Do-it-yourself front garden in front of the house: how to make and decorate

Front garden decoration

The design of the front garden of a house may include:

flower beds;
floral arches;
beautiful designer garden compositions;
execution of the original picket fence (fence).

In this article we will tell you how to decorate your front garden, and also provide you with original ideas for its design.

A well-groomed corner in front of the house will turn your estate into a sweet, kind fairy tale. At the same time, the front garden will beautifully emphasize the house itself and successfully hide, for example, outbuildings.

Making a front garden with your own hands will not be particularly difficult if you have a little artistic taste and a sincere desire to create a picturesque corner in front of the house that will delight you and your family for many years.

Original front garden decor for a country house

An important condition when decorating a front garden is the harmony of its external decoration with the architecture of the main cottage. A fence for a front garden can be made of either wood or metal. Metal picket fences are a rather original decoration for the front garden of a country house.

Also a suitable option for a small country mansion is to make a wooden metal fence with a hedge.

If you own a modern cottage, then you can make a carved fence with your own hands with evergreens and decorative design compositions. The fence for the front garden can be either wooden or a monolithic concrete fence.

Types of front gardens

The structures that decorate the areas in front of the house can be divided into 4 types:

Open - an area that is completely open and zoned, with no cover in the form of bushes or devices. It is installed in summer cottages near the house, if the building is located far from the road. This front garden is only covered by a fence.
Closed - tall trees or shrubs are planted along the outer perimeter, which cover the recreation area from wind, dust and exhaust from cars. This type of front garden can be seen in all its glory only from the side of the building; from the road it is reliably covered with vegetation.
Covered – a lawn that is protected from the street side by thorny bushes, these can be blackberries, gooseberries, hawthorns or rose hips.

The most beautiful front garden, with a wooden fence decorated with a trellis rose.

Formal - this type of front garden is very small; it is built if there is very little space on the territory and it is difficult to create a composition. In this situation, the space is decorated using containers or special multi-level structures.

Functional varieties of flower beds

The front garden has a decorative function, unlike gardens and vegetable gardens. And the plants chosen are very beautiful and decorative; if trees are used for decoration, then evergreen ones are chosen.

Functions of front gardens:

decorative - plants do not bear fruit and serve only as decoration for the local area;
environmental – if the planted plants have a beneficial effect on the air and saturate the soil with useful elements;
economic - if fruit-bearing bushes and trees grow in the local area.

How to create a beautiful front garden in front of your house? The photo below shows some options.

It is shown how to make a beautiful and practical front garden with a chain-link fence.

It can be seen that a stone elevation was used as decoration, which in turn serves as a front garden on one side and a paved path to the house.

The picture shows a beautiful well-groomed flower garden of conifers and perennials with a hedge of evenly trimmed shrubs.

It shows how you can improve a small area near your home.

The front garden was created in an alpine style using stones and decorative foliage plants.

A white stone fence stands out against the backdrop of beautiful flowering plants, without distracting much attention.

A formal front garden laid out under a window.

Village houses, especially older ones, are traditionally decorated with front gardens.

Varieties of garden flower beds

Depending on your preferences, you can create an open front garden without a picket fence on your site.

An example of a front garden made of forged elements

These can be all kinds of beautifully arranged flower beds.

Or you can install a picket fence in the form of a hedge, for example, or a wicker, forged or wooden fence. This type of front garden is called closed. According to their external design, garden flower beds are conventionally divided into Russian and European.

“Russians” have an unusually beautiful appearance and can be decorated with painted decorations, clay figurines and original flower arrangements.

“European” ones are distinguished by neat lawns, as well as impeccably executed flower beds and garden paths.

In addition, the design can also vary in decoration styles: rustic, romantic, Japanese, Mediterranean.

What does the front garden consist of?

Traditionally, the front garden is the area near the house, something between a vegetable garden and a yard. The front garden in front of the house can serve different functions. But in any case, plants always grow in the front garden.

