The front garden is the place where the most daring design solutions are embodied, providing the opportunity to create an original plot in front of your home. It runs from the house to the roadway and is separated by a fence called a palisade. This area often contains a variety of flower beds, a beautifully designed path leading to the house, a flower arch and various compositions of stones and trees.
Purpose of the front garden
According to dictionaries, a front garden is a small garden with a fence in front of the house. And this definition is as true as it is laconic. Each word carries a semantic and practical meaning. The area “in front of the house” refers to the one that can always be seen. You can hide your vegetable garden or garden plot from guests, but the beautiful plot in front of the house is designed to immediately catch the eye.
Front gardens significantly influence the improvement of the perception of the holistic appearance of the building's architecture. Joint front gardens in neighboring houses provide owners with a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other, spend time together and socialize among greenery and floral aromas.
From the above, two simple truths follow: the front garden should always look neat and be combined with the design of your home. The second is especially important, as it complements the feeling of harmony and allows guests to draw positive conclusions about your tastes.
house business card, and it's hard to argue with that. Therefore, plants for it should be selected with special care and thoughtfulness.Did you know? Patrick Blanc is a true da Vinci of garden art. The highlight of his masterpieces is that he plants dozens of different plants and flowers per square meter. The result is pictures of amazing beauty that resemble tropical landscapes.
How to choose a site for placing a front garden
Arranging a front garden in front of the house does not require special knowledge. To determine the location of its future location, it is not necessary to hire expensive landscape designers or purchase special equipment, which is also not cheap.
Important! The choice of territory must be made in advance, as it should be well cleared and prepared for decoration with accessories and plants. It is necessary to fertilize the soil well, which is the most important point for the growth of shrubs and flowers.
When decorating the area in front of the house with your own hands, you should start from an area where you will not need to demolish buildings or uproot trees. In addition to the area in front of the main building, for the front garden you can also choose the area in the center of the dacha or even on its outskirts. The main thing is that the territory does not lie in open areas, since not all plants are so sun-loving that they can withstand the summer heat most of the day. A big plus would be the presence of several trees on the site.
The diversity of the landscape will also help you. A flat area, more suitable for a classic lawn, a depression that collects moisture, or a hill on which the plants will not be fully protected - this is not the same. The best option is an area with small hills, slopes and partial plains.
The soil should be of medium gravity. Its acidity should be at the same level. The territory must be universal so that many different types of plants can grow on it. The level of groundwater is not so important, but it is optimal if it is located no deeper than one meter from the soil surface. The land should be clean, not littered and as ready as possible for arranging a front garden.
How to make a front garden with your own hands
The front garden is inextricably linked with the main architectural structure, that is, how beautiful the house is, so beautiful is the garden.
Features of the landscape layout of the front garden
First of all, the front garden design begins with determining the focal point, that is, the most expressive object in the ensemble. It is to him that a person’s first glance will involuntarily be drawn. This is the core of the compositional design of the front garden.
So what can you do to interest your guests or ordinary passers-by so much? Very often they use interesting shrubs or beautiful small trees that stand out from afar. Spruce varieties “Koster” and “Hoopsie” look great as a central element. They grow quickly and acquire a bright blue color. Another option is the Veil Albert variety: a slow-growing, dense spruce with blue needles. You can also plant Siberian fir, but the Canadian “Konica” should not be used as a central element, due to its short stature and fading in the active sun.
So that attention is not focused on the compositional center alone, additional connecting elements of the front garden design should be introduced. They need to be placed in those places where the gaze of any person who moves towards your home can involuntarily fall. For example, bright plants that should be planted near the porch or gate are perfect. The eye most often falls on such places, because they are located at the entrance or exit.
Important! Groups of coniferous plants, such as low thujas and junipers, can also form a compositional focal point. They should be diluted with deciduous shrubs.
Since beautifully decorating the front garden in front of the house is a large amount of work that involves physical and mental processes, initially think through the area correctly so that it looks organically with the rest of the surrounding area. Ideally, the front garden should be maintained in a style identical to the rest of the site. Of course, it will be simply wonderful to design a front garden and a garden at the same time. Select plants for the front part of the front garden taking into account how much shadow they cast. Trees should not be too tall so as to obscure the house, and bushes should not interfere with the passage, nor should they grow too large and interfere with the view from the windows.
Select those plants whose flowering period will begin in early spring and end in late autumn. They should have beautiful foliage and match each other in color and size. If you like strong floral scents, then plant flowers closer to your home so the scent can waft through open windows.
Most front gardens have a path after all, this part of the garden performs not only an aesthetic function, but also a passage function. It is better to choose an all-weather coating that will not collapse in the summer and slip in the winter. The most suitable materials for the path are paving stones, bricks or paving slabs. You can also make it softer, for example, from crushed stone, granite chips or gravel. You can place borders along the edges. Such a path should not be more than one and a half meters wide. Enough for two people to pass on it. At the entrance, for convenience, it can be slightly expanded.
Did you know? The Roman Emperor Claudius Caesar was famous for his hobby. He spent all his free time in the garden, creating landscapes. He loved roses very much and grew them in huge quantities. He gave them to all the people around him.
Practical layout
If the area does not allow you to “expand” to the fullest, do not despair: there are many techniques that will help you design a small area in front of your house with your own hands. Some of them involve visual enlargement of a very small space. For example, you can make the path a little longer by bending it. This technique is good both in small areas and in small areas. You can also narrow it, so the bend will be better visible.
How else can you beautifully decorate a small front garden with your own hands? The next technique is to use a large number of interesting details on which you want to stop your gaze for a while. In this case, it will seem larger than it actually is. Don’t add a lot of inclusions at one time so that there is no feeling of sameness. Based on the experience of many summer residents and gardeners, we will say that it is enough to add one detail every week, and in a few months the overall landscape picture will become much more multifaceted.
Important! The advantage of this approach is that you will have time to think about the placement of even the tiniest detail.
If the territory allows you to give free rein to your imagination, then the question should not arise of how to make a beautiful front garden near the house. Here you can make a lawn, plant bushes, trees, flower beds, gardens, even equip a patio - in general, everything your heart desires. If you want to arrange friendly gatherings or romantic evenings in this area, then protect it with a pergola from prying eyes. You can grow climbing plants along it or even install a structure with a camouflage net. Developing ideas for the front garden, Be sure to consider the exterior of the home. Three components: a house, a garden and a front garden should be one whole on your site in terms of landscape design. This can be achieved in various ways. First of all, consider the stylistic direction of all components of the design solution. If the house is built, for example, in a rustic style, then a Japanese rock garden next to it will not fit at all.
The next thing is the use in the design of the front garden of the same materials that were used in the construction and decoration of the house. Don’t forget about the colors in which the façade is painted. You can use either close in tone, for example, yellow and orange, or contrasting ones - red and green. If the walls of the house are lined with decorative bricks, then a garden path made of clinker bricks will be a harmonious addition. Various DIY crafts are also welcome; this will add another piece of your soul and love to the front garden.
