Flower bed front yard

Variety Spices Up a Walkway

A welcoming garden - featuring a range of plants with year-round interest - puts this Seattle entryway a step above others.

Seasonal Stars

Alliums (shown), tulips, and other spring bulbs add a splash of early-season color. Planted among perennials and woody plants, they rise up to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame before nearby plants take over and mask bulb foliage as it withers.

Whimsy Wanted

A front-yard garden is a statement. Make it personal with garden accessories or art that speaks to your style, whether it’s rustic country or city chic. Don’t go overboard, though. With garden art in particular, less is more.

Foliage that Lasts

Flowers come and go. That’s why it’s important to include plants with interesting foliage to carry the garden between blooms. Leaves of witch hazel, Japanese barberry, and variegated Japanese maple (shown) differ in size, shape, and color. The textural variety lends visual interest.

Go Beyond the Foundation

Create a garden that looks great up close or from a distance. This front-yard landscape can be completed in stages and broken into three zones: a garden path, foundation plants, and a shrub bed. Plantings include daphne (A), licorice plant (B), pieris (C), rhododendron (D), kalmia (E), azalea (F), heuchera (G), dwarf conifer (H), laceleaf Japanese maple (I), oakleaf hydrangea (J), epimedium (K), witch hazel (L), Japanese barberry (M), and variegated Japanese maple (N).

Garden Path

Greet visitors with bold color from spring-blooming shrubs such as azalea, rhododendron, and daphne. A winding path of pavers serves the practical function of connecting the front walk to the garage while sending a message: “Come, linger awhile.”

Foundation Plants

Plant the foundation with both large and small plants so it can be enjoyed from any distance. Shrubs, such as daphne and witch hazel, break up what might otherwise be a flat and uninteresting composition. The loose habits of the witch hazel and nearby variegated Japanese maple (shown) keep them from looking cloistered. Mass smaller plants, such as epimedium, in clusters or ribbons for the impact.

Shrub Bed

Help the house, foundation bed, and garden path blend into one landscape with a transitional shrub bed. Nestled between two paths, it embraces visitors with tranquility and color. Heuchera, dwarf conifer, Japanese maple, and randomly placed rocks add a natural touch.

Do’s and Don’ts

For a front-yard garden that does more than hide the foundation, follow these tips:

Do break the plane. A house has many horizontal lines from gutters and windowsills. Break up these lines with shrubs and small trees to help incorporate the house into the landscape.
Don’t plant problems. Consider the ultimate size of plants before installation. To alleviate the need for corrective pruning, leave ample space between plants, their companions, and the house itself.
Do repeat yourself. Note how burgundy is repeated in this garden with the Japanese maple and potted barberry. This adds cohesiveness to the landscape.
Don’t overdo it. While it may be tempting to plant a huge assortment of plants, too much variety can be jarring and make the landscape seem busy. It can also be more difficult to maintain.

Source: www.lowes.com

Landscaping Tips

Though your home is your castle, there is no necessity to surround it with a moat. Here are 5 tips that will help you to make your landscaping feel more warm, welcoming and cozy.

1. Put some flowers nearby your entrance. Flowers make any area look more welcoming and attractive, so greeting your guests with Petunia, Snapdragon, Lily-of-the-Nile or some other garden flowers is always a great thing to do. What is more, to add some space between your house and the entrance, you can consider adding a little white fence. It will create an illusion that your front yard is bigger than it actually is. What is more, adding fence will create a great space for planting flowers to add some color and coziness.

2. Add rambling vines to make your yard look absolutely lovely. You can not deny that rambling vines always create romantic and even magical atmosphere. So why not to use this tip while decorating your yard?

3. To hide the unattractive driveway, consider adding some color, texture, and height. You can easily do it by adding various sorts of flowers. To start, create an island of green lawn right in the hub of a drive. Then add a couple of low boxwood hedges with flowers toward the back of your island.

4. If you want your yard to blossom and flourish bust still do not have enough time to maintain it, consider planting low-fuss lilies. Such flowers look absolutely gorgeous and come in the variety of rainbow hues, so you can pick the one you love most. What is more, low-fuss lilies do not care about the sort of soil, they love the sun and welcome hot, they do not afraid of drought. In other words, Crinums is an ideal flower for all those who are looking for low-maintenance solutions.

5. The last tip also touches the low-maintenance aspect. To make your life easier, group plantings into beds and islands. This will help you to avoid mowing and trimming around each individual plant, save a lot of time and even money.