planting too close to the house is something a great many of us do precisely because
we havent checked out what plants can do to houses, or because we are over zealous.
My mother was a master gardener and our house suffered.
deep rooted shrubs/trees over the septic system
vines that pried the mortar between the bricks and pried clapboards loose
trees with roots from hell too close to the foundation and one that we found out
would explode if hit by lightning. during an ice storm big branches of this tree did
fall dangerously close to the house and it had to be removed.
and as you say, failure of some plants because they didnt get watered from being
under the eaves.
OTOH, house builders would like to see this minimum of 3 foot "zone" of crushed rock
around the perimeter of the house. I think that might be too much in the other
direction.
I occasionally watch these "curb appeal" shows and basically they all involve
whacking the bushes that are next to the house and/or hiding it. Now if the outside
of the house is really ugggggly, maybe greenery helps hide it.
around here is seems some people are using bushes on the outside instead of blinds on
the inside. or maybe using bushes to prevent burglars from using windows to get into
the house???? anyway, they seem to be hiding in their houses.
OTOH, nice plantings near the house can accent it beautifully. I just know I dont
have the best eye for this. Ingrid


"Toni" wrote:
Don't recall any climate/zone info, but in my area planting underneath the
eaves is just asking for a spider mite infestation. The plants foliage stays
too dry because rain can't hit them to wash away the critters.



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