Could your home’s curb appeal use a boost? Bare grass and dead trees won’t exactly do much to make the rest of your property look good. With just some simple landscaping ideas, though, you can transform your space.
Keep reading to learn how to add life to your front yard design!
Spruce Up Your Flower Beds
When it comes to front yard landscaping ideas, adding flower beds is one of the easiest ways to create more interest. Carve out areas around your foundation, walkways, or trees to enhance your landscaping. Use rounded edges to define your beds and create movement.
Then populate those beds with bold and attractive flowers. Front yard plants in contrasting colors can make your home look livelier.
As another option, create bigger groupings of the same color for stronger accents of red, white, or yellow. With some fresh mulch, you’ll have attractive bursts of color.
Perennial plants are ideal if you’re looking for the easiest solutions. These are plants that will become rooted and regrow each year. That means you won’t have to go shopping for new plants every spring.
Popular perennials include chrysanthemums, salvia, and columbine. You can also consider catmint, coneflowers, and irises.
Just be sure to approach the process with some patience. Sometimes perennials don’t take off right away. It may be a few years before you’ll have a reliably full flower bed.
Embrace Potted Plants
Flower beds can spruce up your greenspaces and ease the transition between your home and the grass. But potted plants can punctuate your front walkway and other parts of your yard.
Put potted plants along your front entryway on either side of your door. Find large pots in colors and patterns that pair well with your home’s exterior.
You can always switch out your plant selections depending on the season or year. But since large, high-quality pots tend to be expensive, you’ll want to invest in ones that can be used with any color combination.
And consider adding window boxes. This variation on a potted plant puts the plants right below your windows. Your home exterior will gain more color and texture in the summer months.
Use annuals when you’re filling your potted plants. Annuals will only stick around for one season. But they’ll make it easy to change your style and color scheme each year.
Create an Outdoor Seating Area
Patios and seating areas don’t always have to go in the back of a home. Consider adding a defined seating area to your front yard landscaping. It doesn’t have to be grand to make a statement.
If you have a pocket of space next to your driveway or front entrance, designate it for your outdoor social scene. You can use gravel to construct a simple patio if you want more separation from the surrounding grass. Or you can place furniture directly on the grass.
A bench and a small bistro table with tables would work perfectly. Look at plants for sale to put in pots around the perimeter of your seating area. And add some punchy throw pillows or an area rug to enhance the space.
Alternatively, you can make a fire pit the focus of your outdoor social area. With some Adirondack chairs and a side table or two, you’ll have an inviting front yard design.
Go With Grasses
Most people think a yard should consist of standard green grass. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can turn to different types of grasses to add texture and varying heights to your front yard landscaping.
For instance, ornamental grasses can look great in a garden patch or along a seating area. Choose switchgrass for a light and airy style. Or go with Japanese forest grass for a burst of yellow-green.
Best of all, you can find ornamental grasses that remain green throughout the year. Orange sedge and pheasant tail grass, for example, are good options that will offer visual interest every month.
Mix and match your grasses to create layers of texture. Just be sure to choose grasses that can flourish in different sunlight conditions in your yard.
Add a Fence
Fences can add a crisp edge to part or all of your front yard. A handsome wood fence provides a warm backdrop to a garden or bushes.
Fences also provide privacy. And, if you have pets or children, you’ll appreciate having a clear boundary that also looks good. Go with a light stain to show off the wood grain. Or try a painted white fence for a pure and fresh sense of style.
There are other ways you can define the edge of your lawn, too, if you want a barrier. For instance, pavers can provide a clean edge between a garden and the grass.
And you can always go with a natural barrier. Dense hedges or tall grasses can create privacy if you’re patient with growing times. You can use Boxwood or arborvitae, for example, to create a lush frame around your yard or flower beds.
Improve Your Outdoor Lighting
Outdoor lighting can help spotlight your home’s best features when the sun goes down. Show off unique architectural angles or windows on a front wall. Or shine the light on a charming tree in your front yard.
Accent lights can create drama and impact. Or try adding sconces to either side of your front entrance to make your entryway more regal. Tuck some spotlights beneath shrubs or plantings to give textures more presence in your front yard landscaping at night.
You can use lights along your pathway to provide functionality and visual impact. Solar lights are ideal if you get plenty of sunlight along your front walkway. During the day, the lights can build up their reserves before offering soft illumination at night.
Improve Your Front Yard Design
A fresh front yard design can elevate your property. Introduce flower beds and potted plants to inject color and texture. And consider fences, edging, and better lighting as other positive additions.
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