Lattice work is a curious, rather mundane object as a choice to show off. Why plant anything if this is truly your objective? Dwarf plants certainly have their place. However, I have serious reservations about this being the proper place; sans additional, larger supporting plants.

I think you need to back away and start looking at the bigger picture -- your landscape as a whole -- not merely a series of individual spaces. As a general rule, what most North American gardens woefully lack are elements of substance and height. And here you want to do just the opposite...

IronBelly

No, you misunderstand me. I have this beautiful new porch, with mahogany decking and cedar lattice stained to match, along with a beautiful new railing/baluster system which I painstakenly painted and stained to be just right. I do not want to plant something that will grow higher than the level of the decking to obscure the porch, and I don't want to overcrowd so much that you can't even see any of the lattice. What I would like is a sampling of plantings which accent the area.

Note I can't grow grass right in front, hence the plan is to plant about 3-4 feet deep and cover with mulch, up to where my front lawn would begin.

I think what IronBelly is trying to approach the landscape as a whole - not the landscape as the porch. In other words, he wants to make sure that everything is done with regards to the context it falls in. The porch is just one part of the landscape and should be addressed as such.

-Audric

Can you post a photo?

In the Landscape Design forum, you tend to get landscape design advice whether you want it or not. You sound as though you have more or less designed your landscape according to your priorities, and perhaps you are not so interested in whether it meets objective design standards or the priorities of others. Now you are into plant selection, and it might be best just to go to the appropriate forum - shrubs, conifers, perennials, whatever reflects the type of plants you want - to ask for advice on that.

On the other hand, if you are that fussy about getting the porch just right, I'd imagine you want the landscape to be as perfect, and you might find you get some interesting feedback here about your plan if you do post photos. I for one would love to see that porch :-) and the property it graces, of course.

As for plant selection, if all you plant are little blobby green things, I think you're heading more for full season boredom than full season interest, unless you're going to do a tidy little row, neatly trimmed.

In which case you'll have neatly trimmed full season boredom.

Think of the plants as creating a setting for the woodwork. Take a qualitative view instead of a quantitative one. By softening the woodwork through framing it with plants you make what is still visible look better. Speaking of views, there is alot of that here in saltwater and mountain view country. Many think that wide open views with no trees in them are the goal, the idea being the more of the view that is visible the better. I think we are talking about a similar thing here. Maybe even take a picture of the project and try putting some representations of shrubs over parts of it and see how it looks.

Thanks for the advice on the different forums.

If someone can tell me how to attach a photo to my post, I'll gladly include a photo.

-open a free photohosting account on photobucket.com or similar site
-upload pictures from your computer to your photobucket album
-copy the TAG line off the photo in photobucket and paste it into the text of your message here
-when you hit 'preview message' your photo should appear

Yes, do post photos! Dying to see the new woodwork!

Post a close-up and a full house and yard shot for best results.

Photos:

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Love the w-i-d-e steps, very inviting. I understand your passion for the lattice, as it is all new and gorgeous, but it's really not a focal point. I'd concentrate my efforts on embellishing the pleasant view of the house as a whole. Actually, now that I think about it, using only dwarf plants may backfire because all the foliage will be low and opaque just where you want some light coming through.

Maybe an airy small flowering tree (with burgundy foliage perhaps?) off the left corner of the house, skirted with a neat prostrate groundcover, then a few more of your colorful blobs next to the steps? (Not a designer here, obviously!!)

i can certainly see why you are proud of your porch!!

The question of how to do foundation plantings around a house that doesn't really need them is always a vexing one. Check out some older threads on this forum about foundation planting; if you're reading other current threads I think Bonsai Audge just posted a link to some. But the aggregate message will probably be that your house sits nicely on the lot, there's nothing to hide, no architectural excesses to compensate for, and so personal taste becomes your primary directive.

I don't disagree with your original plan to go with low-growing things, but I think you want plants with some architectectural structure, perhaps a grouping or vignette (borrowed that from another poster somewhere) that includes some spreading and arching shapes. Not blobs. With shade you can do yews (eg Taxus bacatta Repandens) and hemlocks (eg. Tsuga canadensis Jeddeloh), and more upright cultivars of both, or rhododendrons selected and pruned for good shape, and many other shrubs; also ferns, hostas, hellebores for seasonal interest. Depends on how much you want to garden. Many shrubs can be pruned up so that the lattice would show underneath, and if you have a nice groundcover (that's an oxymoron, most groundcovers are never nice, either too sparse or overgrown) or understory of lower-growing plants you have something nice for your lattice to be a background to.

I have studied your pictures trying to design in the manner you want...leaving the lattice exposed with color all year. One thought that comes to mind which will cost a few bucks. Plant one of the red top type Pieris japonicas in the corner by the stairway. This is your all year color. Then go on a search and find a flattish (high point would be about 15") large, long rock that would extend along in front of the lattice canted slightly from right to left. In front of the rock plant a grouping of low growing Hostas. At the left hand side of the rock (and behind it) plan a throw-a-way planting; spring bulbs to be removed followed by medium growing hostas to be cut back in the fall, followed by chrysanthemums until the snow flies. Replant bulbs. If the cost of a rock is prohibitive you might find an interesting chunk of tree that would perform the same function. I do not see the need for a lot of shrubbery along the lattice nor at the left corner. Just an idea which I may not have explained well.

