An attractive design for a lawn-free front-yard garden

This low-maintenance front yard proves you don't need turf 

Is there a gardener anywhere who doesn't appreciate a beautiful space designed to keep maintenance needs realistic and manageable? I recently designed such a landscape for a client who wanted to transform his front lawn into a garden for his family of six to play, socialize, and gather with their extended family and friends. Wanting to maintain the space without hiring outside help, the goal was to strike a balance between beauty and ease of maintenance. The design we came up with is a great example of a hard-working landscape that looks good, but doesn't require hours of labor or a landscaping crew to keep it that way. As a bonus, a new garden needs half the water that turfgrass does.

Get rid of the lawn, but keep it family friendly

The key to creating a low-maintenance and visually appealing garden lies in careful planning and thoughtful design choices. In this case, it's important to create places that are easily accessible to all ages, group gathering areas and some hidden sanctuaries where individual family members can retreat to rejuvenate from their busy lives.

The head of the turnaround driveway was widened to accommodate the width of the playground. While it's shy of any regulation size, the space is large enough to play some competitive pickleball, and the area doubles as a parking lot when the netting is stashed away. We have also created a large terrace next to the main entrance of the house, which is used as a spectator area for family meals, entertainment and regular evening racquet games.

A playful, water-wise retreat

A bland landscape is replaced with layers of colorful, carefree vegetation and functional open spaces.

conditions

Zone 8 in coastal Washington; Full sun, well-drained soil liberally amended with organic matter; Western exposure

Challenges

Improving circulation areas; Minimizing maintenance

Maintenance

Garden beds are watered as needed; New plants are watered a little more during their first summer to help them establish. Annual maintenance includes some spring cleanup and autumn mowing of perennials and grasses.

1. Bluestone terrace covering the main entrance of the house

2. Parking area and pickleball court

3. Garden bed with walkways and private seating

4. Perimeter planting and privacy hedge

5. Driveway

Inside the loop of the turnaround driveway, the existing lawn is replaced with a resilient mix of plants that provide stunning textures, colors and patterns in each season. Subtle grade changes and strategically placed boulders anchor the garden and give it a more natural look. A winding path invites exploration and leads to a secluded seating area perfect for relaxing away from the crowds.

For the garden beds, we focused on selecting plant species suited to the local climate and soil conditions. We have included many native plants that are hardy, resistant to pests and diseases, and best suited to the sunlight and water resources available on site. We mixed in plants native to regions with similar growing conditions to our part of the Pacific Northwest, which is often described as having a Mediterranean climate.

The wide paths that meander through the garden are marked with large stones to walk on. A tight, low-growing ground cover fills in between and around the stones. Brass buttons (Leptinella potentilina, zones 4-10) are well-suited for this purpose because they are drought-resistant and make a perfect walking carpet. Adding some large boulders into the garden ties in with the natural Pacific Northwest landscape. Some boulders enhance the landscape and create berms that make the garden look larger and more interesting.

The screening and coordinated color theme create a unique retreat feel

The client requested an area set apart from the rest of the house and garden, a hidden space to think and relax. Using plants that work as screens is a natural solution to make the space feel visually separate, but not completely hidden from the rest of the garden.

There are many plants that can be used to create a subtle screen of privacy. My favorite for this purpose is evergreen feather grass (Stipa gigantea, zones 7-10). Other plants that work well are tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis, zones 7-9), meadow rue (Thalictrum rochebrunianum, zones 3-8), and all types of tall ornamental grasses.

We wanted the garden to be a colorful foil to the dark blue house, so we incorporated blue and purple flowers and plants with complementary yellows and oranges. We chose plants that stagger their blooming times to create a continuous display of color from early spring to late fall.

Hard edges are softened with vegetation

Plants cluster over the edges of the parking area and driveway, softening hard lines so that the eye rests on the plant compositions instead of the hardscape. Adding silver and gray plants to this driveway border helped blend the edges nicely.

Drought-tolerant plants that work well for this purpose include lavender varieties 'Hidcot' and 'Munsted' (Lavendula angustifolia cv., zones 4–10), and 'Silver Night' heather (Galluna vulgaris 'Silver Night', zones 5–8 ). For a long season of continuous color from June to October – a wonderful choice is Roseanne geranium (Geranium 'Kerwat', Zones 5-8), with its reddish-purple flowers and slightly marbled deep green foliage with hints of chartreuse.

This garden is a testament to the fact that resilience and natural beauty can be achieved without the heavy weight of constant maintenance. As it thrives, it uses half the water needed to maintain the lawn and contributes to the delicate balance of the surrounding ecosystem. Consuming fewer resources is always the way to go.

A water-wise landscape is not necessarily a desert

The monotonous, high-maintenance lawn was cleared to allow trees, shrubs and perennials to flourish. The plants look lush, but they require relatively little care and much less water than lawns. Here are some other key details that make this design work.

1. Call for a pavement survey

The trail allows visitors to immerse themselves in the garden in addition to providing easy access to seasonal works.

2. Floor coverings flow around the stones

Bringing the floor covering up to the edge of the walkway adds softness and natural beauty.

3. Rocks anchor the mix

Large rocks dotting the landscape give the garden a sense of place that connects to the nearby mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

4. Translucent layers screen the seating area

Tall grasses and small trees gently cover the center of the bed without completely blocking views to the rest of the garden.

5. An isolated target

A comfortable bench along the path has become a favorite of this busy gardener.

6. Dense layers provide privacy

A strategically placed green hedging is an attractive backdrop to the sitting area and blocks the view of the garden from the adjacent street.

7. Color is an important element

A cohesive palette pulls the space together by emphasizing warm, cheerful hues with deep burgundies, brilliant reds and tawny tans.

8. Lighting makes the garden accessible at night

On the track, unobstructed fixtures direct light downwards to guide the way without creating too much light pollution.