How should i landscape my front yard

Steps should be emphatic and noticeable. A plant accent can help. So can a change of texture. Never use just one step. If the slope is that slight, use a ramp. Three steps are the ideal minimum, though two are acceptable. Check regularly that your steps are safe and not slick in snow or rain. Try to create at least one stepless entrance into your house for wheelchair visitors or possible future or emergency use.

Or make conditional plans for a ramp, avoiding any plantings that would interfere. Edgings give an important and neat outline to your yard, as well as dramatic contrasts of form, texture, and color. For permanent neatness, build in small concrete curbs; set bricks on edge, on end, or diagonally; lay landscape timbers; stand flagstones or tiles on edge; or install one of the ready-made edgings available in garden centers. Metal or rubber strips are less lovely, but they are inexpensive and serviceable.

Borders of flowers, bulbs, or ground covers can be used with, or instead of, other edgings. Use the plants with the proper ultimate spread and good year-round appearance. Don't set the plants so close to the walk that they overgrow it. Every house facade and site have visual assets and liabilities.

The well-done front yard highlights the pleasing points and masks the poor ones. All the elements of good design come into play as you arrange your component parts for the ideal front yard. But don't be put off by the aesthetic terms—balance, scale, unity, and the like—used by designers. All are largely a matter of common sense. If a scene pleases your eye, then it's probably well designed.

If your house needs or will adapt to your desire for a special theme garden like colonial, cottage, Oriental, or Spanish, the look must begin in the front yard. Themes are successful only if you unify all the garden aspects carefully.

You'll also need to determine if your preference is for, and your site demands, a formal or informal landscape. Formal garden settings include strong geometric lines and architectural features, clipped hedges, and uniformly shaped plants and beds.

Informal designs are marked by free-flowing, natural-looking elements. Generally, informal home styles and sloping land require less rigid landscapes. Formal houses and flat land can be treated either way. To achieve balance in a landscape, try to position elements so they give equal weight —through size, color, texture, or other aspects—to each side of a scene. How formal this weighting should be again is dictated by the style of house and personal preference.

Symmetrical houses often look best when each feature and plant is duplicated on the opposite side of a front walk as long as the walk isn't too long or too narrow. Most houses, though, are asymmetrical, since they have only one garage or drive. In this case, balance is more subtle. Perhaps a tall tree belongs on the side opposite the driveway.

Achieving pleasant scale—or, keeping elements in proportion to each other—is also subtle, since plants must grow before you can be sure. Choose plants that will complement your home's size at maturity, as well as some plants that will grow fast enough to quickly make a mark. Don't let anything dwarf your house.

The design principles of unity and simplicity often go together. Several plants of the same color and kind have more effect and give greater pleasure in a landscape than one each of several types. Use only enough variety for sustaining bloom and adding visual interest. If you want more types of plants, say for continual harvests of many kinds of fruit , try combining plants with similar or at least compatible shapes, textures, and foliage or bloom colors.

Simple Front Yard Landscaping Ideas. Save Pin FB More. Credit: Laurie Black Photography. Credit: Bob Stefko Photography. Credit: John Merkl.

Follow natural access patterns when laying out walks. If you don't, children or dogs will carve their own paths right through your prize petunias. A straight path, though less charming, is the shortest and least expensive, and sometimes the most sensible. Use curves, jogs, or steps only where there is a reason, not just to meander. Combine practicality with visual appeal by making walks at least 36 inches wide. If scale permits, 42 to 54 inches is better so two people can walk together.

For an illusion of greater or lesser distance, widen one end. Sign up for a lawn care program that will make your front yard sparkle. Many nice dwarf varieties of plants can beautify even a small front yard. Back in the '70s, yews and junipers were the go-to plants. They got very large! Ornamental grasses can get big as well. There are so many nice new plants to pick from that stay a reasonable size. Consider these: little lime hydrangea , magic carpet spirea , dark horse weigela , and dwarf sweet spire , also called little Henry itea.

LittleLime Hydrangea. Magic Carpet Spirea. Dark Horse Weigela. Dwarf Sweet Spire. I had a friend who had a very small and very steep front yard. She decided to landscape herself with a retaining wall that was not installed correctly and looked horrible. She planted a ton of plants with no rhyme or reason. It looked better and had more value before the work was done.

DIY projects can end up costing you more in time and money. A professional landscape architect can help you with all your landscaping projects, regardless of their size, and can help you tackle challenging landscape projects. Make sure they are qualified and have your best interests in mind. Focus your energy on maintaining clean lines around your landscaping elements and helping your grass and plants look vibrant and healthy.

Most simple front yard projects can be handled fairly easily without help, even for a novice. But projects that require hauling a large amount of dirt, rock, or bigger plants might be worth bringing in the pros. Landscaping is making the elements, and maintenance is keeping those elements looking nice. Beyond that, normal edging, mowing, and pruning of your landscaping elements are considered maintenance.

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Advertiser Disclosure. By Charlie Morgan February 9, 6 min read. Get home decor deals instantly! Q: How much does it cost to landscape a front yard? A: The main thing you will need is tools, so invest in a spade, garden rake, hand trowel, and a good wheelbarrow. Q: How can I make my front yard look better?

A: Even the most simple front yard landscaping ideas will be underwhelming without neat trim, healthy plants, and green grass.

Q: What landscaping is worth doing on my own? A: Most simple front yard projects can be handled fairly easily without help, even for a novice. Q: What's the difference between landscaping and maintenance? A: Landscaping is making the elements, and maintenance is keeping those elements looking nice.