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Likely when early man visited a neighboring cave for the first time he would have instinctually stood outside this cave quickly processing the surrounding landscape for clues telling him how safe it would be to enter. I wonder what early man would think about front entry gardens in the North American suburban landscape. Have we done a good job designing entry gardens that tell visitors something about the people living inside? The trend to plant a row of shrubs abutting the front door with the double purpose of hiding the foundation has been with us for fifty or sixty years. The impact of this foundation entry garden has been diluted by the vast repetitiveness in suburbs throughout North America. Although there are some ardent gardeners who have created unique entry gardens and there are a few books written on the topic, one of the best that comes to mind is “The Welcoming Garden... Designing Your Own Front Garden” by Gordon Hayward, I believe that for the most part suburban landscape has been stuck in a rut with few examples that are not limited to the scale in both size and cost to today’s trophy home. What simple design change to the entry garden would you suggest to the homeowner who lacks enough disposable income to hire a landscape designer? Would you recommend removing the plant material off of the house, or perhaps deepen the foundation bed and add layers of plant material, would you be as brazen to suggest a trend of creating an out door room that would lead to the front door? What about your personal landscape, what does your front entry garden tell the world about you and your cave?
2 comments:
Katy,
I don't have any suggestions for other people at the moment, but I do wish to tell you something. You have inspired me to "fix" something in my front yard. I have a patch of Blue Rug Juniper on a little bank in front of my house, and last summer, I let some weeds (in the form of grass) get established in some bare spots between the plants.
Reading your article about front yards has made me realize that I can no longer tolerate that messy look, and I must pull the grass and plant some new little Junipers to fill in the bare spots.
Thank you for letting me see my front yard through the eyes of others!
bgeertgens1,
I am thrilled that I inspired you to give your front garden a second look, but to be honest I am feeling a bit sheepish as I have my own tangle of weeds lurking out front. I recall a garden that had planted one of the many varieties of ground cover junipers on a slope and while they waited for the junipers to mature and fill in they planted daffodils followed by annuals in the open spaces. Katy
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