DIY Front Yard Landscaping Ideas, The front yard has special landscape requirements which are different from a rear yard. A front garden has to allow safe access to people like deliverers of mail, paper, goods or groceries, as well as people who have a statutory right of entry like meter readers.
You cannot have a small front yard which is closed off or unsafe. You may also have local bye-laws which state your front yard landscape cannot have fences, there may be a height restriction to any white picket fence of hedges that are allowed and you may need to allow access for a car to park or for the car to have a clear view of the road on exiting.
Table of Contents
DIY Front Yard
However, simple landscaping ideas in the front yard can be achieved if you follow the three golden rules of landscape design which are direction, rhythm and harmony.
To help with direction, use definite paths, small tricks to restrict where people go and direct people to where you want them to go by placing features which attract them. For example, a path is a clear indication where people should go in your front yard.
A hard paving area for parking is fine and may be needed from a practical point of view but you also want to direct people within the yard to only go to where you want them. Use paths, add restrictive plantings such as small berberis which are prickly along the path, or use blocks of scented plants to attract them towards the places you want them to go.
Around The Front Door
Which should be the main attraction, use scented climbers and ‘frame’ the door using colours or materials related to the garden surfaces. This way, the eye is attracted to the door and you can distract from places like the gate where you only want people with access to go. Herringbone pavers on the path will make people speed up and circular ones will make them slow down and look sideways so choose surfaces carefully. You really want them to concentrate on getting to the door and out again. Gravel makes a good surface and is safe as well as noisy, which means, you can tell if someone is in your yard.
For Rhythm Of Your Garden Design
This is about providing places to stop and start and repeating patterns in the garden. It creates a personalised stamp on a site and you can use ideas in the front yard just as effectively as in the rear yard. Use drifts of colours which contrast and repeat these to create gentle wafts of colour to the door, along the paths or use larger drifts to stop people going where you do not want them to. Use plants placed at regular intervals to provide gaps or prevent views across the main part of the site, concentrating their viewpoint to where you want them to go only.
You can also place eye-catching features to really draw the eye – neatly drawing the eye away from more private areas. Use stunning or unusual plants or statues to do this – you only need one or two for best effect.
Harmony Of The Landscaping Project
This is about how your front yard sits in its location. Using features from outside but reflected in miniature works well, whether this is the shape of trees, tower blocks or other features nearby. Using colours from the house and materials from the property in features in the front yard will reflect the house in the garden and make the garden an extension of the living space.
Some front yards need areas of privacy because they are the seating area. You can use plants to create visual blocks and make some areas, even in a front yard, private and for your own use only, directing visitors to the door using the paths and blocks so you can still have your own private front yard parts.
Some people choose to theme their front yard. Choose carefully because some themes can seem tacky. Garden gnomes and animal statues can look cute in moderation but a whole garden can seem overwhelmingly tacky and cheap. Choose themes around a color palette or period and have fun choosing features which fit in with the era and theme you choose. This makes the front yard very special and characteristic of you and your household.
Keeping Front Yards Simple Is One Of The Keys
Offer visitors clear direction using the tools above and you will create a yard which reflects your character and offers a safe, accessible and attractive look of your front yard.
Easy Front Yard Diy Landscaping Ideas
Landscaping your front yard is a breeze if you use a few simple, inexpensive tricks to improve your home’s curb appeal. Colourful, manicured, multitextured landscaping with low-maintenance native plants will polish your home’s appearance. The front of your house will stand out and have a big impact on the block and reflect your pride of ownership with a little bit of careful planning.
Clean Up
By keeping your lawn neat in the front of your home, trim and weed-free, you have already spruced up your front yard and visual interest. Trim any overgrown evergreen shrubs, ornamental grasses or trees whose branches are hanging too low or over a sidewalk for a clean look. Trim formal hedges to maintain their tidy shapes is a great idea. Remove unsightly plantings, refuse, broken lawn outdoor area and decorations from your front yard.
Frame your flowers with garden edging and natural materials. Cedar or redwood in 4-inch by 4-inch by 8-foot sections are sturdy, rot-resistant choices. So are bright colours bricks, which can sometimes be harvested at construction sites at little or no cost (check with the site manager or landscape architect first).
Fix cracked walkways, stone walkways or paths leading up to your house. The easiest solution is to fill the cracks with a concrete or asphalt sealant using a caulk gun. Once the cracks are sealed, you can use concrete stain for a warmer, more natural colour. If your driveway is asphalt, give it a fresh sealant coat to even out the repairs. Concrete and asphalt caulk and sealants can be found at your local home improvement store.
Adding red pine or black pine wood chips and mulch around plantings from your local nursery gives your garden beds a nice, clean foundation. The mulch’s deep colour sets off green leaves and colourful flowers, adding depth to your landscape. Mulch not only holds moisture in the soil, it provides healthy nitrogen to acid-loving plants as it breaks down.
Focal Points
If your blue front door is the focal point of the front of the house, then plant bright red annual flowers is some flower pots, such as ruby-coloured geraniums, hibiscus or lobelia in a path leading up to the door. Orange roses around the foundation or orange pansies or violas in pots on your porch will enhance a greenhouse and give it a fresh look.
Glowing yellow black-eyed Susan vines or dramatic purple fuchsias trailing from a flower box will make your porch a focal point. Upright varieties of these flower beds or other bright choices planted around the porch perimeter will do the same.
Trees And Trellises For A Beautiful Front Yard
Plant a few small trees or place some inexpensive cedar trellises in your front yard to bring the eye up and add dimension to your outdoor space. A delicate Japanese maple with small red leaves or compact Magnolia liliiflora with pinkish-purple buds will add height and colour to the corners of your yard. Training ‘Blue Moon,’ an easy-to-grow, blue-lavender climbing rose, on a trellis is eye-catching and charming. Inexpensive cedar trellises can be purchased at your local Home Depot.
