Front garden: what to plant in front of the house, and how to plan it
A front garden shows all year from the street and the door, so its frame matters most: at least a third of the planted area should be evergreen or attractive in winter, with long-flowering perennials and spring bulbs between. Leave a 40 cm gravel strip along the house wall, plant at least 50 cm from the wall, and a tree at least 3 metres from it. The aspect decides the plants: drought-tolerant ones for a south or west-facing front garden, shade-tolerant ones for a north-facing one.
Updated: November 2, 2026 · Prices checked: October 26, 2026 · Data and prices from our plant database, worked out for your country. How our data is made
What makes a good front garden?
More people look at the front garden than at the back: whoever comes home, rings the bell or walks past. It shows in January just as in June, so a good front garden is not bare in winter. Its frame is evergreen shrubs, clipped balls and grasses that stand through winter; our garden planner accepts a plan only if at least a third of the planted area is like that.
Plant few kinds and repeat them: two or three that recur along the front garden (say balls on both sides of the door, a grass and a long-flowering perennial in drifts) look tidier and calmer than a dozen different plants dotted about. Keep the path to the door clear, with nothing hanging over it, and put nothing taller than the sill in front of a window.
By aspect
- South and west-facing: the house wall and the paving throw back the heat, so in summer this is the hottest, driest spot. It calls for drought-tolerant plants: lavender, sage, catmint, grasses, stonecrop, creeping juniper.
- East-facing: morning sun, afternoon shade; the easiest aspect, where most perennials and shrubs do well, hydrangeas included.
- North-facing: in the shadow of the house there is little sun all day. It needs plants for shade: evergreen ground covers, ferns, hostas, and shade-tolerant shrubs that also take limy soil.
- Limy soil is a given in many gardens of the region. Rhododendron, azalea and heather (Calluna) can go there only in a large hole filled with ericaceous compost, so they are rarely worth choosing for a front garden. Winter heath (Erica carnea) is the exception: it takes limy soil too.
The house wall, the path and the pipes
- Leave a 40 cm gravel strip along the house wall. Rain running off the roof falls there, and if plants and damp soil cover the foot of the wall, the plinth stays wet. Our garden planner plants nothing there and sets every plant at least 50 cm from the wall.
- Plant a shrub at least half its ten-year width from the wall, so it does not grow into it. A tree should stand at least 3 metres from the house wall: closer, in a dry summer its roots dry out the clay under the footings, the clay shrinks and the footings can sink and crack, and its crown fills the gutter.
- Beside a path or driveway, choose a tree whose roots do not lift the paving, and plant no strongly suckering shrub near it. Keep at least 1.5 metres from the paving too.
- Before digging, find out where the water, gas, sewer and electricity lines run; plant no tree or large shrub over them. The green strip outside the fence is public land: ask the local council before planting there, and plant nothing that hangs over the pavement.
A small tree for the front garden
A small tree gives the front garden its high point, shades the house wall in summer and gives shape in winter too. Do not put it in front of the middle of the house but beside the door or in a corner of the front garden, so it does not block a window. The small trees below have roots that do not lift paving, and they do not sucker.
