Front Garden Inspiration
There is one thing almost guaranteed to lift my mood and put a smile on my face - seeing people making the most of their front garden with fabulous plants, no matter how small the space may be. Whether you have just a step, a pot, a little bed or a hanging basket, with a flash of colour or a lush spray of foliage you’ve created a habitat for wildlife, helped to cool down the temperatures in your area and definitely made a passerby feel a bit happier. Here are a few images from some of my favourite front gardens in my local community.
I absolutely love this front garden. Created entirely from pots in a shared space which would otherwise be just concrete, this has a secret-garden feel which just draws you in. Hydrangeas, roses, geraniums, Callistemon (a bottle brush tree), acers, honeysuckle, fuschias; you name it, this garden has it. This garden makes me feel happy and I bet it makes the person who lives here happy too. How could you walk through this buzzing, beautiful space (and that rose arch) and not feel good when you get to your front door? A renter friendly garden, this goes to show what you can create with just pots.
This next garden is completely different in style but still packs a beautiful punch. More formal, with a deliberate palette of colours, the rich green foliage from the two bay trees is brilliantly mirrored in the underplanted hebes. Their purple flowers then work really well with the lavender just behind, with both being a great draw for pollinators. The lavender and bay can be used in cooking and bring scent to the garden, so this small space isn’t just delivering on a visual level, but on an olfactory and edible level too. Smart!
These next two front gardens are really close together, which always reminds me that visible planting, whether it’s in a pot, a hanging basket or a mini raised bed can really inspire other people in your area to add a plant or two to their space. Both these gardens are growing sweet peas, are using their paths for pots and bringing colour into their environment with annuals. I am sure that they pass by each others gardens on their way to the bus, tube or corner shop and take ideas and inspiration from their neighbour. Planting something in your front garden doesn’t just impact you, it impacts everyone who walks past and sees it.
Window boxes are a brilliant way to bring joy to your outside space and you don’t need to have fancy containers or matching stands. A few bricks, a couple of old tubs and some plants which don’t mind a bit of constriction and you’ll be on your way. Window boxes will need extra watering and can dry out in hot weather, so it’s worth thinking about how you might keep your plants alive in the summer if you can’t water them regularly. Some clients mix water retaining granules into the soil when they plant out window boxes to help with dehydration and I recently saw a tip on Instagram which says you can use old sponges chopped up really small in the same way. If you’ve tried this tip - let me know!
Every gardener and every growing space starts somewhere, and even the smallest green spaces can make a big difference. Whether you fill an old concrete planter, make an impromptu raised bed around a tree with some old planks or simply have one pot going spare to begin your garden, I promise you that someone will notice your efforts and be thankful they saw them. It might even inspire them to think about how they could start their own front garden transformation.