80 Lush Landscaping Ideas for Your Front Yard

The front yard is your home's calling card. Make a huge street-side impression with the right plants, flowers and landscaping. Not sure where to begin? Get inspired by these front yard landscape ideas.

March 23, 2021

By: Julie Martens Forney and Chelsea Faulkner

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Low-Maintenance Landscape

A long walkway allows for clear views right to the front door. With trees and lush greenery across the front yard, this vacation home truly complements its stunning surroundings.

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Details set a house apart, and it’s worth the cost to incorporate a one-of-a-kind touch. Consider splurging on a custom-cut metal number plate. Here, the number plate contrasts with the native stone retaining wall and echoes the copper tones of oversize planting bowls. Perennial ground-hugging ‘Pink Jewel’ Sedum spurium softens the wall’s hard lines and injects more color to entry plantings. Design by Landform Design Group.

SEE MORE: 38 Chic Ways to Display House Numbers

From: Landform Design Group

Bring on the Blooms

A tumble of cottage garden plants weaves a welcome mat for this cozy home. Early season flowers feature chartreuse tones of hydrangeas and ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum, which fade to rose shades as summer slips into fall. White coneflowers and silvery lamb’s-ears sound a steady note in this symphony of bloom. A trio of tuteur trellises add vertical interest and contrast with the home’s curving roof lines.

SEE MORE: 25 Classic Cottage Garden Flowers

From: Mom's Design Build

Elevated Appeal

Tame a sloping front yard with terraced planting beds. A mix of annuals, perennials and evergreens ensure multi-season interest, even when the snow flies. Stairs, bedframes and arched trellis by the front yard patio wear the same shade of brown that lets the hardscape fade into the background so plantings can shine. Design by HGTV fan On_the_east_twin

SEE MORE: 25 Sturdy Retaining Wall Ideas for a Sloped Yard

Walk This Way

A curving bluestone walk crafts a journey to the front door of this modern interpretation of cottage style. Wide, gentle curves make mowing a breeze, and matching planters mark the start and end of the walk—and provide a place to add bright blooms to the scene. Foundation beds brim with a blend of flowering shrubs, evergreens and a neon burst of pink petunias.

SEE MORE: 40 Ideas for Creating the Perfect Pathway in Your Yard

From: Bob Hursthouse

A Desert Oasis

Strong lines create a stark contrast to the natural landscape in this modern shed-style home. Cable deck railing echoes the home's linear design and forges a seamless transition from living space to the Great Outdoors. Lines continue to play throughout the entry, from patio umbrella to deck panels. Low-maintenance plantings feature agave tucked into a bed of gray stones.

TAKE A TOUR: Living Large in Small Spaces: Micro House With Hints of Yellow

From: H3K Design

Gorgeous Getaway

A lake retreat greets guests with a landscape that looks as natural as the beautiful forest surroundings. Rhododendrons and azaleas bring seasonal color, while evergreens deliver year-round interest. A small water garden comes to life with native, moss-covered stones, adding the sound of trickling water to the weekend hideaway.

SEE MORE: 40 Before-and-After Curb Appeal Makeovers

Go Green in Style

Informal plantings complement this quaint cottage built in 1937 and featured in HGTV Magazine. Boxwoods and other evergreens blend beautifully with the home’s yellow exterior, echoing the deep green of shutters and door. A window box and blue pot by the stairs provide spots for sizzling annual color that can change with the seasons.

SEE MORE: 67 Inviting Home Exterior Color Palettes

From: HGTV Magazine

Forest Retreat

Stone-edged beds and a cozy blanket of pine straw mulch help this 2018 HGTV Ultimate Retreat blend into its North Carolina mountain setting. Foundation plantings include a mix of evergreens and birch trees, which offer strong multi-season interest. By arranging plantings to the sides of the spacious front porch, views of a raised planting bed and surrounding forest remain unobstructed.

Front Yard Finery

Craft a flower-flanked walkway that serves a buffet for pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. These pretty perennials include an edging row of ‘Millenium’ ornamental onion (Allium), purple Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) and PeeGee hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata). The plantings bring a carefree vibe with a blend of textures and colors, the perfect accent for this cottage-style home. Design by Virginia Rockwell

SEE MORE: Attract a Host of Pollinators With a Backyard Pollinator Garden Perfect for Containers

Elegance Abounds

Neatly clipped boxwood hedges give this entry a formal ambiance, an ideal accompaniment to this luxurious estate-style home. Mirror image plantings outside the front door give the garden a sense of balance that reflects the structure. Informal plantings of perennials and loose-form shrubs grace the driveway, greeting guests with a hint of the garden glory to come.

