Even before your home is visible, visitors will be able to see the front garden. A warm welcome is created by a neat exterior. However, a flower-filled and tidy space is able to contribute even more, as well as add value to your house. A front garden with plenty of plants also provides food and a home for wildlife. So, no matter how small the front garden at your house is, careful planning can transform it into a useful and beautiful space. It can still look good even if you decide to cover a portion of it to use for parking. The following are some useful Houston landscaping ideas to make your front garden beautiful.
Where to Get Started with Your Design
Select plants that flower in all season. That way there will always be something new welcoming you home. Plant tall foliage in order to provide privacy, color and an excellent place for insects. Just be sure to choose plants that won’t block out your front windows. Dustbins are often a real eyesore, therefore, screen them with trellising or shrubs. Another option is to make your garden so beautiful that the eye is drawn anywhere near the bins. Try to minimize the amount of paving that you use. If part of the front garden needs to be used for parking your car, you can just use a couple of strips of bricks.
Selecting Shrubs and Plants for Your Front Garden
Waist-height hedges provide the lightest stream of sunlight through your window. While lavender smells amazing, bamboo offers privacy, provides a modern look, and is much easier to care for compared to most perennials. It can be difficult to maintain a small lawn, so try planting a ground cover. Musk strawberry or trailing bellflowers will quickly cover the bare earth. Climbers can help to brighten up plain walls. Add support for climbing or rambling roses, honeysuckle, and clematis. Grouped plant containers and pots can provide a paved garden with interest. If you are concerned about theft attach broken bricks onto the bases so that they are too heavy to lift up and move.
Combine Parking and Plants
To make a parking area, lay down permeable paving or two strips of bricks the right distance apart for your car’s tires to rest on. Use a permeable membrane to cover the ground with along with a layer of gravel so that things are kept tidy and weeds are prevented. Cut a hole inside of the membrane for planting flowers, bushes and ground cover, like creeping juniper, that can spill over the gravel. Flower planters and pots can help to make a focal point that is away from your car and also help to brighten up a hidden corner. Plant climbers to make the most of fences or walls. An olive tree or topiary bay that is positioned on the side of your front door can help to guide visitors and frame the entrance. It might not be possible to keep bins in the back, so use fence construction or a simple trellis instead so that they are kept in place and the plastic is hidden from sight.
For a semi-detached home
Semi-detached homes usually have enough room for two cars in the front garden. However, you don’t want it looking like a pay and display. If you don’t have enough space for a lawn, thinking about using two different kinds of eco-friendly paving solutions. Using slate chippings or gravel around the edges, which are ideal to plant in and to suppress weeds. They also provide security. The main driveway can be laid using resin-bonded gravel or permeable long-lasting brick, which can seamlessly blend with planted gravel areas.
Author’s Bio
Joseph, being an advocate of mother nature, chose to be a landscape artist as a profession. He loves different kinds of plants, from flowers to veggies. When he’s free for the day, he joins tree planting activities and writes on different blogs to support his advocacy.