Already have the ultimate party backyard? Now let’s turn to the front. Although we’ve talked about making a grand entrance before, we haven’t covered how to draw people in through elegant front yard landscaping that’s also low-maintenance.
Here are some great ideas:
Get rid of the grass lawn
Or at least make it a small part of your front yard. Grass lawns are notoriously high-maintenance with all the mowing that’s needed. Plus, their constant watering and fertilizing schedule wastes a ridiculous amount of resources.
The smaller your lawn, the more space it’ll open up for more creative landscaping ideas in your front yard.
Hardscape the yard
Hardscaping sculpts the land with non-plant-based elements. This includes a combination of paved stones, rocks, gravel, landscape fabric, wood boxes, and even brick borders or walls.
This is where you can use your imagination to plan the layout of your front yard and how you want guests to travel through it. The walkway doesn’t always have to be in a straight line towards the front door! It’ll also make you think outside the box beyond the typical giant postage-stamp grass lawn. Hardscaping is what allows you to strike the balance between a sculpted look and a natural feel to your front yard.
Go native
One of the easiest ways to guarantee low maintenance is to get native plants that are well-suited to the climate you’re in. After all, they’ve already adapted to your home’s environment so you don’t have to do much to keep them healthy.
Plant with purpose
Rather than planting something just for looks, choose plants that are useful to both you and the environment.
For example, consider adding clover to your now smaller lawn. Clover helps maintain the greenness of lawns and even regulates the nitrogen in the soil. As a bonus, clover encourages enough biodiversity on your lawn to naturally control insect populations. Their flowers also serve as a much-needed nectar source for bees so that we can help them flourish again.
Another fantastic way to add easy-to-maintain function is through edible plants and herbs that are perennial. Rhubarb, asparagus, thyme, and sage will come every year even after our Canadian winters. The same goes for wild strawberries, some berry bushes as well as apple or hazelnut trees. Do your research and make sure that the plants are compatible with one another. It’s also nice if you plan it out so that their harvest seasons don’t arrive all at once.
We’ll leave you with a final note about tree-planting in particular. Whatever tree you decide to go with, make sure it doesn’t block direct view of the front door. That’s for both practical and feng shui purposes!
