Landscape Facelift, continued

Speaking of color, there is nothing wrong with using plants that have different or interesting foliage color as foundation plants. Are you tired of green “bushes?” Try using plants with variegated or colored foliage. ‘Mojo’ pittosporum (Pittosporum tobira ‘Mojo’) is a small evergreen shrub with glossy, variegated leaves. ‘Mojo’ adds a little tropical flare to the garden through its foliage, and can reach two feet in height with a three foot spread. It is a great plant to use when a short foundation plant is needed, and also produces small, creamy white flowers in late spring. Nandina is a plant that has many uses in the garden. Some cultivars can be used as, or in, foundation plantings. Their foliage color, texture, and the ability to produce flowers and berries can add a ton of interest to the garden.

Using plants with different forms intermixed in a foundation planting will add interest, depth, and help accent nooks and corners of your home. ‘Emerald’, ‘Degroot’s Spire’ (pictured right), and ‘Holmstrup’ are all cultivars of arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) which features a columnar growth habit that can be utilized at the corner of your home to help frame the house and landscape. These plants can mature anywhere between eight and fifteen feet in height, but will not grow much wider than three feet. They fit nicely in tight spaces. These plants are conifers (evergreens like pines or leyland cypress) and their textures combine well with those of broadleaf evergreen shrubs. Curly leaf Ligustrum (Ligustrum j. ‘Coriaceum’) and sky pencil holly (Ilex c. ‘Sky Pencil’) are both broadleaf evergreen shrubs with columnar habits that can be used in the same manner as the arborvitaes. Even some of our camellias have narrow, upright growth habits so that they can be intermixed in the landscape around our homes.

Bed shape can play a major role in the appearance of foundation beds as well. In many older landscapes, beds are the length of the front of the house, and four or five feet deep. This creates the formal, linear look that many try to avoid. By making our beds deeper and adding curves to our planting areas, we can create space in front of foundation plants to add a more diverse selection of material. This is where great landscapes set themselves apart from others. Some gardeners feel reluctant to add deciduous plants (plants that loose their leaves in the winter) to their landscape because they feel that their garden will look barren in the colder months. This can be avoided with a nice evergreen background using some of the plants that we have talked about. Using a solid evergreen backdrop allows gardeners to plant hydrangea, spiraea, rose of sharon, sweet betsy, and many other deciduous plants that can add interest throughout the year. It also creates spaces for perennials and annuals, which both have long blooming seasons.

Being brave and breaking the mold of past landscapes can provide you with an opportunity to have something different in front of your home. The classic music of the 60’s and 70’s is still classic today, and for a good reason, but I feel like the landscapes of that era should have stayed in that time period. It is 2009. Does your landscape need a facelift?

Happy Gardening!
Brad Rollins, Nursery
Fairview Greenhouses & Garden Center




<<Previous