Ready to give your front yard a makeover, yet don’t know where to start? It’s easy to get a little intimidated when it comes to yard design. Many of us are convinced that landscaping is something only professionals can do because it will be too time consuming to maintain. However, anyone can have a swoon worthy front yard without a ton of effort.
Whether you’re looking to sell your house or simply want to try something different, there are countless ways to enhance your curb appeal. Read on for some front yard landscaping ideas and planning suggestions.
Charming pots and beautiful boxes
Flower pots provide an instant front yard upgrade that can be updated easily and often. Southern Living recommends choosing pots that complement the colors of your home and keeping it simple with regard to the planters.
Similarly, carefully tended window boxes can elevate your front yard design from basic to beautiful, especially when they include varied sizes and colors.
Stylish stones
Does the thought of plant-heavy landscaping make you nervous? There are other ways to make your front yard stand out that don’t involve plants or flowers. Pros call the use of pebbles and stones hardscaping, which can vary your yard with texture and color.
Whether you’re using them as an accent or making them more of a focus, stones add a sophisticated textural element to your yard, with minimal maintenance.
Purple power
Traditional Home predicts that playful pops of color will make a resurgence this year. Why not incorporate a little ultraviolet (Pantone’s Color of the Year) into your landscape? Verbena and iris provide a dramatic contrast to more subdued shades of green and gray, lending a little extra oomph to your overall design. Other purple flower and plant options include lilac, aster, azalea and wisteria.
Edible accents
Think vegetable gardens need to be relegated to the backyard? Think again. Landscaped properly, a front yard vegetable garden can add a totally unique appeal to your home - not least because of the beautiful birds and butterflies it attracts. If you like the idea of edible front yard landscaping but would rather do something a bit subtler, you could plant a small herb garden or a fruit tree (depending on what your climate allows). Both can enhance the space in a truly original manner.
Brilliant borders and pathways
If you’re looking for a way to provide a border between your front yard and your neighbor’s, consider planting ornamental grasses such as miscanthus or feather reed grass. They help to define your yard and are an elegant, less obtrusive alternative to a fence.
There’s nothing more inviting than a well-landscaped front yard pathway. It practically beckons visitors. There are plenty of different ways to create a pretty pathway, whether you do it with wide flagstone or opt for a more rustic path of bricks or pebbles, flanked by flowers. Be sure the pebbles are small enough to walk on comfortably.
Sitting pretty
Another easy and relatively low-maintenance way to make your front yard more inviting is by incorporating seating. A simple wooden bench, a pair of Adirondack chairs or a tastefully painted, delicate metal table set offers a homey feel that can be accented by potted plants or seasonal decor.
Gorgeous greenery
Grass doesn’t have to be boring. As mentioned above, using ornamental grasses is a great way to provide a border for your yard, in lieu of a fence. You could also make grass the focus of your front yard, by mixing and matching different heights and textures. The idea is to create a more relaxed environment that avoids the impression of being overly landscaped.
Before getting started on your landscaping project, familiarize yourself with the plants that tend to thrive in your particular climate. It’s also a good idea to have a decent understanding of how much sun and shade the different areas of your yard receive. Don’t feel as though you have to do everything at once, either. Start small with borders, perhaps, and then work your way inward. Another option is to choose your impact element (a fruit tree or elegant seating) and build out from there. You want your front yard to look great, but you also want to have fun in the process.