- Final height
- 4–8 m
- Width
- 4–8 m
- From the house, at least
- 5 m
- Limy soil
- uncertain
- Price per plant
- €11 – €350
- Final height
- 3–8 m
- Width
- 2.4–6 m
- From the house, at least
- 4 m
- Limy soil
- takes it
- Price per plant
- €23 – €270
- Final height
- 4.5–6 m
- Width
- 3–4.5 m
- From the house, at least
- 3.5 m
- Limy soil
- does not
- Price per plant
- €15 – €1,300
- Final height
- 5–8 m
- Width
- 4–6 m
- From the house, at least
- 4 m
- Limy soil
- takes it
- Price per plant
- €26 – €110
- Final height
- 4–8 m
- Width
- 4–8 m
- From the house, at least
- 5 m
- Limy soil
- takes it
- Price per plant
- €32
- Final height
- 3–5 m
- Width
- 1.5–3 m
- From the house, at least
- 3 m
- Limy soil
- uncertain
- Price per plant
- €200
- Final height
- 4–7.5 m
- Width
- 3–7 m
- From the house, at least
- 4.5 m
- Limy soil
- takes it
- Price per plant
|
Tree
|
Final height
|
Width
|
From the house, at least
|
Limy soil
|
Price per plant
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Japanese maple 'Atropurpureum'
Deciduous
|
4–8 m | 4–8 m | 5 m | uncertain | €11 – €350 |
|
Seven-son flower
Deciduous
|
3–8 m | 2.4–6 m | 4 m | takes it | €23 – €270 |
|
Star magnolia
Deciduous
|
4.5–6 m | 3–4.5 m | 3.5 m | does not | €15 – €1,300 |
|
|
5–8 m | 4–6 m | 4 m | takes it | €26 – €110 |
|
|
4–8 m | 4–8 m | 5 m | takes it | €32 |
|
|
3–5 m | 1.5–3 m | 3 m | uncertain | €200 |
|
Chinese hawthorn
Deciduous
|
4–7.5 m | 3–7 m | 4.5 m | takes it |
The distance from the house is the tree's own figure, but at least 3 metres, as our garden planner plants it. The price runs from the smallest to the largest tree on sale in your country: a young tree costs a fraction of a large, finished one. Where it is empty, that tree is not on offer in your country at the moment. In a garden with limy soil, choose only a tree marked “takes it” in the table: Japanese maple and star magnolia, for example, want acid soil. You find a wider choice in the small ornamental trees list, and those for beside paving in small trees for beside paths and paving.
Layout: tall at the back, low at the front
- If the front garden lies between the house and the fence, put the taller plants along the inside of the fence, towards the street, and the low ones in front of the house, under the windows. That way the house does not disappear behind the plants.
- Without a fence, the front garden reads as one piece from the street: the taller plants stand towards the house wall and the low ones towards the street, as in a border.
- Put a clipped ball or small column on each side of the door: it frames the entrance and is the least work of any decoration. Yew clipped into a ball and dwarf mountain pine are the safest; on acid or neutral soil Japanese holly works too, or choose from the low hedge plants.
- If you need screening from the street, a low hedge of 80-120 cm along the inside of the fence is enough; a tall hedge turns the front garden into a dark, narrow corridor.
With little work
- Choose low-maintenance shrubs and perennials: they need cutting back once a year.
- Cover the soil between plants with 5-7 cm of mulch or gravel, and larger empty patches with ground cover plants: weeding then shrinks to a few sessions a year. The guide to ground covers shows which one goes where.
- The lawn is the most work in a front garden: rather than small, narrow strips of grass, have one continuous bed and a paved path.
- If you water, lay a drip line between the plants under the mulch: in the full sun in front of a house it saves the most water and time.
A plan from a photo
Take a photo of the front garden from the street or the door, and our garden planner draws a plan onto it with plants that suit your spot. It asks whether the wall behind the bed is the house wall: if so, it works by the rules above (gravel strip, 50 cm from the wall, tree beyond 3 metres, no hedge in front of the wall). The plan comes with quantities, prices and pictures of the 1st, 3rd and 5th summer.
Sources
The advice rests on these expert pages and laws, adapted to Central European winters and soils. The tables come from our own plant database.
- Nemzeti Jogszabálytár: 280/2024. (IX. 30.) Korm. rendelet a településrendezési és építési követelmények alapszabályzatáról (50. §)
- Natur im Garten: Bäume für den Hausgarten
- RHS: Front gardens: planting
More guides
How to plan a garden, step by step
A garden is best planned in six steps: survey the site (light, soil, water, winter), decide what you will use it for, set the framework that still shows in winter, then lay out the border in layers, tall at the back and low at the front. Choose plants so that something flowers from spring to autumn, and finally work out the number of plants and the cost from the planting distances. Our garden planner works by the same rules.
