THE FRONT ENTRY GARDEN

As a landscape designer for a well-respected suburban garden center, I fielded 60 to 70 residential design calls every year. Fully half of those visits included a discussion about the client’s foundation plantings; they wanted them renovated or replaced entirely. After 7 years on the job, I had designed, re-designed and installed nearly 200 street-facing gardens. From this experience I learned that although most homeowners ask for foundation plantings that are attractive in all seasons, low maintenance and affordable, they actually want something more.

At first, I did my best to create the foundation plantings my clients requested: a tidy row of clipped evergreens fronted by groups of flowering shrubs, with ornamental trees on the corners and masses of well-behaved herbaceous perennials filling in the gaps. A rotating palette of plants added variety to the plans, but they were all basically the same: evergreens for winter interest and flowers or foliage for seasonal