Front garden design and ideas
Front garden design means planting the space between the house and the street around what it has to do: a clear path to the door, room for the bins and often a car, and planting that frames the house from the pavement.
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10 real front garden ideas
10 front garden design ideas, and every one a real garden redesigned with the app. Some are simple front garden designs with a bed by the door; others plant a long border along the drive. Tap Before to see how each started, or Get this garden to try the look on yours.
Planting by the front door
Landscaping ideas for front of house: a raised bed under the window, flowers by the porch and paths through borders. 6 gardens
Bare bed in front of a porch filled with roses and foxgloves
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Gravel front garden turned into a flagstone path through flowers
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A bare strip below a white wall planted with evergreen shrubs and pink flowers
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A raised front bed behind a brick wall, packed with grasses, a white hydrangea and purple flowers
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Cottage front garden
Get this garden →Front gardens with a driveway
Front garden ideas with driveway planting: a long border along the drive, and a corner bed under a tree. 2 gardens
Weedy strip along a driveway turned into a long border
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Tired corner bed under a tree filled with catmint and foxgloves
Get this garden →Gravel and paved front gardens
Front gardens of gravel and paving, planted with grasses and hot colours. 2 gardens
Front garden of gravel, grasses and red flowers
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Seen from upstairs: a small paved front yard with beds of orange and red flowers
Get this garden →How to design a front garden
The few ideas behind every garden above: garden design for the front of a house, and how to plan yours from them.
What makes a good front garden
A front garden has jobs a back garden does not. It holds the path to the door, the bins and often a car, and everyone who passes sees it. Good designs settle those first, then plant what is left, so the garden frames the house instead of hiding it.
Front garden path ideas
The path to the door comes first. Make it wide enough for two people or a bin to pass, run it straight or in one gentle curve, and plant low along its edges: lavender, catmint or geraniums that spill onto the stones without blocking the way. The best front path ideas are often the simplest: flagstones set in gravel, or brick to match the house.
Planting by the door and windows
Plant in layers against the house: something tall by the door, rounded shrubs below the windows, kept under the sill, and low plants along the path. Repeat two or three plants across the whole width, so the garden reads as one design from the pavement. Evergreens like box, hebe and pittosporum keep the shape in winter.
Bins, cars and the drive
Most front gardens share their space with a car and the bins. Screen the bins with a planted store or a short run of hedge, and soften a drive with a narrow border along its edge or one bed where it meets the lawn. Climbers on the boundary fence add colour without taking any ground.
See it on your own garden first
Garden Design App designs your garden from a photo. It reads a picture of your house and garden, keeps the path, the drive and the house exactly where they are, and redesigns the planting with plants you could genuinely grow.
From an idea to a plan you can plant
When one of the designs clicks, the Pro and Max plans turn it into a planting plan: every plant named, how big each grows and where each goes, with a month by month flowering calendar so the garden has something in flower from spring to autumn.
12 plants for a front garden
Plants chosen for a doorway, a shady bed, grit from the road and being seen every day of the year.
- Box or evergreen balls
- Bay in a pot
- Sarcococca
- Choisya
- Skimmia
- Hydrangeas
- Heuchera
- Hebe
- Pittosporum
- Climbing roses
- Star jasmine
- Lavender
More front garden ideas
When the path, the bins and the car leave only a strip, see our small front garden ideas for making the most of it.
A bare gravel front garden filled with lavender and silver plants is one of our front garden ideas with gravel.
A bungalow's front garden and a path through cottage planting are among our cottage garden ideas.
Front garden design questions
What should I do with my front garden?
Start with what it has to do: the path to the door, the bins, and the car if there is one. Then plant what is left so it frames the house: something tall by the door, rounded shrubs below the windows and low plants along the path.
How do I design a front garden?
Stand on the pavement and look at the house. Keep the path and the drive, decide where the bins go, then plant in layers, tallest against the house and lowest along the path, repeating a few plants across the whole width.
Can I have a front garden and a driveway?
Yes. A narrow border along the edge of the drive, a bed where it meets the lawn, or climbers on the boundary fence all add planting without losing the parking.
Do I need planning permission to pave my front garden?
In England, not if the surface lets rain soak through, like gravel or permeable block paving, or if the water runs off into a lawn or border. Covering more than 5 square metres with a hard surface that does neither needs planning permission. The rules are for houses, not flats.
Can I see a front garden idea on my own house?
Yes. Add a photo of your front garden, choose a style, and see it redesigned in about a minute. Your house, path and drive stay.
Are the plants real, and can I buy them?
Yes. With the Pro and Max plans every design names its plants: garden centre favourites and RHS Award of Garden Merit winners, chosen by a professional gardener, with how big each grows and where each goes.
Is it free?
Your first 3 designs are free, with no card needed. The Pro plan is £29 and the Max plan is £49, paid once, with nothing to cancel.
Can I try more than one front garden idea?
Yes. Make different designs and compare them on your own garden. Your first 3 are free, and Pro, one payment of £29, gives you 20 designs over 14 days, two at a time, so you can see several looks side by side.
Why does my redesign look like high summer?
We show your garden at its peak, in full flower, so you can see how full it can look. It is an artist's impression: your real garden changes through the seasons. Every paid design comes with a flowering calendar, so you know what flowers each month, and evergreen shapes help it look good in winter.
Picture a new garden in front of your house.
Try any of these front garden ideas on your own front garden in about a minute. Your first 3 designs are free.
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