Fast-growing hedges: how much each grows in a year
The fastest hedge plant is the Leyland cypress, growing about 90 cm a year, followed by cherry laurel 'Novita', firethorn and western red cedar at about 50 cm a year, then privet at 40 cm. How long a 180 cm hedge takes to screen depends more on the size of plant you buy: several years from small plants, one or two summers from large ones, but at many times the price per metre. The tables use the current shop prices in your country.
Ground cover plants against weeds: which goes where, and how many you need
A ground cover keeps weeds out once it has closed up: until then, usually for two or three summers, it needs mulch and weeding. Under trees and in shade, lesser periwinkle, bigroot geranium, barrenwort and barren strawberry do best; in sunny, dry places stonecrops, thymes and creeping junipers. Most perennial ground covers take 9-18 plants per square metre. The tables work out what a square metre costs at today's shop prices in your country.
Planting a hedge: how many plants per metre, and what it costs
Most hedge plants go in at 2-4 plants per metre: Leyland cypress 2, cherry laurel and photinia 2.5 (40 cm apart), yew 3, hornbeam 3.5, privet and beech 4. The plants go in one row, 80 cm from the fence, in autumn or early spring. What the hedge costs depends most on the size of the plants: the table works it out at today's shop prices in your country, for the length of your own hedge.
Building a rock garden: stone, soil and plants step by step
A rock garden belongs on a sunny, gentle slope, in lean, free-draining soil: one third garden soil, one third coarse sand, one third crushed stone. Lay the stones, all of one kind, in layers leaning the same way and sunk a third to a half into the ground, so that about two fifths of the surface is stone. Four to six plants per square metre are enough: creeping junipers and grasses make the frame, and between them cushion perennials, stonecrops and thymes flower from March to October.
A perennial border that flowers all summer: plants, layout, numbers
A perennial border flowers from spring to autumn when its backbone is long-flowering perennials that bloom from June to September (catmint, woodland sage, coneflower, yarrow, Russian sage, gaura), with bulbs around them for spring and Japanese anemone, sedum and asters for autumn. Plant in groups of 3-7, tall at the back, low at the front; on average you need 5-7 plants per square metre. The calendars show the hardy perennials for a sunny spot that shops in your country sell most widely, with the price per plant.
Planting and pruning hydrangeas: which to cut back when
For pruning, hydrangeas fall into two groups. Panicle and smooth hydrangeas (such as 'Annabelle') flower on this year's shoots: cut them back to 25-60 cm in February or March. Bigleaf and mountain hydrangeas flower from buds that grew last year: in spring take off only the faded flowers, or they will not flower that year. Plant in autumn or spring, with plenty of water; for limy soil choose panicle or smooth hydrangea, as bigleaf hydrangea wants acid or neutral soil and afternoon shade.
Planting tulips, daffodils and crocuses: when, how deep, how many
Spring-flowering bulbs go in in autumn: daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths from September to October, tulips from October to November, until the ground freezes. A bulb goes two to three times its own height deep (tulips and daffodils about 12-15 cm, crocuses 8-10 cm), tip up, at least twice its width from the next. Between perennials, 20 small, 8 medium and 4 large bulbs per square metre are enough. After flowering, leave their leaves on for six weeks.
Planting and pruning lavender: when, where, how much to cut
Lavender wants a sunny spot and loose, free-draining soil, and likes limy soil too; plant it in spring, in April or May, 30-45 cm apart for a hedge. Prune it twice a year: in spring, in late March or April once hard frosts are over, cut the shoots back by about two thirds, but always only into green, leafy growth; after flowering, in late July or August, take off the faded flower stalks with the top 2-3 centimetres of leaves, shaping a dome. Never cut into the bare, woody part, as lavender does not regrow from it. English lavender and 'Hidcote' survive hard winters, lavandin is a little more tender, and French lavender takes only mild winters.