Our front gardens give visitors their first impression of our homes, and they're a chance to show off your personality and get creative. With so many front garden ideas to choose from, there are plenty of ways to add flair to your home.
Whether you're wondering how to make a small front garden look bigger or want to spruce up the space with some front garden lawn ideas, there are options for every budget.
‘For many people, our front gardens give visitors a first glimpse into our homes, says Melanie Hick, garden designer at MHGD. 'Therefore, it’s important to ensure that the initial impression is as welcoming and beautiful as the rest of the space.'
When planning your dream home, don't just focus on the interior and the back garden – we've rounded up our favourite front garden ideas to help inspire your space for the ultimate kerb appeal.
Front garden ideas
Whether you’re looking to make a feature of a sprawling front lawn or you're on the hunt for small front garden ideas, there are so many ways to add personality to a front garden, no matter the size.
From quick fixes that deliver big impact to longer projects, we've compiled a list of the best front garden ideas, with tips from the experts to help us along the way.
1. Make the most of pots
Containers are the perfect way to add greenery to a front garden if you're low on soil space.
'Potted plants are a versatile and easy way to add colour, texture, and interest to your front garden,' says Jenny Davis, head of marketing at Forest Garden. 'They can be used to frame entryways, line pathways, or even create a mini-garden on a porch or patio. Consider using a mix of pots in various sizes and materials to add depth and visual interest.
'Plants like lavender, rosemary, or ornamental grasses can add a touch of elegance, while flowering annuals and perennials bring vibrant colour. You can also change the plants seasonally to keep the look fresh and inviting.'
2. Keep a neat lawn area
If you're lucky enough to have a lawn in your front garden, you'll have plenty of lawn ideas to experiment with. Most common, though, is the traditional manicured look.
'One way of using the space is keeping it well-maintained by regularly mowing and trimming it to keep it neat and tidy,' explains Chris Bonnett, owner of Gardening Express. 'You may also want to consider installing a garden path or walkway to create a more defined space within your garden.'
Keep your lawn in tip-top condition by using a feed like the Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Lawn Food from Amazon.
3. Consider low-maintenance lawn alternatives
If you'd rather spend less time tending to your front lawn, there are plenty of low-maintenance lawn alternatives to consider.
'There are low upkeep and slow growing seed mixes which require much less mowing than most grass seed types,' says Chris Mcllroy, lawn expert at The Grass People. 'Ideal for those of us who are looking for a low-maintenance lawn, the seeds are particularly good for lawns that are shaded. Plus, they'll be hard wearing, drought tolerant and can grow well in low nutrient conditions.'
Creeping thyme and golden creeping Jenny, available at Crocus, are also popular choices. You can buy clover seeds from Amazon to cater for wildlife, too.
4. Add furniture
The best garden furniture ideas aren't limited to the back garden – they can enhance a front garden area, too.
'Furniture can be a fantastic addition to a front garden, transforming it into a welcoming, functional space,' says Jenny from Forest Garden. 'It can serve as an extension of your living area, offering a spot to enjoy a morning coffee or an evening chat with neighbours.
'By strategically placing a bench or a small seating arrangement, you can create a focal point that invites both residents and guests to linger. The key is to ensure the furniture doesn’t obstruct pathways or overwhelm the space. It should enhance the garden's appeal without taking away from the natural beauty.
'For instance, if you have a cottage-style garden, a wooden bench or wrought iron seating can blend beautifully. Compact furniture, like bistro sets, can be ideal for smaller spaces, providing a cosy spot to relax without overwhelming the area.'
Look out for weatherproof options to ensure you get the most out of your garden furniture.
5. Create a colour scheme
We love a good colour scheme indoors, so why not bring one outside? Create a co-ordinated front garden look with plants, flowers and accessories based around the same tones.
'A colour scheme is important to a front garden because it's a way of changing the mood of the space,' says Lee Trethewey, garden designer at Sustainable Furniture. 'When choosing a colour scheme, pick green and two other colours alongside this, as green is present in virtually every plant that you'll use. Consulting a colour wheel is also a good idea, as it will enable you to find complementary colours that will work well together.'
