Oy, I would personally not have anything growing so close to my foundation. I've just seen too much havoc created from constantly wet soil near foundations.

Way too many plants and much too close to the house. They will quickly outgrow that space.

I will have him move the boxwoods 2 feet up, so it will be 30-36” from the house. Should I do anything else to the boxwoods?

How many golden mops should I have him remove?

Thanks for all your help!

Not sure an actual 'landscaper' would have recommended those plants or their position.

Pretty boring don't you think and way too close together and too close to the house.

Those Golden Mops are going to grow faster than the Boxwoods and larger also. The grow to 3-4' tall which is too tall in front of your windows and spread 4-5ft in width.

Selecting the right plants for the right location is a skill. You need some help.

" How many golden mops should I have him remove? "

Also, you need maybe only every third one of the Gold Mops. That means you need to remove at least 4.

And you don't have a landscaper. You have a lawn guy who thinks he's a landscaper. Same as around here.

Nothing should be planted under the overhang anyhow. And though we can't see the entire house, I'm betting the bed is likely much too shallow front to back to suit the size of the house.

I had a bona fide landscaper plant a foot from my house's foundation. It was a huge mistake for many reasons.

@laceyvail 6A, WV same here in MA. Every lawn cutter calls themselves landscaper.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) really tough to find someone who knows what they are doing, we've had to remove/replace so many times in our 35 years in this house it's crazy

Yes, your boxwoods are planted too close to your house. It won't be long before the roots of the plants will be invading your foundation. Would definitely have your landscaper move them out and from under the eaves of your house. Also, the boxwoods are spaced awfully close together IMO.

I’ll pile on, and I’ll be very blunt: that’s one of dumbest things I’ve ever seen and your ”landscaper” is clueless. Fire him/her.

edited to add: on second thought, if your ”helper” is a good worker, maybe you could keep him/her but for LABOR PURPOSES ONLY. By no stretch should they call themselves a landscaper.

Get someone that actually understands plants grow and IMO the mops do not belong there at all get some nice interesting perennials and boxwood grows slow and IMO should be at the front not the back and kept low with constarnt attention. What is your plan in this landscaping ?

"Yes, your boxwoods are planted too close to your house. It won't be long before the roots of the plants will be invading your foundation."

Yes, they're too close to the house, Norwood Architects, but boxwood is NEVER going to invade a foundation.

" It won't be long before the roots of the plants will be invading your foundation."

LOL!! That is hardly a concern with boxwood!! If it is, you have much larger issues to deal with than some bad planting!! In fact, if you have a structurally sound foundation, even tree roots do not "invade" foundations. The notion that they do is pretty much a horticultural (and house purchasing) myth.

The reasons trees and shrubs are sited an appropriate distance away from a house foundation is to allow the plants to grow to their mature size without interference from the adjacent structure and the need for constant pruning as well as allowing access behind them for any needed home maintenance. Roots are just not an issue.

I don't know if my eyes are deceiving me or not, but it looks like you have built up a mound/hill of dirt around your foundation for the plantings. It looks odd. The area should be level to the ground.

When I plant I like to allow around three feet from the foundation to be empty. This allows a walk way between the plantings and the house so that the house can be inspected for potential problems, windows cleaned, painting, etc. Also, my eaves are two feet so that distance away from the foundation allows for rain water to reach the plants. So, in the example given above by gardengal48, if the boxwood's mature size is 3 feet I would plant 54" away from my foundation.

Here is a picture of a 4 year old gold mop on the NE side of my house - started out small like yours and never shaped. They will grow much faster than your boxwoods so you could move everything away from house and reverse the placement of the boxwood and mops. They will grow taller than the bottom of your window though. If you are hoping the boxwoods form a hedge, I would get rid of the gold mops completely and plant annuals between grass and boxwoods for variety. Good luck!

I've definitely had trees damage foundations of my houses. I wouldn't call it 'invading' but roots pushing, lifting and cracking raised foundation walls for sure. I cut the trees down and repair the cracks in the foundation with epoxy injection. California Pepper, Ficus are notorious.

Trees 'invading' in-ground pools, septic tanks and sewer and drainage lines... lots of experience with that too. Roots are a BIG issue. Find out where your main sewer line before planting a tree otherwise you are setting yourself up a big, big future ongoing problem

" I've definitely had trees damage foundations of my houses."

Then the foundations were already damaged or not structurally sound. Tree roots cannot penetrate solid concrete. They can take advantage of preexisting cracks but they cannot cause the cracks to occur. This is well documented on any arboriculture website as well as construction websites. Most of the damage associated with foundations that is attributed to tree roots is actually due to soil subsidence or the sifting of the earth from wet spells and drought. Very common situation with clay soils. And certain species of trees can contribute to subsidence but they do not cause it either.

Tree root myths

btw, the discussion involved boxwoods, which are a complete nonstarter regarding any root issues!!

" my 1930's raised foundation "

And therein lies the problem! A 90 year old foundation is likely to have some structural impairment - highly likely, in fact. The roots just took advantage of that.

And I don't need to read your post any more clearly to know that you have jumped to conclusions without doing adequate research as to the cause.

I don't make this stuff up - its all out there documented for the world to read.......if they bother. If you want to take up this argument with the International Society of Arboriculture - the tree experts - then by all means, go right ahead!

Here are some spacing suggestions: