How to Make an Inviting Front Yard Landscape
6 Great Tips and Tricks for Making Your Outdoor Space an Inviting One
Illuminate your Yard
Possibly the most useful tip in the list is our first. Lighting is the number one differentiator between good front yards and the best ones. Depending on your house itself, you may want to light up specific features on the building itself to highlight what makes your home different and invites people to look.
But more practically, you should consider lighting the path to your front door with soft lights that are activated by lack of natural light. These will help guide you, your family, and friends to your front door safely.
You should aim to use soft lighting that doesn’t create pools of harsh light and shadows, because this can make it harder to navigate, not easier.
Another thing to consider is using spotlights on house numbers for night time arrivals!
Wide Entryways
A wide entrance to your home just says “you are welcome here”. If your doorway is narrow, you can consider a wide-paved path to the door, or steps that are double the width of the door to create the same feeling.
Of course, those of you with a porch are able to create the same ambience by ensuring that the steps up to the porch aren’t crowded and that the porch itself is clear and free of obstructions.
As well as this, if you have the space in front of your property, you can consider the way that your greenery is set up to allow for guests…
Native Flora
When you’re thinking about the plants and trees to use in your front yard, using native species or species that are well acclimated to your environment is best. If you’re going to use shrubs, hedges, or larger bushes lining the pathway to your door, ensure they are regularly maintained to avoid the closed-in feeling of head height plants.
The greenery you choose for the front yard is important for a couple of reasons. You don’t want very tall trees bordering your property if you’re living in a shorter, squatter residence, and likewise lots of small, low-lying shrubbery around a taller, wider house won’t pair well either.
There are some home owners who have opted for food grade herbs and plants in their front yard planters, and this allows for more of a community feel instead of hiding it away in the backyard.
Year Round Plantings
Your plantings should reflect the fact that you don’t receive visitors only in the summer. Choose some evergreen trees or bushes to keep greenery whilst the rest of your flowers and plants aren’t blooming.
Clever positioning of your flowers and trees will keep an attractive, inviting space the year round.
Set Back the Fence
If you have a property that borders a street, you’re likely to have a fence. Choose one that has lots of open gaps to create a border, yes, but also allow the space to look open and free.
You could set the fence back from the street a little in order to plant flowers, trees, or bushes close to the pavement that will give your portion of the street a little character and potential shade — very important in urban spaces in summer.
Seating Areas
Lastly, think about setting up a seating area for guests. Front yards don’t have to just look good, they can be spaces you entertain in, look out over your neighbourhood, or just to read a good book.
Porches are great for comfortable seating and tables, but even if you don’t have a porch you can arrange your yard to the point that you have some open space for chairs. Ideal if you have mature trees on your land, you can use their natural presence and shade to your advantage.
All in all, setting up a front yard to be inviting and amazing all year round requires some thought. If you’re interested in changing your outdoor spaces, give our prices a look over and consider setting up a consultation with our experts, today.