Well, I'm not of the group that thinks a solid wall of evergreens need to cover a foundation, especially if the cement part is pretty low. I think a mix of evergreens and deciduous shrubs is handsomer. But, since this is your house and you want 'em wall to wall, here are a few suggestions.

Certainly the foundation plant par excellence are yews, though they are deer candy. If deer are a problem, don't use yews. Yews come in several types, most commonly an upright and a spreading type. They respond well to pruning, though again, I'm not a fan of pruned yews; allowed to grow into more natural shapes, I find them attractive. Also commonly used are a wide range of small conifers, including Cephalotaxus, which is a yew-like but more deer resistant plant. With enough amendments--soil near foundations are usually alkaline--smaller rhododendrons and azaleas and kalmias can look good, though make sure you buy small cultivars--they don't respond well to size pruning.

Good luck.

The Landscape Design forum has had extensive discussions about foundation plantings in the past six-eight months.

Ilex (holly) is another family you might want to consider, but an important factor to consider is sun exposure. Depending on which sides of the house you are wanting to cover, your selections might be entirely different. Perhaps you could provide a little more information on the conditions the plants will be facing.

Ilex crenata and its cultivars. I have several that have been in nigh unto 40 years and which I maintain at about two feet with one pruning in the spring and another in late fall of shoots which have sprouted up. Rhododendrons especially the small-leaved ones can be maintained to three - four feet. Also the Yak hybrids grow wider than tall and could be kept at your desired height.

How high are your windows and what is the exposure? On one side of the front of our house, the bottom edge of our windows are just over 5 feet, where we have English Laurel. They have done well with full sun exposure, but can also grow in shade. They grow fast and are easy to prune.

Japanese Yews, although somewhat overused, would be the best bet as per your specific request of a fast grower, easy pruner. I will add that Japanese Yew will grow fairly well on the shady side of the house, better than almost any other evergreen. They grow nicely in even very poor soil, which is often encountered near a house's foundation. Also, once well established, they are the most drought tolerant of all evergreens I know of.

J. Yews come in a variety of forms...upright, for columnar or cone shaped bushes, spreading, for mounded shaped bushes, and even spreading/creeping for use as groundcovers.

One has to content oneself with dark green foliage if J. Yews are chosen. The varieties of foliage form and colors of Junipers and Chamaecyparis, which are also possibilities for you, but they for the most part are not good pruning candidates and should be left to reach the size potential the reach, often a bit too tall for any but very large houses.

All hollies are rather slow growing, about a foot or less a year. A male pollinator is needed if berries are wanted.
Good soil is needed, certainly they wil not thrive in anything but good soil, unlike J. Yews.

The best designed foundation plantings I have seen are predominantly the various J. Yew forms (all pruned), interpsersed with: Junipers, Hollies, Rhododendrons and Azaleas, Chamaecylaris, and perhaps even Euonymous (all unpruned, growing free form as the plant is programmed to grow).

Rootman

Possibly Leucothoe 'Silver Run'. Supposedly prefers acid soil and some shade. Evergreen, but some of the shoots do get some winterkill in my yard and I trim them out in spring. Nice short arching habit. Variegated foliage and reddish stems.

I have a group of 3 surrounding a weeping red Japanese maple in my backyard:

11/6/05
{{gwi:240763}}

1/22/06 (looking good in winter)
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