Customer Reviews

The Front Garden: New Approaches to Landscape Design

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When Mary Riley Smith's THE FRONT GARDEN was published in 1991, it became an instant hit with me. Other writers have jumped into the subject since then, but Riley's book retains the freshness of relatively new and creative original ideas. I began my front garden over 20 years ago, when we moved into a seven-year old house here in Arlington that sat back from the street on a narrow lot. The front yard is much bigger than the back yard, and it pained me to see all the wasted space. The front yard received much sunlight, the back is in shade. Anyone with a desire to grow most of the perennials available in these times knows, that most of them do better in sunshine.

So, when the dogwood badly planted in the hot sun succumbed to borers, to the amazement of our conventional neighbors, we rototilled the front yard and created a huge swath of flowers and shrubs. I used many of the ideas in my own head (for better or worse) until I found Smith's book.

Although "only" a paperback, the book includes many stunning photos of gardens in the front yard--along driveways, beside houses, next to porches. Best of all Smith includes some simplistic designs (what every new gardener needs) showing various plants for your geometric or herb or vegetable garden. Did I say vegetable? Yes, indeedy. I grow hot peppers, beans, and last year melons in raised beds. We have a terraced garden made from timbers sitting in the middle of the front yard where you are likely to see tulips in the spring and beans later on. This year, if you pass by, you will see purple peppers in the petunias (ornamental veggies are the "in" plant).

I've noticed over the years that my neighbors are filling in their wasted spaces (front yards) with flowers and veggies. The kindest comments of all come from the passersby who stop to admire the garden and go away with a smile. One woman said "Thank you for opening up your garden to the street."

I purchased this for ideas on planting a front yard garden to supplement the back yard garden. While the author advises building raised front yard garden beds, there is no advice for the length/width of the beds. I google researched and am now building 4 raised beds made of plain wood. Don't use treated lumber as the chemicals leech into the soil around your vegetables and flowers. I google researched more and free standing beds that can be walked all the around should not be more than 5' wide or it is impossible to lean over and weed/plant. If a person cannot walk fully around the beds as in against a fence or house, plant them wide enough to reach into the farthest area unless you want to climb into the raised garden box.

This book details the historical past of front gardens from colonial times to their reemergence today. People interested in saving grocery money will like the idea. The author seems a little naive when she speaks about privacy fences being 6' tall as most city codes limit the height to 4' in a front yard-garden or not. Planting tall hedges in front or behind the fence solves that problem as there is no height limits on plants although then the issue of too much shade or burglar ideal conditions may occur.

A picture is worth a thousand words and a lot of time her pictures offer more advice as to how to go about your front garden than the printed word.

Still, this book will inspire you to plant that front garden, install that sidewalk and get that curb appeal. The pictures are gorgeous.

If my pesky HOA didn't object, I'd have a front garden without any grass at all. As is, I ripped out all the non-native Bermuda and planted Texas Buffalo grass. Sigh...I still wish I could make that wonderful transition to a full yard Texas style Cottage Garden using all native Texas plants.

This book gave me a lot of ideas on how to install my cottage garden but still maintain the "lawn" for the HOA goons who don't seem to understand the benefits of less water/fertilizer/pesticide use.

I like the book because it shows a lot of photos where plantings other than grasses can be installed not only in front yards but also side yards and the "inferno strip" between the yard and the sidewalk. Including vegetable plants among the perennials is a wonderful and quirky touch that is surprisingly pleasing to the eye and is a wonderful way to fill in bare spots and reap great rewards at harvest time too.

If you're searching for new ideas to revamp that boring front garden lawn, this book is full of inspiriation.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this is more of a photo book than a reference or how-to book. There are some great ideas, but if it was merely going to be a photo book of ideas then they should have included more photos.