If you’ve been thinking about giving your home a facelift, you can start with a front yard transformation. Here are 6 landscape design trends for front yard landscaping in Port Jefferson, NY. Whether you use all of these ideas or just one, you’ll appreciate the difference!
Related: 4 TIMELY LANDSCAPE DESIGN IDEAS FOR YOUR FRONT YARD IN THE HAMPTONS AND SMITHTOWN, NY AREAS
1. Reduce the Size of Your Lawn, and Xeriscape!
While the Great American Front Lawn isn’t going away anytime soon, many homeowners are embracing the idea of reducing the size of the lawn and replacing it with xeriscaping using hardy, water-wise native plants. Xeriscaping is a landscape technique that focuses on eliminating the need for supplemental irrigation. And no, that doesn’t mean planting cacti! There are many succulents as well as other native plants that actually thrive on very little water, which will save you a lot in water costs as well as time. Whether you need ground covers, flowers, shrubs, or trees, your landscape professional will be happy to assist you in choosing the plants best suited for the location.
2. Improve Your Lighting
A single post-mounted light does a great job of illuminating part of the front yard, but can create a harsh glare that, by contrast, feels overly dark. Smaller and softer low-voltage landscape lights will create a pleasing effect that’s welcoming. Use a variety of lighting techniques including path lights and uplighting to highlight various landscape elements and create a layered effect (as opposed to path lights only, which would create a bit of a runway effect).
3. Give Local Wildlife and Pollinators a Boost
With many animals, birds, and beneficial insects facing significant habitat loss, many homeowners are giving them a helping hand. Bird baths, native plants (perennials, shrubs, and trees) and a native nectar-rich flower garden for the pollinators make for a much more hospitable environment than a lawn.
4. Front Yard Edible Gardens
Edible gardening is a hot trend. If your municipality doesn’t allow front yard food gardening (some don’t!) then use containers or attractive raised bed planters which can make your front yard look absolutely beautiful. You can even grow grass between the raised beds or containers.
5. A Permeable Walkway
When guests visit, you want them to feel safe. Choose non-slip materials such as concrete pavers and where possible, use permeable pavers that allow standing water to filter into the ground below, keeping your walkway drier and safer; and for the ultimate in safety, install an in-ground heating system at the same time, to keep the walkway snow- and ice-free. Pavers are also a visually appealing addition to your landscape; they’re available in a huge variety of styles to match your home’s design.
6. Create Layers
The old-school approach to landscaping meant foundation shrubs and a few flowers next to the home; a walkway; and then an expanse of lawn. Today, the foundation plantings are lighter; the walkway is more than a narrow strip of concrete; and there is a lot more vertical landscaping on the outer side of the walkway. This helps to visually balance the home with the landscape.
Dark, dense elements such as evergreen trees, boxwood hedges or boulders look best when they are balanced with a multitude of light, airy elements such as ornamental grasses, large deciduous trees and shrubs, ornamental or fruit trees, pavers, masonry planters, and moving water. Tall trees should be balanced by short grasses; and broad elements look better balanced with slender elements.
Related: HOW MASONRY CAN ADD CHARACTER TO A FRONT ENTRANCE IN PORT JEFFERSON, NY