THE DESIRE for front yard landscaping that is more relaxed, informal and designed for a healthy living style is resulting in a growing awareness of the importance of front yard landscaping to a home.

The Value of Well Designed Front Yard Landscaping

WHEN you buy a new house or make the decision to improve your old one, you should be, of course, concerned with every foot of ground that goes with it, for modern living and modern gardening can make every square foot of your property usable and desirable.  The front yard landscaping is also the first thing people will see when they come to your home and will create the first impression.

These days, new methods of grading, fencing, soil improvement and terracing make even sloping, hilly lots, previously undesirable front yard landscaping, now attractive and choice. Modern chemistry has brought new ways to add nutrients to the soil and has provided weapons against the traditional enemies of the garden: insects and disease. Hardier bulbs and seeds make gardens more successful and wonderfully vivid. Hybrids have lengthened the list of flowering trees and shrubs, creating new specimens for every color and design scheme, and for every type of house and garden.

New equipment and materials speed the time-consuming front yard landscaping tasks. New ways of living bring us into the outdoors, and comfortable lawn furnishings make a small suburban front and back yard as luxuriously enjoyable as was previously possible only on a large estate.

Today’s house is often much more a part of the outdoors than was yesterday’s with large picture windows, glass walls, glassed-in sun-porches and terraces.  These all combine to make the front yard landscaping and garden a part of the house and consequently, the view becomes that much more important.

Beautiful front yard landscaping, a luxuriant lawn and healthy blossoming trees all add as much to the interior of your home as your draperies or wallpaper and the effort and time you spend on your lawn and garden will repay you in every way, indoors as well as out.

Front Yard Landscaping Principles

You will be governed by many of the principles you employ in decorating your home when you plan your front yard landscaping. Texture, color, proportion, line, harmony and function — are terms that apply to landscaping as well as decorating. And if you have a large yard you will benefit from careful planning just as much as someone with a smaller lot.

Although garden books are filled with formal plans for perfect gardens and front yard landscaping, you will want to consider not the perfect garden in itself, but the one plan that will be perfect for your particular situation. Analyze your family’s needs and habits; and then design your front yard landscaping to best satisfy it’s preferences, desires and requirements.

Front Yard Landscaping Plans

Hold a family council and talk over what you want to do.  Make a list of the things the family wants, such as a playhouse, rock garden, barbecue, tool house, drying yard, fences, badminton court, better lounging facilities, etc.  Draw a plan of your property in a fairly large scale, about 1/4 inch to the foot.

Unless you are fortunate and have spacious grounds, you probably won’t be able to work everything into your program. And of course, you will be governed by questions of cost and available space, but with intelligent planning, you can install your front yard landscaping gradually. You can plan your front yard landscaping so that it never looks bare and yet is roomy enough for any additions you plan on making in the future.

In addition, some projects will serve more than one function.  For example, if you need a driveway and have young children, a blacktop that can be used for basketball and roller skating will serve a double purpose, and easily justify the cost. 

Or a fence that blocks out an unpleasant view can also act as a wind break and a handsome background for a lounge area.  A retaining wall can double as a rock garden when planted with hardy dwarf shrubs, as well as other rock-garden species.

Ultimately, front yard landscaping, if intelligently planned and properly executed will not only add to the comfort of your home and improve its appearance it will also increase the value of your home.

Check out some of the articles on this site to learn more about front yard landscaping.

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Borders and beds are planted with flowering annuals and perennials which bloom at different periods during the year. By choosing carefully initially, and by caring for the flowers thereafter, the blooms will overlap each other, so that there will never be a period when an old bloom disappears but that a new one will start to show its color.

Preparing the soil for flower beds or borders requires greater care than planting a lawn. For one thing, digging must be deeper. It is not too much to dig the bed 2 feet deep, although 1 1/2 feet is suitable. It is, of course, possible to grow flowers in a shallower bed than this, but the deeper you dig, the better your production will be.

All heavy lumps should be broken up. It is a good idea to spread some sand, cinders or ashes in the bottom soil to break it up.  Also, you might work manure, well-rotted compost, grass clippings or peat moss into the bottom. Do not firm the bottom soil down, but let it settle naturally.

