Front-Yard Makeover Ideas With Mojo
Make a statement in your front landscape with one of these standout styles
Joanna Tovia
17 April 2016
Houzz editorial team. Photojournalist specialising in design, travel and living well. Follow her photodocumentary about pets and the people who love them on Instagram @unfoldingtails
Houzz editorial team. Photojournalist specialising in design, travel and living well.... More
If you really want to make an impression on visitors to your home, don’t just play at improving your front garden — really make it shine. These front-yard ideas in a variety of styles — cottage, formal, minimalist and natural — will make you look at your home in a whole new way.
Cottage Style
A garden doesn’t have to be high-maintenance to make a statement, as shown by this one in Melbourne, Australia. Designed by Chris Gursansky of Semken Landscaping, this beauty combines neat lawns and low hedges with splashes of cottage-style color.
Tip: Use climbing roses to frame a front porch or over a gated archway.
See more of this garden
A garden doesn’t have to be high-maintenance to make a statement, as shown by this one in Melbourne, Australia. Designed by Chris Gursansky of Semken Landscaping, this beauty combines neat lawns and low hedges with splashes of cottage-style color.
Tip: Use climbing roses to frame a front porch or over a gated archway.
See more of this garden
Your cottage-style front garden needn’t be restricted to behind the fence. Along the outside of this front fence, a ‘Mary Rose’ David Austin rose provides height and fragrance, while golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’) and ‘May Night’ salvia (Salvia nemorosa ‘May Night’) form the lower tier. Stick to two or three colors or varieties of plants for a big effect.
Hydrangeas and daisies are just as striking if a blue-and-white palette is more your style.
Formal
If you don’t mind getting out the hedge clippers once a month or so, low hedges framing simple garden beds and paved areas can give any house classic elegance (and will probably boost its market value). Don’t let the maintenance deter you: Keeping hedges neat and uniform can be quite therapeutic and satisfying.
If you don’t mind getting out the hedge clippers once a month or so, low hedges framing simple garden beds and paved areas can give any house classic elegance (and will probably boost its market value). Don’t let the maintenance deter you: Keeping hedges neat and uniform can be quite therapeutic and satisfying.
Add a water feature or two with lighting, and your formal front garden will become a standout.
Tip: Symmetry is everything in a formal garden. What you do to one side of the yard should be duplicated on the other.
Tip: Symmetry is everything in a formal garden. What you do to one side of the yard should be duplicated on the other.
Minimalist
With pared-back interiors all the rage, gardens are following suit with minimalist styles (and minimal maintenance). A wide paved pathway sets the tone here, while a cluster of birch trees prevents it from looking too bare.
Tip: Plant mondo grass between pavers to make maintenance a breeze — no lawn mowing or edging required.
With pared-back interiors all the rage, gardens are following suit with minimalist styles (and minimal maintenance). A wide paved pathway sets the tone here, while a cluster of birch trees prevents it from looking too bare.
Tip: Plant mondo grass between pavers to make maintenance a breeze — no lawn mowing or edging required.
A front garden doesn’t get much more contemporary than this, and it’s the perfect fit for a similarly striking home. There’s no front fence separating it from the street and, apart from a few easy-care plantings, this home’s impact comes from its minimalism. The driveway has been laid with a charcoal-hued exposed aggregate concrete; raven granite strips add interest.
The front yard comes to life at night with the help of well-placed lighting. An illuminated house number will show your guests the way.
Garden lights: Gardens at Night
Garden lights: Gardens at Night
A similar minimalist approach can be used on a more traditional-style house with just as much success. An exposed aggregate concrete driveway with bluestone border transforms this front garden, and an automatic sliding gate makes life easier.
Natural
Soft native grasses can provide terrific textural contrast against a contemporary home, and they’re drought-tolerant and low-maintenance to boot.
Soft native grasses can provide terrific textural contrast against a contemporary home, and they’re drought-tolerant and low-maintenance to boot.
Combining native grasses with pebbled rather than paved areas in your front garden allows rainwater to permeate the soil rather than run off. That’s good news for the local environment and eliminates the need for lawn mowing.
Native plants needn’t look wild and unrestrained. Streamlined native plantings perfectly complement the contemporary architectural style of this home in Perth, Australia.
This native haven in Karrinyup, Australia, was designed to make the most of the bushland views surrounding the home. The low-lying native plants create a seamless transition between the two spaces, allowing the owners to feel immersed in the native surroundings. The garden is water-wise and low-maintenance but still provides color and texture year-round.
Tell us: What would you love to do to your front garden? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
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Tell us: What would you love to do to your front garden? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
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Welcome Edibles Into the Front Yard for Fresh Food and More
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I have seen this picture so many times and the chartreuse was identified in one as golden mound spirea . and yes ,the spirea does go bare in the stark part of winter but actually all of it goes down for a few months of the year. The lirope/monkey grass stays consistent lol . I did something similar (wish it was as good) in my front bed - but cheated with knock out roses, gold mound spirea and purple verbena. I tried using a wonderful lime green ground cover and a crazy limey euphoria for height, and Grace Ward lithodora but none could handle the sun (despite being full sun on the tags) . I didn't do the Salvia in front because, well, it smells like a litter box/bad enough I have it near the front door. Creeping Jenny incidently wouldn't work well in my front regardless because of the sun. With an intense southern exposure and hot south carolina sun, i always need to adapt. Sigh......I long for hostas............. when things burst out in bloom again, I'll post some pictures. I have yet put in the hardscape /pickets as I'm in a historic district so I wanted my roses to get on a good growth pattern so that the "fencing" will be more an aesthetic than a structural containment. we'll see how that argument flies.............. I did use the euphoria in the flip side as it shades a bit more, the verbena (purple) crawls over the mound and invades both sides plus I did put some blue lithadora there. I play with it to see what works best so it's more a project now than anything but generally looks quite pretty.
I own a 1957 ranch with a shallow front yard 80'w x 30'd with an asphalt walk to the front entry. It faces N-NE and is shaded by two very mature trees - linden and shaggy bark hickory. I've planted a hedge row of Aronia bushes along the front and now plan to install two large rectangular shapes (either concrete or large aggregate tiles) offset 4' from each other to serve as the front walk. Each rectangle would be 16'w x 8'd and would eliminate a fair amount of lawn (goal is to eliminate front lawn) to lend a "mid century" look to my front yard. I've redesigned the front landscape to include softening curves of multi-colored 3'-6' shrubs (purple, chartreuse, green, red) along the foundation to give depth to my low and spreading profile of my house, a large hosta garden under a linden on the right of the front yard near the sidewalk/drive and boxwood natural hedge separating me from neighbors yard on left where the shaggy bark hickory draws attention. I believe the large concrete/aggregate tile rectangles would give more depth to my front yard from the street. I could then mulch and landscape with small shrubs/ornamental grasses the small remaining lawn - completely eliminating my front lawn.