Advantages and disadvantages

Decorating the front garden of a private house has a lot of advantages:

hiding the shortcomings of the building, a chance to emphasize style and design;
possibility of designing a playground for children;
fencing the house from exhaust gases;
the ability to grow ornamental, garden crops and berry bushes;
transplanted bushes of greenery can be used to decorate household equipment in the village;
protection from the eyes of passers-by.

As for the shortcomings, there are none, except for the fact that such a mini garden needs to be looked after.

What you need to remember when designing a front garden

Harmony of beauty and functionality

When arranging a front garden, you first need to think about what additional purpose it can be used for. Perhaps it will serve as a parking lot for a car or motorcycle, or you will install garbage cans on its territory.

Proper use of the plot of a country cottage will help you place everything you need on it, and at the same time the garden will look very well-groomed.

Roses and various low-growing shrubs look great in the interior of the front garden. Your guests will not be able to take their eyes off if you place these plantings at the very entrance to the patio.

Origin of the word "front garden"

This name came from France - from the word palissade (picket fence or hedge). The French borrowed this word from the Romans. From Latin the word palus is translated as a wooden stake - which, in principle, was what the front garden consisted of in ancient times.

In our country, this name for a decorated local area began to be used in the 18th century. It was at this time that arranging a front garden became fashionable, since there was a lot of fertile land in the Russian Empire.

Peter I loved to replace Russian phrases with foreign ones, so during his reign he replaced the name “palisade” with the word “palisade”. In Rus' there were a lot of centuries-old forests, so wood was the most common building material used for arranging small decorative flower beds in front of the building - front gardens.

Interesting: nowadays, almost every owner of a private building has a front garden, but this was not always the case. In ancient times, only wealthy people could afford a corner decorated with flowers, since peasants owned very little land and tried to use every piece of it to grow vegetables or fruit trees.

Where to start decorating a front garden

If you want your front garden to look beautiful both inside and outside your summer cottage, install a “transparent” decorative fence.

The size of such a garden should correspond to the size of a country house. The best option is a front garden, for which an area with a width of approximately 2/3 of the height of the country cottage is allocated.

Schematic plan for the location of the front garden on the site

In this case, the bushes planted near the walls of the estate should cover only the very top part of the base. The outline of the garden should be similar to the river valley, the role of which is played by the path leading from the gate to the porch.

A front garden with shrubs planted around it, which forms a kind of closed space: round, oval or square, would be a good idea.

If your estate has a “blank” wall, then it is preferable to decorate it with a covering crown of thuja, birch or low spruce.

Moreover, if young trees were planted relatively recently and there is still an uncovered area between them, then it is better to cover it with decorative mulch. In this case, there will be no fear that weeds will sprout, and the closed space will look more than elegant and neat, because the flowers in such an area will look very beautiful.

Tips for choosing plants and principles of planting them

Plants in the front garden will perform several important functions:

Decorative - to decorate the territory;
Economic - many plants produce tasty berries and fruits;
Ecological - maintaining the correct soil composition.

All these functions are performed to one degree or another by flowers, shrubs and trees.

For decoration, it is best to choose flowers that will bloom from early spring to late autumn, gradually replacing each other. A bright front garden is always a guarantee of a positive mood! Asters, dahlias, peonies, phlox, hollyhocks - go well with the rest of the greenery. Try to use several varieties of perennial herbaceous plants. For example, lavender, geranium and foxglove look good together. The rounded leaves and umbrella inflorescences of geranium in combination with small lavender flowers are a good background for foxglove spikelets.

Lavender will decorate any area, except, perhaps, Asian

To divide the front garden into several zones, use climbing plants - climbing roses, honeysuckle, wisteria, campsis.

The most successful option is clematis, which produces large and bright flowers. And if you choose “yellow Tangut” among them, then its flowering will delight you from May to October.

Petiolate hydrangea looks very impressive - its vines are incredibly lush and voluminous. But keep in mind that the result will be noticeable only after a few years from the moment of planting.

