Fountain Planting

• Don't let peripheral plantings compete with the house for emphasis -- the eye is to be drawn to the house. Borders are incidental to the central focal point of the landscape, which is the house.
• Frame and mass at the edges, to leave the center of the place open. Keep the largest plantings off to the side.
• Avoid scatter -- no flower beds in the middle of lawns, no brilliantly colored plants without a background of green foliage to set them off.
• Make flowers incidental, to supply color and finish. The lawn and the mass plantings are the main pieces of the plan. Flower sparingly.
• Consider position carefully. Far more important than the right choice of plant is its correct position with reference to other plants and to structures.

Courtesy of The Old Farmer’s Almanac® Dublin, NH www.almanac.com.