Putting your best plant forward

Your builder might dispute this, but the curb appeal of almost any home is largely determined by the plants that frame it. In fact, nothing makes a home look more welcoming than beautiful, well-placed plants.

Whether you're selling your home, moving into a new home or just taking a critical look at the 20-year-old plants in front of your current home, here are some ways to make the most of the front of your house.

Good looking, hardworking

The plants along the front of a home used to be called foundation plants because they were used to cover unsightly concrete block foundations. Most homes today are built with more attractive foundations, but these plants still play a large role in making a home look homey.

Foundation plants frame the house and help it fit into the landscape so it looks like it's part of -- rather than apart from -- the yard that surrounds it.

They also complement the architectural style of your home. For example, a formal house often looks best with formal, symmetrical plantings on both sides of the front door or both sides of the house. Asymmetrical plantings pair best with contemporary homes. And bungalows and Tudors shine with cottage garden planting of flowers and trellised roses.

But foundation plants do more than just look good; they also work hard. Foundation plants can draw attention to the front door and show guests where to enter. They also can lessen the visual impact of a less-than-stylish garage and act as a screen for dryer vents, gas meters, garbage cans and rain barrels.

Shrubs, specifically evergreens, have been the traditional plants of choice for foundations, most likely because they're low-maintenance and always look the same regardless of the season. (Some excellent shrubs for drier sites include juniper, yew, ninebark, spirea, potentilla and barberry. Shrubs that can handle wet or dry sites include viburnum, dwarf lilac and serviceberry.)

But in the past couple of decades, perennial flowers have become more popular for the front of the house. Flowers are considered a bit less formal, in part because they vary in shape and size and change throughout the seasons.

When planting around a foundation, it needn't be an either/or proposition. Consider the style of your house, the amount of work you want to put into the plants, and whether you want a consistent look or something that changes with the seasons. And, remember, it's perfectly suitable to mix shrubs and perennials.

Consider drainage

Of course, we can't talk about foundation plants without talking about drainage. It's important to move water away from the foundation: 4 to 6 feet away is best. However, most downspouts aren't all that attractive. Using plants to screen them is a fine idea, as long as you're careful which plants are near the end of a downspout. Only plants that like wet feet, such as dogwood, chokeberry, hydrangea and arborvitae, do well at the base of a downspout.

Here in Minnesota, we seem to favor rock as mulch around foundation plants, though I'm not sure why. Rock mulch can help to keep weeds to a minimum and hold in soil moisture, but it doesn't break down and add organic matter to the soil the way compost, bark or wood chips do.

And rock on its own is a fine mulch, but all too often there's a plastic film or a layer of dense, landscape fiber beneath the rock that can deprive plants of water and oxygen. (The newer fiber mats or fabrics are better than plastic, but there's no need for a barrier under a layer of rock.)

If you like the look of rock, go for it. But I prefer to use a living ground cover such as pachysandra or vinca, both of which make a living mat under foundation shrubs or in front of perennials.

Test yourself

Take a good, hard look at your house. Do you like what you see? Do the plants complement the style of your home? Before you dig in -- or start ripping out -- ask yourself these questions:

2. What are the best features of your home? Beautiful brick and stone foundations or accents can be highlighted with similar colored shrubs or low plants that show off these features.

3. What are the worst features? An air conditioner can be screened by shrub. A blank wall can be dressed up with climbing roses or vines on a trellis or an espalier tree.

4. Are your foundation plants overgrown? Any plant that is higher than the roof and within 10 feet of the structure may need to be trimmed or removed. Oversized foundation plants can dwarf your home -- or bury it.

5. Have your foundation plants lost their looks? Some plants just look better when they are small- to medium-sized. Blue and Norway spruce are best as small to medium trees, unless they have a large landscape to spread out into. Often these trees have lost their lower branches due to disease and are no longer attractive.