Approximate scheme for arranging flower beds and planting trees

Among the shrubs you can plant barberry, hawthorn, elderberry, shadberry, chokeberry, currant, raspberry, rose hip, gooseberry, linden. If you do not want to spend a lot of time caring for your front garden, then you need to choose bushes with a natural spherical crown. For example, white acacia. She has a naturally lush crown that does not need a haircut.

Of the trees, it is best to choose coniferous species that are easy to trim - thuja, yew, juniper, dwarf spruce, boxwood. One of the advantages of such plants is that they look great in winter. You can also create a hedge from them. Tall crops are not suitable for a front garden, as they will block the entire yard and house with their crowns.

As a rule, a closed space is formed around the house - a rectangle, square, circle or oval. It is advisable to plant shrubs along this perimeter. Near the walls they should be slightly higher than the top of the plinth. You can plant flowers at the entrance to the house, and their height should decrease as you approach the porch.

When there is no other territory anymore, many different zones can be located in the front garden

The diagram above shows one of the options for zoning a small front garden in front of the house. Since the site no longer has any other territory, it was decided to arrange a pond, flower beds, barbecue and recreation areas in the front garden, and partially fence all areas and delimit them with hedges. The paths are lined with decorative concrete tiles. Maiden grapes were used as a hedge. Mountain pine, thuja, and boxwood are planted along the perimeter of the site. Astilbe, bergenia, hydrangea, iris, calendula, daylily, lily, fern, phlox, and hosta are planted in the flower beds and near the pond.

Important household properties of garden flower beds

In addition to a nice appearance, a beautifully designed area located in front of your house will allow you to:

“hide” your estate from prying eyes;
place a mailbox in the front garden;
if there is no garage, arrange a specially designated place for the car;
design a small children's playground;
grow various types of fruit and berry plants and shrubs;
carry out all kinds of repair work that may be necessary when living in a country house;
hide the trash container.

Front garden and its functions

In the usual sense, a front garden is something between a yard, a flower garden and a vegetable garden. This is a kind of front door of a house and a personal plot. He greets guests and talks about his owners, and hides the personal life of the owners from random passers-by. Traditionally, the front garden is separated from the roadway or sidewalk by a fence.

Classic front garden in front of a village or country house

In addition to decorative functions, a front garden can also perform many practical ones:

parking for cars and other vehicles (bicycles, motorcycles, ATVs, etc.);
storage location for garbage containers;
location of the mailbox;
cultivation of fruit and berry crops;
flower garden;
“small garden” - performing part of the functions of the main farm;
area for minor repairs;
children's play area;
a vacation spot for the whole family;
registration and provision of access to some hard-to-reach areas of the site.

By installing a small children's playground in the front garden, you can always keep your baby occupied

Design and style

Any owner of a country cottage chooses for himself how he wants to see his front garden equipped and the corresponding fencing.

Diagram of a wooden front garden

Some people prefer the country style, others choose romanticism, and others prefer the oriental style. Let's pay attention to each of these areas.

Romanticism style

This direction is indicated by delicate, beautiful flower plantings. An excellent fence for this type of front garden would be a wrought-iron fence with pretty climbing plants.

Japanese style

This design combines mainly luxurious coniferous plants and natural stones. You can also create very beautiful compositions from cereals.

Asian style

This flower garden combines plants of dim colors. As a rule, it has a multi-tiered form. The sections of the flower garden are separated from each other by natural stones; the main fence for such a front garden consists of them.

Asian-style front garden design

In addition, low plantings of coniferous plants will look great in it.

Country style

This direction is very original and at the same time quite simple to implement. For example, you can arrange a flower garden of perennial plant varieties in it. A charming addition is a fence for the front garden in the form of a wooden fence in a rustic style.

How to design a front garden near a house, types of designs

After determining the dimensions and shape of the front garden, you need to move on to choosing the desired style. Today, there are several main popular directions, each of which has its own characteristics and advantages.

European

This style is distinguished by geometrically correct lines and a pattern with clearly defined proportions. Any deviation from the plan is unacceptable. As a rule, for front gardens of this type, a lightweight fence is installed without elements that weigh down the appearance.

