Planting ideas for front gardens


Nine Ideas for Front Gardens

Front gardens play an important role, particularly in our towns and cities. They can breathe life into grey streets, helping to provide wildlife habitats and reduce pollution. They can also make us feel good about where we live.

Creating a front garden requires careful thought. You may need to find space for wheelie bins and off-street parking, which can limit your design and planting choices. However, this doesn't mean that front gardens can't be beautiful, practical and wildlife-friendly spaces. The key is to keep things simple and ensure any plants and materials work well together.

More on front gardens:

Be inspired by our tips for designing a front garden, below.


1

Use complementary colours

Front garden with slate paving and chippings, planted with hostas, grasses, irises and climbing roses

Try to use colour to tie in with the colour and tones of the house. This front garden is planted with low-maintenance plants in various shades of green, set off by loose slate tiles and chippings.

Design tip: Note here the colour of the window frames and door awning complement the slate paths. Climbing roses further bring the garden to the house, while also softening the house walls. The front door and wood store are both painted black.

Save money: loose materials are cheaper than solid ones such as paving stones, and allow water to percolate into the soil, preventing flooding. Always lay landscape fabric beneath loose materials – it will stop weeds coming up but let rainwater through.


2

Use white to create a focal point

White garden gate surrounded by cottage style planting

The entrance to a front garden can immediately set the style of the space. This welcoming white wooden gate, surrounded by cottage-style planting, signposts that there's a fabulous cottage garden waiting to be explored.

Design tip: white can be quite a dominant colour. Use in small doses only. It may be just a bit too garish for your garden – try various colour samples before choosing.

Save money: look out for reclaimed or second-hand gates, and spruce them up with a fresh coat of paint.


3

Hide bins with bespoke screening

Sempervivums with a gravel mulch planted in a blue wooden wheelie-bin cover

Bins and recycling boxes are often the first thing you see in a front garden. It's easy to hide them away. This box unit has been designed to hide the bin while still enabling easy access, and the planting space above looks pretty while reclaiming the lost earth taken up by the bin. Use a variety of plants of your choice – green roof plants, such as sedums and sempervivums, don't need much soil depth and are drought tolerant.

Design tip: cover the base of the planting pocket with plastic membrane to stop it rotting, then fill with a mix of peat-free, multi-purpose compost and grit.

Save money: make it yourself from old pallets and decking planks.


4

Use containers to enhance paved spaces

A tiny front garden packed with plants in containers

It's amazing how many plants can be grown in pots and other containers. This front garden is paved, and all plants are grown in pots, which are hidden by trailing flowers and foliage.

Design tip: Browse our list of plants for pots and choose wisely, taking into consideration how much time you'll have to water and feed your plants. Choose the largest pots you can find or afford – the bigger the container the better, as you can combine several plants together and reduce the amount of watering required.

Save money: grow as many plants from seed as possible. Try to recycle and upcycle containers – virtually anything can be used, from old sinks to large olive oil tins.


5

Use topiary for a formal look

An eye-catching cloud-pruned box beside white house walls

Consider a formal layout if you have a symmetrical house with a central front door. Topiary trees and shrubs work well in these situations, such as this cloud-pruned box. You can also buy lollipop trees of bay, yew and privet.

Design tip: plant your specimens symmetrically – such as on either side of your front door, in matching pots, for the best effect.

Save money: there are some very convincing faux terracotta and faux lead planters on the market – they cost less than the real thing and are also lightweight.


6

Use hanging baskets for height and colour

Red begonias and purple petunias in a basket hanging from a red-brick wall

Hanging baskets help to break up a harsh brick wall and soften the front of the house. Change the plants seasonally to keep the display looking cheery and welcoming.

Design tip: choose flower or foliage colours that work well with your house bricks or front door, such as the orange flowers, here, which pick out the colour of the bricks behind.

Save money: raise your own bedding plants from seed, or buy as plugs early in the season, then grow them on. Keep summer bedding plants indoors until after the last frost.


7

Use pots of different sizes

A display of flowers growing in terracotta pots

Here a random collection of vibrant plants in pots of various sizes has been brought together by using the same terracotta finish.

Design tip: this display works well because the pots have been arranged by size, with the tallest at the back and a row of dianthus along one side. Add fragrant plants for passers-by and visitors to enjoy.

Save money: look out for small plants and multi-buy deals – you can often make great savings by buying seasonal plants in quantity.


8

Grow shade-loving plants in shady gardens

Container-grown ferns in a shady spot beside a house wall

Shady gardens needn't be tricky. These ferns show that even a few plants in pots can break up an otherwise harsh junction between a wall and concrete path.