SEE MORE: Evergreen Shrubs Bring Non-Stop Color

From: Seoane Landscape Design

Light Up the Night

Use landscape lights to improve nighttime visibility and showcase plantings. Uplighting a tree like this paperbark maple (Acer griseum) transforms it into a living work of art. A shrub rose row combined with a pair of PeeGee hydrangea bushes are the epitome of romance, especially with their free-form shapes playing a counterpoint to a tightly clipped boxwood hedge. The contrast of texture and form with light and dark turns this entry into an ideal garden for moonlit strolls.

SEE MORE: 25 Outdoor Lighting Ideas That Won't Break the Bank

From: Seoane Landscape Design

A Flowery Fence Line

The classic white picket fence begs for cottage-style plantings, and this front yard flower border delivers in spades. Quintessential cottage garden bloomers include pink shrub roses skirted with a floral petticoat of purple catmint (Nepeta), chartreuse lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and spiky purple meadow sage (Salvia). Repeating color blocks is a basic garden design tenet that works just as beautifully in a fence-row planting as it does in large garden borders.

SEE MORE: 10 Beautiful, Easy-to-Grow Climbing Roses for Your Garden

An Earth-Friendly Driveway

Alternating strips of bricks and grass form a driveway that scores high for urban greening. Grass areas slow rain and absorb it, allowing water to percolate into soil below—instead of flowing into municipal storm drains. It’s a great way to increase your home’s curb appeal, especially in metropolitan areas where storm runoff is taxed. Besides that, the combination of red brick and green grass gives this Dutch colonial an idyllic cottage feel.

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A Neutral Palette

This entry proves that a simple color scheme can earn rave reviews. Dark gray contrasts beautifully with the natural wood tones of porch columns, garage door and fence, and an asymmetrical walk pairs well with the home’s craftsman details. Fill small beds with dwarf or slow-growing plants that won’t outgrow their spots. Choices here include sea thrift (Armeria), dwarf gold spirea, perennial sage (Salvia), society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) and ornamental grasses.

SEE MORE: 50 Garage Door Ideas to Enhance Your Home's Exterior

From: Lauren Nelson

Fairy Tales Come True

Storybook charm abounds in this whimsical design with its white picket fence, window box flowers and rounded porch openings. Topiary shrubs—in planting beds and front porch pots— echo the circular design motif. Tidy bed edges, trimmed lawn and the home’s purple-pink color scheme enhance the ambiance.

Mediterranean Escape

A native stone façade combines with Italian cypress trees to conjure images of Tuscany in Powder Springs, Georgia. Raised, terraced planting beds by the door bring trees and shrubs to appropriate scale for the soaring chateau-style roof peak. A trio of planting urns along the front steps enriches the theme.

SEE MORE: 70 Mansions With Extraordinary Curb Appeal

From: Harry Norman, REALTORS and Luxury Portfolio International®

Clean and Crisp

Simple plantings can deliver complex beauty, evidenced by this front yard landscape where boxwood hedges and lawns provide a green foil for white container gardens. The container collection includes urns, oblong planters and window boxes, all filled with colorful annuals. The minimal landscape design complements the Creole home style, letting the architecture take its turn in the spotlight.

SEE MORE: A Rainbow of Curb Appeal From HGTV Magazine

Modern Lakehouse, Luxurious Landscape

At this contemporary home, blocky concrete walls interplay with a gravel walkway and fine textured plants, including ornamental grasses and black Liriope. A trio of clustered white paper birch (Betula papyrifera) trees add vertical interest to the plantings with an open form that contrasts nicely with the concrete walls.

From: Juxtapose Design Build

Green and Glorious

Intricate plant textures and leaf colors fill the landscape around this picture-perfect Victorian home. Just as architectural details capture attention on the home, evergreen shrubs and trees weave an eye-catching tapestry around it. White-flowered annuals and perennials embroider knots of color into plantings. Design by HGTV fan babycates

Smart Home, Smart Landscape

For a low-maintenance landscape, generate color and interest using a variety of evergreen shrubs. Look for types that feature naturally small sizes and slow growth rates. Choose a home exterior color like the dove gray of this HGTV 2014 Smart Home to make evergreens in every hue of green, gold and gray-green shine.