Russian

A simple and concise approach to creating landscape design demonstrates the Russian style. It does not require perfect line accuracy and calculation of proportions. It is considered more important to achieve a result that will please the eye. A fence or fencing is required for this style.

Oriental

In the classical design, the front garden, made in oriental style, is a Japanese garden. In less precise options, it is necessary to adhere to at least the basic directions - plant dwarf coniferous plants, arrange stones, and the like.

Mediterranean

Flowers and some trees in a Mediterranean-style garden plot must be planted in special containers. During the decorating process, the tubs are arranged in accordance with the plan. You can complement your landscape design with harmoniously selected lanterns or sculptures. In this case, you should definitely leave space for a recreation area, in which tables, a canopy and benches should be installed.

Rustic

For those who crave rural freedom and home comfort, a rustic-style front garden will be a real find. There are no strict requirements for it, however, when choosing plants, it is recommended to give preference to wildflowers and sunflowers. Otherwise, everything depends on the preferences and tastes of the owners.

Romantic

A feature of the romantic style is a large number of climbing plants and flowers with large inflorescences. To do this, you can plant tulips, lilies, roses and similar crops. Landscape design experts advise giving preference to plants with a long flowering period.

French

The French style, or Provence, will appeal to everyone who wants to surround themselves with light airy beauty, love and freedom. Plants for it are selected in such a way that the owner of the front garden can enjoy flowers and other pleasures every day.

How to decorate a small front garden

Small flower beds can also be made quite impressive.

Using, for example, a boxwood fence, you can arrange your garden in such a way that it looks like a nice peasant yard.

Landscape design of a front garden with a pond for a summer residence

You can visually increase the size of the plot if you plant a tree in it, which will change its appearance depending on the seasons. In other words, there are a number of techniques that can shift attention from the size of the front garden to its beautiful and well-groomed appearance.

How to decorate a front garden with your own hands

Plants are the main decorations of the front garden, and it’s impossible to argue with that. However, even the most exotic flowers will sparkle with new colors if you install appropriate decorative items near them. Various small-sized architectural forms create a certain ambiance that makes each site unique. As a rule, decorative elements include:

supports for climbing plants (ladders, metal or plastic walls, tension nets);
garden decorative figurines of fairy-tale characters, birds, animals made of wood, metal or clay (purchased in specialized stores or made independently);
benches, tables and gazebos for relaxation (the number and size depend on the free space and the number of vacationers);
additional barrels, flowerpots and pots with plants, evenly distributed throughout the site;
fountains and artificial ponds;
decorative lighting (lamps, lanterns, garlands);
boulders and stones, the task of which is to visually smooth out the unevenness of the landscape.

The choice of elements for decorating the front garden will be made by your own imagination and available materials. Before starting work, it is worth determining which items need to be purchased at retail outlets, and which ones can be created on your own. In the latter case, it will be possible not only to save part of the budget, but also to introduce your own vision of beauty into the design of the front garden.

Thus, special border strips are sold for flower beds, which create a neat outline of the flower bed. However, you can organize beautiful front gardens with fences made by yourself, for example, use old tires painted in different colors or plastic bottles with various fillers.

Another appropriate decor item is a garden path. It can be single and lead from the entrance to the territory to the porch, or branch out to the buildings existing on the territory. The width of the paths should be such that it is enough for free walking without harm to the plants.

An important stage in decorating a front garden is organizing a lighting system. You can, for example, install one powerful lamp at the entrance to the house so that you can go out at night if necessary, and also place several garlands with dim light. As the evening approaches, they will create a soft, romantic atmosphere. Lamps can be placed along paths or hung on the lower branches of trees.

On small plots, you can beautifully decorate the front garden with the help of decorative clay figures. For large areas, it is more appropriate to place statues and bas-reliefs. They will not get lost among the plants, but, on the contrary, will make the area more interesting and sophisticated. An alternative to statues can be cobblestones and natural stones of various sizes.

There are a lot of decorating options, and their number is limited only by the imagination of the home owner. However, you shouldn’t be too active. Everything should be in moderation, otherwise the composition will turn out to be overloaded and difficult to perceive. In addition, the focus should not be on artificial decorations, but on living plantings.

