How Foundation Plants Increase the Value of Your CT Home
Use foundation plants to increase the value of your Connecticut home.
For most people, a home is the biggest financial investment you’ll make. That’s why enhancing and retaining your home’s value should make its way to the top of your list. A study published in 2019 shows curb appeal can account for 7% of a home’s value. This is key when it’s time to sell. And nothing says curb appeal like foundation plants and landscaping.
In this article, we’ll cover the following information about foundation plants to increase the value of your Connecticut home:
What are Foundation Plants
How Do Foundation Plants Increase the Value of Your Home
Create a Striking Aesthetic with Foundation Plants
Maintaining Year-Round Interest
Foundation Plants That Thrive, by Connecticut Location
Installation Timing for Thriving Plants
When to Plant Foundation Plants to Thrive in Connecticut
How Long it Takes Foundation Plants to Mature
Tips for Maintaining Foundation Plants
How to Choose a Good Landscaping Company
What are Foundation Plants
A foundation plant is a shrub, bush, or small tree planted along the foundation of a house or building. Foundation plants enhance the appearance of the home, provide privacy, and soften the harsh lines between the building and the ground. Typically planted in a row or grouping along the front of the house, they can also be used along the sides or back of the house.
Foundation plants come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and textures, and can be evergreen or deciduous. Some popular types of foundation plants include boxwoods, hollies, yews, junipers, and arborvitae. When selecting foundation plants, it’s important to choose species that are appropriate for the local CT climate and the soil conditions of your property. You also want to be sure they will not grow too large or require excessive maintenance. A well-designed and maintained foundation planting can enhance the beauty and value of a home, while also providing a range of other benefits such as insulation, privacy, and protection of the soil.
How Do Foundation Plants Increase a Home’s Value?
Foundation plants can increase the value of a home in several ways:
- Curb appeal: A well-designed and maintained foundation planting enhances the curb appeal of a home. Not only does that make it more attractive to potential buyers, but it can help you feel like you’re home the minute you pull into your driveway. This increases the home’s value, as buyers pay more for a home that looks and feels like home.
- Energy efficiency: Foundation plants provide extra insulation for a home, which can be key in Connecticut weather. They help your house stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Who knew you foundations plants make your home more efficient.
- Privacy: Depending on the plants used, foundation plants can provide privacy for a home. Some homes need a buffer between the property and the street or neighboring properties. Privacy can be especially valuable for homes located in densely populated areas.
- Environmental benefits: Foundation plants provide environmental benefits such as improved air quality, reduced noise pollution, and increased biodiversity. These benefits attractive homeowners interested in sustainability and eco-friendliness.
Overall, a well-designed and maintained foundation planting can enhance the beauty and value of a home, while also providing a range of other benefits. A professional landscaper can help you choose the best foundation plants for your home and ensure that they are installed and maintained properly.
All Plants are not Equal
Even with all these benefits, not all foundation plantings equal value. A poorly designed or maintained planting can have the opposite effect and detract from the value of your home. Choose appropriate plants for your climate and soil conditions, maintain them properly, and update them periodically to ensure they continue to enhance the beauty and value of your home.
Create a Striking Aesthetic with Foundation Plants
Some home owners feel like foundation plants mean a boring landscape. After all, we’ve seen the normal builder installed landscaping that leaves you feeling lackluster. But with the right design, you can create a striking aesthetic that makes every visitor feel welcome to your home. 
Here are some tips for creating a striking foundation planting:
- Use a variety of plants: To create interest and texture, use a variety of plants with different heights, textures, and colors. A mix of flowering shrubs, ornamental grasses, and perennials create a dynamic and visually appealing planting.
- Blooms for all seasons: Select plants that bloom at different times throughout the season. You want to create a continuous display of flowers and colors. This will prevent your planting from looking dull or boring.
- Consider foliage: While flowers are important, foliage also adds visual interest to your planting. Look for interesting leaves, such as variegated or colorful foliage, to create contrast and texture.
- Use repetition: Repetition of plants creates a cohesive and unified look. Use the same plant in several spots to create a rhythm and lead the eye through the planting.
- Consider the architecture of your home: The plants you choose should complement the style and color of your home. If you have a traditional home, for example, a symmetrical planting with neatly trimmed shrubs may be more appropriate, while a contemporary home may benefit from a more naturalistic and less formal planting.
- Use containers: Containers can add interest and height to your foundation planting. Use containers of varying sizes and heights to create a layered effect.
- Incorporate hardscaping: Consider adding hardscaping elements such as paths, walls, or rocks to create a visual anchor and structure to your planting.
A good foundation plants design complements your home, enhances the beauty of your property, and matches your style. That’s why American Landscape and Lawn Science always starts with a visit to your property and design appointment before beginning any landscape project at your home.
