Practical Garden

If your front garden space is used for practical reasons. e.g. parking the car this should not signal the end of your front garden - there are plenty of gardening tricks which you can adopt to boost your garden's selling power.

Here is a sample planting plan for a practical garden. Move your cursor over the plan to see which plants are planted where and then click on the plant name to learn more about that particular plant - a new window will open up.

Using ground cover plants and containers placed in the non-driveway space are simple ways to enjoy your garden. Alternatively try separating the driveway from the rest of the garden with small trees or shrubs.

Lawned Garden

If you're one of the lucky people who have the luxury of space, then there is no excuse to leave your garden to fend for itself.

With a large garden area, there is opportunity to plant a mixture of bulbs, shrubs, ground cover plants and even small trees which will add variety, colour and texture.

Paved Garden

If you like the minimalist approach and prefer surfaces covered with gravel or paving then there is enormous scope to design an interesting front garden. This particular garden type allows you to be quite specific in the design, by choosing a symmetrical layout you could include climbing plants and wall shrubs.

It is worthwhile thinking about drainage when planting your front garden. You don't need planning permission to pave an area if the surface is porous or permeable.You can also improve soil drainage by adding bulky organic materials or grit to the soil, encouraging air to pass through it.

Container Garden

Even if you don't have a front garden there are still plenty of ways to use the available space to create positive first impressions. The most simple, low maintenance way to do this is with window boxes and containers placed either side of the front door.

You can also consider Rhododendron 'Praecox', Camelia 'Debbie', Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald'n'Gold' or Yucca gloriosa.

We hope you enjoy these design ideas. PlantforLife aims to help you get the most from your garden with gardening advice, information and inspirational ideas.