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Porch Landscaping Ideas

To accentuate your front porch

Raise your home's curb appeal by a bunch by putting great porch landscaping ideas to work around your porch. Mary and I love beautifully landscaped porches - they are fun to create and enjoy.

Have you ever driven past a home that has an amazing appeal? Usually it is a combination of several factors, one of the most important being front porch and front yard landscaping.

Our landscaping pictures and information is the perfect place to start to create your own fabulous yard!

Landscaping around your porch can range from very inexpensive to a small fortune. It need not be costly if you just start with a few of the right plantings and placements.

Our Directory of Porch Landscaping Ideas

Front Porch
Landscaping Ideas
Tips and photos of landscaped porches you can use to create real curb appeal.

Front Yard Landscaping Ideas and Tips
Landscaping ideas from others who have landscaped their porches, walkways,
and yards

Landscaping Picture Gallery
Landscaping photos highlight beautiful yards and also show you some fantastic porches as well.

Walkway Ideas
Interesting and intriguing pathways can be very charming

Container Gardening
If you have a porch you need to try container gardening as part of your landscaping.

Front Yard Landscaping
Create an "entry experience". You know it as your front yard and front porch.

Hanging Baskets
Baskets provide exceptional color on your porch and create amazing curb appeal.

Raised Bed Gardening
Raised bed gardening right on your porch might just be your answer to fresh produce and flowers

Screen Porch Designs - screen panel options

Privacy Porch
Use landscaping to create a little privacy on your porch.

Self Watering Planter
When it's really hot or you go away for a few days, solve your watering problems!

Zone 5 Perennials
Zone 5 perennials provide generous charm around this Midwest country porch!

Landscaping With Rocks
Landscaping with rocks is a fantastic way to add texture and beauty to your porch landscaping.

How to Install Landscape Lighting
Landscape lighting can be both functional and decorative.

Front Yard Landscape Designs
Transform your yard with the right landscape design

Porch Landscaping Architecture Basics

Is your home and porch formal or informal, traditional or contemporary, southwestern or a Cape Cod, tall and boxy, or short and angular?

Porch landscaping ideas on a country porch

Our porch landscaping ideas will help you enhance or downplay your home's architecture.

For example, if you have a formal brick, symmetrical colonial home, landscaping suggestions include manicured shrubs, a central path or walkway of brick, and period railings on your porch.

If you have a Cape Cod style home consider window boxes and/or planters attached to your porch railing and stone paths leading to the porch.

For more details on matching your home's architecture with your landscaping, see our Front Porch Guide.

If your house is symmetrical

plantings should match on either side of doors
continue matching as you move away from center or add a little variation the farther you go - make sure they are balanced
ensure plantings are geometrically arranged and trimmed

Symmetrical plantings

If your house is asymmetrical

balance is important but now balance plants with specific architectural features instead of with each other
create natural looking mixed plantings
ensure plantings are geometrically arranged and trimmed

If your house is

horizontally designed: use a low sheared hedge along the base.

tall and narrow: use columnar trees to accent its height

boxy: use large round trees

large: use deep foundation beds, a large tree to anchor a corner with a mix of evergreens and deciduous shrubs underneath

Porch landscaping ideas to highlight your porch and front door

Place taller plants on either side of the stairs or landing

If your doorway is symmetrical (light panels or matching lights on each side) match the plantings on each side

If your doorway is asymmetrical you have the option of either treating it formally (matching) or informally. Have plants one either side but vary them in color and type.

To attract attention to your porch use matching round or conical shrubs on either side.

To downplay the porch, use softer and taller plants such as a dogwood or vine maple to create a canopy effect

Not all porches need skirting along the entire run. If it is aesthetically pleasing you may opt to have some of it show. If not, use low shrubs to conceal it. Don't limit yourself to just the area immediately in front of your porch. Extending the plantings away from the porch can create a softer look. Also consider the shape. Rounding the beds will make it not only interesting but will also give it a professional look.

Flowering vines can be extend across your porch but understand they may be shaded by the eaves of your roof.