The fence as one of its main elements

Fencing plays an important role in decorating the front garden. Choosing one option or another can significantly change the overall appearance of the composition. In addition, it is necessary to take into account that the use of borders and fences has not only a decorative, but also a practical function - they protect green spaces and help create a unified shape of the flower bed.

Thanks to the abundance of materials, today you can order a structure of any size, shape and color, but do not forget that the fence must be harmoniously combined with other decorative elements.

If the windows of the first floor are protected by openwork wrought iron bars, the flower beds near them can also be decorated with a low fence in a similar style. A fence in the form of a wooden picket fence will look appropriate in a front garden made in a romantic or rustic style. It will add a cozy atmosphere to them. For a small rural garden, a picket fence or a wicker fence made from birch or willow branches are also suitable. Stone structures are distinguished not only by their practicality (they have a long service life and are easy to maintain), but also by their stylish appearance. Quick installation and a neat appearance of flower beds will be ensured by plastic fences, an abundance of which can be found in any specialized store.

Depending on the type of fencing you choose, you can purchase it at a retail outlet or try to make it yourself from scrap materials. In some cases, this will not require any specific skills; it is enough to study the general technology and prepare all the necessary elements and tools.

If you want to fence the front gardens near the house with your own hands, when choosing a material you must be guided by the following criteria:

aesthetic appearance of the future fence;
operational period;
conditions of care;
possibility of independent processing;
the need for specific fasteners and equipment;
production speed;
price category and so on.

Front garden decorations

A wonderful addition to the flower garden is a garden path leading from the gate to the country cottage. In appearance, it should correspond to the architecture of the summer cottage and the main estate.

When the path is quite long, it will look more original if it is made in the form of a running stream.

Beautiful flower beds will be a good frame for such a path. The only thing is that they should not visually reduce it. For this purpose, it is preferable to make the path wider.

In addition, you can create cozy lighting for the garden by creating a pleasant “moonlight”.

The front garden can be decorated with all kinds of clay figurines, which will give it a special charm and originality. When choosing jewelry, it is very important to consider that all accessories match the chosen style direction.

At the same time, there should not be too many of them - this is one of the main conditions. Figurines made of ceramics, as well as a decorative gate made by yourself or other pleasing decorations will look very unusual and original. To highlight the beauty of one or more flower beds, they can be decorated with a garden “slide”.

Decorating the front garden with ceramic figurines

To build a beautiful flower garden, you can use a wide variety of color shades of garden plants, the only condition is that they be chosen with taste.

Even a modest wooden fence can be gracefully transformed by arranging a luxurious flower arch in the front garden. If you follow these rather simple rules, then decorating your kindergarten will give you pleasure, and very soon you will hear the most generous praise addressed to you!

Nostalgia for the front garden

century, Victorian motifs, characterized by pomp and brightness, dominated in gardening construction.
Accordingly, a large number of lush, beautifully flowering plants were grown in the parks. From there they often migrated to rural kindergartens. Phlox - traditional flowers in rural front gardens

The small, tiny garden in front of the house presented changing scenes of nature - from the delicate colors of spring to the golden colors of autumn. In spring, daffodils and muscari bloomed in them. And in the summer, the front gardens were dominated by annually blooming, stable and unpretentious perennials that do not freeze even in very harsh winters: bearded irises, magnificent dicentra, phlox, peonies, aconite, golden balls, asparagus (direct evidence of the influence of France, only we still have it ornamental plant). And of course, the king of front gardens is the dahlia.

Both annuals and biennials grow there, which are usually sown on perennials and self-sow well: Turkish carnation, cosmos, marigolds, self-seeding poppy... All these plants did not require much labor, and the housewife, even in the lean season in summer, could devote a little time to get your garden in order.

You will find a wide range of flower crops in our catalog, which presents products from large online stores of seeds and planting material. Choose plants for your front garden .