A brightly coloured front door is a great place to start, then add in pots with flowers, a climber or shrub and even path tiles.
6. Flank the front door with potted bay trees
Make a smart entrance by placing a pair of clipped standard bay trees either side of the front door. Painted trellis flanks this country porch, shading the doorway and providing a home for climbing plants.
'Large feature pots by the front door or on a terrace in front of windows help to create privacy and make the garden look elegant and fun,' says garden designer Harriet Worsley. 'We usually plant a hedge of bay, or bush-form olives or Grisellinia litoralis in front troughs to act as a boundary or screen between the street and the garden. Evergreens are essential here, as no one wants to arrive home to a hedge that is dying back in October.'
7. Add lighting
As with your other outdoor spaces, consider which garden lighting ideas you could add to your space. 'We’d recommend adding lighting to highlight specific areas like garden fences or your porch, creating a welcoming ambience,' says David Amos, founder of Amos Lighting. 'Choose energy-efficient lighting that is suitable for outdoor use and ones which complement the style of your home.'
Think about how light will add security and ease to your home as well as style. 'Consider wall lights on either side of the door or possibly a recessed spotlight from above for a porch,' suggests Piero De Marchis, director of Detail Lighting.
'If you are opting for one light, place it on the side where the keyhole and door handle are as it will make it easier when unlocking your door. Above all, ensure it is warm, and inviting and makes guests feel safe.'
8. Plant a fragrant border
Gardens can please all the senses, so don't just look at visuals for your front garden ideas and call it a day. Our sense of smell is so important when building the atmosphere of a space and can elevate our mood in seconds.
If you're looking for garden border ideas, planting fragrant herbs and flowers along your path will provide a pleasant welcome home every day. Think lavender, sage and primrose. If you're not sure what plants go well together, pick up a ready-made scented garden border from Crocus.
9. Embrace your curves
Just because the traditional idea of a front garden is a uniform, square-shaped area, it doesn't mean you have to stick to these shapes.
Mix things up with concentric circles of lawn, patio paving ideas and even flower beds to add extra interest and a new dimension to the entrance of your home.
10. Change it with the seasons
Just as with styling your indoor space, you can have fun changing up your front garden ideas with the seasons. A festive wreath, zinc tubs filled with freshly foraged foliage and pots holding seasonal blooms will do the trick. Plus, there are wreaths for every season, and they're the perfect way to decorate a front door. We love Dunelm's selection of wreaths.
11. Utilise hanging baskets
‘Hanging baskets are a simple way to brighten up your front garden and can be particularly effective if you have limited space,’ says Tom Clifford, director of Gardenstone.
While there are a number of hanging basket mistakes to avoid, this type of gardening allows you to make the most of the vertical space available to you, and there's a long list of the best plants for hanging baskets to choose from.
‘You can hang them either side of your door or garage to frame the area and add a pop of colour,’ Tom adds. When it comes to how to make a small front garden look bigger, incorporating flowers vertically will naturally draw the eye upwards and create the illusion of a more expansive space.
12. Go for naturalistic borders
Take inspiration from meadows and wild areas of nature when setting out borders by choosing a selection of plants in varying in heights, colours and textures. To get the balance right, set the plants out in pots before committing to digging and planting.
Remember that plants spread outwards as well as up, so be sure to leave ample room between each planting.
13. Swap a fence for a hedge
Most terraced and semi-detached homes use front garden ideas that separate the space from their neighbours. The most common in urban areas is a wall or an array of garden fence ideas, but a simple switch to a hedge will add interest and extra privacy.
The most common choice is boxwood, which offers dense leaves that can easily be pruned into shape. Other popular options include laurel hedging, which can be purchased from Gardening Express.
14. Create a natural archway
With cottage garden ideas, you can transform the look of your front garden. The house and garden should appear to flow into one another, and one way to achieve this is by training a climbing plant to create a natural arch over the front door or porch.
As well as looking pretty, this will act as shelter when you're fumbling for your keys on a damp day.
15. Include raised beds
Raised beds shouldn't be confined to the back garden. If you're looking for low-maintenance easy garden ideas, they can be the perfect addition to a front garden space. Plant evergreen shrubs and include some seasonal perennials to ensure bursts of colour throughout the year.
