Carve out a garden, use pachysandra to fill in some nice perrenials. Use as much of the front yard this way as you can stand. It'll take the pachysandra a few years to really fill in, but it's great once it takes hold.

+++1
way easier to maintain perennials than a lawn! That's why we're planting more bulbs and shrubs every year. As soon as DC no longer needs grass, its gone!

Think native perennial plants, and give over as much lawn to plants as you can (I don't know if you have an HOA). They don't usually need to be watered or fertilized and they are usually mannerly. The lack of plants in this area is seriously depressing.

Anonymous wrote:^ which is?

tall fescue

Let grass grow tall. It won't need as much water. I let my grass grow to 4-5inches tall before mowing. The cuttings get mulched back onto the lawn and I've yet to fertilize once.

We put in some zinnias last summer and they did great. Beautiful flowers all summer long with zero maintenance except for occasionally trimming off the dead flowers. We also have some liriope (the kind that doesn't spread, DO NOT GET THE SPREADING KIND) and it's zero maintenance except cutting it back in the early spring.

^ which is?

We almost never water our grass and cut it only once a week. I think the trick is the right kind of grass for our hot summers.

Anonymous



lawn....and then, more lawn.

Lawns are pretty maintenance heavy. Just water and cutting is 2-3 times a week plus seeding, etc., lot of work. A bed of shrubs is maybe a mulch, prune, and weed 2-3 times a year.

I love love houzz, but I found the landscaping photos lacking. Maybe I will try some other searches. Thanks for the suggestions, though!

lawn....and then, more lawn.

Get dwarf landscaping plants and bushes, they don't grow larger than a certain size.

try houzz.com for ideas. just enter in you r key words and i'm sure you'll find good ideas. dangerous site!

I'm terrible at yard maintenance so I'm looking for low-maintenance but nice looking front yard landscaping suggestions. We have a center hall colonial with large portico and approx 50 foot wide by 25 foot deep front yard. We also have curved bay windows on the first floor. We have one large-ish tree off to the side.