If building a lawn isn’t in your dictionary when looking for some options to decorate your front yard, why not try creating a tropical canopy, growing flower beds, a raised garden, or a pond? Keep reading, we’ve got lots of simple front yard landscaping ideas without grass for you.
Tropical Canopy
If you love adding lots of shade to your front yard, why not transform it into a vertical oasis with trees.
This might take a lot of time (up to 10 years) to wait and care for those trees to mature, but it is meaningful and budget-friendly.
Once fully grown, some can reach over 6’ tall.
However, if you can’t wait, choose some fully grown dwarf varieties of evergreens, ficus plants, large potted rubber trees, or palms depending on the climate of your living area and your yard soil.
Build A Pond
It’s legal to build a pond in your front yard as long as you don’t feed any predator there. Depending on where you live, there are specific regulations on the depth and diameter of a standard pond.
You should also consider the area of your front yard to choose the right pond size, and whether to build a fence or not.
If you have kids or curious pets, it’s essential to build a fence around this pond for safety.
Consider adding some fishes (koi, sturgeon, and goldfish), water plants (such as water lilies, lotus, and horsetail pond plants), and ornament items here for an extra interesting look.
You can combine with trees (catalpa, live oak, weeping willow, and red maple), flowers, walkway, and lighting based on your preference and creativity.
Grow Moss
It’s not a bad idea to grow a moss garden in your front yard because it requires hardly any maintenance or watering around the year. Not to say that moss looks cute and lively.
Just take note that this idea only works in those living areas with cool weather around the year. Or if your area has cool fall and winter, this is a contemporary option to cover the ground of your front yard.
Create A Rock Garden
This might be the effortless type of gardens in this list; no fertilizing, mowing or watering.
It only requires some time and effort during the first stage on tasks like:
- Choose the right pebbles, rocks, and stones to fit your front yard background
- Pick your favorite concept for your rock garden
- How to make it look the most natural
A trick for beginners is when arranging your stones, bury ½ to 2/3 of them to the ground and promote their weathering. Besides, grow some plants scattered throughout the landscape; it will give a sense as it has been there for hundreds of years.
Here are some plants suit a rock garden:
- Gentian
- Saxifrage
- Trailing bellflower
- Aubretia
- Houseleeks
- Thyme
- Pinks
- Pasque flowers
Grow Low-Growing Perennials
For a minimalist and low-maintenance front yard landscape, why not grow low-growing perennials?
Just like grass, these plants can thrive well despite high traffic and the biggest plus is no mowing required. Some perennials bloom in the spring for a different look to your front yard.
If you don’t know which plants to go for, here are some suggestions:
- Dwarf impatiens
- Wild or woolly thyme
- Sedum baby tears
- Blue star creeper
- Creeping mazus
- Miniature brass buttons
Add Mulch
Mulch is a great alternative for grass to cover your rustic front yard ground. It is easy to find, quick to carry out, and requires no maintenance at all.
What you should consider is whether the ingredients of mulching materials are good for your pets and kids or not. If you have a dog, make sure to not choose cocoa hull mulch because it’s poison to this animal.
Before laying mulch on your front yard, remember to put a landscaping cloth to prevent weeds.
To make this area more beautiful and interesting, you can add some ornament items on this layer of mulch, such as some stools, armchairs, and tables. Or some flower beds.
Raise A Potted Garden
It’s controversial that a potted garden is low-maintenance or complicated to care for. But the biggest benefit of this option is you can easily maneuver them, rearrange for different layout/theme, and avoid weeds efficiently.
Moreover, potted plants give more control over temperature, sunlight, and moisture. They also have fewer soil-borne diseases.
A potted garden adds height to your flat yard nicely, which is our most favorite thing.
For a larger front yard, try raised beds or containers.
Aside from flowers, growing cucumbers, pole beans, and veggies (parsley, radishes, squash, lettuce, beans, green onions, eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes) are practical.
You can try growing some fruits, too. For example, guava, cherry, peach, nectarine, fig, pomegranate, apple, strawberries, and lemon.
Conclusion
By decorating your front yard, the value of your house will be increased significantly and you’ll also have a relaxing area to chill on the weekend. Which are your most favorite ideas from our list above? Please let us know. Thanks for reading!
