Flowering Shrubs for Front-Yard Landscaping

Your front yard is often the first impression people have of your home. And what better way to welcome visitors and friends into your space than with color and greenery?

Choosing the best flowering shrubs for your front yard landscaping means you need to find plants that complement your architectural style, design preferences, and climate. Thankfully, we are here to help you find the best flowering shrubs so you can turn your front yard into a colorful paradise.

How to Choose the Right Shrubs for Your Front Yard

Adding shrubs to your front yard can feel daunting, especially with so many options to choose from. Here are some of our tips and tricks for selecting the right shrubs to transform your front garden.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Shrubs for Your Front Yard

By evaluating factors like climate, soil, and maintenance, you can choose shrubs that perfectly complement your space. Here is what to keep in mind when looking for front yard shrubs:

Size: Consider the mature size of the shrubs rather than the nursery size. This will help you understand how much space they'll need when fully grown and how they'll impact the design of your landscape.
Climate: Choose shrubs that are well-suited to your region's climate. This will help prevent horticultural issues like dead or unhealthy plants due to adverse weather conditions.
Soil: The soil quality can greatly affect your shrubs' growth. Perform a soil test to check for nutrient levels, pH, and drainage conditions. You can purchase soil tests at a hardware store or perform a DIY test by collecting separate soil samples. You can select the most suitable shrubs for your yard based on the findings.
Maintenance: Determine the care requirements of the shrubs you're considering. Some shrubs, like azaleas, require pruning and sometimes a significant trim. Others may only need minimal attention to stay healthy. Consider how much time you have to spend on upkeep and choose flowering shrubs you can manage.

Popular Shrubs for Front Yard Landscaping

Here are some popular shrubs to consider for your front yard landscaping:

Azalea: The vibrant shades of azalea blooms add a pop of color to your yard and come in brilliant shades of red, pink, purple, orange, and pure white. These shrubs grow well in partial shade (never full sun) and must be pruned in the spring after flowering. Grow azaleas with hydrangeas, camellias, and other compatible plants for a bright, bursting front landscape. Browse Monrovia’s collection of azaleas here to find colorful varieties of this shrub.
Lilac: With mesmerizing fragrance and stunning blooms, the lilac is a popular choice for front yards. Once they bloom, lilacs will give you abundant clusters of sweet-smelling flowers complemented by heart-shaped foliage. These shrubs need full or partial sun and bloom mid-spring.
Hydrangea: Hydrangeas' large, pom-pom-like blooms are popular features in front yards. These shrubs come in mesmerizing colors, like lavender and soft pink. Hydrangeas do well on their own, as part of a large front yard garden, or right in the middle as a big, blooming centerpiece. There are many varieties of hydrangea you can explore to find what works best in your climate.
Weigela: Weigelas bring an old-fashioned beauty to your front yard landscape with their pink and red shades and dark leaves. These shrubs are easy to maintain and fairly adaptable, and they love hot summers. Explore different weigela varieties to find a plant that brings colors and attractive foliage to your landscape.

Matching Shrubs to Your Front Yard Design

To create a cohesive visual appeal in your front yard, you should choose shrubs that match your other plants and landscaping. Here are some of our tips to remember:

Color scheme: Select plants with colors that complement your home’s façade or other landscape elements like walkways and fountains. It'll create a visually harmonious appearance.
Height variation: Incorporate a mix of shrubs with different heights to add depth and dimension to your front yard landscape.
Architectural style: Choose shrubs that align with your home's architectural style to create a unified look. For instance, choose clean-lined hedges for a modern home or lush cottage garden shrubs (like Nitty Gritty roses) for a traditional property.

Add Visual Interest to Your Front Yard with Flower Bed Ideas

To enhance the beauty of your shrubs, consider adding flower beds in your yard for a colorful display. Flower beds allow you to express your creativity by combining different colors, textures, and sculptural plants to add visual interest to your property.

Flower Bed Ideas

Layered flower bed: Arrange plants in a layered fashion by keeping taller ones in the back, medium-sized plants in the middle, and shorter ones in the front. This arrangement effectively showcases all the plants and adds a sense of depth to your flower bed.
Border flower bed: Plant a row of flowers, spreading plants, or shrubs along walkways, driveways, or property boundaries. This flower bed design can create a clear border and visually tie various landscape elements together.
Island flower bed: An island flower bed is a free-form planting area surrounded by a lawn or pavement. This type of flower bed can become the focal point of your front yard or break up a large expanse of lawn. Island flower beds can also be great for creating pollinator gardens to attract friendly creatures to your space.

Small Front Garden Ideas

If you have limited space in your front yard, there’s no reason you still can’t create a colorful garden full of plant variety. Consider these ideas:

Vertical gardening: Use trellises, wall planters, or hanging baskets to grow climbing plants or flowers upwards, utilizing vertical space.
Container gardening: Plant shrubs or flowers in containers to save ground space and easily rearrange your landscape design as needed.
Multi-purpose elements: Incorporate landscape features that serve dual purposes, like benches with built-in planters or walls adorned with artistic succulent arrangements.

Wildlife Garden Ideas

If you want to transform your front yard into a haven for wildlife, consider these ideas:

Native plants: Determine which pollinator-friendly plants are right for your region. Then, plant as many as possible (together or in separate areas of your garden). This will help provide shelter and food sources for local insects, birds, and pollinators.
Bird-friendly features: Install birdhouses, bird baths, and feeders to invite feathered friends into your yard. If you’re interested in attracting hummingbirds, plant tubular flowers like honeysuckle, foxglove, and fuchsia.
Keep it natural: Avoid using any chemicals in your wildlife garden, especially insecticides.
Have fresh water: Consider setting up a bee watering station with a small bowl filled with rocks and water. Bees and butterflies will appreciate having a clean source of hydration.