What flowers to plant in the front garden, choosing plants for the front garden
Decorating front gardens with flowers carries quite a wide range of functionality, in addition to aesthetic beauty. When choosing plants, think about what effect you want to achieve. Different representatives of the plant world perform different functions. Let's take a closer look at them, taking into account their individual characteristics.
By lighting
Light level plays a big role in plant selection. For example, if you are planning to decorate the front garden on the north side of the house, then you need to choose flowers that tolerate shade well. You can also build a gazebo for relaxation. This is a good location because in summer it will be cooler there than other parts of the site. If you place the front garden on the south side, then choose more heat-loving crops.
The site space should not be empty and not serve a specific function. Every meter of it can be useful. This also applies to the place that is located between the front side of the house and the road and is called the front garden.
Having designed the main garden in a certain landscape design style, you should not forget about this small piece of land, which usually does not exceed 5-6 meters in width. After all, even on it you can build a beautiful composition from living plants and other elements.
What types of front gardens are there?
If desired, even a front garden can become a creation of landscape art. But for those who have no experience in this, it is better to find out everything from the very beginning, namely, what the front gardens in front of the house are like. If you do not take into account style and other nuances, front gardens are:
In addition, the front garden can be Russian or European. The first option differs in that this plot is made for the owner. That is, most likely, the plants will be fenced with a fence (most often wooden). In this case, the fence will not necessarily completely hide the front garden, but the best view opens from the window of the house. The fence can also be decorated with paintings and other elements.
European style requires better care. All plants (shrubs, trees and lawn) must be neatly trimmed. It is also advisable to respect the geometry. The design of this front garden is usually not hidden to outsiders and absolutely everyone can appreciate it. If there is a fence, it is only decorative and emphasizes the overall style.
Choosing a style for the front garden
The front garden can be not just a place with planted plants, but a real work of art. In addition, it can be done in various styles. If the overall style has a certain style, it will be great if the corner in front of the house matches it. Or you can try to dilute the overall picture with a small corner with a completely different design.
Country front garden (country style)
Rustic simplicity is beautiful in its own way. At the same time, a front garden in a country style is suitable for both a city house and a rural area. A special feature of this option is the specially created effect of slight sloppiness. There is no need to adhere to lines, colors and other things. The main thing is that everything fits together.
Perennial plants that do not require special care are perfect for this style. A low wooden partition will complement the image. Even a novice gardener can easily make such a front garden with his own hands.
Asian style in the front garden
An Asian-style front garden should consist of perennial plants and flowers. They should not be too bright colors. The site should convey calm. Plants must also correspond to the required size. Trees (preferably conifers) and shrubs should be small, that is, dwarf. When using various partitions, it is worth considering that the only material acceptable in the Asian style is stone.
Mediterranean style front garden
This style is unique in that it is essentially mobile. That is, almost all plants are planted not in the ground, but in flowerpots, containers and tubs. Also, the front garden will be unique in that it can accommodate a sun lounger or a table with a couple of chairs for relaxing.
Flowers can be completely different, the main thing is that they are combined with each other. Lamps and various figures will be excellent additions. Thus, an ordinary front garden will turn into a wonderful place to relax.
Modern style
The modern design of a front garden does not have specific rules, but some recommendations still apply. For example, you should not be afraid to plant new varieties of trees and other plants (clipped boxwood, European larch and others). You can also use natural or artificial stone as decoration.
Romantic front garden style
When imagining a romantic garden, the first things that come to mind are red roses and other colorful plants. In part, this is true, but there are a few more tips that will add romance to the front garden. If this living corner is surrounded by a fence and also has an arch for the entrance, you can send climbing flowers along them. If the plants create enough contrast, the fence can be painted snow-white.
Based on this, it can be understood that there are no restrictions in the design of this front garden. You just need to adhere to the basic rules, and for the rest rely on your own taste.
Advice ! If there is not enough space in the yard or it is already covered with a smooth and beautiful lawn, the front garden can be placed directly on the porch. It will turn out especially beautiful if you let climbing plants grow along it.
Decoration
The front garden should not be limited to the presence of plants. By showing your imagination and adding a little creativity, you can create a real piece of paradise. At the same time, decorative elements can also be quite functional.
Fence for the front garden
The front garden can have either a large, dense and transparent partition, or vice versa, a small fence that does not hide the view of the area. The first option is good because it will protect you from annoying prying eyes and hands. However, such a design will not become more presentable. If the main purpose of the front garden is to decorate the house and the emphasis is on decoration, the fence should be small, colorful and neat. Then the overall composition will look harmonious and complete.
Another option for a fence is a dense hedge. The best plants for making it are considered to be thuja or boxwood snowberry.
Forged metal is perfect for a decorative fence. However, the most common is considered to be a wooden picket fence, which you can easily make yourself, but more on that a little later.
Having decided on the fence, you should consider one more detail. Even in a small front garden you can make a path. And if the area is quite large, you can make it in different shapes.
Accessories
You can highlight and complement any front garden style by decorating a mini-garden with various accessories. These can be figurines and small figures of people and animals. Also, objects that, at first glance, are absolutely incompatible with the garden can be used for decoration. This could be old furniture with drawers filled with blooming flowers. Or an ordinary bicycle that holds pots and flowerpots with plants. Even an old torn shoe can be used for this purpose.
But for front gardens to be truly beautiful, they cannot be overloaded with similar interiors. Sometimes even one element is enough to make the area look light and beautiful. But going overboard with accessories will have the opposite effect.
Another secret to successful arrangement is the selection of various elements. After all, some exquisite and aristocratic figurine will look ridiculous in a simple front garden in a rustic country style.
Various street lamps are also popular. With them, the front garden will look great even at night. And if you place a table with a couple of chairs on it, you can arrange romantic evening gatherings.
Lamps come in quite a variety, so you can play with light in different ways. In addition to classic lamps, these can also be various light vases and so on.
How to independently build a fence for a front garden from a picket fence
As mentioned, a picket fence is one of the most common options for fencing. This is explained by the fact that, despite the ease of manufacture, it looks quite stylish and beautiful. In addition, it will cost much less than forged metal options.
So, to start creating a fence you will need the following set of materials:
- Bars with a section of 10x10 cm;
- Boards measuring 2.5x8 cm;
- Crossbars (horizontal strips for attaching a fence) 40x100 mm.
Important ! The amount of materials is subtracted from the total area of the site.
But in addition to materials, you will also need a certain set of tools, without which it will not be possible to create a fence. The Arsenal looks like this:
- Shovel;
- Drill or screwdriver;
- Saw;
- Self-tapping screws, bolts and nuts;
- Mix for concreting;
- Hinges for gates
The first stage is the installation of pillars that will support the entire front garden fence. To do this, small holes are dug at the same distance from each other (you should start from the corners). Posts are inserted into the resulting holes and filled with concrete mixture.
Advice ! To make the fence support more reliable, it is recommended to use metal anchors.
