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You might use an evergreen tree on one end and one to three ornamental trees on the other end. Japanese Cedars are beautiful and do not get as wide as many other evergreen trees. Other evergreens you might consider are Hollies such as Foster Holly, which is even smaller than the Japanese Cedar.

Planting DesignAbout Susan

Online Landscape Design Information

Foundation Planting Design

Foundation plantings are those that are planted right along your house and are a very important element of your front yard landscape design.

When designing this area of your landscape, look at the entire picture at f rst...not just individual plants. Here are some tips and concepts that should help you with plant placement, design, etc.

Frame your house to make it important and also to create balance. Place some taller trees or shrubs at the house corners. These plants will place your house within a nice framework. They can also add interest, softness, height, texture, color and so on.

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You can also consider using one ornamental tree and three tall shrubs, such as Lilacs. There are various trees to use in foundation plantings. Anywhere from one to three landscape trees or shrubs at house corners are typical.

In one front foundation planting I designed, the property was quite wide, so I had the opportunity to make it very dramatic. I used three Norway Spruce evergreen trees and placed a fl owering tree in front of them. The evergreens began at the house corner and each one was staggered with the middle one further back. This is where the fl owering tree was placed. I can’t recall which ornamental tree was used, but there are many that would work.

Here are a few recommendations for trees to use in front of evergreen trees.

• Flowering Dogwood – use one of the Rutgers Hybrids.• Purple Leaf Plum – this will stand out when in flower, but since the foliage

is a dark purple, the tree will not be that prominent when just in leaf.• Japanese Red Maple – Bloodgood has red foliage all season long.• Weeping Cherry tree – this tree will provide a nice change in form.• River Birch – the bark will be noticed against the dark green evergreens all

year long.


Designing Front Yards

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Place the trees far enough away from the house corner so that they have room to grow. Try to balance the “weights” of the trees and/or shrubs. Alter the forms. If you have one tree that is multi-stemmed on one end, choose another type for the other side of the house...perhaps a more upright one. Tree shapes can be conical (similar to a Christmas tree shape), fan-like, columnar, multi-stemmed, oval, etc.

Depending on the length of the residence, it’s also nice to have a taller plant near the front door. I often place this at the far side of the front steps, just beyond, but near, the walkway. This is quite welcoming as one approaches the entry doorway. A small to medium sized tree or a large shrub works well.

Use foundation plantings in groups of three or more shrubs or perennials. Repeat groups for continuity. If your home is not that long, you may use all the same shrubs in the background and create color and interest with the other layer(s). You can be whimsical and add a single plant in here and there if you like.

Here is something you may be apt to do...placing matching plants on either side of the front door. Unless you have a very formal setting, this is not necessary. It’s much more interesting to be more creative by working with varying plant heights, textures and looks.

Another thing I have seen people do is to place a tall plant in front of a blank wall. If it lends itself to this, f ne. But this is not necessary either if the rest of the plantings are designed well. There are other more interesting design ideas for blank walls.


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You might consider adding a sculpture, birdbath, or trellis with vines.

How about vines growing on the house? Some people are horrif ed at this idea. However, think about the plant Boston Ivy which loses it leaves in the winter and has a lovely branching pattern! It also has gorgeous fall color!

If you have a long winter where you live, use evergreen shrubs as the f rst layer for the foundation plants along the house as they will provide you with winter interest. They keep their green foliage all year long. This does not mean that all plantings here must be evergreen though. You can add some deciduous plants in too.

Deciduous plants are those that lose their leaves at the end of the season. The foliage grows back in the spring, lasting through spring, summer and fall...not so bad! Deciduous shrubs can have red foliage, red twigs, and interesting f owers.

You can also create a more natural, wild type garden (even though it’s a foundation planting), by using mostly perennials. Oehme van Sweden and Associates was known for this type of garden design with the coined phrase “The New American Garden”. They used drought tolerant perennials...and no lawn at all!



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Depending on the width of your beds, you can add additional layers of plants. Assuming the f rst layer is made up of mostly evergreen shrubs, the second layer might be lower evergreen shrubs such as Juniper, deciduous shrubs or perennial f owers. You can also add a third layer. Plants here should be quite low such as shorter perennials or ground cover. Pachysandra and Vinca are two evergreen ground covers you can use, but they need some shade.

Here is Vinca in bloom with its purples f owers. This is an evergreen groundcover. Although shown here on a slope, it can easily be used as a low planting along your foundation if you have some shade.

There are also perennial ground covers which provide a lot of texture and color when in bloom.