Evergreen Shrubs for Your Front Yard

Evergreen shrubs remain green and have foliage for more than one growing season. If you want to add some lively green to your space that will last, here are some ideas:

Boxwoods: Boxwood shrubs add green and shape to your yard. From Green Mountains to small-leaved boxwoods, you can explore and trim plenty of varieties to create shapes that add a visual appeal to your space.
Yew: Yews are an excellent shrub for privacy screens or tall hedges. Their dense foliage is perfect as a foundation plant or placed in pairs at entryways.
Japanese Holly: Japanese Holly stays neat and green all year round. This compact shrub is similar in appearance to boxwood but is more shade-tolerant. Its dark green leaves provide a beautiful backdrop for other plants and flowers, and it grows well in both sun and shade, making it ideal for yards with varying levels of light exposure.

Flowering Evergreen Shrubs to Brighten Your Front Yard

To add some color to your front yard, consider these flowering evergreen shrubs:

Rhododendron: Rhododendrons are broadleaf evergreens known for their spectacular springtime blooms ranging from white to pink, red, and purple. They have attractive, dark green, leathery leaves that provide a stunning backdrop for other plants. Rhododendrons prefer well-draining soil and partial shade.
Camellia: Camellias are an elegant and classic choice for southern gardens, producing beautiful blooms throughout the winter months. They're available in various colors, including pink, red, and white. Camellias prefer acidic soil and partial shade to protect their delicate blooms from the harsh afternoon sun.
Daphne: Daphne shrubs are known for their fragrant blooms that appear in late winter to early spring. They feature clusters of small, star-shaped flowers that can vary from white to pink or purple, depending on the species. Daphne requires well-draining, fertile soil and prefers partial shade to thrive.

Full Sun Needed Shrubs for Your Front Yard

If you have a sunny front yard and need plants that can take the heat, here are some shrubs to consider:

Rose of Sharon: If you have a spot in full sun that needs a tall beauty, consider Monrovia’s Chateau Rose of Sharon. These shrubs bloom in colors like rose, blue-violet, clear pink, and white with a red-violet center. Depending on your climate zone, these shrubs can bloom from early summer to fall to keep your yard alive with color.
Forsythia: These deciduous shrubs burst into a vibrant display of yellow flowers, signaling the arrival of spring. The 'Meadowlark' is a full sun-needed forsythia variety with a compact growth habit, ideal for adding color to your front yard.
Lilacs: Famous for their fragrant flowers, lilacs add beauty and a delightful scent to your front yard. 'Miss Kim' is a popular full sun needed lilac variety, perfect for creating an elegant and aromatic statement in your landscape.

The Benefits of Planting Shrubs in Your Front Yard

Gardening with shrubs in your front yard carries numerous benefits for homeowners. Besides their visually appealing look, there are several advantages to incorporating shrubs in your landscape design:

How Shrubs Can Improve Your Curb Appeal

Planting shrubs in your front yard can significantly boost your home's curb appeal. Strategically set shrubs provide structure, color, and depth to your landscape design. Furthermore, well-maintained shrubs indicate a well-kept property, translating to a better market value for your home.

Shrubs are also natural privacy screens, creating a subtle barrier between your home and the street. This adds to your home's aesthetic value and provides a sense of safety for you and your family.

The Environmental Benefits of Planting Shrubs in Your Front Yard

In addition to their ornamental value, planting shrubs in your front yard can positively impact the environment. Shrubs help reduce erosion by stabilizing the soil with their root systems, decreasing the risk of soil degradation.

Shrubs also play a vital role in air purification by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Moreover, they provide food and shelter to various wildlife species, promoting biodiversity in your landscape.

The Health Benefits of Gardening with Shrubs in Your Front Yard

Working with shrubs in your front yard is a great reason to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. You’ll enjoy many benefits, including:

Physical Exercise: Gardening activities like planting, pruning, and maintaining shrubs contribute to moderate physical exercise. This can help improve your overall fitness and is a great way to enjoy the outdoors.
Stress Relief: Gardening with shrubs is a peaceful escape and can help relax your mind, reduce stress, and give you a sense of satisfaction for the landscape you’re caring for.
Educational: The more you work with shrubs, the more you learn. As you watch your plants progress each season and work to keep them healthy, you’ll be more educated about the natural world and its stunning beauty.

About Monrovia

For nearly 100 years, Monrovia has served as pioneers and craftsmen in the art of growing plants. We know that quality plants begin with selecting the best varieties to grow, so we work with breeders around the world to test plants before we sell them. We are focused on giving every plant what it needs to thrive so you can enjoy the fruits of our careful labor and consideration.

Whether you are a seasoned gardener or are just beginning your journey, we have something for you. Explore our Plantfinder tool to find the perfect plants for your climate. This tool considers different plant types, light needs, water needs, and landscape uses. Then, you can browse our wide selection of quality plants that are cultivated with care. Let us help you transform your space into an abundant, thriving landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the best bush to plant by a front door?

The best bush for your front door depends on climate, light exposure, and soil. Boxwoods, holly, and camellias are all popular front door shrubs.

Which shrubs are best for full sun?

Some popular full-sun shrubs include:

Lilacs
Butterfly bushes
Forsythia

Remember that the best shrub for your space depends on your local climate, so do your research before selecting the best plant.

What happens if you don’t trim boxwoods?

If you leave boxwoods untouched, they can grow unwieldy. Make sure to trim and prune your boxwoods to keep them in the desired shape.