Front Yard Landscape Ideas for a Warmer Climate

Needled Evergreens

• The Japanese nutmeg yew, Torreya nucifera, is an evergreen tree with needles that is suitable for zones 6 through 10. The nutmeg yew grows to 30 feet, preferring some protection from the sun in hot front yards. You can use multiple plants as hedges or screens, and the plants generate edible, elliptical olive-green fruits. Eastern red cedar, or Juniperus virginiana, grows native as far south as Georgia, Alabama and northern Mississippi. This ornamental tree, which thrives in full sun, has a pleasant aroma, evergreen needles, shedding red-brown bark and bluish berry-like fruit.

Deciduous Shrubs

• Use the native deciduous shrub summersweet, or Clethra alnifolia, on front lawns in hot climates, especially in spots that are damp. This shrub has aromatic flowers in summer and foliage that provides attractive fall color. It can grow as high as 8 feet. You can use smooth witherod, or Viburnum nudum, as a hedge or to line your driveway; a sunny, hot front yard is ideal for this native shrub. Growing between 5 and 12 feet, smooth witherod handles the heat into USDA zone 9. It features white flowers in May that morph into edible – but acidic – berries.

Ornamental Grasses

• Rock gardens and native plant gardens in the front yard are possible sites for blue grama grass, or Bouteloua gracilis, a native of hot southern and western states. Blue grama grass grows to 24 inches, forming clumps in dry to medium soil. Its reddish-purple flowers emerge at right angles to the stems during the summer months. Plant fern-leafed bamboo, or Pleioblastus pygmaeus, if you have a sloping, shady front yard in zones 5 through 10. It grows well in shade, covering large patches with its invasive nature to form ground cover. Fern-leafed bamboo grows to 18 inches tall and has palm-like leaves.

Broadleaf Evergreens

• The southern magnolia, or Magnolia grandiflora, is a classic tree for southern front yards, growing native from North Carolina into Florida. It attains heights of 80 feet, producing white flowers as wide as a foot that bloom in spring. This tree remains evergreen in hot climates, so it also can serve as a front yard shade tree. Inkberry, or Ilex glabra, is a broadleaf evergreen shrub that grows between 4 and 8 feet. Tolerant of salt spray, it is a viable plant for seaside front yards. It works well in group plantings, affording dark, green foliage and blackish fruits by September.