Landscaping Ideas for the Front of a Small House

New Hideaway

• Sometimes a small house comes with a small yard and your front entry is too close to the sidewalk or street. Create walls of privacy with literal walls, two of them staggered to delineate a zigzag walkway to the front door. Stucco, concrete or brick-faced walls that mimic the façade of the house should be about 6 feet tall to ensure privacy. A paved path from the street leads around the walls, into the enclosed front yard and is bordered by greenery and annuals. Choose evergreen shrubs for year-round landscaping. Vary the heights of the plants with the tallest against the walls and lower plants next to the pathway. A couple of small, flowering trees inside the enclosure hide more of the house and windows from view while hinting at a garden just beyond the walls.

Fairy Cottage

• If you live in a cottage, you must have a cottage garden. Even a tiny home has room for massed annuals and flowering perennials in containers and overcrowded plots. Hang plants at the front door if you have a porch. Train wisteria or lilacs over a trellis if there is no porch. Plant decorative trees like mimosa to one side, well away from the walk. Vary the colors and include favorites of hummingbirds and butterflies such as butterfly bush and honeysuckle. If you have room, half-barrels will hold miniature gardens within an entry garden. For postage stamp size yards, use an eclectic collection of terra cotta and ceramic pots, sculpted concrete planters and repurposed galvanized tubs as well as composted and fertilized flower plots.

Lose the Lawn

• When water is an issue, landscape with drought-tolerant plants and beautiful pavers for a front entrance in proportion to your small home. Big square pavers leading up to the front entry look lush when surrounded by a carpet of sedum. Sedum is a tough, green ground cover that needs little to no maintenance and even handles being stepped on. A well-placed boulder or two and some low-water grasses like oriental fountain grass and flame grass give the impression of a garden landscape so no one misses the lawn. Your water bills drop dramatically and your curb appeal ticks upward. Sell the lawnmower at your next yard sale.

Classic Craftsman

• A Craftsman bungalow deserves an entrance that reflects its character, even if the front yard is so small you could miss it. A surrounding concrete wall with flat capstones and faux stone columns provide a frame right up to the sidewalk. Separating the enclosed yard from the parking terrace and garage, a cluster of potted grasses and flowers banks the wall's exterior. Inside the walls, delicate plants like weeping bamboo and Japanese maple mix with mondo grass, sweet flag and wisteria. A small fountain, ceramic pots of greenery on a tiny concrete porch and a lucky Fu dog tucked in between river rocks, border plants and faux stone columns complete a serene retreat.