After this, they are screwed between the posts, to which, in turn, the remaining boards are attached.
The picket fence is ready and all that’s left to do is treat it with special products and paint it. In order for the picket fence to last a long time and be protected from the effects of mold and various fungi, the surface should be covered with a layer of appropriate components. Paint can only be applied after this. By the way, it is desirable that it be based on alkyd resins and mineral pigments. Then the front garden fence will not only be reliably protected from various external factors, but will also preserve its naturalness.
Choosing plants for the front garden
Perhaps the most important stage in arranging a front garden is the choice of plants. After all, by choosing them correctly, you can enjoy flowering plants in almost all seasons (except winter). But besides this, other nuances should be taken into account.
First of all, preference should be given to perennial and flowering plants. Various shrubs will also decorate the area. The most popular are: common juniper, barberry and others. Separately, we can note the evergreen boxwood.
When arranging a site with trees, you should pay attention to standard species, around which you can plant various bright flowers, for example, Norway maple.
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The space of even a small area should not be empty, but should fulfill its specific function. Any meter can be useful. This also applies to the place that is located between the road and the front of the house, called the front garden. Having decorated the main garden in some style of landscape design in front of the house, you need to remember about this small piece of land, which, as a rule, is does not exceed more than 7 meters. Since even here you can arrange a beautiful composition of fresh flowers and other elements.
If you really want to, designing the area in front of your house can be simply a creation of landscape art. However, for people who have no experience in this, it is advisable to know everything from the very beginning. If we do not consider the style and other nuances of landscape design, then front gardens are:
- Closed. Front gardens are characterized by the presence of a fence. Moreover, the material for its construction can be almost anything: a wooden lattice, forged metal, brick and even a hedge in the form of small bushes. It is not at all necessary that the fence completely encloses your small garden. Such an element can only be part of the decor.
- Open. These front gardens are clearly visible from all sides and do not have any fences. As a rule, these are small flower beds and a neatly trimmed lawn.
In addition, the front garden can be of European or Russian type. The latter option is characterized by the fact that this plot is registered for its owner. That is, most likely, the plants will be blocked by a fence (usually wooden). Moreover, the fence will not necessarily completely hide the plantings, but the best view opens from the window of your home. In this case, the fence can be decorated with paintings and other elements.
European style will require more careful care. All plantings (lawn, trees and shrubs) must be neatly trimmed. In this case, it is necessary to respect the geometry. The design of this front garden, as a rule, is not hidden from prying eyes and absolutely everyone can see it. If a fence is installed, it is only for decorative purposes, emphasizing the overall style.
The area in front of the house can be not only a place with planted plants, but truly a work of art. In addition, you can make a beautiful front garden in front of the house in different styles.
When the overall landscape design of your territory has a certain style, it will be very good if this area is in harmony with it. Or you can try to dilute the overall picture with a small corner with completely different design.
A front garden in this style must consist of perennial flowers and plants, which should not be of very bright colors. This site must convey calm. In this case, the plants must be of appropriate size. Shrubs and trees (preferably conifers) must be small, that is, dwarf. When using different partitions, it must be taken into account that the only possible material in the Asian style is stone.
Rustic simplicity beautiful in its own way. Moreover, the design in a rustic style is suitable for both rural areas and a city home.
A special feature of this design is the specially made slight sloppy effect. In this case, there is no need to follow the color scheme, adhere to the lines, and so on. The most important thing is that everything fits together.
Perennial plants that require little care are great for this style. A low wooden fence can complement the image. Even a beginner in gardening can easily decorate this front garden with his own hands.
Romantic style
When imagining a romantic garden, red roses and other bright flowers come to mind. But there are several more recommendations that can add romance to the front garden. When this living area is fenced off and also equipped arch for entrance, then you can grow climbing plants along them. When the plants have sufficient contrast, the fence can be painted snow-white.
Taking this into account, we can determine that there are absolutely no restrictions in organizing this front garden. You just need to adhere to the main rules, and otherwise rely only on your taste.
This style is distinguished by the fact that, by and large, it is mobile. That is, almost all plantings are planted not in the ground, but in tubs, containers and flowerpots.
This area will also be unique in that you can install a table with several chairs or a lounge chair for relaxing.
Flowers in the front garden can be completely different, the most important thing is that they are combined with each other.
A good addition would be various figures and lamps. So, a simple front garden can turn into a wonderful place to relax.
Modern style
Modern site design does not have specific rules, but some recommendations still exist.
For example, there is no need to be afraid to plant new varieties of trees and other plants (European larch, clipped boxwood, etc.). Can also be used as decoration artificial or natural stone.
Recommendation: When there is not enough space or the courtyard is already covered with a beautiful and smooth lawn, then the front garden can be designed directly on the porch. It will look quite beautiful if you put climbing flowers on it.
How to design a front garden?
There is no need to limit the front garden only to the presence of plants. By adding a little creativity and showing imagination, you can create a truly paradise. Moreover, decorative elements can also be quite functional objects.
Fence for the front garden It can have either a clear, dense and large partition, or vice versa, a small fence that does not block the view of this area. The advantage of the first method is that it will protect you from prying hands and eyes. But this design will not be more presentable. When the main purpose of the front garden is to decorate the home and the emphasis is on decoration, then the fence must be neat, colorful and small. In this case, the overall composition will look complete and harmonious.
Another way to fence a site is a dense hedge. The best plants for making this fence are boxwood or thuja. Forged metal is perfect for decorative fences. But the most popular is a wooden picket fence; you can easily build this fence with your own hands, but more on that a little later.
Having decided on the fence, you need to think about one more detail. Even in a small front garden you can build a path. And when the site has a significant area, then it can be made in different shapes.
You can complement and emphasize any style of your front garden by decorating your mini-garden with various accessories. These are possible small figures of animals and people, figurines. For decoration, you can also use objects that, at first glance, are completely incompatible with the garden. These could be boxes filled with blooming flowers or old furniture. Or a simple bicycle that holds flowerpots and pots with plants. Even an old torn shoe can be useful for this purpose.
But in order for front gardens to be truly beautiful, they do not need to be overloaded with these interiors. Sometimes even just one element is enough to make the area look beautiful and light. But going overboard with accessories can lead to the opposite effect.
Another secret to beautifully designing a personal plot is choosing different elements. Since some aristocratic and sophisticated figurine will look ridiculous in an ordinary country-style front garden.
Various street lamps are also very popular. With them, your site will look great even at night. And if you also install a table with several chairs here, you can have romantic evening tea parties.
Lamps can be very diverse, so you can play with lighting in different ways. In addition to classic lamps, various light vases, etc. are also possible.
As we have already said, a picket fence is considered one of the most popular options for fencing. This is due to the fact that, despite the simplicity of construction, it looks quite beautiful and stylish. At the same time, it will cost much less than forged metal structures.
So, in order to build a fence for the front garden with your own hands, you will need the following set of materials:
- Crossbars (horizontal bars for fastening the fence) 50x100 mm;
- Boards with a section of 3x10 cm;
- Bars with a size of 12x12 cm.
