A Foundation Planting that is Mindful of Erosion, Allergies, and Spacing

My most recent landscape excursion involved the installation of a front foundation planting in Hoover, AL. The home owners brought up a few concerns as we began talking about their landscape. For one, they had been battling some erosion issues at the sloping end of their home by the drive way. Also, there being issues with allergies in the family, plants for the landscape needed to be chosen to address those needs. Finally, the homeowners talked about wanting a landscape that wouldn’t become overwhelming for them. I was excited that they were aware that spacing plants too closely, while looking great initially, would eventually bring on pruning headaches and make the landscape seem like one giant hedge rather than a thoughtful gathering of distinguishable plants.

PHOTO LEFT: Son, Jake, helps his dad with stone wall installation.

A brown stone wall was installed to negate the sloping portion of the front foundation. The wall, about 4’ tall at the drive, flows into what becomes a stone border for the entire foundation planting. The wall and stone border follows lines that are curved to help include a couple of small trees and some plant depth within the planting area. Also, a small stone bench is placed on the level side of the foundation for interest and also to add a little extra “weight” to help counter the stone wall on the sloping side of the house.




Choosing plants that are relatively allergy free required a bit of research. I was aware that plants with leaves that are heavily pubescent would be more prone to trigger an allergic reaction, so that was my starting point as I developed a plant list. I also used the book, “Allergy-Free Gardening”, by Thomas Leo Ogren. Mr. Ogren uses a 1 to 10 rating system to classify a plant’s allergy potential. Every plant used in this landscape was rated 1 (best) to 5, with most being rated 3 or better. The plant list:
(from left to right as you look at the house from the street)
1. Variegated Pittosporum
2. Bloodgood Japanese maple
3. Autumn fern
4. Shi-Shi Gashira Camellia
5. Harbor Dwarf Nandina
6. Snow Indian Hawthorne
7. George Tabor Azalea
8. Tonto Crape Myrtle
9. Sherwood Abelia
10. Pansies (probably Begonias in the Spring)



Spacing of the plants in this landscape was generous. Aside from avoiding a crowded landscape in the future, a well spaced landscape also encourages good air circulation between plants which is very helpful in promoting good plant health. Another feature of this landscape was the installation of landscape cloth. Landscape cloth is similar to landscape fabric, but better. No cloth or fabric is 100 percent effective, but it can typically cut down on about 95%, or more, of your weed problems during the first 5+ years of the life of a landscape and that is when you really need that kind of weed control.

It was enjoyable working on this project...The weather was great, all aspects of the job were fun, and working for the home owners was really a pleasure.