A Grand Entrance

A rose-covered arbor turns any gate into the stuff of fairy tales. This arbor turns tradition on its head by extending the picket fence and arbor along the walk, where another climbing rose scampers up a pillar. This design strategy showcases roses in a way that doesn’t reduce the entrance with thorny canes. When using climbing roses on an entry, consider nearly thornless types like pink ‘Zéphirine Drouhin,’ pink ‘Mortimer Sackler,’ purple ‘Veilchenblau’ or white ‘Madame Alfred Carrière.’

Colonial Charm

A picture-perfect entry blends romance with tradition, and the result is magic. Baby blue shutters and door pair with pink roses (shrub roses at the end of the walk and ground cover roses by the house) to create an eye-pleasing scene. Window boxes and front porch pots enhance the flower show with blooming annuals.

From: HGTV Magazine

Fuss-Free Beauty

Easy-care shrubs take center stage at this bungalow-inspired home. Evergreens encircling front yard trees need annual clipping to keep that sharp edge, while boxwoods edging the walk and evergreens along the porch feature a small size that doesn’t demand yearly trimming. Landscape lighting keeps walkways safe and accessible at night.

Timeless Traditions

One of the advantages of the Arts & Crafts architectural style is that it blends seamlessly into any landscape. Here a quartet of dwarf podocarpus (Podocarpus macrophyllus ‘Pringles’) evergreen shrubs form a no-maintenance foundation planting. Wall ledges along the stairs support a pair of window boxes planted with colorful succulents and coleus, and a row of daylilies adds low-growing color to the entry walk.

No Mower Needed

Fill your front yard with a mix of succulents and native and ornamental grasses for a “lawn” that never needs mowing. This xeriscape landscape also doesn’t need watering once plants are established. The style is ideal for a contemporary home, but you can also adopt it with any architectural design.

SEE MORE: 16 Ornamental Grasses You Should Grow

From: Kiesel Design

A Symmetrical Welcome

The balanced lines of this Dutch Colonial translate to the paired planting beds flanking the porch. Dappled willow (Salix integra ‘Hakuro Nishiki’), also known as Japanese variegated willow, breaks up green foundation plantings. When choosing shrubs for porch-side planting beds, focus on ones that stay small enough to avoid blocking views. Low growing gray-leafed catmint (Nepeta) and red petunias edge the stone raised beds with more color.

From: HGTV Magazine

Contemporary Curb Appeal

Large concrete pavers form a curving path to this modern entry. Clumps of pink muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) line the path, with an agave accent near the driveway. This type of landscape delivers strong color from low-maintenance plants with low water needs.

From: J.R. Kramer

Modern Masterpiece

An entry garden commands attention when it highlights brightly colored plants, including gold shrubs and pink ornamental muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris). A vertical pocket garden overflowing with succulents makes a great addition to the contemporary ambiance.

From: J.R. Kramer

Romantic Hideaway

With its fairy tale qualities, this 1923 Fairfield, Connecticut, home begged for lush plantings overflowing with blooms. The plant palette delivers fragrance, multi-season interest and flowers galore with red ground cover roses, mophead hydrangeas and a weeping cherry tree. This home was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

Tropical Paradise

Waterfront property can look just as good on the land side when you line the entry with beautiful trees. This Lido Key, Florida, home features a palm tree allee, a parallel row of trees that lines a passageway in a landscape. In this setting, the combination of tall and short palm trees work together to draw the eye toward the front door.

From: Clifford Scholz

Perennial Pleasures

Curving planting beds usher guests along a bluestone path toward this traditional Tudor home. Perennial plantings provide multi-season interest, starting with this gorgeous spring show of peony, giant allium and purple salvia (Salvia sylvestris). Ornamental grasses offer summer seed heads and fall color, while gold thread cypress shrubs (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera Aurea’) sparkle in every season.

From: Nilsen Landscape Design

Strong Lines, Intense Hues

Exotic locales demand bold color, and this Orlando, Florida, front yard doesn’t disappoint. Foundation plantings feature a row of ti plants (Cordyline fruticosa), which unfurl leaves in hot pink shades. Those sizzling tints contrast beautifully with the brilliant blue front door, while neatly blending with stair tiles. Bowl planters provide the finishing touch with curves that stand out against the straight lines of the Mediterranean-style home. This home was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

Made for the Shade

Natural stones weave a path through a shady front yard to a farmhouse-style home. Grass wasn’t tough enough to grow beneath shade trees, so homeowners swapped it for some pretty perennials, including pink dianthus and pale blue woodland phlox for spring color, followed by drifts of ferns in summer.