Good loam should be used for the topsoil — e.g., well-rotted manure, humus, peat moss, well-sifted leaf mold or heavy sand. Wood ashes are fine for spring, and lime may be used for loosening the soil. You might think about the character of your soil and consider the particular fertilizer which contains the elements your soil needs most. Should you use manure, be careful not to let it touch the roots of plants.

Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

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Fall is the best time for setting out roses, but you can plant in spring. When they arrive from the nursery, plant at once. If they have dried en route, soak the roots and put the tops in a bucket of water before planting.

Trim back any roots that are weak, long or broken at this time. Dig a hole that is wide enough to allow the roots to spread without crowding. The rose is properly placed when the bud (the point where the top joins the roots) is just under the ground surface. Space hybrid teas about 18 inches apart in any direction. Prune the branches 6 to 10 inches from the soil.

To grow good roses it is necessary to cultivate, to prune and to spray. If you have a well-cultivated bed you need not worry about watering. But if you start to water in hot weather, you must keep it up, soaking the roots thoroughly about once a week.

Spraying every 10 days guards against the diseases and insects that attack roses.

Winterize your roses by mounding sod around them after the first frost, or mulch with straw and evergreens. In cold parts of the country, remove the supports from the climbing roses and place the canes on the ground, peg them, and cover with soil mounds

In spring, cut back your roses to within 6 inches of the ground. Ruthlessly lop off all but three or four canes on hybrid teas.  This pruning will give you strong plants. When your plants grow out from spring pruning, you will have to disbud, cutting off all the buds except the top ones on the cane. This is the way to grow large blossoms.

Front Yard Landscaping

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Break up the bottom soil and mix in bone meal, peat moss, etc. If you are planting near the house, be careful to place the vine far enough from the overhanging eaves so that water will not drip on the leaves. In winter weather, wet leaves can freeze in the evening and crack. Also, if the vines are placed against a sunny wall they will get reflective heat, and so they should receive extra watering in hot weather.

Front Yard Landscaping

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Decorative and functional, vines are often the answer for older homes as well, the ground-covering varieties serving as cover for foundations and banks, others spreading a carpet of flowering greenery over walls, making fences seem friendlier and stone buildings less harsh.

The methods by which vines climb will necessarily influence and determine your selection. Some vines, such as grape vine, have tendrils which reach out and grasp small objects to hold on to; these vines need a lattice or fence. Others, such as Boston ivy, have adhesive discs that fasten on to a brick or stone wall, and still others, such as the climbing hydrangea, hold to a masonry wall with small, aerial rootlets.

Finally, there are those that climb by twining around other branches or poles, climbing from left to right, or right to left (like honeysuckle). This type can be parasitic in the worst sense, climbing over small bushes and trees and completely strangling them.

No vine should be unsupported, however, and attractive vines are those which are carefully trained and held up. Supports such as arbors, trellises and pergolas need not be elaborately constructed, since their function is to display the vine, not themselves. Wood or other material that does not require painting is ideal, for the natural woods are really more suitable as a background for vines than are the painted ones.

If you have a wooden house and want vines on the walls, it is a good idea to construct a detachable trellis, hinged at the bottom so that it can swing outward when painting is going on. There will be sufficient flexibility in the tendrils to allow this.

Front Yard Landscaping

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Not so long ago the number of reliable shrubs was quite limited, but today the many new hybrids have lengthened the list and the gardener’s choice is almost endless. No matter the region, it is now possible to plant shrubs that will satisfy color needs, bloom at various seasons, cover bare spots where grass won’t grow, or grow in such profusion and depth that screening purposes are served.

Shrubs are valuable to the gardener because they bridge the gap between trees and flowers. As do trees, they serve as boundary markers, soften the lines of buildings, act as a decorative background for flower beds and hide unsightly views. Like flowers, they add character and shape to the garden, blooming forth with colorful blossoms and attracting birds with their berries. One big item in their favor is that they mature rapidly, yet remain as hardy and long-lived as trees.

Front Yard Landscaping

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Pruning in late spring before new buds appear seems to help an evergreen thrive. Prune so that the inner branches can develop and the tree or shrub is more compact.  Formal trees can be kept trim, with no ragged branches sticking out, and badly shaped or deformed trees can be corrected through shaping.

