It’s More Than Just Lawn Care – Guelph Front Yard Landscaping Ideas
Creating an attractive, useful design for your front yard is more difficult than it seems. While everyone has a list of things they want in their backyard, most people are less clear about what a front yard should be. Fortunately, if you need help with your landscape design, maintenance or lawn care, Guelph has local landscaping companies that can help. Here are what professional landscape designers will suggest for your front yard.
Create Depth
In most new subdivisions in Guelph and throughout Ontario, front yards are relatively small. It can feel like the house is almost on top of the street. Your landscape should create the illusion of depth, so that your home feels like it is further back from the road and sidewalk.
Have a narrow planting bed along the front edge of your lawn adjacent to the street or public sidewalk. Plant it with low shrubs and a shade tree or two. It will serve as a foreground; you have to look through or beyond it to see the house.
Your front lawn is the middle zone in this picture. Since it is separated from the street by your planting bed, it seems further away. Beyond the lawn, with its own planting bed and some tall landscape materials, is your house. Trees and clearly defined spaces within the yard all make it seem larger than it is; your yard will have depth.
Make an Entrance
The entrance to your home should start at your front walkway, not at the front door. Whether your entry walkway starts at the public sidewalk or at the edge of your driveway, place a planting bed at that location with some shrubs or a small tree. Your guests will feel like they are passing through or into something when they step onto the walk. If you have a short walkway close to the house, the entire walk can be set within a planting bed so there is a sense of enclosure while approaching the front steps or porch.
A Splash of Colour
A simple, elegant focal point is nice way to make your front yard landscape stand out from the rest of the neighborhood. It could be a unique ornamental tree, a sculptural art piece or a colourful flowerbed with your favorite perennial. Don’t create competing points of interest or install something too large for the space it is in.
Form Follows Function
Though your front yard is a semi-public space on display as people pass by, there are important functions that happen out front. Make sure your parking area is large enough with room to turn cars around if you have a long driveway. Simple shapes and smooth curves for beds make mowing and lawn care easier. Don’t forget about snow removal. Guelph homeowners need a place to pile snow during the winter.
If you need advice for your front yard design, talk to the landscape designers at The Gardener. They can transform your front yard landscape from ordinary to special.
Back