Attention: The amount of building materials is calculated taking into account the total area of the site.
But in addition to building materials, you will also need a certain set of tools, without which it will not be possible to build a fence. Arsenal looks like this:
- Screwdriver or drill;
- Shovel;
- Nuts, bolts and screws;
- Saw;
- Hinges for gates;
- Mortar for concreting.
The initial stage is the installation of pillars that will support the entire front garden fence. To do this, you need to dig holes 50-60 cm deep at the same distance from each other (it’s best to start from the corners). Pillars are installed in these holes and filled with cement mixture.
Then the crossbars are screwed between the pillars, where, in turn, the remaining boards are secured.
Once the picket fence has been built, all that remains is to treat it with special solutions and paint it. In order for the picket fence to last for a long time and be protected from the action of various fungi and mold, the surface must be treated with a layer of appropriate compounds. You can apply paint only after this. By the way, it is best for the paint to be based on mineral pigments and alkyd resins. In this case, the front garden fence will not only be reliably protected from various external influences, but will also retain its naturalness.
Probably the most important stage in decorating a front garden will be the correct choice of plants. By choosing them wisely, you can admire flowering plants almost all season long (except winter). However, in addition to this, it is necessary to take into account other nuances.
To begin with, preference should be given to flowering and perennial plants. Various shrubs will also decorate the area. The most popular are: barberry, common juniper, etc. Separately, we need to highlight the evergreen boxwood.
When arranging a site with trees, you need to pay attention to standard species, near which you can plant various bright flowers, for example, Norway maple.
When choosing different flowers, it will be advisable to plant those species that bloom at different times. For example, already in April you can enjoy daisies, violas, forget-me-nots, etc. They are replaced by daffodils in May. And at the beginning of summer, peonies, Turkish carnations, irises and tiger lilies begin to bloom. Starting in August, the front garden will be beautifully decorated with late species of chrysanthemums and asters.
In order to build and decorate a front garden with your own hands, you need to make some efforts, as well as show imagination and creativity. Only after this the house and the front garden in front of it will be able to bloom with bright colors and will delight its owners and their guests.
Setting up a front garden in front of your house with your own hands is a rewarding task. Little work and expenses will be required, and in addition to beauty for your own mental relaxation, you will be able to express yourself as you see fit, not only to visitors, but also to all passers-by. The front garden is a very soft, benevolent and cultural, but powerful means of self-expression. The rules for its arrangement and design are simple and very flexible, but they still exist. This article is written about them and how to use them. And even the smallest front garden will provide plenty of just beauty, see fig.:
History and purpose
The front garden in front of the house is its calling card. Such a concept arose back in Ancient Rome: retired legionary soldiers began to systematically lay out front gardens. Before that, none of the great civilizations of antiquity could provide its citizens with adequate security.
The palisade was initially a light barrier with sentries with it, which the army broke up at the bivouac. In the event of a surprise attack by the enemy, the palisade delayed him long enough for his own troops to be alerted. The Romans introduced the construction of a palisade for short-term troop encampments into military regulations as mandatory; Before that, the troops were fenced with palisades from time to time at the discretion of the command.
They served in the legions for 16-25 years, and given the general way of life of that time, only a few of the bravest, smartest, most energetic and skillful survived until retirement: in peacetime, soldiers were obliged to work on the construction of roads, public buildings and in legionary workshops, manufacturing first of all bricks, as well as consumer goods for sale to the local population. Each product was certainly marked with the mark of the legion. Part of the income went to the maintenance of the legion, and part was divided among those employed in this production. Judging by the number and preservation of archaeological finds of this kind, the products of Roman military auxiliary enterprises were of the highest quality and were in great demand.
The legionaries who lived before him went to demobilization were by no means poor: in addition to the full government allowance, an ordinary soldier in combat service received a full-weight silver coin - a denarius - a day, and for retirement a bonus of several thousand denarii, and even a plot of land. More than enough to build and start a profitable business.
In civilian life, retired Roman veterans mechanically erected a palisade in front of the house: just like that, but military centurions knew how to firmly drive regulations into the heads of their subordinates. The army, the war and everything connected with them have long been sick and tired of retirees. The soul, freed from the daily fear of death or severe punishment (the cruelty of Roman military discipline went down in history), was drawn to the beautiful. According to the regulations, there was a certain minimum permissible gap between the palisade and the place of deployment, and that’s where they began to plant ornamental plants: the regulations did not prohibit this, because They do not interfere with the view of the surrounding area.
Locals and strangers, seeing a house with a front garden, immediately understood: this man has been through fire, water, copper pipes and will be able to force himself to be respected if necessary. But it will always help in a good way: the feeling of comradely cohesion in the legions was affirmed not only and not so much by the ferula (a dry grapevine for cutting the guilty) and the fists of the centurions: for comradely support, service distinctions were awarded, and for saving the life of a comrade in battle - an honorary award and to it 1 or 2 aureus or solidus, large gold coins.
We need to extract the following from this: the front garden must certainly be located in front of the house and must be visible both from it and from the street. If an area planted with flowers and ornamental plants is fenced off from the road by a high, blank fence or placed deep into the local area, it is a flower garden, a rose garden, an ornamental garden, just a relaxation area or something else, but not a front garden. The expression “closed front garden” is catachresis, i.e. nonsense.
Based on these considerations, aesthetic concepts for front gardens are developed. After all, everything in the world is interconnected, even the war with beauty. Another factor that determines what a front garden should be or not be is the technical, economic and planning capabilities of the owner. The most abstract aesthetics, in order to be translated into a work, requires the production of a number of works, and in this case also the availability of free land area. Let's start with ways to organize a front garden on it.
Layout and layout
You can create a beautiful front garden in different ways. Which ones are determined by the availability of free land in front of the house. As a rule, they try to minimize the size of the plot for a front garden, unless the house is a rich estate and the surrounding area is not used productively.
A typical solution is a house front garden, see fig. (a fence with a gate in the center encloses the neighboring area):
Required land area - any up to 1-2 square meters. m for a mini-front garden. Style and design (see below) - too. Representativeness, depending on the concept and skill of execution, from initial (“I’m just a good person”) to very high.
If the free area in front of the house is large enough, then the front garden-alley will present the owners much more impressively (see next figure):
Its indispensable feature is a living border, separating the pedestrian area from the wings: lawns, flower beds, recreation areas, etc. A green living border must be 2-sided (pos. 1), but an asymmetrical floral border is possible, pos. 2. Looking ahead, immediately about which plants are best to choose for a green border, see next. video:
Video: green border for the front garden
How to grow a living border and how to care for it:
There are no plants that bloom from spring to autumn. Borders in a front alley garden need to be of sufficient height, at least waist-deep, and then a not very attractive space will be visible at the roots of tall flowers; This means you need to plant different plants in tiers. Therefore, a good flower border requires special care and skill.
