Foundation Plantings

I’ve got a plan. I even sketched it out:

I’m planning on a big hydrangea on the corner.  I don’t know why exactly but I want a Hydrangea there.  Stefan isn’t convinced but I’m set on it.  I want a mix of evergreen and deciduous plants to give it plenty of texture.  What I don’t want is the stereotypical 2 dwarf alberta spruce and a row of boxwoods.  We need something that will complement and show off our awesome porch.This is what the front looked like when we bought the place.  Huge Yews were overtaking the front and there were Trumpet vines taking over the porch.

After removing all the vegetation and re-building the porch:

Does my lousy drawing make more sense now?  I’m planning on a Hydrangea on that corner, with 3 equally spaced Hollys.  2 round boxwoods and 2 globe arborvitaes fill out the rest of the space.  My sister has done quite the same with the empty spaces of her home’s parking space as well. All that is left more me to do is read the review of sun joe spx3000 vs spx4000 to buy one of them, and then I can even easily clean the entire walkway and driveway without disturbing the plants. We’ve got a lot of texture which I think will make it look full and finished without having anything that grows up in front of the porch with the paper pot planter we used.  With the Holly we have shiny, the boxwood is smooth, the globe arborvitae is more yellow-toned.  They hydrangea is soft.  I’ve also got either some taller, more casual plants like Phlox or Roses tucked in the back of the bed.  I need to give this some more thought.  I could even do something more cottage-y like Hollyhocks or Daisies but I’m not sure they’ll get enough light there.  Some hostas to add blue and white tones and some very low-growing flowering groundcovers (creeping thyme) finish out the look and edge the bed.

As far as sunlight, we get fairly good sun on the front of the house.

You can see the front faces northwest which is not super sunny, but sunny enough for most of these plants I think.  We do get good afternoon sun even if it isn’t blazing.  The boxwoods are sun/part sun and they have been there for a summer and look great.

What do you think?  Good plan?

Eventually I want to get rid of our front yard.  There is so little grass that it almost isn’t worth it to have it.  I’m planning on starting on the corner between the sidewalk and the driveway where I’ve planted a bunch of bulbs.  From there I’ll slowly expand the bed and eventually, we’ll head over to the yard-less side.

Any thoughts about what other plants would add some color and spring/summer interest?  The Yews left the soil quite acidic so something that doesn’t mind acidic soil would be ideal but we’re going to have to supplement with lime either way.

Sarah