5 Low Maintenance Foundation Plants for the Front of Your Home
By: Susan Martin for Proven Winners
Some people have plenty of time to tinker around in their garden until their heart’s content, but if that doesn’t describe you, you are going to find this list super handy. You’ll see five types of foundation plants that are easy to grow and that you can count on to always be in tip-top shape. All of them thrive in average garden soil provided it is well-drained, and they won’t mind if you miss a day or two of watering.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these low maintenance plants for your foundation bed in front of your home. We’ve organized them from shortest to tallest in this list, so you’ll know what to plant from front to back.
When you get to the end of the list and are ready to see how to put them together in your landscape, be sure to explore our free EZ Scapes™ garden designs.
‘Cat’s Meow’ catmint is particularly low maintenance due to its naturally tidy habit.
Catmint (Nepeta)
If you take a drive around town in late spring, you may notice this perennial planted in large drifts as front yard foundation plants. It looks like a blue cloud hugging the ground and it’s often grown in such large numbers because it is so carefree.
Catmint thrives in full sun and no extra fertilizer is needed. Even if the soil tends to be a bit dry up near your home's foundation as plants for the front of the house, this perennial will thrive in the poor soil and reflected heat from your brick or siding. Cut it back once after its first round of blooms and it will reward you with even more flowers throughout the summer.
‘Cat’s Pajamas’ and ‘Cat’s Meow’ catmint are both excellent low maintenance options, with size being the primary difference between the two. ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ grows 12-14” tall; ‘Cat’s Meow’ grows 17-20” tall. Both are perennial in zones 3-8.
Tater Tot® globe arborvitae requires little to no pruning to maintain a rounded shape.
Globe Arborvitae (Thuja)
If low growing evergreens are what you need for under your front windows or a hedge bordering your entryway, consider Tater Tot® dwarf globe arborvitae. It’s easy to grow in full sun to part sun, handles sandy or well-drained clay soil, and needs little to no pruning to keep a tidy shape. If boxwood blight is an issue in your area, Tater Tot arborvitae makes an excellent evergreen substitute for foundation plants. (See more alternatives to boxwood.)
This ball-shaped evergreen shrub grows just 1-2’ tall and wide, so it fits well in the middle layer of a foundation bed with shorter flowers planted in front and taller flowering shrubs planted in back. Tater Tot arborvitae is hardy in zones 3-7.
Double Play® varieties of spirea make easy, colorful additions to foundation beds.
Spirea (Spiraea)
For a colorful shrub with seasonlong appeal, it’s tough to beat spirea. The Double Play® series is even brighter, leafing out in early spring with vivid orange or red foliage before transitioning to chartreuse or lime green. Pink, purple or red flower clusters sweeten the deal in late spring to early summer.
You’ll especially enjoy Double Play® Candy Corn® spirea for its candy apple red spring foliage that turns pineapple yellow topped with bright orange new growth that continues to emerge all season. Dark purple buds and purple-pink flowers appear just above the tidy, mounded foliage around early June in zone 6.
Double Play spireas are as easy to maintain as they are colorful. They naturally keep their neatly rounded shape without pruning. However, shearing the plant to remove the spent flowers will encourage more colorful new growth. After a year or two in the ground, you’ll find they are rather drought tolerant, but they shouldn’t be allowed to dry out until they are established. Perhaps best of all, deer and rabbits typically ignore spirea.
Shadowland® Giant ‘Empress Wu’ hosta’s huge size makes it ideal for foundation plantings.
Hosta
If your foundation is shaded for part or much of the day, the Shadowland® collection of hostas are an easy, low maintenance solution. They come in many sizes, from the giant ‘Empress Wu’ hosta to the much smaller, ruffled ‘Wheee!’ hosta and every other size in between. Bumblebees and hummingbirds enjoy the summertime blooms.
Other than irrigation, hostas require little to no maintenance during the growing season. If you prefer, you can cut down the flower stalks once the plant is finished blooming. Once the foliage dies back in late fall, it should be removed to help prevent issues with slugs the following season.
Since hostas return reliably every year, you can count on them to fill the beds up near your home with no fuss, textured foliage. They thrive in part shade to full shade and average to moist soil in zones 3-9.
Prairie Winds® ‘Totem Pole’ has a useful columnar shape that works well near the corners of foundation beds.
Switch Grass
Ornamental grasses might not be the first plants you think of for foundation plantings, but they are actually a very practical choice. Switch grass is a native plant that is extremely durable, tolerating drought as well as short periods of flooding, standing up to wind and storms, and thriving in sun and heat. Switch grass is also salt tolerant, so it is safe to plant near driveways and paths that are salted in winter.
Prairie Winds® ‘Totem Pole’ switch grass is a 6’ tall, columnar variety that can be used to soften the corner of your house, hide utilities, or create a living screen. Its gray-green to steel blue foliage complements any neutral color of brick or siding. You might also like the red foliage of Prairie Winds® ‘Cheyenne Sky’ switch grass which grows about half as tall as ‘Totem Pole’.
Other than cutting switch grass down to the ground each spring, no other maintenance should be needed to keep it standing upright all season. It needs full sun in zones 4-9.
Contributor Bio: Susan Martin is an avid zone 6 gardener and content creator who enjoys spreading her passion for plants to others across North America.
Dan has a lovely trio of plants to introduce. And in Dan’s special way he does it with humor and excitement. Click here for an interesting article on some exciting, new plants.
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