Tips For A Successful Front Yard Landscaping Project

Your front yard is the face your home presents to the world. It's the first impression that your home makes to the outside world. It tells friends as well as strangers how much you care, or don't care about your home. It says a lot about you too. How well you care for the outside appearance of you home goes a long way towards telling people how much you care about the inside of your home. You must let the style of your home dictate your front yard landscaping. If your home is modern or contemporary your front yard will look a lot different from someone whose home is a country or English country.

Also think about the natural habitat of your front yard. Do you have lots of shade trees? If you do, you'll have to consider different plantings then someone who may have few trees and lots of sun during the day. Also, not every front yard is completely flat, some live with sloped front yards.

Another thing you want to think about when landscaping your front yard is the use of shrubbery. You want to use shrubs around the front of your house to help anchor it. Keep your shrub planting simple, using only a few different kind. Again, think of permanence. When you choose the shrubs for your front consider their final growing height. If you can keep within the limits of your area you will have less pruning to do.

Consider adding perennials and annuals to your landscaping to add punches of color throughout the spring and summer. Always add a color coordinating mulch to help keep weeds down.

Another wonderful way to dress up the front of your home is with the use of decorative paving. Instead of a solid concrete walkway consider a lovely brick one. or perhaps limestone.

Don't forget that landscaping also includes simple things such as what type of edging you use around the front yard of your home. There are many types of edging materials available on the market today. Choose the edging for the front yard that will compliment the color of your home. For front yard landscaping stay away from wooden railroad ties, plastic and metal edging. These types of edging don't handle the weather and age quickly. They'll need to be replaced within a few years. Use decorative edging material that gives a feeling of permanence, and that will be permanent. Stone edging is always preferred by landscape designers and will last indefinitely. Stone pavers make wonderful garden edging.

When you sit down and plan your front yard landscaping think well ahead. What is your final goal? How do you want your front yard to look in 5 years? 10 years? Start with your end result in mind.