply pointed plants the more attractive our planting will be. Tall, columnar plants and those of sharply conical form are properly used in foundation plantings only when the house has tall narrow windows and doors and sharp pointed gables. It is also desirable that if you use them, some of the plants native to the area be of the same character. Plants can become rather incongruous in different surroundings.

Concealed Front Door

Many modern homes are so designed or placed that the front door does not face the street but is tucked in around a break at one end. Here we try to make the entire house a pleasant picture as seen from sidewalk or street, but at the same time attempt to frame the front door as seen from some other point.

Placing Corner Plants

Plants at the corners should be placed either at a 45-degree angle from the corner of the building, or directly in line with the edges of the building, or a little off from the corner. Which one of these positions you will choose will depend on the point from which you wish your house to look its best. Many times the ideal solution is not just one plant but a group of plants which will make the house look attractive from more than one angle.

Desirable Shapes

Plants with a square or rounded outline and with distinctly horizontal branches are more desirable for the majority of foundation plantings. Upright or accent plants should, as already noted, be used very sparingly and judiciously.

One of the chief reasons for using an accent is to break the long low line often seen in the ranch home.

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In drawing a landscape plan, always make the circles that indicate plants of such size that they represent the ultimate spread of the specimens. In fact, to play safe you might add an extra 6 to 12 inches of diameter.

Generally speaking, the spread of a plant is almost equal to its height, the exceptions being those plants that have a definite upright habit. Thus, to indicate a forsythia at an outer corner of your house where it would be best if allowed to grow at least 6 feet tall, you should show a circle 6 feet across your plan.

This means, of course, that the bush (at the center of the circle) will have to stand at least 3 feet from the building, porch, or walk. Although older forsythias grow much larger than that when location and space permit, as part of a foundation planting they can be pruned annually and be kept beautiful as 6 foot specimens.

Combination Plants

Shrubs that can be trained into small trees are often useful combination plants in a foundation planting. An example is the widely distributed deciduous blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium). While young it makes an excellent flowering shrub with a beautiful horizontally branched habit and handsome foliage right down to the ground. Placed 5 or 6 feet out from the corner of a house and given ample room to spread, it would be a perfect subject there for at least ten or twelve years, after which it would become a little too large for that spot.

However, you could then begin pruning off the lower branches and thinning out the top to make it a most attractive small tree that would not exceed 18 feet in height even after thirty years. A new corner planting could be developed beneath its branches. This is a good way to satisfy the impatience that most of us have in gardening we should choose plants that, like the black-haw, produce a desired quick effect, and then, years later when we have a few dollars to spare, can serve as part of a new planting.

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The landscaper must decide whether deciduous plants (those that drop their leaves) or evergreens should be used in the foundation planting. Your taste and your climate will be the key factors. But remember that a mixture of the two is rarely, if ever, desirable – although an evergreen ground cover can well be used with whichever type of plant you decide on. Indeed, such a ground cover might be even more useful and effective around deciduous material than around evergreens. It will keep the planting from looking sparse and bare after the shrubs go dormant and drop their leaves.

Seasonal Changes

Deciduous plants grow much faster and larger than most evergreens so you need to know more about plant habits generally to use them properly. As to which type offers the greater interest throughout the year, it may surprise you to learn that the deciduous plants lead. In many parts of the country such plants go through four seasonal phases in each of which they take on different characteristics.

As an example, imagine a high-bush blueberry growing near a window from which you can see its branches. In the spring it is decked with attractive creamy-white lily-of-the-valley-like flowers, a beautiful sight to behold. By mid-summer it has picked up its full foliage and also a crop of cool-looking blueberries which attract birds and add life to the garden. In the fall, few plants can surpass the brilliant foliage coloration of this species. And, finally, in the winter, the zig-zag growth of its bare twigs is attractive, especially when sheathed in ice during a sleet storm.

Evergreen Phases

Most evergreens, on the other hand, have but two phases which are not too strikingly different. In the late spring and early summer the new bright green growth contrasts pleasantly with the dark green older growth. After a few months the two blend into one more or less uniform greenand that is the extent of the seasonal change.

Of course, they present a beautiful picture when covered with snow, but if the snow is heavy it may split off branches or bend them over and permanently spoil their looks. Give that aspect of the situation some consideration in your planning if you live in a region subject to ice or snowstorms. Look around and see how evergreens on properties in your locality have fared.

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In many old homes, or homes that were purchased as such and remodeled in line with modem trends, we find rather awkward architecture. In New England, for example, there are many houses in which the living quarters and certain farm buildings were all included in one unit because of the severe winters experienced there. This resulted in typical step-down construction from a high point at one end to the low point at the far end.

Some people buy such properties, tear off some of the farm sections, and find themselves with a tall, awkward-looking home and the problem of how to improve its appearance. This can be done by various tricks of design, chief among them being the use of horizontal lines in the planting and the concealment of one end of the tall part of the building by the use of large trees, especially evergreens. Vines can also be introduced to make artificial breaks across the tall section, giving strong horizontal lines where they did not exist before. The eye follows horizontal lines more easily and quickly than it does vertical lines. Your head moves easier to look from side to side.

House on a Knoll

A house that appears to be sitting on top of a knoll is, undoubtedly, the most difficult type to landscape. If money, time, and material are available, retaining walls can be constructed to add long horizontal lines extending well beyond the actual building.

The horizontal lines will force attention to themselves, instead of to the high perched house. These retaining walls also permit the development of flat areas for suitable landscape plantings around the house.

If the ground drops away quickly on one or both sides, your objective should be to make long, wide plantings from the corners of the house out as far as possible to each side. Place the usual plants at the outside corners of the house, but as the planting extends farther away from it select plants that grow larger than those close to it. Eventually you will plant small trees, and, if you have enough space, you will finally wind up using large trees at the ends of these wing plantings.

Your goal is to have, when the plants are mature 10 to 15 years hence, a silhouette that will create a funnel effect toward your house. Admittedly it will take quite a few years to realize this, since the plants will have to be rather old before the effect will be seen. However, because you know what you are aiming at, it should not bother you although it may look a little unfinished to the casual observer.

Sometimes we encounter trouble in our landscape planning as a result of worrying about what other people will think while our planting is in its first stages. So we must train ourselves to not be too concerned over their opinions. We must always remember that in working with landscape plans you are dealing with the future, not the immediate present.

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