Several large initial costs, but much simpler care will then be needed for the front garden-gallery, entwined with climbing plants, pos. 3 in Fig. Its extreme, but very attractive case is the front garden-arch, pos. 4. Firstly, the front garden arch does not require the allocation of adjacent land. Secondly, the fence around the house can be high and blank, and you can introduce yourself quite thoroughly without being exposed.
Aesthetics is not described in formulas, but has its own fairly definite patterns. The front garden of the house will give proper representation only if its design is conceptually consistent with that of the house, see below. Increasing the representativeness of the front garden-alley is achieved by the fact that the passage from the street to the house should be direct, and the entrance door should be located opposite the gate or gate.
If these conditions are not met, it is better to create a modular, or island, front garden, see another figure:
This green is separated both from the passage to the house and from the house either by filling the free area in the front garden itself and a strip of lawn (on the left in the figure), or by a green border (in the center). Floral - skillful selection of the size and configuration of plantings, their arrangement and selection of plants, on the right.
Note: creating a representative and aesthetically expressive flower island front garden is a difficult task, feasible only for a very good gardener-phytodesigner.
Special cases
There are no rules without exceptions in any field of activity. And the design of the front garden is no exception.
For example, the entrance to the house at pos. 1 on next rice. lateral and very distant. In terms of design (see below), no matter how you look at it, nothing good seems to come out. We made the path wider and split the front garden in half - quite acceptable. The same technique was used in pos. 2 in order not to sacrifice the lawn and recreation area in front of the house, only the front garden is arranged bordering them.
At pos. 3 – it seems that this design solution has not yet been tested in practice: a front garden made of ground cover plants in the style of geometric minimalism. It can be very successful for northern regions where flowers, cereals, trees and shrubs simply do not grow. A kind of cultivated piece of tundra.
At pos. 4 – a specifically Russian solution (and ancient Roman, see below): a front garden outside the local area. In some places in the Russian outback, the traditions of the ancient Russian good neighborly community (peace) are still alive, in which hooliganism and vandalism are either impossible or nipped in the bud. Unfortunately, in our time this option is not very realistic: besides other moral and ethical issues, there is almost no man’s land anywhere anymore.
Design
The dominant means of decorating a front garden is living plants. We will talk about some additions to them further. The selection of plants for the front garden is carried out in the same way as for a flower bed or flower garden, taking into account the available land area, see videos on the selection of plants:
Video: which plants to choose for the front garden
Video: how to create a beautiful flower garden for the front garden
Video: caring for flowering perennials
We will further focus on phytodesign and front garden design. Both disorderly and/or ill-conceived plantings and the same additional design will negate all efforts in choosing a technical solution and planning. The condition that determines the design methods of the front garden is its inextricable aesthetic connection with the house.
Common mistakes
It is obvious that the appearance of the house and the front garden should be consistent. Fortunately, good living planting is beautiful in its own right and generally fits into a building of almost any architecture. Errors here are possible only occasionally and not fatal.
For example, a house at pos. 1 pic. - North American colonial style. The owners' ancestors built here... in 1620 (the foundation stone is in the foreground of this photo!) Beautiful, bright flowers draw attention to themselves to the detriment of prestige. Paint the house a little darker or plant the flowers a little paler, everything would be OK.
At pos. 2, the fence is clearly too high and visually heavy for such a front garden, and the pergola is conceptually detached from the house. A pergola only works for its overall effect if you can see the front door through it. In this case, a lower fence would be needed, and an arch instead of a pergola.
At pos. 3, in addition to the blank fence, on the left there is an area of bare earth and an unfinished well of a rather ugly appearance. Building at pos. 4 has no architectural style as such at all and no low-growing front garden will fit in with it. The semi-basement is residential, so bushes or, say, delphinium and lupine will not go into the front garden. But an alpine slide (see below) and 1-2 more trees between the windows of the semi-basement could well improve the situation; the crown of the right one would also cover the drainpipe.
Examples of harmony
Since the geometry of plants and architectural forms is fundamentally different, the main means of visual coordination of the front garden and the house will be harmonies of color and layout (spatial). Color harmony should not be based on contrasts: there are more than enough of them in shapes. On the contrary, the color schemes of the front garden and the house should hide the uniform discord.
In the example on the left in Fig. The front garden is, firstly, low-growing grassy. Secondly, its color scheme is quite modest with a predominance of white. White color matches any other color, and therefore bright spots of other colors do not spoil the overall impression.
In the center: the designer faced a rather difficult task of matching the dark red color of the brick with bright greenery. Red and green are generally considered difficult to combine. The solution turned out to be simple: they placed a flowerpot with a large, tall stock rose in plain sight. All the red-green contrast was concentrated on her, and there it was quite natural. The dark greenery on the wall is consistent with the also dark red brick, and this background provides a smooth smoothing of the main contrast, so that the bright greenery of the front garden itself looks impeccable against the red.
On the right in Fig. the house is gray and dull. The path to it is made of concrete slabs, too. The entrance to the house is on the far side. A gently curved front garden border of bright floral cushions dominates the boredom and indicates where to go.
Styles
An artistic or design style is a set of rules derived from a certain ideological concept. Successful extra-left solutions like those given above are also quite conceptual: if you don’t understand what, why you like and what you want, then nothing good will come of it. Several styles can be based on the same concept, but not vice versa: a pseudo-style based on pulled-out different concepts pieces turn into bad taste.
The stylistic approach simplifies design tasks. The above-mentioned decisions are either the result of a random unconscious discovery, or the fruit of long, hard thought by specialists. The design of a front garden in a certain style allows the amateur to get results no worse: the style provides practical recommendations. In the same way that an electrician may not know that there are such things as mathematical physics and Maxwellian electrodynamics for proper wiring installation.
The history of the front garden given at the beginning also contains the history of the emergence of Euro-American styles of its design, but they also have other origins; Currently they have merged into one channel. In general, the front garden can be decorated in the following styles. directions (clones):
- Rustic.
- Traditional Russian.
- East Asian (Chinese-Japanese).
- Synthetic Asian.
- Classical European (Roman, English, French).
- Syncretic European (Mediterranean).
Rustic
Rustic style is often called country, which is incorrect. Country is the style of the pioneers of the Wild West of America, it is younger than colonial. And the rustic style dates back to prehistoric antiquity.
The front garden is made rustic, firstly, by a rough unpainted wooden fence (top left in the figure) or wattle fence; in the latter case, the composition is completed by sunflowers (in the same place in the center). A rustic fence made from untreated birch poles (above right) looks great, but unfortunately, birch wood deteriorates very quickly when outdoors. Secondly, plantings in a rustic front garden should imitate the natural herbs in a meadow or forest clearing.
It is very difficult to “design” a real rustic, because... primitive aesthetic concepts are very vague and precisely unknown. Rather, the result will be a rustic stylization, which is quite permitted in the arts and crafts. But dumping old cart wheels, barrels, etc. into the front garden. the attributes are not rustic at all, but country, meaningless. For example, a primitive pergola (bottom left in the figure) will add some rusticity to the front garden: its prototype is the shrine of pagan idols. If you want to express it more strongly - something immemorially fabulous, for example. the hut looks like it's on chicken legs, down in the center.
