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Shrubbery Placement on Front of House

ScottLewis | Posted in General Discussion on May 3, 2009 08:12am

Hi.  I have subscribed to “Fine Homebuilding” for twelve years and have saved all my issues, except for perhaps two, which I have somehow lost.  I am trying to find a very brief article or article segment that I seem to remember about the placement of shrubbery along the front of a house.  The article or article segment contained some sketches showing some different landscaping schemes with shrubs.  The key point that I remember concerned what type of shrub or bush that is best placed at the outside corner of a house.  According to the article or article segment, a large round shrub was best at an outside corner because it broke up or softened the hard edge of the corner.  A tall, vertical columnar shrub, on the other hand, accentuated the hard edge of the corner and was not advised.

In spite of consulting the Fine Homebuilding online index as well as all the annual indexes of my print issues, and in spite of searching in my individual print issues, I have not been able to locate this article or article segment.  When I first began searching for it, I went to the “Drawing Board” section, since I seemed to remember that that is where I saw it.  Maybe the advice was written by Sarah Susanka.  In any case, I still can’t find what I am looking for.  Does anyone else have any recollection of what I am talking about, or is my memory just as unreliable as it is with where I just set my sunglasses?

Scott

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  1. ScottLewis | May 03, 2009 08:12am | #1

    Hi.  I have subscribed to "Fine Homebuilding" for twelve years and have saved all my issues, except for perhaps two, which I have somehow lost.  I am trying to find a very brief article or article segment that I seem to remember about the placement of shrubbery along the front of a house.  The article or article segment contained some sketches showing some different landscaping schemes with shrubs.  The key point that I remember concerned what type of shrub or bush that is best placed at the outside corner of a house.  According to the article or article segment, a large round shrub was best at an outside corner because it broke up or softened the hard edge of the corner.  A tall, vertical columnar shrub, on the other hand, accentuated the hard edge of the corner and was not advised.

    In spite of consulting the Fine Homebuilding online index as well as all the annual indexes of my print issues, and in spite of searching in my individual print issues, I have not been able to locate this article or article segment.  When I first began searching for it, I went to the "Drawing Board" section, since I seemed to remember that that is where I saw it.  Maybe the advice was written by Sarah Susanka.  In any case, I still can't find what I am looking for.  Does anyone else have any recollection of what I am talking about, or is my memory just as unreliable as it is with where I just set my sunglasses?

    Scott

  2. JerryML | May 03, 2009 08:47am | #2

    Scott:  I'm new to FineHome... I know you can find a lot of information on landscaping from a lot of different sources out there, down to specifics on shrubs and types and placement.  I'm on this site to gain knowledge to build a place in Tennessee sometime in the near future, i.e. if and when I retire. 

  3. brucet9 | May 03, 2009 08:32pm | #3

    Perhaps you could post the question on "Over the Fence"; lots of gardening knowledge there.

    BruceT

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