A Rosy Outlook

Fill a front yard with fragrant color by planting rose bushes that never stop blooming. Low-maintenance Knock Out roses deliver a steady flower show from spring until frost, which means your home’s curb appeal always looks top-notch. Knock Out roses come in a variety of hues, including pink, red, yellow and white. Plants need light pruning in early spring to keep them from billowing over walkways.

Mountain Retreat

Every day seems like a mountain vacation when your front yard features a meandering stream. The sound of moving water invites guests to linger, and a circular terrace offers built-in streamside seating. The beauty of this water garden is more than skin deep—its presence limits lawn, which means less mowing and more time savoring the scenery.

From: Platinum Landscape & Pools

A Nod to the South

A red plantation-style home features mirror plantings to echo the balanced architecture. A pair of Southern magnolia trees (Magnolia grandiflora) anchor foundation planting beds, which feature a row of neat boxwood shrubs. A brick walkway brings charming character to the period home, with a pair of landscape roses greeting guests and passersby.

From: HGTV Magazine

Colorful Curb Appeal

Annuals deliver a season-long show that’s bigger than life when you plant them en masse. This petunia rainbow skirts a small tree and row of boxwoods. Container gardens feature more vivid annual blooms. Filling a trio of pots with identical planting designs creates cohesion in a setting.

Upgrade Your Lawn

Trade your turf for beautiful ornamental grasses, and your mowing chores will be done. This front yard comes to life each time the wind blows, creating ripples in the Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima). Other ornamental grasses and a grass-like perennial, sea thrift (Armeria), fill the planting bed closest to the street. One note about Mexican feather grass: It tends to self-sow readily and is a restricted plant in some regions.

From: Shades of Green Landscape Architecture

A Luxurious Hedge

Upgrade your front yard plantings with a flowering hedge that’s guaranteed to turn heads. Invincibelle Mini Mauvette hydrangea gives you a lot of bang for your curb-appeal buck. They’re easy to grow, need little care and put on a spectacular show when they bloom. For best growth, give these flowering shrubs morning sun with afternoon shade.

Sunny Side Up

A cheerful yellow exterior looks great paired with a welcoming salmon front door on this 1976 Charlotte, North Carolina, home, which was featured in HGTV Magazine. Instead of opting for traditional foundation plantings, homeowners swapped a swath of lawn for large planting beds that fit the scale of the home. A winding brick path meanders through the landscape, which features a mix of easy care shrubs and perennials that fill the front yard with soft seasonal color.

From: HGTV Magazine

Neat as a Pin

A concrete and stone wall built with locally quarried rocks give this charming home timeless charm. The wrought iron entry is the perfect complement to the rock studded wall. The arch does double duty, softening rigid wall lines and echoing the fanlight above the front door. The evergreen hedge and vine help shelter the front yard, providing privacy.

From: HGTV Magazine

Go for the Gold

It’s not quite a yellow brick road, but these bright gold ‘Sunshine’ ligustrum (Ligustrum sinense) light up the path to this front door. In garden design, repeating a similar color in blocks is a technique used to unify different planting areas. The color yellow is one that the human eye sees quickly, so these ‘Sunshine’ plantings cause your eye to leapfrog right to the front door. It’s a clever planting strategy that works well for entry gardens.

From: Designs By Elizabeth

Night Watch

Keep lighting in mind as you design your front yard landscape. Place lights to brighten walkways and spotlight sculptural plants. Choose fixtures that complement your home’s architecture, like these Arts & Crafts-inspired lanterns. Clumps of Sunpatiens, sun-tolerant impatiens, add color to the walkway by day and don’t obscure lights by night.

Move Over, Lawn

In Houston, a 1930 traditional Craftsman-style bungalow doesn’t need a lawn for curb appeal. A low-maintenance garden fills the front yard with floral finery, including blue agapanthus, ornamental grasses and ‘Radicans’ miniature gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides ‘Radicans’), a slow-growing shrub that tops out at 12 inches tall by 36 inches wide—an ideal small garden plant.

