Add a New Look to Your Landscape
The appeal of a well-developed front yard goes beyond beauty but also increases property value. With properties, no matter the size or architectural beauty your house possesses the initial appreciation will fall flat if the effort on the yard does not match the effort put on the house. The focal point of every house is the front door and thus your front yard becomes, by association, the focal point.
Gaining overall curb appeal on your property is much more than having a mowed lawn. An attractive front yard is not just created overnight but cultivated and nurtured steadily. With an understanding that not everyone has inherent knowledge or the opportunity to dedicate much time to nurturing their landscape, we have compiled several low maintenance ideas that will beautify your front yard in a short time.
Outline the Path you Want Visitors to Follow
As you plant or place plants in the front yard be sure to maintain the front door as the focal point. The walkway to the door should be a direct path but if the walkway curves around a bend maintain the outline by planting densely around the walkway curve. The plants will work as outlined drawing the attention of all who visit the front door.
Plant with the Future in Mind
This can be broken down into two different ideas. The first being that plants placed around the house should be erected with the future in mind. Consider 5 to 10 years down the line and the appeal the tree you planted may or may not have on you. In the event that your property is to be sold in the future, do the trees add to your property value?
The best way to add property value is to plant mature trees. Would it be something the next owners would want? Everyone wants a well-designed landscape, the best advice for this is to keep it simple. Plant trees and shrubs that are low maintenance and easy to keep looking great. Not everyone has a green thumb. Also, plants placed in the front yard should not only be considered as spring/ summer flowering plants, but winter months should be accounted for as curb appeal is a year-long affair. Evergreen trees, shrubs, and palms are examples of plants that last all year long. These can be planted amongst your summer and spring flowering trees.
Enhance Curb Appeal with Flowering Trees
One of the things we love about the spring and summertime is the colorful blooms that light up the streets each day. Flowering trees are sustainable low maintenance ideas for your front yard as they don’t require a lot of work and instantly beautify your front yard once they bloom. Also, flowering trees tend to remain relatively small and as such will not obstruct views of your property. Pairing the color of the flowers with the house color and other plants in the yard will make the colors pop even more!
Look Beyond the Yard to the Driveway
As much as a majority of curb appeal lies within the yard itself, dressing up the driveway leading to the house is a low maintenance way of beautifying the front yard. Including well-structured borders along your driveway, adds a planned and classic finish to the drive.
Consider Light when Planting
Essential needs of any plant/trees asides water is sunlight. Therefore, in planning what to plant in your front yard consider the amount of natural light your front yard receives daily and the direction in which that light comes from. With the house already being a blockade for sunlight, trees have to be planted with the understanding of how much sunlight they require and how much they will receive daily in your front yard.
For Those who Enjoy Privacy
If you are concerned about privacy, layering shrubs by alternating heights (tall in the back, shorter in the front). These shrubs will act as a buffer separating your front yard from your neighbors with the varying plants adding beauty. Rather than building an average fence why not build a living fence that beautifies as well as protects. Asides planting shrubs, trees strategically placed provide the same privacy by obstructing the view of rooms.
Ground Covers in the Place of Grass
Ground covers are as their name states. These are low maintenance flowering and non-flowering plants that can replace grass in your front yard for a more upscale and attractive feel. Ground covers come in a wide variety and add a big splash of color to an area, leaving your front yard with the appeal you desire continually.
Set a Focal Point
The beauty of a front yard lies in the strategic placement of plants. A good means to set the focal point of your house is by planting alongside the proposed line of vision so people will instantly be drawn to it. In the case, the major focal point of the house is the front door, by placing flowering trees and plants along the border of the house, attention is instantly drawn to the door.
Keep it Simple
We are firm believers of the beauty in simplicity and strategic planning. In a bid to enhance a landscape, many homeowners end up going overboard by planting just about anything they can lay their hands on. The true beauty of a front yard lies within the simple but elegant placement of trees and plants that will stand the test of time. Refrain from the mold of varying plants on the same path but maintain a simplistic approach to your front yard for a classic end result.
Design with Eyes in Mind
Curb appeal is attained using a simplistic approach. By using plants with the same textures to get a feel that the yard was not thrown together, but thoughtfully designed. The use of colors can have a big impact on a front yard, but use the same plants and colors so that you do not overload the eyes. For example, think of the landscaping when you are driving down the freeway.
All the plants are using the same textures, colors, and the trees look relatively the same. The landscape designers use this style because your eyes are focused on the road ahead, yet your eyes pick up the landscape while driving by it and like it because it is not sensory overload. You can use this style of design in the front yard. Think about what others see as they drive through the neighborhood, or where people’s eyes are when they walk to the front door.
Get Started on Your Front Yard Project Today! Need Help?
If you need help with designing your front yard we have designers standing by ready to help turn any front yard around. You can schedule a design here. These are the basics needed for low maintenance front yard upgrade which is sure to enhance your curb appeal no matter the size of the property. A well-landscaped front yard does much more than garner the attention of the neighbors with its beauty but increases the property value as well. No matter your schedule, your front yard can change in these few steps.
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