Note: wooden decks can be called rustic only conditionally - they imply a fairly high degree of development of woodworking technology, and the rustic style should truly be called barbaric. However, the use of decks allows the front garden to be terraced while maintaining a transparent hint of rusticity (below right).
Russian front garden
The origin of the Russian front garden is similar to the Roman one, but intuitive, and not based on military regulations. The history of Russia is such that the Russian world (in the sense of the neighboring community) had to be ready for both defense and campaign no worse than the Roman legion. By the way, the words “palisade” and “front garden” are translations into Russian, respectively. foreign terms.
The basis of the Russian world is the peasant family. Her home is a wooden hut. Therefore, the concept of a Russian front garden exactly coincides with that of a wooden house, and a Russian front garden looks as it should only with a wooden house. Moreover, the front garden of the old house visually rejuvenates and ennobles.
There are only 2 rules for setting up a Russian front garden, and even then they are not strictly mandatory: it must occupy a strip of land in front of the house and be fenced with a low wooden picket fence. Everything else is up to you. If something doesn’t add up, take a walk around the neighborhood and take a closer look. The stunning harmony of Central Russian nature was noted by all foreign travelers of the past, and the connection between the Russian soul and native nature has long become a commonplace.
Southeast Asia
Asian front gardens are not of military origin: in Asia, the regular formation of troops, military regulations and correct tactics became known only with the appearance of Europeans there. They are divided either according to the Japanese or Chinese model. Experts often confuse both, although the differences between them are no less than between any of them and European ones.
Japanese
The Japanese front garden is rustic in the local style. With one amendment: it expresses the old Japanese religion Shinto taken to its logical conclusion. Which, in turn, is a fusion of traditional pagan beliefs and Zen Buddhism.
In a Japanese front garden (see fig.) there are never brightly flowering or catchy variegated plants and straight lines, but stones are a must. A body of water is highly desirable; the best is a stream with a bridge. There are usually 2 plant layers: low-growing simple forms (ground cover, cushion-shaped) and trees. The shrub layer is added in patches if there is no pond. Trees are evergreen, tree ferns or conifers. In no case are sakura or brightly colored in autumn! They are for gardens of relaxation and admiration! The paths are gravel or sand; paved - only with high-quality artificial stone, which imitates natural stone quite well.
Laying out and decorating a Japanese front garden is a great, complex art. Over thousands of years of solitary cultural evolution, Japanese ideological and aesthetic concepts have become so complex that in Japan itself there are dozens, if not hundreds, of national schools of phytodesign and decoration of ornamental plantings. There is simply no space here to give at least the most general idea about them, so you’d better watch the video about arranging Japanese front gardens:
Video: how to decorate a front garden in Japanese style
Video: arrangement of a Japanese garden at a summer cottage
Note: To set up a Japanese front garden, you need at least 2-3 acres of land with a width of 10 m along the facade of the house.
Chinese
China is the only one of the great civilizations of antiquity that has survived to this day, but front gardens appeared there relatively late, during the Ming Dynasty (this was after the expulsion of the Mongols). Marco Polo, who came to China ca. 100 years earlier and having lived there for almost half his life, does not mention anything about them, but he was an attentive, observant, truthful and not at all gullible person. True, the famous Venetian somehow managed to overlook the Great Wall of China, so who knows. In any case, the first Chinese manuals on the construction of front gardens are known no later than the Ming time; The Chinese inclination towards plant growing is well known... And it looks quite natural. Although under the middle and late Ming China steadily degraded and fell from a leading world power to a backwater and a laughing stock, overall the Ming gave China almost 300 years of relative peace, stability and prosperity for the first time in its history.
The Chinese front garden is always a straight alley leading to the entrance to the house, see figure, albeit very short, 2-4 steps. The wings are fenced off only and only with a green living border and are planted most often in Japanese style (see above), but without stones. Floral inserts on the wings and in the border are acceptable, but should not dominate the overall dark green background.
Flowers or catchy variegated plants are displayed at the entrance from the street in flowerpots and change depending on the time of year, the attitude of the owners towards the intended visitor (the language of flowers in China is extremely developed), any events in the family and in society, or simply on the mood of the owner.
Unlike the Japanese, the Chinese front garden can be as compact as desired, even mini. This property was appreciated by the Dutch, who were the first Europeans to establish regular contacts and trade with China. The Dutch city front garden (on the right in the figure) differs from the Chinese only in the low stone border instead of a living one: in the Netherlands it is very crowded.
About fake Asia
Asian aesthetic concepts are known to be very different from European ones. Tons of strictly scientific works have been written about these differences, and the issue has not yet been fully explored. On our topic, some things have already been clearly defined. Namely, stylization of Asian front gardens is impossible, such is the effect of the long development of Asian civilizations in isolation. Therefore, the “Asian” front garden that you see in Fig. this, excuse me, the ficus knows that there is a bow on the palm tree.
Conceptually unacceptable design of a front garden “like Asia”
Apart from the completely unacceptable mixture of Chinese and Japanese exterior design techniques, not a single true believer Buddhist will place a sculptural image of a bodysattva in the front garden. Its place is only in a temple, on consecrated public or state land, or in a home altar. If compared with Christianity, then such a front garden is the same as an icon of a drunken Christ with a glass of vodka instead of a cross and blessing with a pickled cucumber instead of a pinch.
Eurasia
European artists and decorators who explored the East turned out to be smarter and reworked creative oriental techniques according to their concepts. For front gardens and phytodesign in general, we took most from Japan, because The Chinese front garden is already close to the French one, see below.
For a successful “translation” from Asian plant language into European, little was needed: the shrub layer and the tree layer in full growth were pushed to the edges of the planting or, better yet, to the wall of the house. This allowed (see figure):
“Eurasian” front gardens
- Completely harmonize the Asian front garden with the house of European architecture;
- Use straight paths with inexpensive paving, soft flowers and linear planting of the European type - mixborder;
- Place an island front garden with stones on the lawn. In this case, catchy decorative dwarf conifers are quite appropriate. After all, visually they are almost like flowers;
- Use clear, strict stone structures in the design of the front garden.
Note: An extreme case of the “Eurasian” approach to phytodesign is a German urban front garden, see figure:
Even a low, blank stone fence around it is acceptable (see below), which is by no means out of place in the city.
From synthetics to syncretics
The Eurasian front garden is still synthetic. Synthetics is followed by syncretism - the refinement of the perceptual concept and the development of a new style (styles) on a new basis. To get to syncretism, you will have to take up the European clone of front garden design styles.
Roman
The ancestors of Eurofront gardens are ancient Roman. However, it is not ancient: the Roman style of front garden design has safely survived to this day. Its base is, through which the entrance to the house and the entire path to it are visible, see fig. below.