From: HGTV Magazine

Gorgeous Geometry

Curves rule the day in this elegant entryway, offering a graceful counterpoint to the home’s linear Mission-inspired silhouette. Irregularly shaped stones give the front walk hopscotch flair, leading to semi-circular steps topped with rounded urns full of blooming geraniums and lobelia. Annual flowers add color to in-ground beds, with perky gold pansies and a ruffle of white sweet alyssum.

From: Pascale Land Design

California-Cool Curb Appeal

A sloping front yard can make mowing an Olympic event. With the help of Licensed Contractor Jason Cameron, this Escondido family tamed their slope using large boulders skirted with succulents and surrounded by shrubs and perennials. Plantings near the larger-than-life rocks will stay small, letting the stones take center stage. Other plantings are low enough to provide a hint of privacy to the porch without blocking outward views.

Plant a Living Screen

Revive the art of porch sitting with cozy chairs, a comfy swing and a trio of neatly trimmed evergreens. Hanging baskets and pots of annuals bring the color, along with a row of hydrangeas edging the driveway. In narrow spaces, count on shrubs like hydrangeas for strong multi-season interest.

A Beautiful Drive

Terraced planting beds set off this hilltop home with manicured beauty. A host of evergreen shrubs, ornamental grasses and strategically placed trees transform the driveway into a space reminiscent of a 19th century estate garden. Repeating similar plants in patterns throughout the landscape fosters a formal ambiance that’s the perfect companion to this Greek Revival-style home.

From: Scenic Landscaping

Paint With Living Color

This hunter green Colonial features a front yard that oozes cottage garden charm. A staggered-picket fence dons a gold-hued skirt of annual marigolds and perennial coralbells (Heuchera) that echo a duet of gold thread cypress shrubs (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera Aurea’) flanking the porch. Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) forms a purple drift on either side of the front walk, repeating the vivid purple petunias in the paired porchside urns. A standard tree finishes foundation plantings with storybook flair. This home was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

Hillside Haven

A brilliant way to deal with a sloping front yard is to landscape the steepest part. A mix of colorful shrubs and ornamental grasses demands little in the way of upkeep, creating a low maintenance landscape that looks great in every season. Keeping plantings below the window line lets natural light flood interior spaces.

From: HGTV Magazine

Make an Impact With Color

Deep teal, white trim and brick red steps update this bungalow-inspired home with a modern color riff on red, white and blue. Neatly clipped evergreen hedges translate the home’s rigid lines into the landscape, while boxwood “balls” inject eye-catching curves. A cluster of shrub roses adds another layer of the red accent color from this home’s palette. This home was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

Welcome Friends

Wide planting beds hug the curving walk to this California bungalow. Bed size suits the luxurious porch, which runs the width of the house. A blend of newly planted ornamental grasses and perennials will fill out over time, adding depth and texture to the scene. The picket fence reflects the porch column design, tying the entry together from public sidewalk to private porch.

From: HGTV Magazine

Totally Tudor

Built in 1928, this Providence, Rhode Island, home was featured in HGTV Magazine. The traditional Tudor architecture showcases mixed materials, and landscape plantings play with that theme using green and white hues. Variegated leaves take center stage in streetside hostas and spiky iris near the house. White blooms of the kousa dogwood tree (Cornus kousa) sparkle in spring, followed by white flowered oakleaf hydrangeas near the sidewalk in summer.

From: HGTV Magazine

Fit for the Desert

In arid regions, a xeriscape landscape design blends hardscape and plantings to create a cohesive, beautiful scene. Low-water use plants, including succulents and agave, thrive with a Palomino gravel mulch, which combines harmoniously with the two offset board-form-finish concrete walls. The sculptural plantings include a pair of Texas sage shrubs (Leucophyllum frutescens) with gray-green leaves and purple blooms in spring and summer.

From: Landwell Design + Build Co.

Modern Art

Elegant lines of a modern home design translate to a stunning landscape. Formed concrete pads with a simple broom finish feature square and rectangular shapes. Gray beach pebbles between pads let rainwater percolate to minimize storm runoff. Plantings focus on specimens with strong sculptural forms, including palm trees, succulents and dracaena.

