Gardening Landscaping Landscape Basics 18 Simple Ways to Turn Your Front Yard Garden into a Focal Point By Viveka Neveln Viveka Neveln Instagram Viveka Neveln is the Garden Editor at BHG and a degreed horticulturist with broad gardening expertise earned over 3+ decades of practice and study. She has more than 20 years of experience writing and editing for both print and digital media. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on August 5, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Who says gardens only belong out back? Add curb appeal, brighten your entryway, and welcome guests with a beautiful display on the front side of your house. Learn how with this collection of front yard flower ideas. 01 of 18 Create a Curvy Path A colorful flower garden is the perfect way to dress up your front yard. Boost the visual impact by installing a gently curving walkway as the border to your flowerbeds—this brings a casual feel that a straight sidewalk lacks. Incorporate cheery container gardens by the front door to add even more color, texture, and fragrance. 02 of 18 Embrace the Cottage-Garden Look If you're intimidated by gardening "rules," embrace the cottage-garden aesthetic, which is freewheeling, overflowing, and totally laidback. You don't have to live in an actual cottage: This easygoing approach pairs well with most house styles. A simple white picket fence makes a fantastic backdrop for your cottage garden's summer show. This quaint example includes purple iris, red and apricot roses, and creeping thyme, but any romantic flowers, such as roses, peonies, or hydrangeas, are well-suited to the style. 17 Low-Maintenance Cottage Garden Plants That Will Fill Your Yard With Color 03 of 18 Save Yourself from Trimming A front yard flower garden can make your landscape easier to care for since there's less mowing and edging to worry about. Here, colorful blooms dress up a traditional white picket fence and eliminate the need for using a string trimmer alongside it. Test Garden Tip: Make your front yard flower garden extra appealing by incorporating fragrant flowers, such as sweet pea, Oriental lily, and herbs. 9 Garden Tools That Make Life Easier 04 of 18 Accent Your Front Porch If you have a front porch, add a skirt of colorful flowers. Even a tiny pocket planting such as the one shown here offers big color and interest in the front yard. Mix annuals with perennials and bulbs—and a dwarf evergreen or two—so you can enjoy the display all year long. 05 of 18 Create a Flagstone Path Transform your front yard into a full-blown garden by putting in loosely spaced flagstones in lieu of a sidewalk. (Note: This is probably not practical in snowy winter climates.) Low-maintenance groundcovers between the stones create a carpet of color and interest. 25 Low-Maintenance Groundcover Plants That Look Gorgeous Without a Lot of Effort 06 of 18 Soften Your Sidewalk Instead of mowing that narrow strip of yard between your fence and the sidewalk, fill it with a flower garden. The blooms add color and interest and prevent the fence from feeling like a barrier. This makes your front yard appear more welcoming. 18 Sidewalk Landscaping Ideas for Your Front Yard 07 of 18 Flaunt Lots of Color Don't be afraid of color in your front yard. An assortment of shades gives this landscape a romantic cottage-garden sensibility. Climbing roses on the pergola over the front entry perfume the air, and a clipped boxwood hedge helps define the yard's boundary for a cozy enclosed feel. Master the Art of Garden Colors 08 of 18 Look to Jewel Tones Soft pinks and delicate yellows are gorgeous, but why not go a bit bolder? Here, bright red bougainvilleas clothe the front porch, while white marguerite daisies and blue lobelia playfully cloak the front walk. Vibrant yellow pansies add a bit of extra sparkle. Choosing an unexpected color combination—like one built around jewel tones—will make your garden stand out. 09 of 18 Make a Statement in Spring Orchestrate a can't-miss debut each spring with colorful bulbs, cool-season flowers (such as pansies), and spring-flowering trees and shrubs (like this redbud). As the bulbs fade, later-blooming perennials will take center stage. Accent them with summer-flowering annuals and perennials. 11 Gorgeous Ways to Design With Spring Bulbs in Your Garden 10 of 18 Repeat Effectively Repetition is a trick that garden designers use to create balance and cohesiveness. To make your front yard interesting—but not overwhelming—repeat pockets of color. This can help draw the eye down a walkway or along the front of your house. Here, beautiful blue lobelia is joined by a riot of other early-blooming plants. 11 of 18 Bring in Lots of Texture Spikes of low-maintenance Russian sage, sedum, and ornamental grasses, among other perennials and shrubs, add texture and color without making the front yard look unkempt or overbearing. A stretch of lawn between the foundation plantings and the sidewalk allows easy viewing of both flower gardens. 12 of 18 Incorporate Edible Plants This flower-filled front yard garden incorporates lots of herbs and vegetables, too, making it a breeze to harvest fresh, homegrown produce. Planting flowers with your vegetables helps attract pollinators for extra yields. 13 of 18 Play Off Your Home's Architecture This bright yellow house is the perfect backdrop for a colorful mix of blooms in a front yard garden. The happy-hued stucco wall, brick walkway, and eye-catching blooms combine beautifully to enhance the home's Spanish theme. Likewise, use the style of your home as inspiration for your plantings. 14 of 18 Frame the View Draw attention to the prettiest part of your front yard. Clematis growing on an arbor makes an enticing entryway to this striking space. The towering arch creates a tunnel, offering the illusion that the yard is much larger than it actually is, while emphasizing the intricate gate and porch. Bright containers against the house help draw you in. 15 of 18 Live on the Edge Don't neglect the curb. A street-side front yard flower garden creates a pocket of color away from the home and breaks up a large expanse of front lawn. Front yard flower gardens like this one pack lots of interest into a small amount of space—and attract birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. 16 of 18 Plant a Screen Create a sense of privacy in your front yard by planting some taller specimens near your sidewalk. Airy plants will grow into a screen that allows visitors to peek through without having a wide-open view. 17 of 18 5 High-Impact Ways to Boost Curb Appeal Try these statement-making ways to make your front yard look even better. 18 of 18 5 Front Yard Must-Dos Follow these five simple rules to enhance the appeal of your front yard. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit