What are some good shrubs for foundation plantings in this area?
Depending upon your site and your tastes consider the following: Dwarf nandina, English laurel ‘Otto Luykens’, pittosporum, Dwarf abelia ‘Edward Goucher’, American boxwood, Japanese fatsia, Border forsythia, Japanese ligustrum, Japanese holly (‘Compacta’, ‘Helleri’, or ‘Rotundifolia’), Yaupon holly (dwarf or weeping forms), Chinese holly (‘Burfordii nana’), Chinese podocarpus, Burkwood viburnum, or Japanese yew. Avoid red tip (Photinia sp) and Indian Hawthorne (Raphiolepsis sp) due to heavy disease pressure.