When it comes to picking out plants and planning your garden, home safety isn’t something that a lot of people think about. We see doorbell cam videos of people stealing packages off the front porch. Unfortunately, we live in a world where home security needs to be considered when buying a property with overgrown trees and shrubs or planning a garden.

This blog post isn’t meant to scare you but help you save a lot of money and aggravation by paying closer attention to what types of plants to avoid when planning a garden and what to do with existing plants that are blocking your view. When you know how to spot common landscaping mistakes, you can decide whether or not it’s worth the work to prune it or expense to completely remove it.

I want you to also be inspired with the fact that there are beautiful alternative plants that enjoy the same growing conditions as the examples here but also give you the visibility you need before you open the door. I am going to give you a couple of alternative choices but you aren’t limited to those plants. There are so many you can pick from.

Learn from my experience…

When we fell in love with a home we purchased, the shrub in this photo was much smaller. I hadn’t considered it would get this big until it was too late. As you can see, it got too tall and wide. A shrub this size can block your view of your driveway, front porch and/or front yard. This can make it easy to steal packages or have someone hide while getting distracted with the person at the door. This happened to my elderly father where he was talking to someone at the front door who was a distraction while someone tried to sneak up from the side.

This house was “professionally” landscaped. That’s what it said on the MLS description. I was not the original homeowner. Even if it was the homeowner’s choice, the landscaper has a responsibility to their client to consider safety since they know how big plants can grow. This Weigela “Dark Horse” was planted in front of a large window of the house. As you can see, it completely taken over the front window.

 © Catherine Johns/High Vibe Gardening Weigela “Dark Horse” in full bloom. How should I plan my garden?

Landscaping the patch of land under the front main window (see the picture below) of a house is a common landscaping challenge. You have to consider covering the unsightly showing of where the concrete from the foundation meets the stone/siding. I remember I use to struggle with figuring out how to landscape this area with all of the houses I lived in. When trees and shrubs are first planted, they are usually much smaller then they grow up to be when they are mature. If you aren’t familiar with the tree or shrub you're planting, it’s easy to overlook what the garden will look like when they reach full size. And if the growing conditions are ideal for these trees and shrubs, it can take as little as 5-10 years to become a problem with home security, ripping up the driveway or sidewalk and even damaging the exterior of your house.

In my last two houses, I faced the same dilemma with this Weigela “Dark Horse.” Both times, I had to contend with a healthy, gorgeous full sized shrub completely blocking my view. A hard trim can make it look really unattractive. Aesthetics are a huge issue because it’s front and center when you approach the house. A tree or shrub can become so big that it can be a huge headache to rip out or cost a lot of money to have it removed.

For all of those reasons, understanding the growth pattern of the plants you are putting in the ground can make a big difference of unnecessary time, effort and big expenses in the future.

 © Catherine Johns Weigela growing in a front yard in late summer.

Weigela is a low maintenance shrub that is a showstopper when it blooms in the late spring. The growing conditions were ideal so it didn’t take long for it to become taller than the top of the front window.

Sure, the short time that it blooms is spectacular. It was also really great to see a robin build a nest and I could easily watch the babies grow up from my window but again, that was a very short time when you compare it to the whole year.

CONS of Weigela growing in front of the window

 © Catherine Johns/High Vibe Gardening The view from the other side of the window.

We can prune the Weigela but we'd have to wait until late spring after the flowers are done blooming. Weigelas can handle a hard pruning but you can see that the Weigela has grown so large that pruning a lot of the branches would make it look very unattractive. It reminds me of trees that are pruned so they don't snap electric wires but what's left is mostly the trunk and maybe a few branches. I think we can all agree that it looks pretty bad and that's just the side of the road not the front of the house.

 © Catherine Johns/High Vibe Gardening Oops…I forgot to add an acid fertilizer for my blue hydrangea so it was multi-color. This is a beautiful example of how a mistake can manifest into something new and beautiful. What’s a better alternative shrub to plant for a full shade to part sun area of my garden?

A great choice would be a Hydrangea (Hydrangeaceae, shown above) that usually only grows 2-3 feet high which would reach just under most windows. The leaves are more dense during the growing season so they can cover unsightly concrete underneath the siding or stone exterior. The growing conditions are very similar to the Weigela. Hydrangeas’ flowers have different colors ranging from pink to purple to blue and even white as long as you don’t prune new growth. Old branches can be removed in the late fall and spring. I used to use pruners but I realized it was easier and faster if I grabbed an old stick then twisted it and pull it. Old branches release very easily.

