Why do we see so few tastefully planted houses when so much desirable plant material is available?
All too often, foundation plantings leave something to be desired or detract from the dwelling they were meant to enhance. Yet the basic principles of planting design are simple if only we would consider them.
Let us look at a new house on a new lot where no planting has been done. The whole house could be pulled with a cable anywhere on the lot without affecting its appearance.
Yet, if we see the same place a few years later with the plantings established, the house is tied to the ground and merged into permanent unity with the surrounding landscape.
Achieving Individuality
It is not practical to suggest any hard and fast rules for creating good foundation planting. Each house and location has its peculiarities and presents its problems.
The ideal method is to forget conventional planting arrangements to determine from careful study of the individual house exactly what planting effects will best complement it. Then interpret them in terms of practical planting.
This is the only way to avoid monotony and to preserve in the foundation planting a sense of individuality. The following are a few fundamental principles to assist you in the enjoyable project of turning a house into a home.
Importance Of Foundation Planting
The foundation planting should frame the house, emphasize the doorway, and tie down the structure.
Whether it should be formal or naturalistic, and whether the treatment should be simple or intricate will depend on the architectural lines of your house and the surroundings into which the planting must merge.
We must always remember that good planting aims to enhance and complete a building, and not to compete with it.
Framing The House
To frame the house, the heavier plant masses should be at the corners rather than within the face of the house. The corners remain weak only when the lot lines are strongly planted, or there are existing trees or shrubs. Then, of course, they will become the frame.
The doorway may be emphasized with accent specimen plants balanced in kind and size if the architecture is formal and unbalanced if the architecture dictates.
Low-growing Plants
Low-growing plants as facing material at the bases of these key groups of plants and intermediate sizes as a connective between the corner groups and the doorway emphasis are also vital.
These plants should tie the whole composition together and merge the house into the ground.
Choose Plants Carefully
You do not need a great number of plants to accomplish this result. It is wise to buy a few well-grown plants rather than several insignificant “juveniles,” which will become overcrowded in a few years.
You are not trying to make a collection of plants. Nor is your desire to accent every window, corner, or chimney.
Rather, you aim to enframe the building, soften the harsh angles of ground and masonry, and present a pleasant, homelike appearance.
An unbalanced building may be given a sense of balance by extending foliage out beyond the weak side and hiding a portion of the strong side.
Steps may be widened or narrowed with flanking spreading evergreens. Houses set too high may be lowered with heavier plantings.
Narrow buildings may be widened with groups spread out from the corners, with none cutting across the face of the house. Conversely, wide houses may be narrowed with groups brought in from the corners.
Avoid Overplanting
How much planting is necessary? Buildings that are too simple will need plant material for interest and variety.
On the other hand, many houses are over-decorated and need to be toned down with vines and neutral groups of plants.
Low ranch-style structures usually need less planting. Over-planting and especially spotty planting produce a crowded, messy look.
In The Selection Of Plant Material
Avoiding such kinds that will outgrow their intended effect is of the utmost importance. Except for a few dwarf varieties, pines and spruces should be omitted.
Most varieties of hemlock, arborvitae, and retinospora quickly become overgrown unless pruned severely every year.
Yews
Yews are unquestionably the best dwarf evergreens for architectural planting. With the great variety of types available, you can select from a complete range of forms. They have the added quality of holding their deep green color throughout the year.
Thriving in either sun or shade, they are practically immune to insects and diseases.
Wide Choice of Evergreens
If your house exposure is other than full south, you have a wide choice of desirable broad-leaved evergreens to add interest and color to your planting.
Most rhododendrons are too large for the small home, but there are smaller species, such as the Carolina rhododendron, which are indispensable. The same is true of Japanese Pieris, mountain Pieris, mountain laurel, the box-leaf holly (Ilex crenata convexa), and leucothoe.
Create A Finished Effect
After the strong, year-round groups have been established at the corners to enframe the house and possibly at the entrance for emphasis, you can tie the planting together with looser-growing material.
This includes azaleas, cotoneasters, and other dwarf deciduous material. Your planting now should begin to merge with the surrounding landscape, and this effect may be furthered with a ground cover, such as pachysandra, English ivy, vinca, or some other favorite as an underplanting.
Finally, if your foundation planting has been successful, it should bring out all of the beauty and lines of the house and be an attractive picture in the community throughout the year.
44659 by Frederick W. Swan