Pots are great. Choose ferns, impatiens, and other shade-loving plants. Hanging planters work well; include small vines and trailing plants. Choose large baskets to retain more moisture.

If your porch extends to a corner of your house, use peninsula beds that extend into the yard and create a sense of cohesiveness with the side yard.

Small porch landscaping ideas

Although larger porches are making a comeback, most newer homes only have a small porch or portico. Most are pretty bland and without great architectural features. Notoriously small city porches like the charming one depicted below (Boston brownstone apartments) have little space for landscaping.

Perhaps the only option is to create a space! There are many porch landscaping ideas that you can add to enhance the look of your small porch wherever it's located.

Inter-city porch with creative landscaping

For instance, you add an enclosed terrace beside your porch and have a great place for dining, a place to enjoy a glass of wine, or a secluded spot to read your favorite book!

Extend your small porch with an arbor and plant clematis to cover it. Not only will it be an inviting entrance to your home but fragrant as well.

Or, soften hard surfaces with potted plants of boxwood topiary and clematis. These porch landscaping ideas are really worth the extra effort.

A small porch has the advantage of cost savings; you'll be able to purchase more quality materials. Upgrade your door hardware, add antique light fixtures, and consider resurfacing the landing. Use stone, tile, or brick pavers. Small landings and stoops are great for patterned floors.

Install vine covered trellises, planters over your railings, hanging baskets, or clusters of evergreens.

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More Porch Landscaping Ideas!

Tie your home and porch visually to the surrounding landscape- give it personality.

Victorian porch landscaping

Make your porch welcoming with porch landscaping that draws attention with color, shape and textures

Block wind or noise from your porch with porch blinds or shades - you will be happy you did

Accentuate the positive and hide unsightly features like an old dilapidated building or your neighbor's rusting car.

Don't forget to light your landscaping. See our how to install landscape lighting section.

Check out our amazing walkway ideas. Keep walkways clear and control the water runoff.

When planting, keep in mind what the landscape will look like when it's fully grown - and how much care it will take.

If you love working in the yard, then fussy plants might be a good pick for you. Otherwise, pick plants, grasses and elements that are sturdy and low-maintenance. Photo at right courtesy of eklektick

Take advantage of Mother Nature to save you money like collecting water in rain barrels

Want a very innovative porch?

Landscaping ideas can include a beautiful water garden beside the porch!
Photo is courtesy of shlake.

Another great source for porch landscaping ideas are Bed and Breakfast Inn porches.

Bed and Breakfast Inn owners go to great lengths to ensure their landscaping complements the porch.

For example, take note of the landscaping and beautiful plants at the Prospect Hill Bed and Breakfast, SC., in our Bed and Breakfast section.

hanging basket on porch

Porch landscaping ideas should include hanging baskets. See our Hanging Basket section in the directory above to create exquisite hanging baskets and learn about other options like creating hanging gardens or placing them on plant stands instead.

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Tricia submitted the picture below to us and she shared her story about her new porch and beautiful landscaping.

Ideas from your own neighborhood are free and you might make some new friends that way, too. Consider taking a stroll around a yard and garden store or botanical gardens to get specific ideas for landscaping your porch. Purchasing plants at the end of seasons can save you a considerable amount.

In the picture above by contributing photographer Cynthia Davis, flower garden landscaping leads you to the porch steps. This landscaping makes the porch that more inviting.

Get professional gardening advice on flowers, plants, pests and more that will save you time and money from someone who has been in the business for over 30 years.

Ever thought of using bamboo?

Bamboo is great for your porch or landscaping. Bamboo Inspiration provides resources and guides on bamboo plants and gardening, bamboo crafts, bamboo clothing and bedding, bamboo flooring and furniture, bamboo fishing rods, and many more bamboo products for home, garden, sport, and hobbies. This web site promotes the versatility of bamboo and its uses around the world as an increasingly popular environmentally friendly renewable resource.

Porch landscaping ideas for you

Please send us your landscaping ideas and pictures of your landscaped yard and porch; we'd love to share them with others.

Don't forget to check out our entire porch and yard landscaping section!

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