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Epimedium Ground Cover

Epimedium is an example of a very nice ground cover perennial. It has lovely heart shaped leaves and some varieties even have reddish foliage.

Perennials are not that attractive in the winter time as they die down (and re-appear in the spring), but that is why you have the evergreens!

Plant in masses. Do not plant one of this and one of that. There is a reason for this. Each plant has its own special features, whether it is f owers, leaf color, or berries. By planting in groups of a variety these features become showier.

When planting with evergreen shrubs, it is important to use plants near each other that have different textures. You might use Boxwood near Juniper. The small leaves of the Boxwood contrast and become more attractive against the needle-like Juniper foliage.



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You will have to decide how important the evergreen look is to you. I like to plant a mix to get a little bit of everything. I’d hate to give up beautiful long lasting f owers just to have all evergreens. I’ll put up with some winter boredom to have blooms and color at other times!


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Can you achieve color throughout the seasons with evergreen shrubs? Yes! Many evergreen shrubs will f ower in different seasons. They also can provide beautiful red berries in the fall and winter that can be spectacular. Some have interesting colored leaves, such as Red Barberry (semi-evergreen). Yet adding in perennials and some deciduous shrubs will provide even more interest.

Recommended Evergreen Shrubs

Here are some evergreen shrubs I would recommend for the plantings against your house. Of course which plants you choose will depend on your home’s architecture, but this is a good starting point. These plants do not get very tall, most of them between 2 to 4 feet high. Also, you will need to determine your area’s sun and shade conditions, plant zone, deer problems, etc.

Boxwood ‘Green Velvet’ – one of the Boxwoods that stay smaller

Blue Holly ‘China Girl’ – a comparatively smaller Holly shrub

Red Barberry ‘Crimson Pygmy’ – semi deciduous with red foliage

Rhododendron ‘PJM – pretty lavender fl owers in early spring

Japanese Andromeda ‘Compact’ – white fl owers in very early spring

Recommended Taller Shrubs

Here are some taller shrubs that you can use at corners (if your house turns back and is not straight all the way across the front) or special places.

Lilac – check varieties as heights and widths differ. See section on Lilacs.

Butterfl y Bush – many different heights so choose one that works right for your space.

Viburnum – Blue Muffi n is one of the smaller Viburnums

Weigela – various small hybrids



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Nandina – Princess varieties which are tall. These are narrow so use three together for some mass in wider areas. These are not hardy in colder climates.

Burning Bush ‘Compact’ –still quite large but works if you have the space

Recommended Trees for Foundation Plantings

These trees work well at house corners, but you still have to be sure to place them the right distance away from the building.

Flowering Dogwood – use Rutgers Hybrids which are more disease resistant

Purple Leaf Plum- this will stand out as it has purple foliage

River Birch – beautiful bark

Japanese Red Maple – lovely shapes and some have red foliage all season long

Crapemyrtle – good tree for summer fl owers but mostly hardy in southern areas.

Star Magnolia – many varieties

Evergreen Trees that work well at house corners are as follows.

Cryptomeria – beautiful shape

Foster Holly- nice Holly with berries and not that wide

Nellie Stevens Holly – similar to Foster Holly

Foundation Plant Sizes

Along with the typical considerations such as sun and shade conditions, deer problems, soil types, etc., you must also consider tree or shrub sizes.


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Foundation plants are close to the house and size is very important. You don’t want the plants growing into the house, getting too tall, encroaching on the walkway, or outgrowing their space.

Decide how high and wide you need the plant to be and be sure to not deviate from this!

Do not look at the plant’s current size when making your choice. Know the plant’s mature size! This is the only way you will not end up with overgrown plants. That cute little plant in the garden center can really grow into a monster which you will ultimately be unhappy with.

Be careful not to choose plants that will grow taller than your windows...unless you want one for a focal point, such as a pretty small tree. Always go for excellent quality.

Where you can save money is in the size of the plants. Some plants, such as perennials, are so fast growing that it hardly matters. Even those plants that grow more slowly will eventually reach their mature size.

Purchase one gallon perennials instead of the two gallon size. A shrub that will grow to a maximum of four feet will get there no matter what size it starts out at. Of course, we don’t want to be ridiculous here!



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Start with a size that is smaller than perhaps you would really like but that still look attractive. While a shrub 24 to 30 inches high in the nursery will look great, you can still go with the smaller size of 18 to 24 inches to save some money.

Also remember to take into account the height of the container the plant is in.

Make sure the plants are healthy and shaped nicely. An unhealthy looking plant will struggle and never be all that it can be. The same is true for one that is not shaped nicely. If need be, go with a smaller plant but one that has no issues that you can see.

