18 Low-Maintenance Front Yard Landscaping Ideas That Don't Need Much Attention

Grow a Shapely, Colorful Japanese Maple

Japanese maple trees are very popular choices for front yards. They stay within a manageable size (usually no taller than 25 feet, and often much shorter), and turn glorious colors in autumn, ranging from a variety of greens to gold, oranges, and reds.

The graceful branches look also attractive in the wintertime. These trees can be grown beneath the canopies of taller trees as they do not require full sun.

Enhance Retaining Walls With Creeping Flowers

If your front yard has a retaining wall and it gets a few hours of sun, try planting some flowers that creep or spill over the sides. Some nice varieties to try include creeping phlox, creeping sedum, and various campanulas like ‘Blue Waterfall’ or ‘Dickson’s Gold.’

Design Some Seasonal Window Boxes

Window boxes can make a wonderful focal point for the front of your property. If you already have some trees or shrubs growing, window boxes create a smaller visual area of interest closer to the house or entrance. You can add flowering annuals, herbs, or a mix of plants, like these ornamental kale with creeping ivy and other greens.

Plant Climbing Roses

Climbing roses clinging to your fence, gate, or arbor make for a dramatic entrance and beautiful display. Many heirloom varieties (like ‘New Dawn’ or ‘Zepherine Drouhin’) provide fragrance and bloom for weeks.

Plant Caladiums for Season Long Color

With colorful, shade-loving caladiums, you don’t have to worry about deadheading. These easy-care annuals light up the border in a wide array of colors; try silvery white or vivid pink.

Create a Shady Seating Area

If your trees are mostly in front of your house rather than in the backyard, why not enjoy sitting beneath their cool shade? A small bench and table let you enjoy a beverage and a book in the quiet morning or afternoon hours.

Add Some Eclectic Evergreens

Evergreens don’t just refer to shrubs and trees. There are many smaller evergreen perennials in a variety of shapes that can be grown in containers. Some are climbers or creepers, like euonymous (winter creeper).

Fill Space With Large Hydrangeas

Among the largest hydrangea shrubs are panicle and oakleaf hydrangeas, some of which can reach up to ten feet tall and wide. These attractive shrubs are easy to care for and provide months of carefree color in their blooms and foliage.

Mix Green Foliage Plants Together

You can create a stunning array of green foliage plants if you mix different hues, shapes, and textures together. Consider some hostas, heucheras, creeping juniper, and artemisia for an eclectic green tapestry.

Grow a Graceful Flowering Tree

Small flowering trees can provide a delightful visual accent in spring or summer. Try an early bloomer like magnolia, weeping cherry, or Eastern redbud, or a fragrant flowering crabapple.

Consider a Rock or Water Feature

Though water features can be expensive and high maintenance (like koi ponds), there are options that won’t break the bank and that are easy to maintain once established. If you already have a marshy or damp spot, consider a rain garden. A rock garden with a flagstone path can be a great DIY project if you keep it simple.

Create Alluring Seasonal Displays

Creating seasonal displays with a horticultural theme can be a simple and enjoyable way to mark the shift of the seasons and add enticing visuals to your front yard.

Plant Large Hostas to Fill Space

Giant hostas are a wonderful low maintenance perennial to fill up space. Other than a bit of trimming or deadheading once during the season, and dividing them every three or four years, they ask for nothing but partial to full shade, well-draining soil, and some water.

Plant Heuchera for a Colorful Shade Garden

If you have partial shade or morning sun in your front yard, consider adding some colorful heuchera (coral bells) among your other shade plants. These hardy plants have tiny flowers on delicate center stems (some in showy hues of pink or red), and the shapely foliage comes in a large variety of forms and colors.

Combine Decorative Shrubs With Ground Covers

Sometimes, making a planting bed look full only requires one or two varieties of plants. This variegated dogwood shrub with some perennial cranesbill geraniums as ground cover provides colorful flowers in spring, with handsome foliage through autumn.

Install a Clover Lawn

If you have bare spots in your lawn, consider switching from grass to clover. This plant replenishes soil with nitrogen and also attracts spring pollinators. Once established, clover is an excellent low-maintenance ground cover.

Plant a Boxwood Hedge

Boxwoods are a wonderful choice for hedges and stay green all year round. They come in many sizes and shapes. Some benefit from regular trimming, while many varieties need no trimming at all.

Let a Fruit Tree Steal the Spotlight

Many fruit tree varieties are fairly small and easy to manage. They provide beautiful spring blossoms and fruits in summer or autumn, as well as attracting pollinators and wildlife. They provide a shifting kaleidoscope of color and interest through the four seasons, making them a good focal point for the front yard.