From: Borden Landscape Design

Eye-Pleasing Palette

A simple color scheme makes this front yard shine. For the Craftsman-style home, gray and white dominate with sizzling red accents. Plantings extend this three-tone theme with green, white and a spark of burgundy (Cordyline australis) in containers. Raised beds by the house feature variegated green and white hostas and liriope. Green ‘Sky Pencil’ hollies (Ilex crenata) provide vertical interest with a narrow form that doesn’t have a large footprint.

Take the Plunge

You don’t need a mountain retreat to conjure the feel of one in your own front yard. A simple waterfall with a small pond is all it takes to cultivate that vacation state of mind. A mix of large boulders creates the natural setting for the water feature, and raised planting beds host perennials and small trees to enhance the ambiance. Near the porch, color prevails with hydrangeas and old-fashioned Hosta plantaginea, which opens sweetly scented blooms in summer.

From: Mickman Brothers

Ford Every Stream

A wooden footbridge offers dry footing over a beautiful, flowing stream that turns into the waterfall of the previous image. Low-growing shrubs and perennials won’t overtake the stream, letting its sparkling movement and sound take center stage. Don’t forget to include cozy seating nearby when you have a water feature to savor.

From: Mickman Brothers

Small Gardens, Big Color

Tight quarters feature luxurious plantings using window boxes and large containers. Identical planting designs keep the look cohesive and feature annuals like sweet potato vine, coleus, petunia and begonia. In sidewalk containers, purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) adds height as a thriller plant. A large PeeGee hydrangea is tucked into the narrow planting strip, showing just how versatile these hydrangeas are. Design by HGTV fan kmphelps

Hello, Sunshine!

A yellow door brightens this shady setting with a splash of sunny color. Planting beds embellish the home’s simple lines with gentle curves that complement the entry walk. The landscape reflects the yellow door with gold thread cypress shrubs (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera Aurea’). Burgundy tones introduce a secondary hue to the palette via a weeping Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) and coralbells (Heuchera) along the path. Variegated green and white hostas complete the tableau. This home was featured on HGTV’s Cousins Undercover.

Keeping It Zen

A Japanese rock or Zen garden, this front yard combines elegant beauty with low maintenance. A rock wall, boulders and gravel mulch introduce the stone elements typical of a Zen garden. Plantings include black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra), pink heather, golden variegated sweet flag (Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’), Pieris japonica and loropetalum.

Remarkably Beautiful

Three gables, three steps to the porch and three colors elevate this Detroit front yard from simple to splendid. The green accent hue on porch pillars and base segues into the landscape via corner evergreens and a trio of Chinese silver grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’), which adds vertical interest to planting beds. Yellow pansies provide color during cool seasons. This curb appeal design was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

Fabulous Foliage

Carefully crafted plantings orchestrate a chorus of leaf texture and color that make this front yard sing. The bass note that helps carry this botanical recital is a sidewalk made of exposed aggregate concrete in brown tones that blend with the mulch. Foliage plant performers include speckled lungwort (Pulmonaria), gold hosta, burgundy barberry (Berberis), Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa) and juniper shrubs.

Cute and Cozy

This Essex County, New Jersey, Dutch Colonial home welcomes guests to a charming front yard outfitted with storybook plantings and comfy patio. A curving brick paver walk leads through garden beds that include canna lilies, Bolivian begonias, bearded iris and bee balm. A White Snow Fountains weeping cherry tree brings multi-season interest to the small garden—and will never outgrow the space. This home was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

The Quintessential Cottage

Picket fence, meandering flagstone path, lush plantings—this front yard checks all the boxes for a cottage garden. The natural hues of this Arts & Crafts-inspired home blend into the shady space and let plantings shine. Landscape highlights include a crape myrtle tree, ferns, variegated liriope, impatiens and hydrangeas.

Crazy Quilt of Color

Red Knock Out roses and pink Indian hawthorns (Rhaphiolepis) shield a hidden front patio in this lavishly planted front yard. Different shades of purple petunias draw the gaze through the planting bed, while clumps of silvery dusty miller and lamb’s ears form a backdrop that lets the colorful blooms shine. Design by Whimsical Gardens.

Beach Villa Beauty

Tropical plantings of palm trees, cycads, asparagus ferns and iron plant welcome guests to this ranch home. Neutral-colored stone on the home’s exterior and walkway let landscaping steal the spotlight. A low privacy wall surrounds the property, with succulent bowls perched on pillars that designate the formal entry to this front yard.