Planting Design Examples – 3D Images

In this design, notice how the foundation planting design extends out onto the front lawn creating additional plantings and a curved lawn area. This is something you should do when creating beds; try to use sweeping curves. The movement is captivating! Also, the front yard was made useful by adding a bench near a Japanese Maple tree.

Enjoy your front yard! There is no reason to feel that it is only your backyard where you can sit outside. If you have a nice front yard view, create a sitting area so that you can enjoy it.


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If you have unattractive views there, hide them. This is where screening can be very effective. It actually serves two purposes. The f rst is to block out unwanted views. The second is to provide something nice for you to look at.

Here are some ways to go about achieving this.

Use evergreen trees for screening. This will enable shielding a view all year long.

Use multi-stemmed trees. These will provide density but also often let you enjoy beautiful bark or colorful f owers. They provide a f ltered view, and sometimes that is f ne.

Create a focal point in front of the privacy planting. This is a perfect spot for one of those large urns, fountains or sculptures for you to enjoy.

This image shows the walkway leading to the front door. It portrays how your walkway does not have to be adjacent to the foundation plants. It can be pulled out further so that there is lawn on either side of the walkway. Notice how the foundation planting bed appears to cross over the walkway as it meets the walkway leading to the street. This is a nice way to design so that a bed continues and f ows. It does not just end abruptly.



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There is also a large urn. Adding a feature other than a plant creates contrast and interest. Consider using any of the following as I mentioned above. However instead of these features being a focal point in the distance, they become focal points close-up.

• Large urn or planter • Sculpture • Fountain

Make sure the scale is correct for your property. You can only tell this by standing back and looking at it to see if it looks right. Most people choose one that is too small, so don’t be afraid to go larger than you think you need.

Most people think of seat walls as part of a patio. However, there is no reason why you can’t add one as an architectural element along your walkway. Here again is another opportunity to use and enjoy your front yard.

A seat wall can be simply a free standing wall as shown in the image. It also creates a back wall for an interior garden seen from inside the house!

End it with a boulder or a small column. What you choose should depend on your budget and what looks best with your house. A boulder is very rustic and also much less expensive than a small column. However, a column adds more elegance to the wall. You can place a light f xture or a low planter on top of it to f nish it off…or just leave it simple.


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Some designs call for a walkway leading from the street to the front door, rather than (or in addition to) a walk that goes along the front foundation planting.

In these types of designs, the start of the walkway can have an attractive ornamental tree on one side or even two matching trees. I just f nished up a design where there was an existing walkway similar to the one in this design that I did. Instead of using just one tree on the right side of the walk, I used two matching Dogwood trees.

As you walk up to the front door, this design has lots of different plants on either side of the walk. However, you can just keep it simple too.

Use just two matching trees or large shrubs. If you want to include some more plants, just use a group of one kind of shrub on either side with some ground cover. In the design that I mentioned where I used two Dogwood trees at the start of the walkway, I also included groups of Carefree Delight Roses and some ground cover, but that was all.



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There is nothing wrong with having just beautiful lawn in your front yard. However, you can add more detail and interest by including one to three shade trees.

Select trees that have a nice shape, interesting bark, unusual leaves or great fall color.

If you use just one, don’t place it smack in the middle of the open area. Place it a little bit to the side so that it will look more natural.

If you use three, triangulate them and place them uneven distances apart. Again, this will resemble how trees grow in nature.

Driveway Plantings

Since your driveway is often the beginning of your landscape, it only seems right to have some plants where it starts, right? You can create driveway entrance plants at the beginning of your driveway, and the design can be very simple or more detailed. A simple design might just include an ornamental tree on each side.


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Here is a driveway adjacent to lawn and manicured wood edges. We added plants at the wood edge for color.

You can also place the trees in planting beds and add shrubs and perennials. The driveway can also have beds without trees, but I would recommend adding something tall there anyway.

Follow the same principles as discussed for foundation plants, by planting in groups, changing textures and using a combination of evergreen shrubs, deciduous shrubs and perennials.

Place the large shrubs away from the driveway with the lower ones closer to it. Vary the heights and do not make everything low as it will be very boring!

Although not necessary, planting beds along the driveway as you approach the house is an option too. These can be separate beds that relate to each other in position, size and shape, although they should differ somewhat to create interest.

Another option is to create an alley of trees along the drive. This is a very elegant look. You can use shade trees such as Red Maples, Pear Trees, Zelkovas and



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others. If you like, you can also use ornamental trees. Crapemyrtles, Dogwood, Crabapples, and Purple Plums work well.


