Simple Landscaping Makeover Ideas

Front-Yard Landscaping Ideas

The front yard is the most visible area of most properties. But it does more than just look pretty and add curb appeal. As the entrance to your landscape, the front yard also welcomes visitors and guides them to the front door of your home. With so much going on in this area, there are many opportunities for makeover strategies for the following elements: 

• Privacy
• Fences and hedges
• Driveways
• Walkways
• Front entries
• Landscape design styles
• Lawns
• Color
• Trees
• Focal points

Backyard Landscaping Design

While front yards are part of the neighborhood, backyards are all about personal space. What do you want to include in yours?  

• Children's play area
• Outdoor area for pets
• Al fresco dining area or outdoor kitchen
• Entertainment space for hosting barbecues and parties
• A peaceful haven from the outside world
• Sports or recreation areas 
• Garden beds for growing vegetables or flowers
• Elements to attract birds (especially hummingbirds), butterflies, and bees and other pollinators

Ideas for the Side Yard

Most people have a good idea of what they want their front yard and backyard to look like, while the side yard is more of an afterthought, or it tends to be neglected altogether. But there's no reason why your side yard can't be an asset to your landscape. 

Any side yard that serves as a traffic path between the front and back yards should provide a pleasant and convenient access point. Side yards with a little more space can also be great places for fragrant flowering perennials or lush vegetable gardens.  

Tips for Starting a New Garden

Any portion of the yard can be home to a garden. Flower gardens are still more common in front yards than are vegetable gardens, but the latter are gaining in popularity even in this, the most visible area of the yard. Regardless of the type of garden or its location, beginners need some help learning how to open up a plot of land and establish a garden, including tips for removing sod to making astute plant selections.

Choose Unusual Plants to Grow

A simple landscaping idea that is easy to overlook but can yield huge dividends in terms of your enjoyment of any part of your yard is selecting truly fun and unusual plants to grow. When choosing something to buy at the garden center, do you think only in terms of how pretty a plant is? If so, you might be shortchanging yourself.

Some plants, while they might not be drop-dead gorgeous, can offer exquisite joys to gardeners willing to appreciate them for having an unusual appearance or undergoing dramatic changes at specific times of the growing season.

Of course, in some cases, they may also be stunningly lovely, as with the spring bulb plant Fritillaria imperialis shown in the photo.