'Mattie Edwards Hewitt 
T^oel Chamberlin, L. A. 
Foundation Plantings 
FTER a house has just been completed, perhaps the most important 
planting to be considered, except for the shade trees, is that sur¬ 
rounding the house itself and commonly called “the foundation 
planting.” This grouping of plants if properly designed softens 
the harsh, vertical lines and sharp angles of the new house and helps to 
better fit it into its surrounding lawn and garden. This planting should 
not, as so often seen, be just a mass of foliage behind which the house 
appears to hide. It should be so designed as to reveal the true beauty of 
the building and assist in making it more home-like and livable. On smaller 
places, the foundation planting provides an excellent place to grow at¬ 
tractive flowering plants for which there is no other room available. 
The design of the foundation planting and the kind of plants to 
be used are dictated more or less by the architecture of the house itself 
and the exposure of the side which is to be planted. For instance, a simple 
Cape Cod cottage feels more at home with an unpretentious grouping of 
shrubs and a few dwarf evergreens. On the other hand, a large stone or 
brick mansion may either be treated with a few, but well chosen, rich- 
foliage evergreens or a planting of slow growing evergreens tied together 
with masses of evergreen shrubs. This latter type is especially desirable 
for houses facing north or west. 
