- You should consider this when designing the front yard
- The right choice of plants for the front yard
- The 9 most beautiful ideas for the front yard
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The front yard is the figurehead of every property. In this article we present ideas for a low-maintenance and attractive front garden design.
It is the business card of the house. After all, the front yard is the first thing you see when entering a property and is therefore cared for with particular care and attention by many homeowners. But the design of the front garden often causes headaches, after all it should not only look attractive all year round and give visitors a good impression, but also be easy to care for and practical if possible. In addition, a particularly harmonious picture is created when the front garden is adapted to the style of the house. Here you can find out what needs to be considered and how you can make your front garden not only beautiful but also easy to care for.
Designing a low-maintenance, but at the same time attractive front garden is not rocket science - you just have to know which basic things to look out for. We reveal what you should consider when it comes to the style of your front yard, but also when choosing plants or creating paths.
You should consider this when designing the front yard
The most important point when creating a front garden is the right style, which should be based on the architecture of the house. Romantic front gardens, which are decorated in the style of a cottage garden, above all with flowering perennials or dramatic roses (Rosa), go best with older farmhouses or dreamy apartments in the country. The clear lines of modern architecture, on the other hand, are best staged when they are picked up again in the front yard. Here, clearly separated beds in geometric shapes combined with slow-growing shrubs stylishly set the scene for the house.
The demarcation from other properties also contributes to the charisma of a front garden. Above all, the size of the property should be taken into account when considering the best edging. Large hedge plants or high privacy screens do not make small front gardens effectiveare only optically smaller, but also get less light and a dark, uncomfortable ambience - here you should rely on low hedges - for example made of boxwood (Buxus) -, smaller walls or translucent wooden and metal fences . In particularly large front gardens, on the other hand, hedge plants can make sense, because they not only protect against prying eyes, but can also score points visually.
But it's not just the visual aspects of the front yard that should be taken into account - practical issues also need to be considered when designing. Winding garden paths are beautiful to look at, but they prove to be quite impractical in everyday life. Straight, direct footpaths are better, which should have a minimum width of 1.30 meters so that two people can walk comfortably on them. The selection of the material depends on personal taste, but you should attach particular importance to sure-footedness - even when wet. In addition to beds and paths, many front yard owners create additional paved areas on which, for example, bicycles can be parked or garbage cans can be deposited. As early as the planning stage, you should therefore make sure that such parking spaces are sufficiently dimensioned and that they are later paved just as well as the walkways - this is the only way you can later enjoy your front garden without worrying and don't have to worry about impractical little things later on.
The right choice of plants for the front yard
The design of a front garden stands and falls with the right choice of plants, because only with the planting does the small piece of land become a real gem. The basis here is the so-called permanent planting, which consists of evergreen shrubs and smaller trees. When choosing a tree, pay particular attention to varieties that remain small and grow slowly: while expansive deciduous trees and mighty conifers look impressive, they also darken the windows and need a lot of care in order to be able to stay in the front yard permanently. Evergreen shrubs such as holly (Ilex) or rhododendron (Rhododendron) are more suitable. Colorful accents, on the other hand, are set by flowering plants, which can be changed depending on the season. In spring, bulbous flowers such as crocuses (Crocus) or daffodils (Narcissus) ensure colorful beds, while annual flowers decorate the garden particularly well in summer. Use preferably native or succulent species here- these are significantly less care-intensive than exotic plants, but are in no way inferior to them in terms of beauty.
The 9 most beautiful ideas for the front yard
In the following we would like to introduce you to nine special ideas that will make your front yard a very special eye-catcher.
1. The Succulent Garden
Succulents have a number of advantages in the front yard: Not only are they particularly easy to care for, they also offer appealing color accents outside of the flowering period and are visually appealing. Succulent beds with houseleek (Sempervivum) and stonecrop (Sedum) can be set in scene, especially in small front gardens, as they look good with stone paths . The bed looks more interesting if you also build in height differences - for example with a raised bed.
No space for colorful flowering plants? Even if beds in small front gardens often have to give way to more practical spaces, as a homeowner you don't have to do without beautiful flowers. Climbing plants such as clematis (Clematis), climbing roses or wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) majestically wind up on trellises on the house facade and make us happy in bloom without taking up much space.
3. Geometric Shapes
Especially in combination with modern architecture, geometric shapes in the front garden are a real eye-catcher. The clear division of space between walkways, strictly laid out beds and structured garden areas looks modern and can be designed to be particularly labour-saving thanks to easy-care plants. Low topiary hedges and bright splashes of color in the form of flowering perennials round off the overall picture.
Admittedly, the edible front yard is a bit unusual. But the targeted planting with edible plants can not only bring a rich harvest, but is also visually very appealing, especially in rural areas. Hedges made of elderberry (Sambucus), currant (Ribes) or sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) can be used as a boundary ), a small fruit tree forms the center of the garden. Edible flowering perennials such as lavender(Lavandula angustifolia), sage (Salvia) or chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) complete the edible front garden , so that it is in no way inferior to the classic front garden.
5. Bee-friendly sea of flowers
More and more gardeners are turning to easy-care gravel beds as their front yard - with fatal consequences for insects: Beneficial insects such as bees or bumblebees in particular can often no longer find food in such rocky deserts. Front gardens that rely on bee-friendly plants can help. So you can sow flower meadows instead of lawns or exchange bee-unfriendly arborvitae hedges for berry bushes. But not only bees benefit from this front garden trend, people also appreciate the colorful variety of flowers, which also require little care.
Few associate grass with a stylish garden design - in fact, you can not only design front gardens with ornamental grasses that are easy to care for, but also strikingly beautiful. Large ornamental grasses such as the majestic Reedgrass 'Karl Foerster' (Calamagrostis x acutiflora) and particularly colorful species such as Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). ) ensure a real eye-catcher. Flowering companion plants such as bulb flowers and fragrant summer bloomers provide stylish accents.
7. Natural stone wall
A border can be this beautiful: With natural stones and lush plants, a half-height wall looks almost inviting and blossoms into the real highlight in the front yard. Particularly drought-loving rock garden plants such as the cushion phlox (Phlox subulata) or the cushion soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides) thrive here and require almost no care, to spread her natural charm.
8. English front yard
Perfectly imperfect - that best describes the style of the English front garden: behind white fences there is a sprawling planting with lush flowering plants such as lilies (Lilium), lilacs ( Syringa) or shrub roses. The romantic charm of the front garden is mainly due to the apparently wild growth of the plant, which is why the gardener is welcome to sit back and relax. Appropriately, you cangive his front yard the finishing touch with a cast-iron garden bench.
9. Mediterranean front yard
A Mediterranean garden is the dream of many homeowners - but even a Mediterranean front yard can make some hearts beat faster. Lavender and boxwood ensure a great design all year round without a lot of maintenance. Even Mediterranean herbs such as thyme (Thymus) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) can be attractively installed in the front yard. The whole thing is rounded off by footpaths and parking spaces made of natural stone in warm colours.