It is the pergola that gives the Roman front garden its presentability. The ancient Italics believed that either some kind of deity or house spirits settled in the pergola, expelling evil thoughts from the stranger. In essence, a pergola is the same oriental idol. These beliefs go back to the Etruscans, and were already completely extinct in Ancient Rome. But the psychological effect of the pergola can be explained quite rationally: by passing under it, the visitor unconsciously accepts the morals of the house, thereby showing respect for its owners. The ancients explained this by saying that local gods/spirits force those brought to stay outside the threshold and wait for their owner to come back. Simply: they don’t go to someone else’s monastery with their own rules. Therefore, the pergola can protrude forward beyond the boundaries of the household (on the right in the figure), just like the Russian outdoor front garden.
Note: If there is a bench in a Roman front garden, then it is surrounded by a pergola so that “their” spirits protect the owners on vacation.
French
A classic or palace French front garden is laid out according to the rules of a French park, and not every specialist can distinguish it from a Chinese one. But there is also a traditional French, or Gallic, front garden.
The basis of the national French front garden is also an alley leading to the house. But its wings are not necessarily regular, and most importantly, they are abundant in bright, variegated ground flowers, see fig. To achieve harmony in such a front garden, a fertile climate is not enough: you need purely French taste, tact and a sense of proportion.
Neapolitan
The development of the French front garden was the Neapolitan one, adapted to a hotter and drier climate. However, front gardens of a clearly Neapolitan type are known from ancient Pompeii.
The differences between a Neapolitan front garden and a French one are primarily due to the desire to save on watering - flowers in flowerpots or in compact groups, extensive lawns on the wings, reducing soil heating. In mountainous areas, even the alley was not always level. Look at fig. Isn’t it true that this already looks a lot like Eurasia or even the East?
Mediterranean
Having such source material, it is not surprising that it was the gardeners and decorators of the Mediterranean countries who ultimately came to the current pinnacle of small gardening art - the syncretic style of the front garden. Technically, it is absolutely flexible: a Mediterranean front garden can be laid out anywhere in any way you like. And aesthetically it is consistent with a building of any architecture in any environmental conditions.
The ancestor of Mediterranean front gardens is colonial, top left in Fig. It differs from French in that it has an extremely short alley or its virtual absence. The designers only have to impose a ban on the sometimes too pretentious curves of the contours of Japanese and Eurasian front gardens, but make their lines described by strict geometric formulas, see Fig., and also refuse stones, except for borders. This is where syncretism manifested itself: in attempts to understand the concepts of the East, we had to make full use of Western rationalism and understand that now even on insignificant pieces of land it is no longer possible to work haphazardly. This, by the way, has greatly simplified the manual planning of plantings in small areas. Which was very important in the pre-computer era.
Another special occasion
The development of the English front garden style proceeded in a different way than the Russian one, but also in a unique way. The English mentality is closer than other European ones to the Japanese; For the average Anglo-Saxon, a rock garden is something taken for granted. But rationalism is also strong in the Englishman. Therefore, the British immediately abandoned curves in the design of the front garden, and in the prim Victorian era they completely banished flowers from it. This is how the Victorian front garden turned out, so unique that you can’t find more or less sensible information on it on the RuNet: you need to enter the key Victorian front garden in the search and, preferably, switch to British servers.
The Victorian front garden, see figure, firstly, is considered a model of representativeness and respect. Secondly, this is the only style of front garden that is in harmony with a forged and even stone fence (see also below). Thirdly, the place of herbaceous plantings in a Victorian front garden can be taken by such stones as in the Japanese one (top center in the figure). This is achieved by dividing plantings into modules of clear geometric shapes. And despite the apparent utilitarianism, the Victorian front garden can be cheerful and elegant, below right.
Design and decoration
Since the main thing in the aesthetics of a front garden is the harmony of the vegetation with the house, the range of tools for its additional decoration is quite limited. For example, a gazebo, etc. It is in no way appropriate for MAFs (small architectural forms) to stick out in plain sight between the house and the road. By the way, calling sculptural decorations (vases, figures) MAFs is a gross mistake. Sculpture is not architecture, and vice versa. By and large, it is possible to decorate a front garden (descending in order of importance and complexity of execution) as follows. items:
- Fence.
- Bench.
- Alpine slide (rock garden, rock garden).
- Sculptural elements.
- Artificial pond or fountain.
Fence
Let's remember: the front garden is the calling card of the house. According to one of the subtle rules of etiquette, you need to hand over a printed business card while holding the very corner with your fingertips. If you take it with your fingers, you can cover part of the text, i.e. fail to introduce yourself in full. If you hold it sticking out in your fingers, then, excuse me, you are poking your I in the face of your counterpart. In Pushkin's era, such a reminiscence was sufficient reason for a challenge to a duel.
Design
However, the fence for the front garden also has strictly practical functions: it protects the plantings from being trampled or eaten by animals and, possibly, holds a gate and/or wicket. Aesthetically, the fence covers the bare soil at the roots of the plants.
A solution that satisfies these conditions has been known for a long time: this is a low wooden picket fence. But the fence is different. A dense, high, brightly painted carved fence (top left in the picture) will prevent the front garden from introducing itself. He will do it himself instead of him, and who knows who will think what about the owner. But that’s definitely not what he wanted to say with the front garden itself.
The combination of color and density of the front garden fence is generally important. For example, a seemingly ideal fence at the top in the center is too dense and visually clogs even thick, bright flowers. This fence should be painted dark green. But let’s put picket fences on the crossbars less frequently, and plant flowers outside in front of the fence (above right) – it’s a completely different matter.
A purely stone fence, even a very, very stylized “natural” one (bottom left), does not look good with any front garden. Wrought iron or stone-metal, as already said, are suitable only for a Victorian front garden, and with any other they suppress the effect of vegetation, even being graceful and neat, at the bottom in the center. If the metal fence of the front garden is required for strength (say, to hold a gate), then it should be extremely openwork, at the bottom right.
Design
To make a picket fence for a front garden, linear sections-beds are prepared from pickets stuffed onto crossbars - crossbars made of the same boards. Some possible configurations of picket fence beds are shown in Fig. on right.
The beds are either nailed to wooden posts, or bolted to the mounting feet of posts made of round or profiled pipes. The metal then must be painted dark green, dark blue or another color to match the flowers in the front garden, but the color tone of the fence should be darker than the overall color.
If a fence on wooden posts does not carry additional load (gates. Figures on posts), then it is not necessary to concrete the posts. Their ends 15-20 cm above the ground surface are impregnated with hot bitumen, sprinkled with sand, wrapped in roofing material and dug in.
How to make a fence for a front garden in the traditional way is shown on the left in Fig. At the top right is a finished plastic bed; it is simply pressed into the ground. In addition, factory-made plastic beds can be curved smoothly, which is good for fencing a mini-front garden, see below.
Below on the right is a fence option for installation on level ground without excavation. It actually looks rather dense, but maybe they’ll paint it green. The heels of the pillars are attached to them through through holes with L-shaped anchors made of 12-16 mm reinforcement, 0.6-0.8 m long. Don’t forget to check the site plan to see if there are any underground utilities running under the fence!