Is your home northwestern exposure-late afternoon sun? Your porch is beautiful. A low planting would complement the porch and the entire house. Some good selections for a partial sun porch planting could be boxwood or compacta holly, leucothoe, cherry laurel or dwarf nandina along with one or two specimens such as a weeping japanese maple, hinoki cypress or maybe a blue holly. Bow the bed out and curve it into the walkway and continue the plantings along the side of the house for a completed look. Have a planting for height and anchorage on the left side and keep the rest small. You could even have a small flowering tree and perennials for some seasonal color. You may even have enough sun for some spirea-pink flowers all summer or gold mop cypress - could look very nice!

Very interesting ideas, and I appreciate the various suggestions. Even the 'outside the box' ideas like the rock one are intriguing.

I think Leel's suggestion is most in line with what I was thinking (yes it is a northwestern exposure-late pm sun): low growth plantings to complement the porch and a planting for height/anchorage on the corner.

Any suggestions for this corner planting?

You have a beautiful home! Congratulations on your hard work and the outstanding results. Why not create a GARDEN rather than a row of foundation plantings? While sitting on your porch, why not have something nice for YOU to see?

What I envision there is DEPTH through a little garden that looks good from the street, from your walkway and from your porch.

In your photo -- at the bottom of your wide stairs I see a landing (brick?) and a group of plantings off to the right side? Why not come out to the outside depth line of that group of plantings and go left with a generously curved garden room?

You could place some nice stepping stones leading from that brick landing heading off to the left corner of your house. Place them in a nice curve so that a person can wander down the path and see your nice lattice work.

Make the "destination" for your path a nice small ornamental tree (Japanese Maple in your area?) set off the left corner of your porch, slightly forward so you can see it from the landing and the porch.

You could add a garden accent such as a small bench, finial or olive jar to create the vignette. A water feature using a jug overflowing into stones beneath would also give you some sound while enjoying your porch.

On the outside of your path (the street view) you can plant a nice mix of woody ornamentals, blend in a few evergreens, add spring bulbs and perennials to give you year-round interest.

On the inside curve of your path next to your lattice, you can choose from a wide variety of small evergreen and deciduous choices. I can't suggest the actual plants since I'm down here in North Carolina and have no experience with your zone.

That said, I like to use foliage colors that work well together. My favorite combination is purple/burgundy with gold foliage accented with a variegated green/white.

As an example, I have a vignette beside my waterfall that consists of a cryptomeria japonica (nice green, zone 5-9), hypericum androsaemum 'albury purple' (burgundy woody ornamental, 3x3', zone 5-7), creeping jenny -Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' (gold ground cover, zone 3-8), Lobelia x speciosa 'Queen Victoria'(red perennial, zone 6-8), Carex morrowii 'Silver Sceptre'(variegated sedge, zone 5-9).

In creating a "color" vignette, you will notice that I mix textures and leaf shapes. The cryptomeria is textured, the hypericum has oval leaves, the sedge has narrow fountain leaves, the jenny has round leaves, the lobelia is tall, thin and spikey.

My waterfall cryptomeria is too tall for your space, but there is a cryptomeria japonica 'globosa nana' that I use in my shrub garden that is a nice mounded, rounded shape, slow-growing to 5x5 for zones 5-9. It is somewhat rusty red in winter here. I use it as a backdrop for deutzia gracilis 'nikko', a deciduous white flowering shrub 3x3, zones 4-8.

Please take your time with your project. Look at the space at different times of the day from different locations. Think about what you want to "do" there rather than what you want passerbys to see.

Best wishes.

Here is a link that might be useful: see photos 14-17 for vignette

For the corner I would recommend a flowering tree such as a Thundercloud Plum, Kousa Dogwood or Stewardia. There would have to be enough light however for the Plum. If not-one of the other selections would be beter suited.

That IS a good point - that there is no ugly foundation to hide with foundation planting. Put groundcover in front of the latticework with taller, pyramidal shrubs (not cigars or columns) at corners to soften appearance of house, which is quite stark and divorced from setting at present. Use different kinds at each corner, with some combinations (big shrub on left, small shrub + medium shrub on right) to achieve informal balance (front of house not formally symmetric).

A small tree certainly wouldn't hurt.

wonbyherwits,

I can't access your link, and also the link on your Page is not working.

maro

I just returned from London, so I didn't realize the photo link had timed out. Here it is again.

Here is a link that might be useful: see photos 14-17

Just a f/up note that I decided to go with 2 ilex's on each corner, with boxwoods between. In front I'll put some of the larger leaf euonymous. Curving over to the left I'll put in a line of burning bush as a row of hedges. As you can tell I'm more for simplicity and symmetry, but I do appreciate everyone's suggestions on this site.

It is so nice that you came back to let the forum know what you ended up doing. I see a few people are doing that this week, and I for one really appreciate it. Sounds like you are happy with the outcome - good stuff.