Our plans will help even novice gardeners achieve a bright, colorful perennial display.
Your front yard is the calling card for your home, giving everyone who passes by a glimpse into your style and personality. However, coming up with an aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-achieve front yard garden idea can be easier said than done—especially if you're a novice gardener. Luckily, we're here to help. The easy-care plants in these multi-seasonal designs will surely put on a long-lasting show outside your yard. Whether you have a sunny space or a shady enclave, you'll find front yard garden ideas below that work for you.
Related: 17 Front Yard Landscaping Ideas That Boost Curb Appeal
Easy-Care Streetside Garden
It's possible to create a beautiful garden in a challenging spot along a sun-drenched curb; you just need to use tough plants that can tolerate heat and drought well. This easy street-side garden plan relies on a mix of native perennials that do just that, plus they'll create an oasis of colorful blooms and foliage that will look good all summer long.
Related: 25 Low-Maintenance Perennial Flowers Perfect for Beginners
Tiny Corner Garden
Nestle a triangular planting bed into your front yard's sidewalk-defined angle, add a section of picket fence to anchor it, and you'll have a front yard garden idea with instant curb appeal. This design is packed with sun-loving bloomers and features a mix of easy-growing annuals punctuated with a few low-maintenance perennials.
Foolproof Foundation Garden
A well-designed foundation planting helps integrate your house with the surrounding landscape so the two blend seamlessly and create a welcoming, harmonious look. Instead of the usual row of evergreens, this foundation front yard garden idea features low-maintenance shrub roses fronted by neat rows of perennials and backed by sprawling clematis, which adds a whimsical, romantic touch.
English-Style Front Yard Garden Idea
This English-style front yard garden idea captures the essence of a cottage garden while organizing the mix of plants along both sides of a decorative white picket fence that can run parallel to a driveway or sidewalk. It's packed with easy-care annuals, perennials, and a hydrangea that all bloom in a pleasing mix of pink, blue, purple, and yellow.
Related: Complementary Flower Combos in Purple and Yellow
A Rose Lover's Front Walk
Make your home's entrance more memorable with this gorgeous front-yard garden idea featuring roses. An arbor placed around the front door offers an ideal perch for a pair of red 'Blaze' climbing roses. Then, a colorful collection of 11 more floribunda, hybrid tea, and grandiflora roses fill in beds on either side of the walkway, bordered by a low boxwood hedge.
Hot Summer Garden
Heat and humidity are no match for this hot-summer front yard garden idea, which will grab the attention of passers-by. It features a mix of annuals and perennials (including some tropical varieties) that flourish in steamy weather. Plus, their nonstop flowers are all vibrant tones like red, pink, orange, and yellow, which seem to get brighter as temperatures climb.
Hosta-Filled Shade Garden
Make a bold statement—even if you've got a shady front yard—with this hosta-filled garden plan. It features five different hosta cultivars planted around an antique millstone recruited into service as a fountain. Variegated vinca edges the bed, perfectly complementing the hostas and resulting in a design that is simple, lush, and tidy.
Related: 25 Refreshing Water Feature Ideas for Your Landscape
Privacy Screen Garden
Use this easy design to offer year-round interest in your front yard and enjoy the extra privacy these plants provide. This garden, filled with colorful shrubs and shrub-sized trees, requires very little pruning or care to thrive, other than keeping the plants in it well-watered during their first year.
Welcoming Dooryard Garden
The area around your main entry deserves much more than a few foundation shrubs. Turn it into a grand display with a versatile garden plan that will look good through all four seasons. Long-blooming, easy-care perennials provide colorful blooms from spring through fall. Evergreen shrubs provide structure even in winter, and a concrete urn planter filled with annuals of your choice is a focal point in the center of the bed.
Beginner Shade Garden
Don't worry about your lack of gardening experience: This easy shade front yard garden idea weaves together a handful of low-maintenance, easy-to-grow plants to create a beautiful, foolproof display. Situate it in front of your home and enjoy the color of both the blooms and the foliage.
Simple Ornamental Grass Garden
A sunny corner in your front yard is the perfect spot for this easy ornamental grass garden plan. It shows off several beautiful types of ornamental grasses, which are so low-maintenance that you can plant them and pretty much forget them. For contrast, this front yard garden idea includes a few flowering perennials, which also require very little care.
Related: 15 Underused Perennials That Deserve a Spot in Your Garden
Flower-Filled Foundation Garden
A colorful alternative to the standard all-green row of shrubs along the front of your house, this foundation garden plan mixes flowering perennials and groundcovers with broad-leaf evergreen shrubs and a sculptural tree. Lay a path of stepping stones along the front of the border or use another edging material to define the garden's shape.
