The secret to creating jaw-dropping curb appeal lies in choosing the right foundation plants. These unsung heroes of landscaping not only frame your house beautifully but also create a welcoming atmosphere that’ll make your neighbors green with envy.
What Is a Foundation Plant & Why Is It Important?
Foundation plants are shrubs, trees, or perennials planted along the base of your home’s exterior walls. They serve several crucial purposes:
- Softening architectural lines: They help blend the harsh vertical lines of your home with the surrounding landscape, creating a more harmonious look.
- Enhancing curb appeal: Well-chosen foundation plants can dramatically improve your home’s appearance from the street.
- Providing insulation: Plants can act as a natural insulator, helping to regulate your home’s temperature.
- Controlling erosion: Their root systems help prevent soil erosion around your foundation.
- Creating depth: They add visual interest and depth to your property, making it appear larger and more inviting.
- Seasonal interest: With the right mix of plants, you can ensure year-round visual appeal.
Investing time in selecting and maintaining foundation plants can significantly boost your home’s value and create a welcoming entrance for you and your guests.
Choosing the Right Plants
When selecting foundation plants, consider:
- Your climate zone and soil type
- The amount of sunlight your foundation area receives
- The mature size of the plants
- Year-round interest (mix of evergreens and deciduous plants)
- Your home’s architectural style
Now, let’s explore 28 of the best foundation plants that will transform your home’s exterior from mundane to magnificent!
1. Boxwood (Buxus)
This classic evergreen shrub offers versatility in shapes and sizes. Perfect for creating formal hedges or geometric shapes.
2. Yew (Taxus)
An excellent choice for shade tolerance, yews can be shaped into various forms and provide year-round structure.
3. Holly (Ilex)
With its glossy leaves and bright berries, holly adds festive charm to your foundation planting all year long.
4. Juniper (Juniperus)
Drought-tolerant and available in various forms, junipers are ideal for low-maintenance foundation plantings.
5. Hydrangea (Hydrangea)
These showstoppers offer large, colorful blooms that can change color based on soil pH. A must-have for any foundation planting.
6. Azalea (Rhododendron)
Spring-flowering shrubs that come in a rainbow of colors, azaleas add a burst of energy to your home’s exterior.
7. Viburnum (Viburnum)
Multi-season marvels, viburnums offer fragrant flowers, attractive berries, and often stunning fall foliage.
8. Weigela (Weigela)
With trumpet-shaped flowers that attract hummingbirds, weigelas bring both color and wildlife to your foundation planting.
9. Fountain Grass (Pennisetum)
This ornamental grass adds texture and movement to your landscape, with graceful, arching plumes.
10. Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa)
Perfect for shady areas, this grass illuminates dark corners with its bright foliage.
11. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)
A native prairie icon, switchgrass offers upright blades and airy seed heads that dance in the breeze.
12. Rhododendron (Rhododendron)
These woodland wonders offer large, showy blooms and evergreen foliage for year-round interest.
13. Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
A native gem with unique cup-shaped flowers, mountain laurel thrives in partial shade.
14. Pieris (Pieris)
Also known as lily-of-the-valley shrub, pieris offers cascading flowers and colorful new growth.
15. Forsythia (Forsythia)
The harbinger of spring, forsythia’s bright yellow blooms signal the end of winter.
16. Spirea (Spiraea)
With delicate flowers and often colorful foliage, spirea is a low-maintenance choice for foundation plantings.
17. Ninebark (Physocarpus)
This native shrub offers colorful foliage, interesting bark, and white or pink flower clusters.
18. Dwarf Alberta Spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’)
With its perfect conical shape, this miniature evergreen adds a touch of whimsy to foundation plantings.
19. Hinoki Cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa)
This Japanese garden staple offers interesting textures and forms for foundation plantings.
20. Arborvitae (Thuja)
Excellent for creating privacy screens, arborvitae comes in various sizes to suit any space.
21. Hosta (Hosta)
The superstar of shade gardens, hostas offer a wide variety of leaf colors and sizes.
22. Coral Bells (Heuchera)
These foliage chameleons provide ground-level interest with their colorful leaves.
23. Daylily (Hemerocallis)
Carefree and long-blooming, daylilies offer a rainbow of color options for sunny spots.
24. Clematis (Clematis)
This queen of vines can add vertical interest to your foundation planting when trained on a trellis.
25. Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata)
For a classic, ivy-covered look, Boston ivy quickly covers large areas and offers brilliant fall color.
26. Fothergilla (Fothergilla)
This native shrub offers fragrant spring flowers and spectacular fall foliage.
27. Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra)
A great native alternative to boxwood, inkberry holly provides evergreen structure and bird-friendly berries.
28. Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica)
This four-season star offers fragrant summer flowers, brilliant fall color, and winter interest.
Bringing It All Together
Creating the perfect foundation planting is like composing a beautiful symphony. Each plant plays its part, contributing to a harmonious whole that enhances your home’s exterior.
Through incorporating a mix of evergreens, flowering shrubs, ornamental grasses, and perennials from this list, you’ll create a dynamic landscape that provides year-round interest and boosts your curb appeal.
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Nancy has been a plant person from an early age. That interest blossomed into a bachelor’s in biology from Elmira College and a master’s degree in horticulture and communications from the University of Kentucky. Nancy worked in plant taxonomy at the University of Florida and the L. H. Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University, and wrote and edited gardening books at Rodale Press in Emmaus, PA. Her interests are plant identification, gardening, hiking, and reading.