Your front yard is typically the first thing people see and appreciate when they approach your home. But not everyone wants the classic white picket fence, and you might want to go for something a little bit more original and current. Here are six modern front yard landscaping ideas. We’ll present a variety of options, so there’s something for everyone.
Put in Flower Beds
Flower beds are a classic landscaping feature. Yet there’s plenty of room for innovation, whether it is planting local species or exotic ones. You can organize the colors and heights to create a beautiful display, while a little planning lets you put in something that will display color year-round. Remember that a narrow flower bed could be planted along walkways, sidewalks, and porches to provide an eye-popping display in the little space you have.
Mix a Walkway with Greenery
Instead of relying on a poured concrete walkway, mix attractive stepping stones or concrete pavers with well-tended grass. It gives your yard a natural look and maximizes the green space. It can also tie a patio or driveway into the surrounding grass or flower beds while preventing ugly trails from being blazed through them.
Another approach is putting in concrete planters between your house and features like the driveway. These “concrete gardens” have a modern aesthetic, while the plants inside of the concrete planters break up the artificial feeling.
Play with River Rock
This is an affordable way to add character to your property. Create a faux river bed with river rock. Or use large pieces of river rock to break up the flower beds. Use them to create a visual arrangement around trees while they foster moss growth.
Add a Water Feature
Water features instantly add character to a yard. You can find store-bought water features that are easy to maintain or work with a contractor to custom-build one. Water features can even become planters, hosting grasses and floating plants. Surround the water feature with river rock, a stepping stone path with grass and flowers between them, or a bench that invites visitors to sit there.
Install Lights
Putting lights along your pathways serves several purposes. The first is practical. You’re ensuring that visitors won’t trip on stepping stones and no one trudges through the yard when there is a sidewalk a few feet over. The second is aesthetic. Lights set up along a river-rock trail or stone pathway draws attention to the feature. The light can make the outdoors more inviting in the evening, as well. If you have sunken gardens, lights are a great way to make sure everyone knows where they are and will appreciate them from a distance.
Put in The Safety Features You’ve Always Needed
We’ve already touched on the importance of having lights in place to improve visibility and safety. However, that isn’t all you can do. Driveway alarms are an incredibly useful yet underutilized tool.
Motion sensors on the driveway will alert you when someone walks up, a valuable deterrent to thieves. It could be combined with audible alarms to scare away human intruders and animal ones alike. Driveway alarms are perfect for long driveways. Don’t be surprised by someone showing up at the front door. Let a driveway alarm give you precious moments to prepare. Or tie it to your security system so that you know whether it is safe to open the door.
Conclusion
We’ve shared a number of the hottest modern landscaping trends. And we’ve focused on the affordable upgrades to your yard, so you don’t have to take out a second mortgage to have that new look.