10 Easy Foundation Plants for the Front of Your House

Table Of Content

• FAQs about choosing evergreen shrubs to plant in front of your house
• Japanese Barberry ‘Atropurpurea Nana’ (Berberis thunbergii ‘Atropurpurea Nana’)
• Dwarf Japanese Garden Juniper (Juniperus procumbens ’Nana’)
• Gardenia
• Orchids, and a true master, on display at South Coast Plaza’s Spring Garden Show
• Add Rocky Edges

Thriving in full sun or partial shade, the dwarf shrub is a great choice for red-flowering ground cover in tropical regions or hanging baskets in temperate zones. English lavender is a popular front yard shrub known for its fragrant purple blooms and gray-green leaves. It’s characterized by upward-pointing flowering spikes that last the entire summer. Creeping rosemary is an ideal low-growing shrub for front-of-house landscaping. It’s a great aromatic shrub growing as ground cover, planted along pathways, walkways, and rock gardens. It’s also useful as an edging plant to add soft texture to flower beds.

FAQs about choosing evergreen shrubs to plant in front of your house

Also called bluebeard, the sun-loving shrub blooms in late summer with flowers resembling blue mist or smoke. This compact and drought-tolerant plant is a popular choice for adding color to front garden landscapes. Petunias are excellent flowering foundation plants due to their showy, colorful blooms of funnel-shaped flowers. This makes the low-growing flowers ideal for front-of-bed foundation planting.

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Japanese Barberry ‘Atropurpurea Nana’ (Berberis thunbergii ‘Atropurpurea Nana’)

Thriving in heat and drought, Texas sage is ideal for front-yard planting in southern climates. The violet-purple flowers help enhance curb appeal when planted along a foundation line or in containers beside a front entranceway. This low-maintenance plant is ideal for xeriscaping in drought-prone climates. The attractive evergreen shrub grows 15 to 20 ft. (4.5 – 6 m) tall and 10 ft. (3 m) wide.

Dwarf Japanese Garden Juniper (Juniperus procumbens ’Nana’)

Boxwood grows best in the sun but is tolerant of partial shade. Boxwood shrubs are also quite deer resistant and are tolerant of acidic soil. Sprinter boxwood (Buxus microphylla ‘Bulthouse’) is one of the fastest-growing boxwood varieties available. These quick-growers reach their mature size of 2-4 feet tall and 2-4 feet wide in only a few years. Winter Gem boxwood grows best in the sun but is tolerant of partial shade.

Dwarf Lilac

The attractive ornamental appeal of creeping rosemary is its dainty lilac flowers and aromatic needle leaves growing on spreading woody stems. The dwarf shrub grows 1 to 2 ft. (0.3 – 0.6 m) tall and up to 3 ft. (1 m) wide. The dwarf Colorado spruce is a small evergreen shrub with a compact, pyramidal shape. Ideal small shrub for front-of-house planting, this slow-growing conifer is identified by its blue-green rigid needles, low height, and horizontal branches. The small landscaping conifer grows 3 to 5 feet (0.9 – 1.5 m) with a spread up to 6 ft. (1.2 – 1.8 m). The compact shrub has many uses—it’s ideal for planting under windows, lining pathways, or creating a lush mat of greenery.

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Indian hawthorn is low-maintenance and requires minimal pruning. It performs well in sunny landscapes as a front-yard hedge, foundation planting, or container plant. This shrub is also drought-tolerant and attracts bees and butterflies, making it a great addition to pollinator gardens.

Lily flowers bloom throughout summer and are ideal for mass planting. The colorful flowers grow up to 6” (15 cm) and can be cup-shaped, bowl-shaped, or pendulous. The flowering perennial foundation plants thrive in USDA zones 3 through 8.

Add Rocky Edges

It’s also useful for coastal landscapes and seaside yards as it is highly tolerant to salt spray. Dwarf butterfly bushes are drought-tolerant and thrive in full sun and well-drained soil. These shrubs are often used in borders, rock gardens, and containers to add color and fragrance to the landscape. Also, their attractive arching stems have visual appeal in front yards. Low-growing spirea shrubs can form a beautiful fringe along your home’s façade, enhancing its visual appeal.

Dwarf Viburnum

The ‘Nana’ cypress cultivar has a globe-like growth habit that becomes pyramidal as it matures. This small evergreen shrub grows 3 to 6 feet (1 – 1.8 m) tall. Shrubby cinquefoil is a beautiful low-growing yellow-flowering shrub to elevate your front yard’s style and elegance. The hardy shrub blooms in spring and throughout summer with beautiful, long-lasting yellow flowers. Shrubby cinquefoil looks lovely in front of a house due to its yellow blossoms that contrast nicely with the mound of bluish-green leaves.

You can even introduce fragrance zones in warm sheltered spots for tobacco plants and herbs. Summer snapdragon plants are ideal for planting along a foundation, back of the bed, or creating a mixed border. You can grow summer snapdragon in full sun as a beautiful floral annual in cold climates or a year-long tropical flowering plant in USDA zones 9 through 11.

Holly has glossy foliage that creates a wonderful backdrop for other plants. It retains its foliage all year, even producing pretty red berries in the winter. Your holly will be happiest in well-drained, slightly acidic soil. Let’s take a look at a wide range of plant types that work well as foundational plants. Whether large or small, flowering or evergreen, use any of these plants to build a strong foundation for your landscape and beautify your home.

If drainage is an issue in your yard, Virginia sweetspire is a great option. This attractive, flowering shrub is highly tolerant of swampy conditions. It will grow in full sun to partial shade, but flowers best with more sun exposure. It spreads nicely, often wider than tall, creating a well-textured hedge. While they don’t have the widest climate range, camellias are stunning foundation plants if you can grow them.

It is highly drought tolerant once established and heat tolerant as well. Salvia will flower best with full sun exposure but can grow in partial shade, too. Another hardy evergreen, holly plants are a group that basically takes care of themselves. Once established, holly plants are drought tolerant, pest and disease-resistant, and look great all year. They vary widely in size, and some can grow quite large, so be careful to choose one that will suit your space.

Its dainty lilac flowers and aromatic leaves are perfect for adding beauty and fragrance to any garden. Unlike the other houseplants on this list, air plants are epiphytes, which means they don't need soil to survive! Air plants look great in hanging macrame planters, glass capsules, and terrariums for a modern look. Provide these low-maintenance plants with bright light and a 30-minute soak in room temperature water once a week for optimum results. This popular hanging indoor plant derives its common name from its slender, arched leaves that resemble a nimble spider's legs. Its needs are quite simple, requiring bright to moderate light and slightly moist soil.