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How to Maintain Year-Round Interest
At American Landscape and Lawn Science, we have a 26 bloom sequence philosophy. The season from spring to fall in Connecticut lasts about 26 weeks. Our goal is to create visual areas of interest throughout the 26 week blooming season. We look for different bloom colors, changing leaf colors and trees and shrubs that create architecture. For example, the bark on a birch tree exfoliates and creates visual interest, especially during Connecticut’s winter months. Even shrubs or trees with larger leaves create excitement through their movement in the wind.
Here are some features that top the list of our landscape design:
- Evergreen foliage: Plants that keep their leaves or needles year-round can provide consistent color and texture to your landscaping. Examples include holly, boxwood, and juniper.
- Interesting bark: Some plants have distinctive bark that can add visual interest to your landscape, especially in the winter months when other features may be dormant. Examples include paperbark maple, river birch, and crape myrtle.
- Winter berries or fruit: Plants that produce berries or fruit in the winter can add pops of color and attract wildlife to your landscape. Examples include winterberry holly, crabapple, and chokeberry.
- Colorful flowers: While many plants flower in the spring or summer, there are some that bloom in the fall or even winter. Examples include camellia, witch hazel, and heather.
- Variegated or colorful foliage: Plants with variegated or colorful foliage can provide interest and contrast throughout the year. Examples include variegated euonymus, Japanese maple, and smokebush.
- Interesting form or texture: Plants with unusual shapes or textures can add interest to your landscape, even when they are not actively growing or flowering. Examples include contorted filbert, weeping spruce, and ornamental grasses.
Our landscape and foundation plant experts can help you create an aesthetic design that will never look boring.
Choosing the Right Foundation Plants for Your Connecticut Location
We serve Connecticut neighborhoods, so shouldn’t we be able to use the same plants for all locations? As a matter of fact, different foundation plants thrive in some of our more coastal areas like Clinton, CT, and Old Saybrook, CT, compared to more inland neighborhoods like Ledyard, CT, and Groton, CT . Coastal neighborhoods have a more moderate climate. Our coastal towns experience colder temperatures in the winter. In the end, that means some trees and shrubs will look better in Connecticut inland neighborhoods than they will around your coastal home.
Choosing Coastal Plants
Some foundation plants that do well in coastal towns like Old Saybrook, CT, Clinton, CT, and Essex, CT, include:
Boxwood shrubs
These evergreen shrubs are hardy and drought-tolerant, making them a good choice for the coastal CT climate.
Rose of Sharon
This deciduous shrub produces beautiful, showy blooms in the summer and tolerates the salt spray that comes off the ocean.
Beach Plum
This native plant is well adapted to the sandy, well-draining soil found in coastal areas and produces edible fruit.
Japanese Yew
This evergreen shrub has a compact growth habit and can tolerate the wind and salt spray found near the coast.
Rhododendrons and Azaleas
These flowering shrubs are well-suited for the acidic soil found in coastal regions and produce beautiful blooms in the spring.
Barberry shrubs
Barberry is a hardy shrub that can handle a wide range of soil and climate conditions. It produces small, bright red or orange berries in the fall and has colorful foliage in shades of green, yellow, and red.
Weigela shrubs
Weigela is a deciduous shrub that produces beautiful trumpet-shaped flowers in the spring and early summer. It can tolerate a range of soil and climate conditions and is relatively low-maintenance.
Juniper shrubs
Juniper is a hardy evergreen shrub that can tolerate a range of soil and climate conditions. It produces small blue or green berries and has a neat, compact growth habit.
Holly shrubs
Holly is a popular foundation plant because it is evergreen and produces beautiful red berries in the winter. It can handle the salt spray that comes off the ocean and is relatively low-maintenance.
Hydrangeas
Hydrangeas are popular flowering shrubs that produce large, showy blooms in shades of pink, blue, and white. They prefer a partially shaded location and moist, well-drained soil.
Choosing Plants for Inland Locations
In contrast, some foundation plants that do well in some of our more inland neighborhoods like Ledyard, CT, and Groton, CT, include:
Dwarf Alberta Spruce
This evergreen shrub is hardy and can tolerate the colder temperatures and harsher winter weather found inland.
Red Twig Dogwood
This deciduous shrub produces bright red stems in the winter and can handle the cold temperatures and snow that are common in the area.
Spirea
This deciduous shrub produces clusters of white or pink flowers in the spring and is tolerant of a wide range of soil and climate conditions.
Winterberry Holly
This deciduous shrub produces bright red berries in the winter and can tolerate the colder temperatures and harsher winter weather found inland.
Boxwood shrubs
Boxwood is a popular choice for foundation planting because it is evergreen and has a neat, formal appearance. It can handle a range of soil and climate conditions and is relatively low-maintenance. 
