Almost every house has a foundation planting, something that should help the large, man-made structure somehow blend with the natural landscape it was dropped into. More often than not, the foundation planting is done by the builder, who adds a line of common, usually evergreen shrubs to make things seem not so out of place in the hope that the buyer will be much happier with the property. The plantings are often bland and not in scale with the house. Even worse, these humdrum plantings are often ignored until they become so large that making changes is more of a job than one is willing to take on.
But you should take it on—or at least address your lackluster planting before it is too late. These two approaches show how a little creativity and skill can give you something most houses don’t have: a successful foundation planting.
Your first thought when encountering a small space might be that you won’t have room to do much. Jane LaFlash’s small garden in Madison, Wisconsin, proves that isn’t true.
The short distance from the sidewalk to the house means that this foundation planting can’t employ a deep bed to soften the connection of the ground level and the two-story house. Jane uses a framework of small trees to quickly provide height to the bed and a certain level of screening for the house. These trees are underplanted with shrubs and perennials that carry the eye down from the trees to ground level.
The plant density and wide array are impressive and reveal one of the benefits of a small space. This much variety in a larger bed would feel chaotic; but, on a limited scale, it is exciting and impactful. Still, there needs to be some harmony to make it feel like a design rather than a bunch of plants in the ground. The
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