Thanks for the photo. Lovely house!! I'm not going to make specific plant suggestions since my zone is so different from yours, but I will give some general thoughts. With your porch, will a 4-6 ft shrub cut off too much of the light into your windows at the back of the porch and make that room too dark? Is there a reason that you can't or don't want to make the bed a bit deeper? To my mind, a 6 ft deep foundation bed is still a bit shallow. Consider whether you like variegated shrubs, which aren't flowery, but will add some lightness to the front of a dark-colored house. If you don't want to deepen the bed, would you consider having your bed a majority herbs, since you've already mentioned lavender and rosemary, both of which are shrubby herbs. Would several lavender be large enough to hide your window cover? Most New England gardeners, even in warmer areas than mine, haven't been successful with Itea 'Little Henry'. You might want to check with gardeners in your area to see how it does around you.

I wrote out a whole long response and then lost it when my browser crashed . . . here's the main essence of my suggestions, although I still would vote for no foundation plantings. I would suggest that you map out any paths with flour, not just as a single line, but the actual width and location of the path and try walking it to see if it is comfortable, even if they are paths you won't use much. You don't want to leave so little width that anyone walking the path has to brush up against your plants. You will want your plantings to stay low as well as narrow. If you grow them up to the bottom of your window, they will be against the shingles and you will have discoloration and rot issues. I'm making some general suggestions of shrubs that stay low, but I don't know how much sun this area gets, which will influence what does well. For instance, the red color on the Midnight Wine weigela will be better in more sun, while the variegated leaves on My Monet weigela will do better with some shade. Also, there may be some lime leaching from the foundation, so you may want to do a soil test in that area to see how acidic or alkaline your soil is. I'll let you look up requirements of plants that appeal to you. Here are some low bushes to look into: -Small weigelas include 'My Monet' and 'Midnight Wine', both of which will stay under 2' height and width. -Rhododendron 'Checkmate' is a PJM type of rhodie, but unlike regular PJMs my Checkmate, which is probably 6 years old and went in as a 2' high plant is now only 3' tall. It might be a bit wider than you want, but should be easy to keep in check with light pruning. Some other rhodies with shorter stature can be found on the site linked below, which allows you to search by height, and then the database entries will include width. Not all of these will be easily found, however. -There are some small boxwood varieties, like 'Morris Midget' and 'Morris Dwarf'. -There are several varieties of short, golden leaved spireas, though I am not sure how wide they get. -Some of the new varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla are quite short, such as the Cityline series (Berlin, Venice, Rio, Paris, etc.) though they aren't hardy enough for me to have any experience with them. Another option would be to have plants that stay skinny enough so that they won't be against the foundation. A trellis with one of the smaller clematis might work for you. 'Piilu' is one that is fairly restrained (usually 4-5 feet) but still flowers well. 'Bijou' stays under 2 feet. You could ask on the clematis forum for other suggestions. If you put the trellis between the windows, it would have the decorative metal work for winter interest, and the flowers in the summer without blocking the window. Here is a link that might be useful: American Rhododendron Society database search

You will need to work this through with your builder. It will need to be a foundation type with which he is comfortable, has the crew and equipment to construct and has done before (if you don't want to be his first experiment with something new!). I would think wood pilings and/or concrete piers would be typical for the area. Do you see elevated stem wall construction in your area? Seems to me the best foundations for your area would be those that allow high water to move freely beneath your house and not be restricted, adding lateral pressure to a stem wall. If in doubt, check with your local/regional building department. They will know what the building code requires and should have historical experience to share concerning your area. Good luck with your project.

Worthy, yes, that is what we're facing. Our land is just north of Ottawa in southern Quebec. Most cottages in this area are built on rocky slopes, so no doubt contractors will know how to deal with the situation. I just want to make sure I know enough to have an intelligent conversation with them. Most cottages on slopes here have walk-out basements too (finished or not). Annie, like in Worthy's picture, we have a far amount of exposed bedrock right at the site(s). If we do end up with a walk out I'll have to consider the radon issue I guess. Our home is on bedrock too, it was built in 1877 and we just a 4' crawlspace, but it is well ventilated and sealed (now post our reno anyway).