Yew shrubs
Yew is a hardy evergreen shrub that can tolerate a range of soil and climate conditions. It has a compact growth habit and produces small red berries in the fall.
Come by our display gardens to see foundation plants in action any time of year. Our landscaping experts can help you choose plants that will thrive in your area.
When to Plant Foundation Plants to Thrive in Connecticut
Many times, we receive calls from homeowners in the middle of summer who want to add foundation plants to their landscaping. Some landscaping services will add plants as you request them. We have a different philosophy.
At American Landscape and Lawn Science, we believe your foundation plants should last for years and years. Invest once, and enjoy the beauty and increased home value for a long time to come. That’s why we have specific times of the season that we implement foundation plantings.
The best times of year to add foundation plants to your Connecticut home:
Pre-summer – Every year, come spring, our calendars fill up with foundation and seasonal landscape plantings. We make sure we get your planting scheduled before June 15th. We want your foundation plants to root up before the hot CT sun of summer. After planting we water and mulch your landscape to be sure your plants thrive during the hottest months of the year.
Pre-winter – There’s a sweet spot of moderate weather we usually experience in CT, from September to Thanksgiving. This allows us to place your foundation plants to root up in your soil before the cold winter arrives.
Contact us to find the perfect time on the calendar to create the landscape you’ve always wanted.
How long does it take plants to mature?
When you start updating your foundation plants, we know you want an immediate enhancement to the look and feel of your home. And yet, it does take time for foundation plants to mature and give you the full, beautiful look you want.
The time it takes for foundation plants to mature can vary depending on the type of plant, the growing conditions, and other factors. Generally speaking, most foundation plants will take several years to reach their mature size. However, we know most foundation plants will look full and beautiful around 12 months after we plant them.
Providing your plants with the proper care and maintenance ensures they reach their full potential and thrive in your landscape. Our landscape experts can advise you on what plants will look best and in what timeframe.
Tips for Installing and Maintaining Plants
Here are some tips for installing and maintaining foundation plants in North Franklin, CT:
- Choose the right plants: Select plants that are suitable for the climate and soil conditions in Connecticut neighborhoods like North Franklin. Consider factors such as sunlight, water, and soil pH when choosing plants.
- Plant in the right location: Make sure to plant each type of plant in an appropriate location that meets its specific needs for sunlight and water. Plant taller plants towards the back and shorter ones towards the front.
- Prepare the soil: Before planting, prepare the soil by removing rocks and debris and adding organic matter like compost to improve drainage and soil quality.
- Water regularly: Water plants regularly, especially during hot and dry weather. Avoid overwatering, which can lead to root rot and other problems.
- Prune regularly: Regularly prune your foundation plants to maintain their shape and size. This will also help promote healthy growth and prevent disease.
- Fertilize as needed: Apply fertilizer as needed, but be careful not to over-fertilize, which can lead to excessive growth and other problems.
- Keep an eye out for pests and diseases: Regularly inspect your foundation plants for signs of pests or diseases. If you notice any problems, take action immediately to prevent further damage.
Consider professional help
If you are unsure about how to properly install or maintain your foundation plants, consider hiring a professional landscaping company to assist you. Good landscape professionals help you choose the right plants, install them in the right location, create a beautiful aesthetic with hardscaping, protects your plants with mulching, keeps the beautiful with pruning, and provides education on how to keep your foundation plants thriving all year long.
Choosing a Good Landscaping Company
Choosing a good landscaping company in Connecticut can be a daunting task. That’s why we’ve created this list of things you should consider to help you make an informed decision:
- Experience: Look for a landscaping company with years of experience in the Connecticut area. Experienced landscapers will have a better understanding of the local climate and soil conditions, and can help you select plants that are well-suited to your property.
- Expertise: Choose a company that specializes in the type of landscaping services you need. Some landscapers specialize in residential landscaping, while others focus on commercial or industrial projects. Look for a company that has expertise in the specific type of work you require.
- Reputation: Check online reviews and ratings for the landscaping companies you’re considering. You can also ask for references from previous clients to get a sense of their reputation and the quality of their work.
- Licenses and certifications: Look for a landscaping company that is licensed and certified by local or state authorities. This indicates that they meet certain standards and have the necessary training and qualifications to provide quality work.
- Insurance: Ensure that the landscaping company you choose has liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance. This will protect you from any liability in case of accidents or property damage during the landscaping project.
- Communication: Choose a landscaping company that communicates clearly and effectively with their clients. They should be able to answer your questions and provide regular updates throughout the project.
By considering these factors and doing your research, you can choose a reliable and reputable landscaping company in your Connecticut neighborhood that meets your needs and provides quality work.
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