From: NMA Architects

Cope With a Slope

Tame a sloping front yard with terraces that create planting nooks and wide steps. This stonework blends flagstone surfaces with Allan Block retaining walls for a natural look. For color, plantings include hostas, yarrow and several ornamental grasses, including blue fescue (Festuca glauca), Japanese blood grass (Imperata cylindrica) and dwarf prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis ‘Tara’). Soft teal landscape lighting embellishes the space both day and night.

Conquering a Hill

Upright planting elements capture the gaze in this hilly front yard. A pair of crape myrtle trees, two clumps of purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) and double urns on the porch stand as strong vertical elements that hold attention against gravity’s downward pull in this entry garden. A retaining wall corrals the steepest part of the slope, turning it into a planting bed filled with evergreen shrubs.

From: HGTV Magazine

History in Bloom

Built in 1885, this home in Detroit boasts classic Queen Anne design. Formal boxwood hedges enclose PeeGee hydrangea bushes (Hydrangea paniculata). It’s a contrast in plant textures—clipped and tidy versus loose and romantic—but the look works with this architectural stunner of living history. Hanging baskets add color to the wraparound front porch. This home was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

A Slice of Spain

When your home offers a sea of concrete (translation: large driveway) separating thin patches of yard, one solution is to bring in mature olive trees. That’s what Allen Land Design did to soften the entry to this Spanish-style home. Beds of lavender and ornamental grasses forge the final element that makes this yard feel like a little piece of heaven, also known as the Andalusia region of Spain.

Under the Tuscan Sun

A terraced front yard in Santa Rosa, California, transforms a patchy lawn into a multi-level garden with a Mediterranean palette of gray-green foliage, ornamental grasses and fragrant herbs like rosemary and lavender. Tall containers host Italian cypress trees that embellish the space with vertical interest. Stone slab steps and patio landings provide firm footing on the hilly terrain, while stucco and curved steel walls partner with boulders to serve as retaining walls.

Let the Sun Shine

Long and abundant windows welcome natural light into this Boulder, Colorado, home that was featured in HGTV Magazine. A cheerful yellow door hints at this homeowner’s love affair with the mountain region’s bright sunshine. Roses skirt the porch, which has an open railing to let the light in. A picket fence and winding entry walk complete this front yard’s cozy cottage vibe.

From: HGTV Magazine

Escape to the Country

You can’t miss the entry to this home, since it’s so beautifully marked with climbing pink roses smothering entry arches. The flowery abandon continues in an over-the-top cottage garden with shrub roses and a gorgeous edging of lush catmint (Nepeta). A simple rope fence pretends to corral the floral finery, creating just enough definition to separate entry garden and lawn.

From: Andrew Grossman

Level Up

Gorgeous tiled steps at the corner of this front yard offer easy access from driveway to front walk. A blue front door reflects sky and extends a warm welcome. Boasting drought tolerance and low water needs, plantings include succulents, sansevieria and New Zealand flax (Phormium). Container plants add color to landing and porch.

Americana All the Way

This classic Colonial home was built in 1939 in Fairfield, Connecticut. The symmetrical lines, double hung windows and lantern style lamp capture the charm of a bygone era. A bright blue door beckons guests, and mirror planting beds filled with boxwoods and other shrubs flank the porch. Cheerful window boxes brim with bright red geranium blooms and soften the home’s architectural lines. This house was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

One-of-a-Kind Cottage

A red brick walk transforms this tiny yard into a functional work of art. Landscaping features a built-in seating area with fun picket fence-inspired benches. The porch showcases pretty plantings in containers and a built-in planter. A stone wall surrounding the front yard creates a pocket planter backed with a picket fence. This entry teems with creative and inventive touches that set it apart.

Cute and Cozy

A weeping flowering cherry tree, button boxwood bushes, variegated hostas and ground hugging vinca vine make this picture-perfect bungalow a stunning masterpiece. Window boxes and porch container gardens lift color above lawn level, and a rocking chair invites quiet contemplation of the beauty. This Detroit home was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

Curb Appeal Worth Copying

Stone details, painted brick and a red front door help this Alexandria, Virginia, home extend a warm East Coast welcome. Built in 1946, the home showcases impressive foundation plantings, including low growing mugo pines (Pinus mugo), weeping blue atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’), and upright cedar and gold thread cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera Aurea’). The landscape weaves a tapestry of texture and color that shines against white house walls. This home was featured in HGTV Magazine.

From: HGTV Magazine

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