Landscaping for Front of House

When you walk up to a home with a lush, thoughtfully designed front yard, it immediately sets a tone. It tells you something about the people who live there. Are they welcoming? Organized? Creative? Landscaping the front of your house is more than planting flowers—it's about creating an emotional connection and a lasting impression. The good news? You don’t need a mansion-sized yard or a huge budget to achieve a stunning transformation.

🏡 Foundation Plantings: Framing Your Home, Framing Your Life

In a case study by the University of Florida's Landscaping Architecture Department, homeowners who added tiered foundation plantings—such as boxwoods, dwarf azaleas, and ornamental grasses—reported increased feelings of satisfaction and pride when approaching their home. These plantings draw the eye naturally along the lines of the home, making the architecture feel more intentional and inviting.

A common mistake people make is planting a line of the same shrub beneath every window. While clean, it lacks emotion and variety. Instead, imagine walking up to a house with soft drifts of perennials, textured foliage, and bursts of seasonal color. You feel welcomed. There’s a sense of life. The home doesn’t just look pretty—it feels cared for.

In colder climates, homeowners often choose evergreen shrubs like yews or junipers to keep the view attractive even during winter months. In warmer zones, hydrangeas and Indian hawthorn can soften the base of the home without requiring much upkeep.

🚶 The Power of the Path: Walkways That Create Journeys, Not Just Access

Your front walkway is the thread that connects public space to private life. In a 2022 landscaping trends report by Houzz, nearly 58% of homeowners said that replacing or updating their walkway made their home “feel more like their own.” Why? Because a walkway isn’t just functional—it's emotional. It guides your guests and subtly suggests how you want them to experience your space.

Take the example of the Chen family in Phoenix, AZ. They swapped their straight concrete path for a gently curved flagstone walk flanked by rosemary and lavender. Now, as guests approach, they smell fragrant herbs and experience a mini nature walk before reaching the door. “It feels like a welcome every single time,” said Mr. Chen.

Straight lines feel formal. Curves feel natural. Choose based on how you want people to feel when they visit. Add low-voltage lighting for nighttime elegance and safety.

🌸 Choosing the Right Plants: Where Emotion Meets Function

Selecting plants for your front yard isn't just about what's pretty. It's about what fits your lifestyle, your climate, and your story.

Imagine a busy couple with little time to garden—installing a flower bed filled with thirsty, high-maintenance plants will only create stress. But a bed with native drought-resistant plants, gravel mulch, and seasonal blooms can create a thriving landscape with almost no effort.

In Portland, OR, a homeowner named Sarah transformed her patchy grass into a pollinator-friendly garden. She chose sedum, black-eyed Susans, and native ferns. The result? Not only did it bloom into a colorful haven, but it also brought bees, butterflies, and neighborhood smiles. “It feels like my yard is alive and giving back,” she shared.

Choose plants that speak to you:

• Do you love bold colors? Opt for salvia, coneflowers, or tulips.
• Want elegance? Go with ornamental grasses and white flowering shrubs.
• Prefer order? Use symmetry with boxwoods and low hedges.

🪴 Designing for Small Spaces: Every Square Foot Can Be Beautiful

Even if your front yard is only 10 feet deep, you can still create a masterpiece. Urban homes and townhouses often struggle with awkward or cramped layouts—but that’s where smart design shines brightest.

In Chicago, the Ramirez family added two raised cedar planters, a vertical wall garden, and a bistro table in a previously unused corner. Now, their small front yard is their favorite morning coffee spot. “It gave us space to breathe,” they said. “It made our house feel twice as big.”

Use mirrors to visually expand walls, choose narrow columnar plants like Italian cypress, and focus on vertical layers. Paint your front door a bold color to anchor the space.

🌟 Why Thoughtful Landscaping Brings Joy

Great front yard landscaping does more than please the eye. It reduces stress, encourages time outdoors, sparks conversation with neighbors, and boosts home value. According to the National Association of Realtors, homes with “excellent” landscaping can see a price increase of up to 10% more than comparable homes.

More importantly, it creates ownership pride. You’re not just maintaining a lawn—you’re crafting a welcoming experience every time you or someone else arrives.

🏁 Final Takeaway

Whether it’s a winding path through flowering shrubs, a minimalist arrangement of desert plants, or a cozy patio tucked beneath a shade tree, your front yard is a canvas. With thoughtful design and emotional intention, it can reflect the best of your home—and yourself.

Having a low maintenance front yard is the goal of many people. You can get easy to manage front yard landscaping done by any of the professional landscapers in your area or you can do it yourself. Either way you can have front yard landscaping done that will take minimal work to keep looking fantastic all year round. If you are going to get a professional in to do your front yard landscaping though, be sure to tell him that this is your over all goal, that you want to have a yard that will not take a lot of work to keep up.

If you have less grass in your front yard landscaping then you will cut out a lot of maintenance time right there. Mowing the lawn can take up a lot of time and energy so keeping the grass to a minimum is a great way to save on work. Talk to the front yard landscaping expert about alternative that you can use to keep your yard look good with little lawn area.

Some people choose to use clover instead of grass. Using a clover lawn in your front yard landscaping is a good idea because it will save you money and time. You will not have to mow it very often at all and a clover lawn is even good for front yard landscaping in area that is prone to droughts. They do well virtually everywhere. And best of all for those who want to get out there and enjoy their front yard landscaping, bugs hate clover.

Watering the yard can be a big hassle as well. That is why many people incorporate automatic irrigation systems into their front yard landscaping designs these days. This can save you tons of time and money. This is one of the easiest ways for you to keep your yard looking healthy and well watered during the hotter months of the year. No more hooking up the sprinkler or having to drag out the hose. You can get a professional to install one of these systems for your front yard landscaping design quickly and easily or you can get a kit and do it yourself. I would recommend getting in a professional however, unless you have experience with this kind of thing. If you were to cause a leak then you could face some flooding and rotting and neither of these is going to do anything for your front yard landscaping, do you know what I mean?