Gorgeous Ideas For Landscaping Your Front Walkway
You already know about curb appeal and how your front yard can have a significant impact on how well your house presents itself. However, perhaps you haven't given your front walkway much thought. Sure, you may have ensured the walkway is wide enough for guests and kept it in good repair. However, have you considered the aesthetics of the path to your front door? Design walkway landscaping that enhances your home's curb appeal.
Formal Hedges
Perhaps the most obvious choice for landscaping your front walkway is with box hedges. As the name suggests, box hedges can be manicured with corners. You can utilize this shape to border your walkway, which has the added bonus of keeping guests on the path. However, you can also plant box hedges as part of your front yard landscaping overall, with just some of the hedges providing a border for your walkway. Another option is to soften up the edges of the bushes with other border plants, such as the hosta. This creates a less formal appearance.
Grand Entryway
On the flip side, you can incorporate box hedges into a grand entryway. This is especially attractive if you have a wide, straight walkway paved in stone or brick. For this landscaping, have tall evergreens planted at the front of your entryway. You can even have them pruned into shapes. The box hedges line the walkway back from the tall evergreens. In this case, the plantings should be symmetrical. If your walkway is wide enough, consider adding a fountain in the middle for a truly palatial effect.
Flower Escort
For a more casual effect, consider lining your walkway with flowers. As with the box hedges, you can have the flowers simply bordering the pathway. Or you can have the flowers landscaped to create your pathway. This works well for a curved walkway, especially one with pavers, gravel or even packed dirt. For this effect, you can create a cottage garden in your front yard with a seemingly natural pathway that leads to your front door. Naturally, this is charming for cottages, farmhouses and other traditional styles.
Modern Minimalism
You don't have to go lavish with your landscaping to create curb appeal. Better Homes and Gardens describes a front yard with minimalist landscaping that nonetheless creates curb appeal. In this case, the pathway is laid with geometric pavers, which is characteristic of modern design. The geometry follows through in the landscaping, in which the contractors have installed metal edging to slightly raise the planting beds. Landscapers have chosen plants with clear lines and architectural interest, which are also characteristic of contemporary style. If you have a modern house, consider keeping a restrained hand in landscaping your walkway.
Your front walkway should lead the eye to your house's façade the way your pathway leads guests to the front door. For more landscaping ideas, contact a company like Colourscape Inc.
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