The Southern Classic Foundation Bed

The other foundation bed - for the front yard that wants gardenia perfume by the door and hydrangeas you can cut for the table. Whites, pinks, and purples on an evergreen backbone, with something in bloom from the first gardenia in May to the last camellia in December. Same rules as the native version: nothing blocks a window, nothing gets sheared into a meatball.

The plants

• 1×

  Sasanqua Camellia Camellia sasanqua

  The corner anchor that blooms at Thanksgiving; the most southern thing you can plant by a front door. Try 'Kanjiro' (pink) or 'Setsugekka' (white).

  9 ft
• 2×

  'Little Lime' Panicle Hydrangea Hydrangea paniculata 'Little Lime'

  Full-size Limelight color on a shrub that behaves: lime to white to pink, July to frost. Swap: 'White Wedding' for a rounder, whiter version.

  4 ft
• 3×

  Boxwood NewGen Buxus 'NewGen Independence'

  The evergreen ribbon, in the modern blight-resistant generation - plant boxwood once, not every decade. Swap: 'Hoogendorn' Japanese holly for the same look with zero boxwood worries.

  2.5 ft
• 2×

  Gardenia 'Frostproof' Gardenia jasminoides 'Frostproof'

  The bud-hardy gardenia for 7b: white, intensely fragrant, evergreen. Plant it where you walk, not where you look.

  4 ft
• 2×

  Pugster Butterfly Bush Buddleia 'Pugster Blue'

  Full-size flowers on a 2-ft shrub, blooming to frost; the compact series sets almost no seed, which is the responsible way to plant a butterfly bush.

  2 ft
• 2×

  Groundcover Juniper 'Blue Rug' Juniperus horizontalis 'Wiltonii'

  A silver-blue evergreen spill for the front corners; zero care, softens the bed edge all winter.

  6 in
• 3×

  Catmint 'Cat's Pajamas' Nepeta 'Cat's Pajamas'

  The purple front line: blooms nearly all season, laughs at heat, never flops.

  14 in