Gardens for a Corner House or Building

Curve the Corner

• Sacrifice some lawn for curving foundation gardens that wrap around the front of the house or building, softening the angles and the stark view from the street. Use a contrasting mulch to distinguish the garden from the lawn and keep shrubs and flowers low, but vary the heights. A few decorative small trees, such as Waterfall Weeping Japanese Maple, will add vertical interest and, if you aren't an enthusiastic gardener, evergreen shrubs need little more tending than the occasional trim.

Build a Berm

• When a fence feels too much like a stockade, build a berm. Berms are low hills topped with shrubs, ornamental grasses and groundcover. They add a note of privacy, separate the yard from the street and preserve open views, light, and breezes, especially when the yard isn't large. Use a hill of soil heaped at the edge of the property along the sidewalk or street. Fill in the soil base with rubble such as broken concrete pieces or discarded construction materials. Cover the rubble with soil for planting your garden, then reinforce the whole berm with an exterior wall of river rock, treated lumber or stacked stone. Plant the top with low shrubs and drought-tolerant grasses and alternate those with seasonal flower beds set directly in the high ground or in planters.

Corner Curb Appeal

• Put a small showpiece in the triangle of your corner lot for visual interest and to keep the eye from traveling straight to the front door. A Japanese garden is a simple and serene entry welcome that can adapt to most architecture. Curve a "river" from the front door to the street with a bed of gravel or river rocks. Cut across it on a diagonal with a walkway of mortared stone that fords the "riverbed" with a small wooden bridge. Plant simple shrubs, grasses and groundcovers in flowing garden areas along the gravel riverbed and add small, bonsai-style trees or containers of bamboo for added interest. Set a pondless waterfall near the doorway for extra appeal.

Walled Garden

• Disappear behind the walls of your corner estate for ultimate privacy. Plant very tall, bushy hedges along the edges of most of the yard, leaving a cleared area in the front for access to the entry. Flank the hedges with a real fence for extra security or leave the shrubs to form a living fence. Use the walkway from the street to the front door to add character, taking the cue for materials and landscaping from the style of your home. A bungalow can use stepping stones set in moss with a flower garden border. A cottage may be accessed through a flowering arch covered in wisteria that leaves interesting twisted woody stems as spare winter decoration. A Spanish colonial home may feature a terra cotta-colored paver walkway lined with boulders and cactus. Inside the fence, create a private retreat of small patios along the house, bordered by flower, herb and vegetable gardens. Extend the fence along the neighbor's side of the house and plant it with espaliered fruit trees for more green privacy and an edible annual harvest.