Decorative Downspout Front Yard Garden Idea
The soil around downspouts can get too soggy for many types of plants after it rains, but you can still enjoy plenty of colorful perennials that will thrive in the extra moisture. This problem-solving garden plan relies on tall joe-pye weed to grab attention away from the downspout itself. Then, pink turtlehead, dwarf sweet flag, and lobelia camouflage the area around the opening to help it blend into the landscape.
Island Bed Garden Plan
Break up the monotony of a big stretch of the front lawn with this easy-care island bed garden plan. It's designed to look beautiful no matter which side it's viewed from, with a small ornamental plum tree that anchors the planting and produces stunning pinkish-white blossoms in spring (plus it has pretty fall foliage). The surrounding plants add seasonal splashes of color, with an emphasis on pink and yellow and a touch of blue.
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Read the original article on Better Homes & Gardens.
Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
As an expert in gardening and landscaping, I can provide information related to the concepts used in this article. Here's a breakdown of the different front yard garden ideas mentioned in the article:
Easy-Care Streetside Garden
- This garden plan focuses on creating a beautiful garden in a challenging spot along a sun-drenched curb.
- It uses tough plants that can tolerate heat and drought well.
- The plan relies on a mix of native perennials that create a colorful oasis of blooms and foliage throughout the summer.
Tiny Corner Garden
- This front yard garden idea involves creating a triangular planting bed in the sidewalk-defined angle of your front yard.
- Adding a section of picket fence to anchor the bed adds instant curb appeal.
- The design features a mix of sun-loving annuals and low-maintenance perennials .
Foolproof Foundation Garden
- This garden plan focuses on creating a well-designed foundation planting that integrates your house with the surrounding landscape.
- Instead of the usual row of evergreens, this plan features low-maintenance shrub roses, neat rows of perennials, and sprawling clematis for a whimsical touch.
English-Style Front Yard Garden Idea
- This garden idea captures the essence of a cottage garden.
- It involves organizing a mix of plants along both sides of a decorative white picket fence.
- The design includes easy-care annuals, perennials, and a hydrangea that bloom in a pleasing mix of pink, blue, purple, and yellow.
A Rose Lover's Front Walk
- This front-yard garden idea features roses as the main attraction.
- An arbor placed around the front door provides a perch for climbing roses.
- The design includes a colorful collection of floribunda, hybrid tea, and grandiflora roses in beds on either side of the walkway, bordered by a low boxwood hedge.
Hot Summer Garden
- This garden plan is designed to thrive in hot and humid weather.
- It features a mix of annuals and perennials, including tropical varieties, that flourish in steamy conditions.
- The flowers are vibrant tones like red, pink, orange, and yellow, which seem to get brighter as temperatures climb.
Hosta-Filled Shade Garden
- This garden plan is perfect for shady front yards.
- It features five different hosta cultivars planted around an antique millstone used as a fountain.
- Variegated vinca edges the bed, complementing the hostas and creating a simple, lush, and tidy design.
Privacy Screen Garden
- This garden plan offers year-round interest and extra privacy.
- It includes colorful shrubs and shrub-sized trees that require very little pruning or care to thrive.
- The plants in this garden should be well-watered during their first year.
Welcoming Dooryard Garden
- This garden plan turns the area around your main entry into a grand display.
- Long-blooming, easy-care perennials provide colorful blooms from spring through fall.
- Evergreen shrubs provide structure even in winter, and a concrete urn planter filled with annuals serves as a focal point.
Beginner Shade Garden
- This easy shade front yard garden idea is perfect for novice gardeners.
- It combines low-maintenance, easy-to-grow plants to create a beautiful display.
- Situating it in front of your home allows you to enjoy the color of both the blooms and the foliage .
Simple Ornamental Grass Garden
- This garden plan is designed for a sunny corner in your front yard.
- It showcases several types of ornamental grasses, which are low-maintenance and require minimal care.
- The design also includes a few flowering perennials for contrast.
Flower-Filled Foundation Garden
- This garden plan offers a colorful alternative to the standard row of shrubs along the front of your house.
- It mixes flowering perennials and groundcovers with broad-leaf evergreen shrubs and a sculptural tree.
- Adding a path of stepping stones or another edging material can define the shape of the garden.
Decorative Downspout Front Yard Garden Idea
- This garden plan is designed to solve the problem of soggy soil around downspouts.
- It relies on tall joe-pye weed to grab attention away from the downspout itself.
- Pink turtlehead, dwarf sweet flag, and lobelia camouflage the area around the opening, blending it into the landscape .
Island Bed Garden Plan
- This garden plan breaks up a large stretch of front lawn with an easy-care island bed.
- It features a small ornamental plum tree as the anchor, producing pinkish-white blossoms in spring.
- The surrounding plants add seasonal splashes of color, with an emphasis on pink, yellow, and blue.
These front yard garden ideas provide a range of options for novice gardeners to create beautiful and low-maintenance gardens. Whether you have a sunny or shady space, there are designs that can work for you.
