Your back garden may be a place of play, relaxation or entertainment, but while you may spend much more time here than in your front garden, this doesn’t mean the front should be neglected.
After all, your front garden makes up a substantial part of the first impression guests have when they arrive, and if you want your home to have some serious kerb appeal, it’s worth making the investment into caring for the front garden. The back garden may get more use, but the front garden gets more views – so what can you do to make yours stand out for all the right reasons?
How to landscape a front garden
No matter the size of the space, your front garden can be transformed with some simple planning:
Consider the property style
Whether you have a modern home or a classic country cottage, the look and feel of the property’s front can help you decide what to do when it comes to designing the garden. If you have a semi-detached or live on a street that has a discernable style, you may want to factor this in when making your landscaping choices.
Perfect the pathway
Create a warm, welcoming feeling as people walk up to your home by having a landscaped, clearly defined pathway leading to the front door. This could be straight and simple, or something curved to provide a bit more character. You may choose to run flowerbeds alongside the paving stones to soften the look, but this will in turn create more maintenance, which is something to take into consideration.
Decorate the door area
Once guests are up the pathway, you can have some greenery to clearly mark your home’s point of entry – you might have some hanging baskets on either side, or some large potted plants on the front step. These not only add a pop of colour, which can complement the schemes found within the planting in the front garden as well as the facade of the property, but they also create a welcoming feel.
Work with your space
When making arrangements for your planting, it’s important to note you’ll likely have much less space in your beds to work with than you would in a back garden. In order to create something that’s neat and works in cohesion with the house, choosing fewer species that work well together can create a more harmonised look.
If you want to erect a fence or install a gate, you should also be mindful of potential planning regulations that need to be adhered to.
Think about seasons
During the winter months, you may choose to in-effect close up your back garden as it will no longer be used, but the same doesn’t go for the front. If anything, you may find it receives more visitors as trick-or-treaters arrive in autumn and friends and family visit throughout the holiday season. As such, you may want to plant evergreen trees or plants that will still look welcoming even in the colder months, and that also allow you to place lights or decorations on the branches to really create a front garden that catches attention.
