Front Yard Ideas For Landscaping

by shea dickey
(hampton va)

I would like to remove all and start over. I would like to start with a row of bushes in front, low to the ground and plant close enough to each other to look like one long wavy fence of bushes. Then behind that I would like flowering bushes and rose bushes. I also like the ground covering evergreen bush.

Not quite sure what it is but it spreads the ground almost like ivy. Possibly down the sidewalk? Not sure. I will have landscape lighting down the side walk and spots as well. I can put this on an incline coming up to the house because my yard is slopped down to the road. I have all the ideas but not sure what type of bushes to use.

I would like it to look like an American flag. I guess I would need thick blooming flowers so no gaps would be seen. I was thinking a row of bushes in the front (1'-1.5') for a border. Blue and white bushes would of course be on the left of the house, possibly wrapping around from the side about half way to the sidewalk then the red and white flower bushes would be used to make the red and white stripes on to the right of the sidewalk wrapping around the house. If it would look right the roses would be placed in the stripes some how? The bushes and rose bushes would probably need to be the same height to give an even looking front, when viewed from the road, you think? Not sure. I'm military if you cant tell:). I don't know if it’s possible but would look really nice if we could pull it off!

ANSWER
So, what is the purpose of your landscaping...to have a great design or have it look like the American flag! I think it's difficult to accomplish both!

Note: See my page on Front Yard Landscaping Ideas. Also take a look at my ebook on Designing With Evergreen Shrubs.

Start with the taller shrubs in the back (you indicated roses, for example). Many times evergreen shrubs are used as the background plant for winter interest. However, if you have some evergreen shrubs in front of the roses, this would be ok too. And evergreen groundcover creates even more greenery. Just be sure the textures of all the plants are different.

As far as the colors go, it's better to integrate colors nicely then try to create patterns. If you want to have a patriotic landscape, consider using lots of blues and whites, with some red color here and there. The red does not have to be flowers, it can be shrubs with red stems such as Red Twig Dogwood, or plants with red leaves. There are a lot of these, such as Red Barberry (shrub), Japanese Red Maple (trees), Coleus (annuals), etc. I think this would be a much better look than stark red flowers. Red flowers are rather harsh in the landscape.

If you do path lighting along your walkway, make sure the lights are in planting beds. Alternate them on each side so that they do not look like a runway. If you do use some ornamental trees, you can uplight them.