Useful Recommendation before Installing Foundation Plantings It is necessary to begin with creating a landscape design plan. Here are several points which should be kept in mind before you start landscaping:
* Contact your local utility companies before digging to point out the areas where digging is off-limits, due to the presence of power lines, etc. It's free, it's easy and -- in many regions -- it's the law.
* While choosing plants for foundational planting it is beneficial to consider such factors as mature height of the plant. That cute little shrub at the nursery may soon attain sufficient height to block the view from your window.
* Which plants like sun? Which prefer shade? These factors will help you determine which plants to buy and where to plant them (north, east, south, or west wall). Select Evergreen Foundation Shrubs for Color, Texture
The mulch for the foundation plantings should be chosen with the purpose to cut down on irrigation needs and weed growth. A well-chosen mulch placed around your foundation plants also adds to the overall visual impact of your landscape design. As an option you may select a mulch which will pick up a color in your home. Foundation Plants: Varying Color, Even With "Evergreen" Foundation Shrubs
As to the color you can find foundation plants that can pick up colors in your home, especially if you'll be incorporating some flowering shrubs or trees (see picture). However despite of their name it should be mentioned that the "evergreen" foundation shrubs aren't all green and therefore do present some options for varying the colors in your landscape design color scheme. There are bushes with gold colors, for instance. The use of annuals and perennials in front of the taller foundation plants offers further opportunity to build a color scheme. Foundation Plants: Texture
Texture is the second crucial factor to consider after the color. It will be beneficial to vary plant textures in order to increase visual interest of your garden. Needled evergreen foundation shrubs, such as yews offer quite a different texture from broadleaf specimens, such as rhododendron shrubs. Foundation Plants: Shape of the Planting Bed
The foundation plants are often arranged in linear beds -- that is, in more or less straight lines paralleling the house wall. In cases where such foundation plantings consisted largely of hedges of evergreen shrubs, this made sense from a maintenance standpoint: it is much easier to trim straight hedges than those that have irregular shapes. Also, in urban landscaping, where homes may sit just a few feet back from the street, liner beds is a more practical solution. However curved foundation plantings are in most cases preferred by the homeowners. Indeed, by curving foundation plantings out away from the house they create extra space for additional landscape design elements like for example water features. Another advantage of curved plants is that by bringing foundation plants out further away from the house there are more opportunities for gardeners to vary the height of plants. Foundation Plants and the Overall Landscape Design
Finally, it should be noted that foundation plants work best visually when chosen with the bigger picture in mind. It is very important to count what plants already exist (or will later exist) in your landscape design. By echoing those plants in your foundation planting, you can achieve a sense of unity in the yard.
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