Calendula Pink surprise AE, 0.5 g 17 RUR

seedspost.ru

Dahlia Cactus, Mix, 13 pcs. 32 rub.

seedspost.ru

Lupine Lulu, mixture 38 RUR

Russian Vegetable Garden

Nasturtium Ladybug 21 RUR

Russian Vegetable Garden

Often a tree grows in the front garden - rowan, bird cherry, birch, less often - linden or willow, very rarely a fir tree or pine. But next to the bench there are certainly fragrant shrubs: lilac, jasmine, rose hips. And on the bench in the evening you can gossip with your neighbors. They willingly shared planting material. A beautiful new plant and a successful planning solution quickly spread throughout the village. Therefore, very often all village front gardens are similar to each other.

Village front gardens are often similar to each other

In the 20th century, due to lack of proper attention and care, only the most resistant plant species survived, which either moved to neighboring gardens or went wild. Many plants have become part of local plant communities and are now still found on the site of former manor parks, near the walls of former monasteries.

Unpretentious flowers were usually planted in front gardens

In some regions (for example, in Kalinin) in the 70-80s of the last century, front gardens almost disappeared. Instead of flowers, they planted cabbage and potatoes. But another 20 years passed, and front gardens began to be revived, but often with a different assortment. Now clematis, roses, and shrubs have begun to be planted near rural houses: spirea, yellow acacia, snowberry. It is gratifying that in Moscow flower shops you can meet amateur flower growers from the Vladimir, Kalinin, and Yaroslavl regions who are keenly interested in flower novelties. Apparently, this is a feature of our people - the desire to decorate the surrounding nature.

Choosing a style and idea

Experts recommend that all ideas and vision for the future front garden be recorded on paper in the form of a schematic image (plan). This will help you visually evaluate the future picture, correct shortcomings in a timely manner, and eliminate shortcomings.

The style of the future front garden depends entirely on the wishes and fantasies of the owner of the house.

However, there are several basic rules that should be followed when decorating a front garden near your home:

a central element (large bush, tree, fountain, statue) is placed in the center of the site;
low shrubs and flowers are planted around the central element;
Small bushes and flowers are planted around the perimeter.

Important: when planting plants, it is important to ensure a smooth transition of all the elements filling the front garden to the surrounding space.

Style selection

There are many ideas for decorating the front garden in front of your house. To achieve the desired look, you need to pay attention to the design with plants and materials so that the design turns out successful.

One of the important decisions in the design and decoration of the area in front of the house is the shape. The planting area can be round, square or irregularly shaped. The shape depends on the design of the private house and the area that you prefer to allocate for the front garden.

To achieve originality, choose a closed, round-shaped front garden. A good idea would be to create and decorate this type of platform with decorative stones. People who prefer stones can even build a beautiful fence. Stones can be replaced with a metal or wrought iron fence. In a round front garden, to achieve design integrity, it is good to plant low plants at the edges and tall ones in the center.

You can transplant vegetables into a square-shaped home area in a village, mixing them with beautiful transplanted ornamental plants. People often want to plant bushes in corners.

When choosing a style and creating the decor of a closed front garden near your house, consider the colors of the plants. For any shape it is better to choose 3 shades. It is important to create beautiful transitions of greenery in the local area.

As for colors, compositions of red and white, yellow and pink look beautiful. The idea depends on preference. When some plants fade, others begin to bloom, and you have a chance to combine several beautiful ideas and styles in your front garden that will attract attention. Another design idea is to replant plants that prefer to change places in the landscape.

Selecting plants

When selecting bushes, flowers, trees, the following criteria are taken into account:

difficulty in caring for plants;
compatibility of selected types of colors with each other;
flowering period and growth time;
appearance of plants after the flowering period;
resistance to low temperatures;
long-lived (perennial or annual).

Related article: 5 life hacks for working with paint

Most often, perennial shrubs and flowers, standard trees (for example, Norway maple or thuja) are planted in front gardens.

When choosing flowers for the front garden, it is very important to take into account the flowering period . A well-chosen assortment of plants will help maintain the blooming appearance of the front garden almost all year round.