Design tip: include some evergreens, as the garden will be seen daily throughout winter. Evergreen ferns such as the hart's tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium) or the soft shield fern (Polystichum setiferum) are perfect for shade.

Save money: you can often buy multi-packs of young fern plants, which are great value for money.


9

Add height where possible

Tall miscanthus fronds forming a semi-screen in front of a window

Try to get some height into even a small space. A single small tree or large shrub will make all the difference and can be grown in a large container. Read more about trees for small gardens. A deciduous tree can act as a net curtain, giving a degree of privacy from the street all year round but letting light in in winter – read more about trees for privacy.

Grasses are a great option in a sunny front garden. They have a long season of interest and many keep their form all winter. This miscanthus is the ideal height to provide a soft screen for the window behind it, creating a little privacy indoors.

Design tip: let ornamental grasses stand tall through the winter months. Wait until spring to cut them back and tidy them up.

Save money: grasses are usually fast-growing and will quickly bulk up, so don't waste your money on large specimens.

Front Garden Ideas - Best Front Garden Design Ideas

Front gardens are special and very different from rear gardens. They are often for show not for relaxation, and for kerb appeal, not for parties and play.

There are lots of ways to create instant impact and maximise space out front, all whilst adding value to your property in the process, and no matter how small your front garden, is, with careful planning you 
can make it both a beautiful and useful space.

Before your house comes into view, your front garden is the first thing visitors will see, and a neat exterior will most certainly create a warm welcome. A well-maintained, flower-filled front garden also adds to the overall look of your neighbourhood, and most importantly, 'A front garden full of plants also means a home and food for wildlife,' says Leigh Hunt, horticultural adviser at the Royal Horticultural Society.

In reality, for much of the year we're likely to see more of our front garden than our back. – until spring and summer arrives, of course. Every time we walk to our car or out of our house, whatever the weather, we'll be immersed in this front garden, so why not give it the attention it deserves?

John KeebleGetty Images

Front Garden Ideas: 7 Golden rules

Follow these and everything will fall into place. ..

1. Fit in with the street scene

Every road has a 'look' and if you take your front garden too far away from what's normal for your street, you will create a 'wow', but not in a good way. But you can still raise the tone – if other front gardens in your street are neglected you can go for quietly smart, and if every other garden has been made over like a daytime TV programme, you might have to work a bit harder. If in doubt go for low key, neat and formal.

2. Symmetry and structure

When it comes to a front garden lean towards well defined flower beds, straight lines and solid planting. The hardest look to pull off in a front garden is a wildflower meadow with plants flowing everywhere – go for the opposite of this and you'll be on the right track.

3. Think about winter

Structure like this will work in winter as well as summer – and winter is a key time in the front garden. This will likely be your one glimpse of greenery on your way from house to the car, so getting the winter look right is crucial. The shapes of the flower beds will be seen, and the structural bones are visible in winter, so it's essential to make sure those bones look good.

4. Consider the layout

The layout – the bones of the garden – needs to signal where people should go. It's an obvious point but one that's often forgotten. When visitors walk to your house, the front garden needs to show them the way to the front door; its purpose, if you like, is to direct. The easiest way to do this is with a clear path and a big signal to mark the front door. Big pots either side of the front door will do the job.

Paolo ParadisoGetty Images

5. Work with the house

When you're putting in the structure, work with the house and the windows. So planting is high between the windows, low in front of them. Accentuate the patterns of house, don't work against them. This will often give you a good pattern to copy around the rest of the front garden. The pace of the lower and higher planting can be used at the sides and alongside the road. Use the same spacing and the whole thing will come together like a symphony.

6. Kerb appeal

You may not think about selling right now, but it's likely to happen at some point, so if you're putting money and effort into your front garden think about kerb appeal to buyers. What would you like to see if you were thinking about buying this house? It's another really good reason to avoid anything whacky at the front. Kerb appeal is about looking neat, well maintained and cared about. Case in point: Dustbins can be a real eyesore,
 so screen them with shrubs or trellising, or invest in wheelie bin storage, or as horticulturist Alys Fowler suggests, 'Make your garden so pretty your eye won't be drawn to the bins at all!'

7. Watch out for planning rules

These are often specific to front gardens and can cover anything from the height of your front fence to the colour of your house. To find out what applies in your area, the planning department of your local council will be a good place to start.

Front garden essentials

Front Garden Ideas: Choosing The Perfect Plants

The main requirements for plants in a front garden is that they give structure and don't take too much looking after. They need to be steady, not glamorous. As a general rule, choose plants that flower in every season, that way you'll always have something new to welcome you home, and window boxes are great for adding a splash a colour.