Landscaping on a Budget: 10 Front Yard Landscaping Ideas

Is your front yard the talk of the neighbourhood, and not in a good way? If so, you’ve got some work to do. 

Extensive garden landscaping doesn’t do much for the value of your home, but surrounding yourself with green spaces can do a lot for your quality of life. 

If you are selling your house curb appeal can make a world of difference for prospective buyers. An untidy front yard gets people wondering if your home interiors are equally unkempt and ill-maintained.

Landscaping needn’t be difficult or expensive. Try some of these easy budget-friendly front yard landscaping ideas. 

1. Create a Classic Appeal

Often sticking to the basics is the best way to get the maximum impact with the minimum outlay.

Manicured lawns and standard roses have a timeless appeal. Hydrangea bushes are another affordable, hardy, and colourful floral option. 

It’s the easiest way to best way to landscape the front yard on a budget while creating a simple, sophisticated look.  

If you’re worried about maintaining an expanse of grass year-round, you should consider investing in a professional lawn maintenance program. 

These lawn care services include mowing your lawn throughout the growing season to maintain an elegant, well-maintained look.  

2. Be Water Wise

The best way to ensure your landscape looks as good as new for as long as possible is to use elements that won’t grow wild in a short space of time.

Waterwise plants are a good option as they usually grow slowly, have striking foliage, and don’t need much care.

Laying a stone pathway is another easy and affordable way to add interest to your front yard without much hassle or expense. You can use reclaimed stone and DIY the job to bring the costs down further. 

Stone sculptures and rock features add impactful low-maintenance appeal to your front yard too.   

3. Use Flowerpots 

Potted plants give any yard an instant lift. It’s easy to rearrange the plants as needed. If you buy large specimens, you don’t need to wait for them to grow, so you get instant gratification.

A large yard may dwarf your best attempts at skillful potplant gardening, so rather arrange them in beds like you would with ordinary plants. 

4. Choose Plants Wisely

The quickest way to waste money when landscaping is by planting the wrong plants in the wrong place. 

Before you head off to the garden centre, test your soil. Then, armed with this information, ask for help from one of the assistant when you arrive to buy your plants. 

Other factors that affect a plant’s wellbeing include the amount of available sunlight and the likelihood of frost. Also, plants flower at different times of the year, so if you want a touch of colour year-round, choose specimens that bloom in different seasons. 

5. Add Some Lights

Don’t let the thought of elevated electricity bills put you off lighting up your landscapes.

Solar-powered lights are a low-cost and environmentally-friendly answer to all your garden lighting needs.

Once you’ve set them in place, they’ll light up the night without any intervention on your part.

Unlike solar panels and other solar-related equipment, solar garden lights are affordable and easy to install. They come with their own small solar panels and operate independently of any other power source.

6. Front Yard Landscaping Ideas Using Heights

One of the best tips for front yard landscaping is using plants and decor of varying heights to add impact.

Different size plants add a sense of depth to your front yard. A raised garden bed draws the eye away from the ground, helps showcase attractive plants, and adds character to your front yard.

Place tall plants like hollyhocks at the far end of your front yard so they don’t overshadow smaller ones. Ornamental grasses look best in the middle section of your garden. 

7. Upgrade Your Porch

Your porch has a major impact on the curb appeal of your home, and it’s one of the first things people see when they arrive.

Painting your front door is a good place to start. You can also add potplants on either side of the door, or at the front of the porch. A garland of greenery wrapped around your porch helps it blend in with the garden.

8. Hide the Evidence

Garden implements like hoses, and things like air conditioner units, are necessary evils that detract from the overall appearance of your front yard.

Hide them behind wooden frames, or a trellis of plants. 

9. Add Some Water

A water feature is an attractive and relaxing element in any yard. You don’t need to invest in an expensive pre-made one to get a good result though.

Take a look around your garden shed or garage for items you can use instead. All you need is a source of water and a few items from your hardware store or garden centre.

Using this equipment and little common sense, you can turn almost anything into a water feature. An old teapot or watering pail emptying into a drum will do. You could also use an old bathtub or pond as the base of your water feature. 

10. Grab the Shears

Sometimes all your garden need is a little TLC. Trim back overgrown plants, rip up the weeds, and neaten up your garden beds.

Adding a stone border to garden beds is an instant fix to help garden beds look neat and manicured. 

Keeping your front yard tidy and neatly trimmed not only improves its appearance, but it can also encourage healthy plant growth. 

Make Your Home the Best it Can Be

It’s important to make a good first impression on anyone who visits your home, and it all starts with garden landscaping. 

Use these tips as inspiration to come up with your own front yard landscaping ideas that suit your budget, lifestyle, and personality. 

If you’d like some more tips on how to turn your home into a stylish and restful haven, read some more of our blog articles on house and garden design.