Top 10+ Front Yard Flower Bed Ideas to Make Your Space Bloom

English Country Garden

What could be more breathtaking for flower bed ideas front yard than a quintessentially English country garden? Use traditional cottage garden plants like speedwell (Veronica), catmint and forget-me-nots. And be sure to include some classic English roses, too. Place taller plants at the back, with lower growing species in the front, and you’ll have the perfect front yard garden bed against a picket fence.

Pots & Planters

If your front yard garden space is limited, then pots and planters are a great way to display your annual and perennial flower beds to the world. Pots and planters are easy to maintain, although of course, they do need regular watering. Help water retention by using good quality compost and water retaining crystals, or go the whole way with self-watering planters.

Superb Shrubs

If you’re looking for low maintenance front yard flower bed ideas, then shrubs can be a fabulous choice. There’s a mind-blowing range of shrubs to choose from, including many evergreen varieties for year-round interest.

Many shrubs also have flowers, so choose a range of shrubs to provide a display all year, such as witch-hazel, dogwood and cotinus (smoke tree) for winter interest, and camellias, azaleas and rhododendrons for spring. If you want low-maintenance front yard flower beds with blooms, you can always underplant the shrubs with spring bulbs or summer annuals.

Eye-Catching Flower Wall

For immediate eye-catching impact, a stunning flower wall is hard to beat. One of the simplest ways to add curb appeal to your home, a flower wall can hang on an exterior wall or a front fence with equal effect.

Hanging varieties of plants are the best choices for a flower wall, such as lobelia, trailing fuchsia, bacopa or nasturtium, because the trailing plants will mask any supports, like a trellis or post. Alternatively, make a feature of the planters and use succulents for textured interest.

Raised, Tiered Beds

Raised, tiered flower beds are one of the best front yard flower bed ideas. They’re space-saving, provide an interesting focal point and are easy to maintain. Wooden raised beds can be tiered, making them easier to reach for gardeners with mobility issues. Almost any style of planting looks good in raised beds, from formal bulb flower beds, to shrubs and specimen trees, to summer annuals. Plants can stand to attention to emphasize height or tumble over the edges for a softer look.

Drought-Tolerant Plants

If your house front basks in the full sun, you’ll want to fill your front yard flower beds with drought-tolerant plants. By choosing your varieties carefully, you can still have superb front yard flower beds. Taller plants, like pampas grass, bird of paradise flowers (strelitzia), aloes and euphorbias, can provide color, texture and structure, while lower-growing alpines and succulents can fill in the gaps with some striking pops of color when they come into flower.

Cool Contemporary with a Splash of Color

Sometimes less is more, and simple flower bed ideas can work especially well for contemporary styling. Often these planting schemes are more about interesting structure than about a riot of color, so keep the palette limited, such as using evergreen shrubs with one eye-catching injection of color. Close-cut hedging, such as a trimmed boxwood hedge, teamed with imposing yuccas and garden palms, give the flower bed structural interest, while colorful shrubs like cordyline and pieris add a splash of vibrancy.

Raised Stone Beds

For a truly beautiful backdrop to a manicured lawn, natural or manufactured stone raised flower beds are hard to beat. As well as the beauty of the stone, you can also create undulating lines to edge your front yard flower beds. Again, dense hedging can be used for background structure, while flowering shrubs and roses can bloom happily in front.

Hanging Baskets

Another great option for your front yard flower bed is to use hanging baskets. Whether you opt for impact with multiple hanging planters, or making a bold statement with a couple of outstanding focal hanging baskets, the possibilities are endless.

There are dozens of gorgeous trailing plants to choose from. Mix and match for variety, choose one plant for a harmonious look, or go completely unconventional with trailing tomatoes. If you have space, then why not mirror your hanging basket plantings with a few ground planters and pots as well?

Unique and Unusual Planters

And last but not least, to give some unique ambiance to your front yard flowers, consider a planting idea that’s a bit wild and wacky. A vintage bicycle hung with flower planters, is a great way to attract the right sort of attention, while a planted wheelbarrow, rowboat or baby’s pram will also add some unusual curb appeal. A row of boots full of trailing succulents will raise a smile, as will a fence hung with old blue jeans planted up with flowers.

FAQs

What are the best materials for flower beds?

“I believe traditional garden beds with rich soil are generally superior to expensive raised beds, provided you inspect the soil beforehand,” says Wu, “If I do construct raised beds, I use composite wood; it is more expensive initially but will not warp and release toxic chemicals like treated wood.”

How expensive is it to DIY flower beds?

Creating a garden bed can range in price depending on the project. In-ground flower beds only require soil and edging to define the space. Plastic and rubber edging tends to be more affordable options, but metal and concrete last longer. Raised flower beds are more expensive, but here’s how to build one for about $200.

About the Expert

• Andy Wu is the founder of Backyard Oasis, one-stop shopping for long-lasting and quality outdoor products. Andy has spent over two decades working with gardening and outdoor designing, having undertaken his first backyard project in 2003.