What sort of vibe my front garden has?

[takemetothespace]

I am trying to create specific vibe for my front garden. Please tell me do you feel anything or is it just normal plain front garden? Really after some feedback.

It’s very nice, neat and tidy.

For a cottagey feel, I would bring the beds out more, at least twice as wide, maybe with a wavy/less straight edging. Plant some climbers up the house. Perhaps a bench/love seat and some tasteful ornaments. Add a bit of chaos.

I think I need to drop cottage style look as there is no way DH will let me mess with the lawn.
I will go for calm look

To me it says neat & tidy, but no massive interest in gardening
Doesn't give a vibe at all.

Why is he so wedded to the lawn, especially if you’d rather have something else that’s more interesting?

I wouldn’t have a lawn at all, apart from having a football-mad 11 year old who wants grass to kick around on with his friends.

Trees are : magnolia with white flowers and hawthorn with pink flowers. Red Photinia hedge - Trees are really young at the moment

Your garden looks lovely , near , well kept and lovely planting, but I agree with others that to get a more cottage style you need more borders and planting like lavender , hollyhocks , marguerite, sweet Williams etc .. maybe a wild flower border ?

I'd say mine is cottagy (that's half of it).

There's no reason that you can't have a cottagey border with a lawn- it's not a classic cottage garden but it can still have that vibe. My tips would be to wait until everything has grown a lot more- at the moment it all looks very new. And if you can, bring the edge of the border out in a curve rather than a straight line- straight lines aren't very cottagey.

I love cottage gardens but wonder if they are good for all year interest - I imagine them full of hollyhocks, lavender etc
I wouldn’t put two circular beds as they are too much like hard work to mow round and edge. (But that’s me😂) I would greatly widen the bed with the photinias . Mine grow to 3ft here in Scotland but I have seen them like small trees in the south.if you look at RHS website you can buy plants and shrubs to flower through the year.

@Jujubes5 Thats the thing, dh wants to have easy grass lines while mowing

But there are two of you?
It's very easy to mow a curve.

I found past gardeners damaged plants hard to mow round so I keep it simple now.

Before you decide what other planting you want, have a look at other yhreads in this topic. There are a couple about plants people have regretted planting. For instance, mint is lovely and great for cooking but it's a thug......

Hollyhocks, foxgloves, lavender and verbena would and some height and help give more of a cottage vibe. Could you replace the small pots with a big planter which covers the white gravel area? That would give the impression of a deeper border without changing your lawn.