This style is also great if your home is on a hill, as you can build the beds above one another like steps. Portable options are also available, like the Outsunny 2-Piece Raised Beds from Amazon.
16. Try a mirror
Garden mirror ideas are a great way to make spaces seem bigger, but have you ever considered using one in your front garden? Well, Elaine Penhaul, founder of home staging company Lemon and Lime, suggests doing exactly that – not only to make the space feel bigger but also to add some instant visual interest.
‘They work in both front and back gardens but would work best in a private front garden,’ according to Elaine. ‘Putting more than one mirror together and framing it with climbing plants will soften the edges and help to create a cohesive look.’ Plus, this can be a rather inexpensive update to make, especially handy if you’re looking for budget garden ideas.
17. Encourage climbers
Climbers are a pretty way to add interest to the front of your home. There are so many options of easy climbing plants to choose between, from floral clematis to traditional ivy. Speak to your local garden centre for advice on which varieties work best in your area's soil and will adapt best to the positioning of your building.
There are very few plants that ooze charm more than the faithful wisteria plant, a deciduous climber with large pinnate, dark green leaves and drooping racemes up to one metre in length. The fragrant lilac flowers, which bloom in early summer, provide beautiful displays. You can buy wisteria plants from B&Q and many other garden suppliers.
18. Add pattern with a tiled path
Just as with inside the home, the ground is the perfect opportunity to add colour and pattern. With developing techniques and technology, it's now possible to get nearly any tile design in outdoor-appropriate materials for your garden path ideas.
Just remember that while some tiles may be suitable for outdoor use, they can become slippery, so ensure you speak to your supplier to make sure they will be safe to walk on in inclement conditions.
19. Play with textures
Most people head straight to mixing colours when trying to add character with front garden ideas, but there's a lot to be said for texture, too.
Mix and match plants with different shapes and sized leaves, from long and wide to tiny and narrow. This is a great way to achieve year-round interest, especially when you're using evergreen plants.
20. Add a water feature
There are actually a number of different benefits to adding a water feature to your front garden. From blocking out external noise such as traffic, making it ideal for homes on busy streets, to attracting wildlife to your front garden, they can transform even the most underused outdoor space into an oasis.
‘Not only are water features visually appealing, but they can also transform your front garden into a calming sensory experience,' explains Marlena Kaminska, designer at ValueLights. 'The gentle sound of flowing water will greet you on your return home, helping you to transition away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.'
21. Invite a picturesque path to add character
Set the scene with a wooden decked pathway leading up to the front door. This rustic wooden design, infilled with pebbles, offers a softer approach to a front garden path, rather than paving slabs and brick alternatives.
The look can be softened even further with thoughtful planting on either side of the path with wild overgrown foliage, plants and lavender. Link this to the rear of the home by choosing similar garden decking ideas.
22. Hide bins with a wheelie bin store
If you don’t have a lot of outdoor space to begin with or are limited to a front garden only, it can be tricky to know where to place your wheelie bin storage. But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible to do so in a more aesthetically pleasing way.'
'While a collection of wheelie bins and recycling boxes can immediately bring down the look of even the nicest of front gardens, you can hide bins using a wooden bin store or sit them behind some trellis that also doubles as a planting feature to keep your front garden looking clutter-free,' suggests Furniturebox’s product development lead, Laura Rich.
23. Curate a corner of thoughtful planting
Give your driveway a modest planting scheme to create a manageable front garden to pretty up the exterior of your home. Carve out a corner bedding arrangement to plant a mix of perennial green foliage and seasonal flowering shrubs such as hydrangeas to add a splash of colour.
Use a trellis to extend the planting vertically, to flank the doorway, and to make the most of a compact corner plot.
24. Plant tactical topiary for privacy
If your small front garden doesn't offer much in the way of an outdoor space, use it to cultivate a garden that offers privacy. This is especially important if your house resides by the roadside, directly on the pavement.
Topiary is a great way to create your own piece of living architecture to create a shelter from the outside world. Add topiary balls by the front door to compliment the boxwood topiary hedge.
