Photography: Brent Wilson
Clever small front-garden ideas can take a yard lacking purpose and turn it into the envy of your street. In this small garden makeover, Charlie Albone swaps a weedy patch of lawn and dirty old pavers for mature plants in tall pots and ground huggers to create a garden with depth, texture and fun corners. It’s a quick fix and it’s a visual show stopper!
Now, what was once a do-nothing space is a place heaving with life that changes with the seasons – colourful flowers in spring and summer, autumn colour from the tall, potted magnolia, and winter light when its leaves fall. All it takes is a bit of lifting, digging and planting. Here are 7 ideas to steal from this effective little makeover.
1. Pull up old pavers
Remove existing pavers with a long-handled shovel or fencing bar. Save any in good condition to use underneath urns in the garden. To prepare the soil for planting, dig it through to aerate it before enriching it with quality compost and raking level.
Not ready to commit to pulling up all your pavers? Try lifting up just a few pavers to create more room for plants!
2. Add dimension with pots
An easy way to create dimension in a small front garden is to nestle large pots and planters in among ground plants. One way to get the placement of these pots just right is to experiment with empty pots. Position them around the garden until they look balanced in the space and against the front of the house. Then use chalk to mark their positions.
3. Create a sturdy base
It’s important to give these pots a sturdy base, which is where those old pavers come in handy. In marked spots, ensure the soil is level before placing down pavers for urns to sit upon. Check that the urns are level before filling them with soil and plants of your choice.
Position your urns and planters before you add potting mix. Otherwise, the weight of the mix will make them difficult to move.
Don’t forget!
4. Position plants
One the potted plants are in position, it’s time to tackle the surrounding garden beds. Set ground plants out around urns, balancing variety in height, width, texture, foliage colour and flowering time. Dig holes, put in plants and make them firm with dug-out soil. Then water.
Lining pots with geotextile fabric lets excess water escape from your urn or planter while keeping potting mix contained.
Good to know…
5. Make the most of contrasts
Unlike indoors, you can go crazy with textures in your front garden. In this garden, the rippled, lava-like surface of tough and sturdy urns next to the softness of foxgloves about to burst in flower is striking. The many shades of green add depth, while catmint offers pretty pops of purple.
6. Mulch
Mulch will protect your garden from weeds and moisture loss, but it will also make the end product look polished. Spread pebbles as mulch on top of potting mix in urns and planters. Spread organic mulch such as wood chip, pine bark or eucalyptus mulch on soil between plants.
7. Don’t forget the veranda
Now that the garden is looking fabulous, it’s time to tie in the veranda. Here, a single statement potted tree frames the front door, while a trio of pots in varying heights creates a welcoming vignette.
Key plants
01
Silver bush
Convolvulus cneorum
Silver bush is an elegant, perennial ground cover. Its velvet leaves shimmer silver in the sunlight, while white flowers bloom from summer to autumn.
02
Cut-leaf daisy
Brachyscome multifida
Cut-leaf daisies are a dense-growing ground cover that thrives in most parts of Australia. Each plant can grow up to 30 centimetres tall and up to a metre wide. They flower for most of the year and are great for growing in the garden between rocks and in pots.
03
Ripple jade
Crassula arborescens undulatifolia
If you’re looking for low-maintenance statement pot plants, it’s hard to go past a succulent. Ripple Jade’s tightly growing, undulating leaves will add elegance to any garden. Succulents are best positioned in bright, indirect sunlight.
04
Saucer magnolia
Magnolia soulangeana
Nothing creates drama in a front garden quite like a deciduous magnolia tree. Some magnolia varieties can grow up to eight metres tall, so to keep your magnolia’s growth in check, contain it in a pretty pot. Saucer magnolias produce stunning blooms with a distinct lemon scent.
05
Mexican sage
Salvia leucantha
Salvias are an easy-to-grow, drought-tolerant plant that produces velvet-like purple flowers in autumn. It has long, thin leaves that provide a nice contrast to plants with large foliage.
06
Snowflake
Euphorbia leucocephala
The delicate white petals of euphoria add gentle texture to the garden. This evergreen shrub prefers a warm climate and a full sun position.
07
Catmint
Nepeta cataria
Catmint is a cottage garden favourite because it’s easy to grow and extremely versatile, perfect for creating borders or as a ground cover. It’s excellent at attracting beneficial bugs and insects, such as bees, to the garden.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