What is the best idea for planting Weigelas?

Weigelas are a gorgeous shrub so if you have room in your garden to accommodate their size, you can plant it as an accent shrub. An accent shrub is having one shrub that brings in color, texture and/or structure to a specific space in the garden. A bench placed in front of it would look very nice. It’s a great alternative for people who have allergies to bee stings or are afraid of bees because the blooming time is so short then for the rest of the season, there aren't any bees around it. It's also a great choice if you want to attract more birds to your garden. Click here to find more ways to attract birds to your garden.

 © Catherine Johns/High Vibe Gardening This Rhododendron was half the size when on moving day and it’s slowly covering the front window. Rhododendrons can make it a jungle out there

When Rhododendrons love their conditions, they can get unruly and this can affect home safety. Fortunately, it takes time for them to get full grown. Rhododendrons can reach 4 feet and in rare cases up to 40 feet tall! Right in the middle of my other front window, the landscaper planted this “Nova Zembla” Rhododendron right smack in the middle! It won't be much longer for it to completely cover the window.

 © Catherine Johns/High Vibe Gardening The spectacular pop of color of this Rhododendron is the driving force for trying to preserve it even though it isn't planted in the ideal place. In this case, it's possible to prune it back to maintain safety and preserve the Rhododendron.

This photo shows how stunning the blooms are. We had decided to preserve this Rhododendron for several reasons. My husband loves Rhododendrons especially this one. It's good practice to try to have a balance of evergreen shrubs and perennials in the garden so that it looks good in all the seasons including winter. Rhododendrons usually keep their leaves in our area. We have a small brown Wren who loves to use it as a hiding place and for the last few years, has built her nest very close to it. We were able to trim the upper branches to see much better out of the window.

On the other hand, if you need to remove a Rhododendron, there are smaller alternatives who enjoy similar growing conditions especially if you have a smaller space to work with.

An alternative for Rhododendrons if you have a small space  © Catherine Johns/High Vibe Gardening This 3 year old Eternal Fragrance Daphne loves the part sun spot I planted her in.

Daphne’s have a reputation with many gardeners as a gorgeous shrub that is fickle. While I agree that it demands specific ideal growing conditions, I’ve had a lot of luck with the Eternal Fragrance Daphne like this one I planted 2 years ago. It grows 2 feet by 3 feet and stays evergreen just like a Rhododendron. Mine flowers well into October despite the light frosts. For most houses, it will stay just underneath the window and it should be large enough to cover the unsightly concrete under siding. This variety can be grown in Zones 6-9 in partial sun.

If you look closely, you'll see delicate white flowers that bloom all over this plant. What they lack in size and color, they make up for in fragrance. The Eternal Fragrance Daphne smells very similar to Jasmine. I love it! It starts bloom early spring and continues to bloom all through the growing season even during a light frost. This one is low maintenance and it's planted in well-drained soil. I chose an ideal spot so it doesn't need to be pruned because they don't like to be cut back a lot. Be very sure where you plant a young Daphne because it doesn't like to be moved from its original spot.

The final result of my last house…  © Catherine Johns/High Vibe Gardening I had pulled out the overgrown shrubs and replaced them with hydrangeas. The trees are in between the windows where they won't obstruct the view. To save time and money with mulching, I planted pink geraniums towards the front.

This is an “after” photo of my last house which had Rose of Sharon Hibiscus Syriacus, shrubs that were fully grown when we moved in. They covered the windows and the flowers stained the sidewalk with the flowers that dropped. They were too big to cut back so we removed them ourselves. We left the evergreen trees because they were placed in between the windows and wouldn’t obstruct the view when they grew bigger. This area was part sun/part shade. I replaced the Rose of Sharon with Nikko Blue Hydrangeas. To save time and money from having the mulch this garden bed, I planted some ferns in between and planted in the front are pink geraniums. This little corner of the garden was near our driveway and it flowered for most of the growing season bringing me joy every time I pulled up in the driveway. This is an example of an ideal landscape design that doesn't obstruct the view from the windows and makes it hard for people to sneak up to your house.

Summary

Whether you are purchasing a home already landscaped or starting one from scratch, I hope this blog post helped you think about your garden planning in the “long term” and consider the safety around your home. If you love the plant in an established garden but it’s getting too big for the space, take some time to prune it back. Remove plants that don’t look healthy or the ones you don’t like then replace them with a better alternative. You can have a beautiful landscape and have “peace of mind” too. Feeling safe can really increase your High Vibes.