...and other fabulous ideas to give your front garden the welcoming wow factor

Front gardens are often your first point of contact with the world, a way of making a first impression and the part of your home and life which most people connect with. And that includes you! We often scurry through the front garden, racing to the door, sometimes laden with groceries, to get inside as soon as possible.

During colder or rainy months we don’t tend to consider these spaces too often – they just exist.

However, at this time of the year we linger longer, cutting grass, dead-heading roses, often taking time to chat to the neighbours as we work.

It’s a good time of year to reassess the space to examine how it’s looking. Are you making full use of its possibilities?

How can you improve the look of your garden and enhance your house at the same time?

Are we too fixed in our ideas as to what a front garden “should” look like? And does your garden have a feature... a tree, a special collection of plants or a striking ornament to act as a decorative element and capture imagination?

First are the rules: The design should be simple, uncomplicated and welcoming. Easy and direct access should be maintained to the main routes – the front door and possibly a side entrance and/or garage, where bins may be stored or where bicycles or cars need to be reached easily.

The layout (the overall design) should have strong, definite bones. Signal clearly with line and shape where people should go, leading the way to the front door.

All other routes should be visually subservient.

Use big pots or collections of smaller pots on either side of the front door. They signal clearly your required focus.

In cities or urban areas you may need to factor in space within the garden for storage of rubbish bins, bicycles or fuel. Manufacturerers and retailers are supplying an ever-increasing range of safe, lockable storage units. Plan to incorporate these in an unobtrusive way, maybe by a side wall, and try to colour coordinate them to ensure they don’t stand out.

And use the same judgment with paths or driveways as generally they are there to do a job and not to be the stand-out features. So subtle can be best.

Consider the boundary between you and your

POT LUCK Containers help to signal directions