25. Dress the windowsill
You can keep things simple but still make it stylish and inviting by adding some potted flower arrangements to your windowsills. This idea is perfect for dressing the exterior but also provides a pretty view through the window from indoors, too. Go for the best trailing plants for outdoors to create a cascading effect.
26. Landscape a layout
You can use garden landscaping to create elegant front garden ideas which require minimal upkeep. Paving, decorative edging and a healthy olive tree may be simple, but they're incredibly effective (and expensive looking) when used together.
27. Create a rock garden
‘A rock garden is a wonderful way to display small alpine plants at the front of your property,’ says PriceYourJob.co.uk’s gardening expert, Harry Bodell. And we have to agree.
There are plenty of variations of rock garden ideas, but basically, you’ll be looking to combine decorative rocks, bark chippings and drought-tolerant plants to create a low-maintenance front garden.
'While they are more suited to front gardens that face south, as most of these plants enjoy full sun, there are shade-tolerant plants that you can use if your house faces north,' adds Harry.
28. Use gravel for an informal and secure front garden
If you're looking to add security to your home, gravel is a good idea as it will crunch as anyone approaches the door or window. As well as looking and sounding great, this is a popular choice for homeowners on a budget.
Gather together a selection of old lead planters to make a feature on a gravelled patio. Plant them up with bay, scented lavender and cheerful pansies.
29. Try cottage garden planting in a tight space
The smallest patch can provide a home to plants. Tucked behind these spearhead railings, there's just enough room for a scented rose and a selection of cottage garden plants.
30. Pick low-maintenance plants for colour
Above all, a front garden should be easy to keep looking tidy. Unless you have lots of time, aim for fuss-free landscaping and low-maintenance plants. 'A lot of people don’t enjoy looking after their front gardens, so low maintenance shrubs such as Choisya and Viburnum work well,' advises Chris Bonnett from Gardening Express.
31. Deck an American-style porch
Decking is a great way to add character to your front garden design. A raised decking area with a porch swing is a quintessentially American style which translates just as well across the pond. Add a few comfy cushions and ambient lighting to create a cosy feel after dark.
32. Make a feature of a tree with a round bench
Wooden tree benches are a quirky seating solution you'll love, and they're perfect for those wanting to build around nature. You can pick up pre-made designs from as little as £150, or potentially even less if you make use of some garden discount codes.
Alternatively, if you're a competent DIYer, there are a number of instructional videos on YouTube showing you how to make wooden tree benches from old pallets and more.
33. Plant rose bushes for a country look
Complete a country home in picturesque style by including white-painted picket gates to mark the entrance to a charming floral-bordered driveway. Learn how to grow roses to decorate your borders with scented blooms. The colours will pop against a white picket fence.
34. Fill a forecourt with a large-scale potted display
A proliferation of pots and troughs greets visitors to this charming white-painted home. Set out on the gravel forecourt, the unstructured arrangement can be added to or reorganised whenever the owners please.
FAQs
How can I make my garden more private?
We all strive for privacy in our gardens, front or back, and there are lots of creative ways you can separate your space from your neighbours'.
'Creating a subtle boundary between your front garden and your neighbour’s can be done stylishly without erecting a full fence,' says Jenny from Forest Garden. 'There are lots of options for low-level fencing to look at as well as low hedges, decorative screens, or trellises with climbing plants to delineate the space.
'Potted plants can also be arranged to form a natural divider. Another creative option is to use different ground covers or paving materials that contrast with your neighbour’s garden, providing a clear but unobtrusive separation.'
How do I make my front garden look nice?
You can make your front garden look nice with simple measures and taking the time to tend to it, with as much gusto as your would the back garden. Lay a defined path to make the entrance feel more inviting and thought out.
Ensure if you have a lawn it's well tended so it looks it's best all year round. Edge the lawn or gravel frontage with evergreen foliage that will look gloriously green throughout the seasons, adding annual bedding and plant to welcome a splash of more vibrant colour during the spring and summer months.
No matter how large or small your space and budget, there are plenty of front garden ideas to choose from – have fun seeing what works for your space!