Evergreens are susceptible to “winter-burn” from too much wind and winter sun, so that they dry up and their branches crack under the weight of snow or the force of wind.
 
A precaution is to water them deeply before the ground freezes in the late fall. They may also be protected in winter by screens of burlap or straw mats. Where wind and winter sun are not too strong, shielding only on the sunny side is necessary. Burlap boxes or covers should be well ventilated. Thin, tall shrubs or small evergreen trees may be tied with strips of cloth, so that the branches will not crack. Old trees with heavy limbs may be propped with boards to prevent breakage under heavy snow or ice.

Front Yard Landscaping

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Evergreen trees and shrubs are more expensive in general than deciduous trees (trees that drop their leaves in winter). But they are worth their cost because of their year-round beauty, hardiness and longevity. Evergreens range from the broadleaved shrubs like rhododendron and laurel to the tall-needled cone-bearing pines and stately spruces.

The giant spruces and firs are most effective as windscreens; the spreading evergreen shrubs are widely used not only because of their attractiveness but also because they can be shaped and trimmed and do well in the shade (such as for foundation planting).

Pine is the most commonly known of the evergreens. White pine is noted for its long, soft, light silvery-green needles and rapid attainment of its 60- to 80-foot maturity. Red pine, as well as white pine, is splendid for backgrounds and windbreaks. Ponderosa pine, a broad, compact tree, is used for protection and ornamental screens. Austrian pine (black pine) with its rich, green color and spreading branches has great favor in the Midwest. Globe mugho pine is a small, rounded tree for ornamental planting.

Norway spruce is probably the most widely planted windbreak evergreen. Quick growing and. hardy, it has short needles of dark green; is a compact, pyramidal shape. Black Hills spruce grows to 40 feet in time, is hardy and drought-resistant. A slow grower, it can remain in close quarters for many years. White spruce has short, thick, light blue-green needles; it matures at 60 to 70 feet and is good for landscaping and screens. Colorado blue spruce is a good specimen tree and hardy, too, but it suffers in heat and drought. Of the cedars, red cedar is a fine ornamental evergreen for hedges and windbreaks. It withstands dry weather and the thick green foliage has a bronze in winter.

Douglas fir is the best fir for windbreaks and screening. Hardy, healthy, drought-resisting, it grows quickly and compactly, and its lofty pyramid makes a good lawn specimen. Balsam fir, the Christmas tree, is noted for its fragrance and lustrous foliage. White fir, a specimen, has an attractive silvery color.

Arbor vitae, like cedar, furnishes the flat evergreen branch found in flower arrangements at Christmas. It is an ornamental tree of many varieties, and is best located in moist protected places. Un-trimmed, it is a broad pyramid, 35 to 50 feet tall, but it shears to any size or shape.

The juniper family is useful in planting, in tall forms such as the formal columnar juniper and the upright juniper, and as a spreading evergreen — the remarkable Pfitzer juniper—for banks, ground cover and edgings. The green feathery foliage grows rapidly; can stand crowding. Height at maturity is 8 feet, spread up to 12. Ground-covering junipers include prostrate, Sargent, Waukegan and creeping varieties.

Another evergreen with feathery foliage is the hemlock. The Canadian hemlock can be sheared in a symmetrical manner. Hemlock is most effective when planted in a grove with others.

Yew, with its thick glossy needles and dense, upward-reaching branches, is useful as both shrub and tree, growing well in sun and shade. Try using it not in the usual manner — as foundation planting only — but as a single handsome specimen against a wall of the garden. The low-spreading bushy dwarf yew can be clipped well. Other varieties are upright yew and Japanese yew, a tapering or conical tree or shrub used for hedges.

Front Yard Landscaping

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An easier method is to drill holes over the same area, 12 to 18 inches deep and spaced about 15 inches apart. Fill each hole with a commercial fertilizer (made up of bone meal, tankage, peat moss or humus) plus chemicals, in a formula containing 10% nitrogen,6% phosphoric acid and 4%  potash.  Many nurseries also provide stakes made from compressed fertilizer that you can drive into the ground around the tree.

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