To ensure that the fence on the heels lasts for 15 years or more on any soil, the crossbars for the heels and the lower ends of the posts are separately impregnated with a trace before assembly. compositions (subsequent impregnation after complete drying of the previous one):
- 7% solution of boric acid in hot water or, if the pillars are not suitable for painting, 10-15% solution of copper sulfate;
- Water-polymer emulsion;
- Liquid drying silicone grease or also silicone agent for restoring tarnished car spoilers.
Note: how to make simple and decorative fences for a front garden, see also video
Video: a simple picket fence
Video: DIY decorative fence
Video: 25 ideas for a beautiful fence at the dacha
Bench
The requirements for the front garden are purely aesthetic and not unconditional: it must be either solid wood or wood on an openwork metal frame. In Victorian, French and Mediterranean front gardens, a wrought iron bench is quite appropriate.
Rock garden
It will help to “stretch out” the design of front gardens of most styles if they have to be located in the wrong place. It is inappropriate only in Russian, Chinese and Mediterranean and Victorian front gardens.
The easiest way to build a rock garden for a front garden is by throwing stones (left and top right in the figure). A rockery made from terraces poured into stone hollows (bottom right) is more compact, but requires some experience in this kind of work, otherwise the terraces will float. How to build an alpine slide with your own hands, see video:
Video: how to make an alpine slide for the front garden yourself
And examples of design solutions for rock gardens follow. plot:
Video: Alpine slide - examples and options
Figures
Let us repeat once again: the core of the front garden design is the harmony of vegetation creation. Therefore, the stuffed figures in it, standing out with their height (on the left in the figure) or with a rich unnatural color (in the center), are inappropriate in any front garden.
Small figures are suitable, approx. to match the growth of the plants, and to match them. It is best if the decorative scarecrow in the front garden matches the vegetation and in essence, as on the right in Fig. Frogs and toads, like plants, love moisture, live among plants and are useful to them.
Mini options
It happens that there seems to be no space at all for a front garden. Either the yard is simply too small, or you don’t want to disturb the existing productive or decorative plantings. Well, no problem. There is a place for a mini-front garden everywhere.
If you still have some free space, you can arrange a small front garden from one module in a stone border-fence, pos. 1 in Fig. An unstylish, but completely legitimate decision. On any farmstead there is at least half a square of land for a supermini front garden surrounded by a fence made from a ready-made flexible bed, pos. 2.
But the best solution is a mini-front garden made from scrap materials (a tire and an old tub in item 3, driftwood and an unusable ceramic vessel in item 4, etc.) “with a twist.” Although a stuffed hare in the latter case may not be entirely appropriate; The original photo doesn't show what the surroundings are like. The highlight is a miniature artificial pond. Highlights within the highlight, i.e. double accents, on pos. 3rd grade water lily (or even lotus, you can’t really see it there), and at pos. 4 – fountain. Double visual emphasis in the front garden greatly enhances its effects, both aesthetic and representative.
1. A front garden is a small area between the house and the road on which various plants are planted. Most often, the front garden is divided into two parts by a path,
Dominant plants are planted on both sides of the road - fruit trees or shrubs - very often lilacs. In our article we will talk about how to beautifully decorate the front garden in front of the house.
The word front garden is of French origin.
means hedge, palisade. The purpose of the front garden is to hide the windows of the house from prying eyes, on the one hand.
On the other hand, the front garden, unlike the courtyard and garden, is put on public display, being, so to speak, the face of the estate. For this reason, the arrangement of the front garden is given significant
amount of effort.
What types of front gardens are there?
2. Front gardens can be open or closed. The choice of one or another type of front garden depends on the preferences of the owner of the estate and the location of the site.
Open front gardens require the arrangement of plants and other landscape design elements in such a way as to provide the best view from the street.
In the case of closed front gardens, everything is exactly the opposite.
Front garden fencing
3. The front garden fencing plays an important role in the design. The general rule here is this: the fence should be harmoniously combined with the main style of the estate.
Most often, the front garden fencing is a wooden picket fence. A front garden fenced with a wicker fence creates a beautiful
addition for a cottage in a rustic style. The house with wrought iron bars on the windows is perfectly complemented by a wrought iron fence.
Front garden decoration
4. In addition to the fact that the fence should form a single composition with the estate, the design of the front garden itself is also important. The design style of the front garden should be in harmony with the overall picture.
Plants for the front garden can be selected in such a way that they are in harmony with each other and do not require any particularly complex care.
Your front garden will look quite interesting if you choose the plants in such a way that when finished
During the flowering period of some plants, others bloomed. In this way, you can ensure that your front garden is decorated with flowers - from spring until the onset of winter cold.
- Rabatka. If your front garden has a rectangular elongated shape, then this ridge is what you need. According to the canons, the length of the ridge should be three times
more than width.
Flowers are planted in even rows. Interesting combinations can be achieved by using flowers of different colors and arranging the flower in a checkerboard pattern.
- Alpine slide. A design solution combining stones and plants. Dwarf coniferous plants look very appropriate in an alpine hill, imitating an alpine mountain landscape.
- Curb. A narrow area with flowers bordering a path is called a border in the art of landscape design.
— Mixborder. A type of flower garden first used in English garden art in the 18th century. Mixborder, as the name implies, implies a complex mixed
composition of plants of various types.
In the case of a front garden, low-growing plants are planted at the front edge, and the tallest ones are planted next to the house.
In such a flower garden, both herbaceous and woody plants can be used.
How to choose plants for the front garden
5. As we said earlier, plants for front gardens need to be selected so that they meet several conditions. This is a harmonious combination
together.
Matches the style of the estate itself. Plants should not be very demanding to care for. Especially if you don’t have much experience in this matter yet. It is also best to choose unpretentious plants that are best adapted to the climate in your region.
For the rest, let your imagination run wild! For example, the rustic style is emphasized by daisies, cornflowers and sunflowers. The romantic style will be matched
roses, hydrangeas in combination with climbing plants such as clematis.
Color spectrum
6. Proper use of the color scheme of the front garden will solve a number of quite important problems. For example, cool colors promote visual expansion
spaces of the front garden - flowers of blue, blue colors, it is appropriate to use in front gardens with a very small area.
Bright flowers - red and yellow - create the illusion of light; they should be planted in shaded front gardens. In addition, the use of colors should take into account the stylistic
the direction of the picture as a whole.
For example, on a rustic-style estate, a variety of different colors is welcome, but for discreet architectural solutions, it is better to use 1-2 colors. The overall color context of the house, next to which the front garden is located, is also important. If the walls of the house
painted in neutral colors (white, blue, beige), then the front garden with bright colors will look good.
Conversely, for a house with walls painted in bright colors, it is better to choose plants of more modest colors.
So, we talked about the main nuances associated with creating a front garden with your own hands. We hope our story was useful.
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