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The foundation planting is always a hard problem because there is Only half the normal earth space, and that is abnormally dry 
What Can Grow Close to the House? ST E?J^£^£ LIN 
F oundation planting about the 
house is an every day problem and 
always presents certain difficulties. 
The conditions cannot be of the best 
for plants in general, and it is mostly from the 
point of view of what will grow close to the 
house rather than how it shall be arranged that 
the answer must be sought. But the question 
of relation of foliage to the parts of the house 
wall has certain practical considerations that 
greatly influence our choice of material, as 
will be seen. And there is quite a difference 
between planning plant relations in the open 
lawn or garden and in the restricted areas 
close to the walls. 
The use of vines on the walls is not now- 
considered; we’ll suppose that no vines are 
intended, or else they are high growing and 
above our near line of vision. We shall take a 
strip about five feet wide way round the house 
and see what will grow there to advantage to 
the site. Before any visions of a bed of 
flowers arise before us, let us frankly take 
stock of the conditions. 
WHAT OF THE SOIL AND WATER? 
First: The soil close to a house wall is 
rarely up to the standard of the lawn near by. 
No matter how carefully the grading is done 
when a house is built it usually happens that 
the soil put back is not what it should be, 
except for a few inches on the top; while on the 
contrary the topsoil should be unusually deep, 
for the foundation of the house cuts off half the 
root area. 
Second: Little rain water falls close to the 
house wall for the eaves and spouts on the 
roof carry off the water that naturally would 
drip down, and only perhaps twice a year does 
the wind thoroughly wet a house fa 9 ade with 
rain. After the usual summer shower the 
base of the house is as dry as ever. Again, 
the snow and ice from the roof in winter fall 
heavily upon the plants below; the wear from 
people passing and from the wind whistling 
around the house puts a breaking strain upon 
the branches and leaves unknown in the open 
lawn. On the south side a higher temperature 
than that of the open fields holds every day, 
summer and winter, that the sun shines, 
while on the north side and under the shade 
of big trees close to the house no direct sunlight 
ever is known. 
How great are the difficulties under which 
plants close to the house must struggle! Yet 
we rarely think of this when planting and we 
blame the plants when they look untidy and 
straggly. So we must plan to have every 
herb or shrub in its best condition all the year; 
in so important a place as this no failures are to 
be tolerated. Thus more than half of the plants 
of the garden are ruled out — -they are not 
self-supporting. Many shrubs are altcgether 
too large; they hide the windows or crowd the 
walk or lawn. About the usual house nothing 
more than six feet high should be allowed, 
and, except on the corners, no shrub that 
reaches above the window sills. Vines di- 
rectly upon the walls, or shrubs trained as 
vines, are often the solution of the problem of 
foliage in narrow places without cutting out 
light. But now we are thinking of herbs 
and shrubs standing free from the house. 
Some plants are too small for the place; we 
accidentally step on them — no rock garden 
effects here. 
Some plants are too trivial about a house 
wall, especially low flowering herbs as bulbs 
and annuals. It does not seem very appropri- 
ate for a dwelling to seem to rise like a green- 
house from a bank of flowers. It is green 
foliage that ties the house to the lawn, not 
flowers, and this should be of a permanent 
character. Flowers will be just as pretty 
and satisfying in beds a few feet from the 
house and more easily cultivated. 
IDEAL QUALIFICATIONS 
So I plant shrubs or herbs, self-supporting, 
trouble-resisting kinds, that have good foliage, 
effective flowers when in bloom, and ability to 
withstand the wear from the household opera- 
tions about them. Further, I like those with 
arching branches, an effect of reaching upward 
against the wall and then bending toward the 
lawn, an actual demonstration of the esthetic 
feeling of the joining of house and lawn, but 
not so spineless and limp in wet weather as to 
fall upon the walks and lawn. 1 he largest 
of these should go at the corners of the building 
or against walls where there are no wall 
openings. Those under the windows should 
ultimately reach only to the sill; and in front 
of the basement windows, the piazza trellises, 
and small places generally where a screen is not 
wanted, but touches of green foliage only, 
there go small stiff shrubs and stout herbs 
whose height or spread is between one and two 
feet. The grass of the lawn is supposed to 
come right up to the base of all these and up 
to the house itself in many places. 
When we have all these factors, practical 
and esthetic, in mind, we can go through the 
nurseryman’s list and cross off nearly every- 
thing as undesirable, some perhaps from only 
one count, cat better planted near the house 
instead of against it. Now what have we 
left? 
On the sunny side, from the eastern around 
to the western face of the house, though nearly 
everything can be made to grow, some of the 
following seem to me the most appropriate 
for northern homes as satisfying to the eye 
HO 
