From new build homes to period properties , it’s entirely possible to have a stunning front garden regardless of your home's style. Having year-round greenery plus the flexibility to add or remove blooming plants according to the seasons is a simple and effective way to add charm and create an inviting front garden without much work.Even the most basic front yard can be transformed by combining evergreens and seasonal flowers.
A well-designed front garden, using a little inspiration from our comprehensive list below, can add value to your home and impress the neighbours too.
1 - Garden edging gives a neat design
Marshalls Sawn Versuro Borders
Small details like garden edging can significantly impact the look and functionality of your garden. Garden edging can be used to divide your garden, add a structured look to the space and ensure it looks neat and tidy all year round.
The material you choose for your garden edging could affect your landscaping project's appearance and cost. Both brick and concrete are exceptionally durable and low-maintenance building materials.
Creative gardeners also use stonework and stoneware to create eye-catching designs. Garden edging is not limited to one style and colour, they are available in a variety of colours and finishes as well.
2. Install a little water feature
Marshalls Stoneface® Drystack Veneer Walling
If you like the sound of running water but lack the time and resources to maintain a big pond, you should consider installing a water feature in your outdoor space.
Water features can elevate any outdoor space, create a great focal point, attract wildlife and even decrease noise pollution and improve air quality.
3. Revamp your driveway
Marshalls Drivesys® Original Cobble
A driveway is a practical space, but it can also be used as a focal point when enhancing a home's front garden design with landscaping. You can transform an average driveway into something extraordinary by using pavers in innovative patterns. This will also bring a great deal of character and personality to the driveway. Choose between contemporary or traditional driveway pavers for a classic and clean look.
Consider adding low-maintenance or hardy plants if you have a big front garden. Your driveway will look better as a result of your efforts and it will bring in softer elements to the harder lines of paving. If you’re creating a new driveway from scratch, or dramatically expanding your paved space, you’ll need to ensure you’re following the driveway legislation for your area.
4. Rethink the front pathway
Marshalls Drivesys® Original Cobble
Take a look at your home's architectural features and reproduce them in your hardscaping to create a front garden path that blends in with the rest of your landscaping.
If you want your garden to have a beachy feeling, use garden pavers that look like hardwood like our Woodstone Paving. Or, if you’re wanting your garden to have a more classic style, try using wood effect porcelain paving, like SYMPHONY® Porcelain Plank Paving. This way, you can achieve that wooden-look without the performance or maintenance issues that come with timber.
5. Consider clean, modern stone gravel planted beds
Using stone gravel is ideal for any outdoor space if you are looking to have contrast - pair it with a beautiful flower bed and perfectly manicured grass.
If you use low-maintenance plants, shrubs or perennials in your garden, you can create a landscape that requires little attention but looks different throughout the year. This will give an aesthetic appeal to your outdoor area.
If you love this look, why not take it a stage further and add concrete orbs on top of the gravel bed to create focal points? These may be easily swapped out for topiary evergreen trees or giant natural stone boulders to give the area a more rustic appearance if this is more your style.
6. Cheerful floral borders and window boxes
Marshalls Fairstone Sawn Versuro® Linear
One way to add colour to your front garden is by planting flowers in your garden for an inviting entrance. By using a mixture of annuals or perennial flowers like petunias and hyacinths for colour, your garden will have greenery all year long.
7. Classic boxwood-edged pathway
Garden hedges can really compliment a front entryway, either left small and circular or trimmed with short rectangular borders.
A short hedge may provide a low-upkeep option for garden borders or flower beds when combined with a modest but colourful ground cover plant, such as creeping thyme or Candytuft.
8. Mix hard landscaping materials
You could integrate pavers into your landscaping in various ways, from simple walks to more elaborate designs. Consider using multiple kinds of pavers and stones in the same colour scheme, but you don't need to use identical materials throughout.
Natural stone, concrete pavers and porcelain tiles can be combined to create a rustic design that is attractive to the eye due to how the colours complement one another. Adding evergreen plants to your front yard, alongside the paving, will give it a natural appearance and maintain foliage to attract birds and other wildlife
9. Create a floral archway
This Picture a front garden entrance with an exquisite rose arch over the walkway. Sounds amazing, right? Adding a vertical element creates the illusion of walking through a long cottage garden.
It is important to consider the front of the home while thinking about front garden ideas for a cottage garden. There should be a seamless transition between the house and the garden. One strategy for accomplishing this goal is to teach a climbing plant to grow so that it forms a natural arch over the front entrance or porch.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for an instagram-friendly front garden why not consider temporary seasonal archways. Halloween, Christmas and even Easter doorscapes are all the rage amongst celebrities, why not have a go yourself?
10. Keep it compact with planters
Marshalls SYMPHONY® Plus Planks
Consider using fewer sections of land for planting in your front garden if most of the ground there is utilised for a road or a walkway. Planters under window frames, under windows, or on both sides of a door can brighten up any entrance, make your garden smaller and take up less space. Tiny plants can be highly beneficial when growing herbs and provide many practical benefits in confined settings.
One of the most significant advantages of using tall planters is that they are often placed at eye level. The appearance of large pots in your front garden has a striking visual impact, and the container can make a statement alone if you go for ones with colourful patterns or designs.
11. Line your path or driveway with lighting
Line your garden path or driveway with statement lights to enhance the garden's ambience. Make sure your lighting counts in your small outdoor spaces. Solar lights with striking designs look fantastic within borders. They usually provide little to no maintenance and will help you to find your keys or greet visitors during the night hours.
12. Play with soft landscaping and plant textures
Most people will mix plant colours when creating an attractive garden design, but it's generally worth doing the same with texture. Mix and match plants of different shapes and sizes of leaves, varying between large and narrow. The use of evergreen plants can create a perfect year-round interest.
Adding ornamental grasses to your pots is a great way to mix up the textures and provide a feeling of height and movement. You may also use them as part of a colour palette that features complimentary colours to really round off the design of the space.
13. Consider raised beds
Marshalls Towngate® paving
There's no need to limit raised beds to just the backyard garden. They may be the ideal complement to a front area and need little in the way of upkeep, making them a perfect choice for those searching for simple front garden design ideas. If you want your raised garden beds to have a clean appearance, you could think about using garden walling to help your vision come to life.
FAQs
What can I do to maximise the space in my front yard?
Plant a majority of foliage plants with various leaf forms and add seasonal blooming plants to accent the greenery with their beauty. Even in a shaded location, low-maintenance ground cover may be achieved and maximise your front garden space. .
You can use organic materials like straw, grass clippings, wood chips and leaves to fill the bottom of a raised garden bed. Weigh down this organic layer with a few bricks or pegs of any acceptable weed barrier material, such as cardboard.
There are several small front garden ideas that you can use and incorporate to make your outdoor space like a landscape designer had their hand in it. Creating visual appeal with Marshalls range of garden pavings, paths and driveways can transform your outdoor space. Check out our range of products at Marshalls to help inspire your front garden design.
