Too often homeowners focus on backyard landscaping for creating comfortable outdoor rooms, ignoring the importance of the front yard.
Your front yard is what you see when you look out your windows toward the street, and it is also the first sight people see as they are passing by or visiting your home. In the real estate business they speak of a home that looks good from the street has having ‘curb appeal.’ This term is used to describe a home that presents a welcoming face from a street view. This includes not only the look of the home but the landscaping that accents the front. Foundation plantings – those that soften or disguise the line where the home meets the ground – are especially important.
Designing front yard landscaping that will provide an all year round appeal does not have to be difficult or stressful, and it can be accomplished with low maintenance yet distinctive plants. Here are a few you may what to think about adding to your front yard:
Shrubs
These types of plants can be used to soften your home’s corners as well as to define the borders of your yard. Choose dwarf or compact varieties – you don’t want large shrubs such as lilacs that will engulf your home as well as obscure rather than highlight the front of your home and yard. L0w-growing shrubs like junipers are great for defining borders and softening walkway edges. More compact shrubs include rhododendrons, boxwood, barberry, and shrub roses. If you’re choosing larger shrubs such as dogwood, keep them pruned back.
Perennials
Perennials should be used to punctuate an area, not just fill up a space. They should be placed to add some pizzazz to your front landscaping in order to boost the curb appeal. Whether you decide to plant then along the edges of your yard or near your sidewalk, they should lead a welcome visitor’s eye to your front door. Perennials such as day lilies can also be used as near your home’s foundation.
Ground Cover
If you are located in a dryer, more Mediterranean climate, you may want to consider looking into a substitute for grass for some areas of your lawn. Plants such as a creeping red fescue or hard fescue may be used instead; these types of plants are slow growing and they tolerate dry weather. They are also easy to maintain as well as making your front landscaping look orderly and neat.
For more information regarding your front yard landscaping designs please contact our office today to arrange a free in-home design consultation. You also can find us on Pinterest.com; check out some front yard landscaping ideas, and let us know if you see something you like. We can talk about making it work for your home.
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We are a licensed MN landscaping contractor serving the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area, outlying Minnesota communities, and western Wisconsin.