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Walkway Plantings

For walkway plantings, you might plant on the other side of the walkway (street side) where the walkway starts.


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Then, when someone enters your walkway, there are plants on both sides. You can also create a bed on the other side of the walk near your front door, and join this bed with your front foundation planting that is near it. How long these beds are along the walk depend on how lush you want it to be.

The planting design can be as simple as having a nice, ornamental tree at the beginning of the walk surrounded by perennials or low growing shrubs. You can if you like extend this bed further up your walk and add additional shrubs and perennials. If you do this, try to balance the plantings on both sides of the walk by repeating some of the plant groups. This will unify the design.

For example, you might have a group of ‘Green Velvet’ Boxwood as part of your foundation planting. Repeat a mass of these on the other side of the walk. Add some perennials either next to them or in front of them on the walkway side. These perennials might be a repeat of those in the foundation planting, or they might be different. Perhaps they are different, but similar in size or color. The point is that a good design will f ow with repeated plants, or similar plants, here and there. Do this, and you will see it all come together!

Property Border Plantings

Plantings along your property borders can be created just to have some nice plants to look at. However, they also might be for screening and privacy.

Alternatively, you might have a combination of the two where some attractive plantings are used along with privacy plants, and you wind up with a f ltered view of your neighbor’s property in some areas. This can be done by using multi-stemmed trees, for example.

If you are looking only for privacy, evergreen trees are best. Some of the fastest growing ones are Leyland Cypress and Green Giant Arborvitae. You may want narrow evergreens or you may not be concerned with their width. This will depend on how wide you want them to get.

Measure the length of your space and f gure out how many trees you will need. Some evergreen trees will adapt to the space they are planted in. For example, Norway Spruce get very, very wide. Yet if you plant them 10 feet apart, they will



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adjust. This way you will get faster screening than if you placed them further apart based on their mature width.

Lawn Plantings

Another design concept is to have a few large shade trees in the lawn…typically three work well positioned in an uneven triangle across your property. This is a nice, stately clean look. Create a bed around each tree to protect it from the lawn mower. The bed should be about 4 feet in diameter.

If you decide to have planting beds out in your lawn, try to tie the bed into some existing feature such as existing trees in the lawn. Plant some evergreen shrubs for winter interest along with f owering shrubs and perennials. If the planting bed is standing alone in your lawn, add height on the ends to anchor the bed. Adding height will make it important so that the bed does not just fall away.


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Working with Slopes

Do you really need a retaining wall?

This is the f rst thing to determine when you have a slope. Sometimes homeowners just like the look of a retaining wall. However, at other times they just don’t know how to create a great design on a slope without one. Retaining walls are expensive.



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Here is a guide for you to determine if a retaining wall is necessary, or at least desirable.

The steepest slope that you can mow comfortably is 3:1 or thirty three percent. Imagine being able to mow on a hill that is the steepest you can mow. That’s a 3:1 slope. Technically, this means that there would be a one foot rise in elevation for every three feet of distance. In other words, if you had a slope that was nine feet long, the top of the hill would be three feet higher than the bottom.


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Let’s assume you do not need a retaining wall. The question remains as to how to create a nice planting design for a slope where a retaining wall is not needed.

There are two things to remember about slopes.

1. There is a lot of water runoff since the land is not flat. This can lead to erosion if the slope is not planted densely.

2. The plants that are used should be relatively drought tolerant due to water not being easily retained in the soil.

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ towards the front of the planting bed.

Many of the same planting design concepts discussed elsewhere in this book apply to slopes.

• Plant in groups of at least three of a plant variety.• Vary the textures of plants next to each other.• Vary the heights of plant groups. If you have something low, plant

something higher next to it. Do not make all the plants the same height.



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Which plants should you use?

Here are a few plants that I would recommend for slopes. This is assuming that the slope is sunny most of the day. If you have a shady condition, you must use more shade tolerant plants.

• Sedums – low growing varieties and taller ones such as Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’.

• Thyme• Geranium ‘Rozanne’ or ‘Johnson’s Blue’• Catmint ‘Walker’s Low’

Geranium

If you don’t mind watering or if you have a sprinkler system, you don’t have to concern yourself with drought tolerant plants.


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You can use lots and lots of different perennials as in this design I did for clients.

Plant Zones

Know your plant zone. Once you do, you can look up any plant, f nd its plant zone range, and know if it is a good choice for your area. The National Gardening Association’s website, at the time of this writing, has a USDA Hardiness Zone Finder. Simply enter your zip code and it will let you know what your planting zone is.


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