Landscaping around my porch

by Nancy
(MN.)

QUESTION: I really need help. It's not a beautiful old home. It's just old. It has an open front porch without a big front yard. But I would like to make it more inviting without it being cheesy.

The house is tan with an open porch on the left side of my house with steps, but no railing. On the other side there are two windows with some area to landscape. My front lawn only goes about 10 feet after the area to be landscaped. Also the sidewalk leading up to the house is brick. Thank you so much.

Nancy

Get porch landscaping ideas from walking around your neighborhood, pictures in magazines or from your local nursery

ANSWER: Nancy, without being able to see the area it is not easy to offer assistance. However, here are a few suggestions that might help you without costing a bundle.

1. Find photos of front yard landscaping and walkway landscaping that you like and take them to your local nursery or a landscaper. Tell them this is the look you are trying to get for your yard and your front porch. They can tell you what plants will work for your geographical area.

Most nurseries will do that for you at no cost and give you ideas based on where you live. We actually did this when we lived in a previous home. We found a few pictures we liked and asked a landscaper to recreate them in our yard - that worked well.

2. Hire a landscape architect to draw a landscaping plan (your local nursery may offer this service). You will get a beautiful plan with all of the plant names, etc. It will cost about $300 or more. It is a good investment if you want a professional looking yard.

3. Contact your local community college or university. They may have a landscape department which you could contact to see if either a staff member or student could use your yard as a project.

We have a lot of neat ideas for front yard landscaping and front porch landscaping ideas on our site.

I hope this helps you!

Dave