38 
House & Garden 
THE PLANTING FOR THE HOUSE FOUNDATION 
General Principles and Specific Details for the Attainment 
of Good Results—Two Plans and Their Final Effects 
CHARLES S. LE SURE, Landscape Architect 
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Straight, hedge-like effects 
should be avoided in foun¬ 
dation planting. The plan 
at the right embodies the 
sort of curves and irregulari¬ 
ties which should exist 
A photograph of the actual 
planting indicated on the 
plan shows the effectiveness 
of variations in height as 
well as ground space. Seven 
sorts of shrub are used 
F oundation planting, at first 
thought, seems a simple problem, and of 
course it really would be if we accepted 
what we see extensively in different residential 
sections of our cities. It is a simple problem 
to the landscape architect, but to the house¬ 
holder it becomes difficult if he attempts its 
solution in the right way. It is easy enough 
for the amateur gardener to turn over a few 
pages of past gardening methods and duplicate 
on his own place some such arrangement of 
plants as a stiff row of cannas or a few dozen 
gaudy salvias. But it is a different matter to 
plan and plant the base of the house accord¬ 
ing to certain definite principles which will 
produce the desired effect. 
Annuals of all kinds rightly 
belong to a garden which 
should be enclosed on at least 
three sides. More than this, 
they are impractical and ex¬ 
pensive when used about the 
house. A type of plant should 
be selected which will give 
some effect during the bleak months of winter 
as well as in the growing season. The best 
reason, however, for not using them is that 
they are considered to be in poor taste in land¬ 
scape art, except where they are combined in 
masses in regular garden beds or scattered in 
natural clumps among the shrubs in a large 
natural border. 
The best materials we have for use in the 
foundation planting are the hardy flowering 
shrubs. There are many beautiful varieties to 
select from, and besides, they offer the perma¬ 
nency so much desired against the house. Ex¬ 
cellent effects will result from their proper use. 
Generally, as we find foundation planting, 
it presents a certain monotony which is tire¬ 
some, especially when the same uninteresting 
effect is repeated for blocks at a stretch. The 
monotony is the result of using one or two 
kinds of shrubs in a hedge effect immediately 
adjacent to the foundation. The only effect 
is a regular band of green about the house. 
One writer referred to this method of planting 
as the “feather boa style”. Frequently it con¬ 
sists of a hedgerow of Spirea van Houttei faced 
with another hedgerow of Japanese barberry. 
Yet when used in the right way, there are no 
better all-around shrubs than these two. 
Foundation planting, it seems to me, is an 
essential to the completed house and should be 
done as soon as the building is 
finished. A new home without 
an effective planting on the 
outside is almost as incomplete 
as the interior without the pic¬ 
tures on the walls or the drap¬ 
eries. Neither is absolutely 
necessary for physical com¬ 
fort, but all are needed for 
