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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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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For a large tree, drive or bore a number of 1 1/2 inch holes 3 to 5 inches deep and 3 feet apart, below the outer branches. Use a canvas hose or cover the hose with a gunny sack and let the water run. When planting new trees or small trees, if you put a few pieces of drain tile in the hole and put the hose in these, you can insure the water reaching the subsoil. Cover the drain-tile holes with stones to avoid evaporation.

Tips On Care

Certain trees will not live long if a fill of soil is laid over their roots, or if a terrace of blacktop, stone, brick or concrete paving blocks is laid over their feeding roots. Large, valuable trees should be protected with drain tile so that they will get water and air. The bark should be protected from dirt from a fill directly against it. You can buy metal tree wells, 3 to 7 feet across and 1 to 3 feet high, or build a masonry wall.

The wall can be capped with a circle of bricks or a low wall to make an extra seat on the terrace. If you have some surface other than sod or earth around the tree, see that it does not extend as far as the tree’s outer feeding roots, and leave a circle of natural soil around the trunk. This can be planted.

Care for your trees as injuries occur rather than wait to call in a tree surgeon and allow a weakened spot to remain untreated.  Remove all dead, decayed, diseased or injured bark.  Do this by removing the entire limb, or, on a large limb or trunk, dig out the decayed matter, sterilizing and waterproofing the cut surfaces with creosote and liquid tar. White lead or paint are not as good to use as they will not seal when used on damp surfaces. Fill deep wounds with concrete. Use a pruning hook carefully, avoiding bruises.

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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