The Best Plants for Lining the Driveway

Durability

• When selecting plants to line a driveway, consider durability first. These plants will be exposed to fuel and dirt, as well as ice salt during the winter. They may even suffer a few minor mishaps with a car. The perennials and shrubs you see in commercial plantings are often good choices. These plants, known as "parking lot shrubs," thrive on neglect and abuse. Consider Japanese spirea, barberry, day lilies or ornamental grasses.

Size

• Unless you have a long, winding driveway, small plants that stand less than 2 feet high work best. Larger plants will block the view of the house and front door, which should be the focal point. For longer driveways, use shrubs and trees to frame the view, or add attractive hard features, such as a rock retaining wall. Privet, boxwood, juniper or other evergreen shrubs look attractive planted en masse along a long, wide driveway.

Plant Selection

• When choosing plants to line a driveway, select a color scheme and stick to it. A frenzy of many colored flowers in the front yard creates a busy, cluttered feel. Use evergreen and deciduous shrubs as the foundation of your planting, with white, pink or blue flowers as accents. Ground covers, such as licorice plant, wild ginger or ivy, look attractive beneath shrubs. Select two or three different types of shrubs, at the most, and use them repeatedly throughout the landscape. Limiting the number of plants creates clean, simple lines and a unified look.

Considerations

• Plantings along a wide, curving driveway create a charming, intimate feel, but they are unnecessary for most urban and suburban lots. If you have a short, straight driveway that leads directly to the garage, lining it with plants will draw the eye to the garage door rather than to the front door. Create a curving bed instead that starts at the street and runs along the driveway, curving upward toward the front door and the side of the house. This type of design creates soft, visual lines that frame the house. Consider also the style of your home. Trimmed, broad-leaved evergreens are traditional plants for a formal home, while a combination of evergreen and deciduous shrubs are appropriate on a modern lot.