Small front garden inspiration

[Decorhate]

Does anyone have a small front garden that they are really happy with? Ours is around 6-7 feet deep. There are currently pyracantha shrubs under the front window. Well they were under the window, they are now too big, a pain to prune.

So I am thinking of cutting these down. I’ve been walking around our neighbourhood looking for ideas for what to do next but most small front gardens seem mostly functional, gravel or paving slabs, the odd pot plant. Many people have their wheely bins out front (as do we though our front wall is high enough to mostly hide ours.)

I’d like some nice storage for the wheely bins, maybe a small bench as it’s sunny in the evening. Plants would probably have to be in pots as soil is poor.

If you have a small front garden that is more attractive than mine, would you mind sharing what you have done?

Can you post a pic?

Pots are good because you can change them. I used to have trough but they cost a lot to fill. I have three pots at the front and two either side of the kitchen door on the side. Lots of ideas on Pinterest.

How much sun does it get? Is the wall shading much of the growing area?

Gravel is practical, in that it is low maintenance (if done correctly, rather than just a thin layer chucked on the surface), supresses weeds and allows drainage. Large tubs and pots can be place in the sunniest area and you can change what you grow each season. One drawback might be that neighbourhood cats sometimes adopt fine gravel areas as their toilet area, as fine gravel can remind them of cat litter. Using 20mm stones instead can give the same effect and usually avoids this problem.

Slate chippings can look attractive too, with plenty of greenery and flowers in tubs, as the dark grey contrasts nicely to show off bright colours. Also, cats dislike toileting on it, due to the sharp edges of the slates when they dig around.

Is there room to put some sort of trellis against the wall, to grow a nice scented flowering shrub? I have a jasmine in a large tub, supported by a wigwam of bamboo canes, that does well in a sunny spot in our garden. Honeysuckle smells lovely too, but some people find highly scented things a bit overpowering.

I’m happy with the hard landscaping that is there already - a mix of paving & slate chips. It faces north west so gets afternoon sun. I’m really after photos of nice front gardens to get inspiration I think, rather than specific planting suggestions.

When you say cutting down the pyracantha, go you mean getting rid, or just taming? Pyracantha is great, but it flowers on new growth so it needs a lot of space to look good. We executed a poorly sited one which only looked good if we let it go wild, at which point it was blocking our view.

Pots are great for small spaces if you can switch them around to show off whatever is looking good at any moment, and sideline plants in a less handsome phase. Get pots of different heights or give some platforms.

Small acers look amazing in pots, daphne will give lovely winter scent, and have good foliage all year. Bulb lasagnes are great space users.

Bin storage could perhaps have climbers or trained shrubs against or over it? What kind of structure were you thinking?

Entranceway pruned beguile. I can't even begin to work out what that's a spellcheck correction for!

Our neighbour has a bin store with a planting area on top. I think it probably requires a lot of daily watering in summer (due to the 7cm ish soil depth) but it is really well integrated into the garden and I love it.

Something like This

I love those bin stores with planting on top - though I suspect other family members would find it irritating not being able to lift up the lid to put things in the bin!

I think I will take the pyracantha out completely but perhaps in stages...

Pyracantha is good under windows for one reason only. It acts as a physical deterrent to burglars.

What style of garden do you like, modern, cottage etc? Personally I would have a mixture of climbers for year round interest as a backdrop and to add height, something like this: www.thompson-morgan.com/p/clematis-all-season-collection/KB2161TM. Then pick a colour scheme and choose a handful of species for year round interest based around that. Something like this which predominantely uses red valerian would be quite cheap to recreate. www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nature-on-the-doorstep-as-front-gardens-bloom-again-flntwglxq . Bulbs planted in layers are a nice option for small gardens either in pots or beds as you don't need that many to create an impressive display and once you've initially planted them the only maintenance they really need is feeding.

We've got two huge planters with lavender and crocus.
A wildlife hedge along two sides of the driveway.
A border with fatsia, hebes, grasses and rock roses.
Also three hanging baskets all year round as I swap from autumn/winter/spring to summer as I want it to be nice all the time.
For the bins I've got a trellis with planter at the bottom which hides them a bit.

@BoJoHoNo The red valerian is a good idea for pots as I have loads self seeding in the back garden so hopefully it would do well in the front too.

I think I will go for planters as I don’t really want to take up the paving & slate chips & the earth is probably rubbish anyway.

I suspect most of you have much bigger gardens than me - mine is more like the ones you see in front of urban Victorian terraces!

Our old front garden sounds a similar size. Here are some pics.

One more. We had planters under the window as nothing seemed to like growing underneath. A small bed with roses and heather in the middle. A bay tree with raspberry canes down the side with some perennials in front and a fig in the front corner and patio quince in a pot, plus bulbs. We didn't have to store bins, and ours was south facing, but you can fit more than you think! We also had a winter flowering Clematis one side of the window and a climbing rose beside the door.

Thank you! Those photos are exactly what I was hoping for to give inspiration

Looking forward to seeing what you do with yours!

Ours is absolutely tiny, this is it, but we do have lots of lovely people comment or stop to lookat our spring bulb display. I'm struggling to keep it going later in the season, but hoping to grow dahlias from seed this year.