It can be difficult to predict exactly the heights that plants will achieve when mature, and shrubs that start the same size when planted may differ by many feet in a few years. Symmetrical plantings are most often used in front entry plantings, especially for homes with a formal architectural style, but the strategy can be problematic.

Now let's examine some different approaches to landscape plantings.Īnother way to achieve a clean, unified look in foundation plantings is by using symmetry.

Brightly colored plants-both foliage plants and flowering plants-are used in limited numbers for drama and emphasis. Front entry foundation plantings usually use fairly simple color schemes, dominated by green.

Use contrasting colors where you want to create an accent or drama. Echo some of the house colors in your plant choices to create a sense of unity. Color: Consider how the colors of the stone, brick, siding, and trim in your home will work with the foliage and flower colors in the foundation planting bed.

Make sure to use more than one texture to keep things interesting, and always consider how the different textures look next to one another. Good landscape designs carefully arrange and contrast the different textures. Rough, coarse textures are seen as informal and visually dominant, while fine, smooth textures provide a more formal, elegant feeling.

Texture: The feeling or mood of a foundation planting is governed largely by the texture of the materials within the planting bed.

Think of structure as the floors and walls of a planting area. For example, a landscape planting bed might use a short retaining wall, a ground covering of shredded bark, and a backdrop perennial evergreen shrubs as the structure around which other plantings are organized.

Structure: A foundation planting, like any garden design, is built around a structure of hardscape materials and the permanent major plantings.

Good landscape plantings, including foundations, are planned with an eye to how the shapes relate to one another within the planting area. Some forms dramatic, attracting attention.

Form: This refers to the solid shapes defines by the objects within the foundation planting.

Gentle, slow curves are considered restful, while jagged lines and strong verticals create tension and energy. The eye follows these lines, and their character creates a mood.

Line: In any design, where it is indoors or outdoors, line refers to the outline of shapes in a design-both the overall outline of a planting area itself, as well as the outline of major shapes within the landscape.

The Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service offers these design principles you can keep in mind when planning your foundation plantings.

The standard means of making this transition is with a blend of low-to-medium sized shrubs, both evergreen and deciduous, perhaps with some flowering garden beds, spring bulbs, and small trees mixed in. The transition from the horizontal planes of the lawn to the hard vertical architecture of a home can be abrupt and jarring-unless that transition zone is softened with foundation plantings. The Spruce Home Improvement Review Board.

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