Summary: Landscaping a small front yard can be tricky. It is usually best to keep the small front garden simple, and to carefully select a garden design that will be in harmony with the architecture of the house.
Treatment of a small front yard is controversial subject. The one on the plan is thirteen feet deep. A depth of up to twenty feet would look spacious in a city yard, because the fronts of adjoining city houses usually present a continuous facade and the preponderance of high buildings and masses of masonry tend to magnify every little bit of green. In the suburbs, however, there are open thoroughfares, trees, and space between dwellings, and the unenclosed front lot shrinks in consequence. There is a tendency to dot these little areas with posies of annuals, perennials, or small flowering shrubs, and often the result is so spotty that it detracts from the dignity of the approach. It is usually most satisfactory to keep the small front garden design very simple, and to study carefully the kind of treatment that will be most in harmony with the architecture of the house.
In the garden under discussion, dwarf to medium box-leaf holly (Ilex crenata convexa) is suggested for the two small shrubs to the right of the door. This is a rich evergreen, and it will grow in the shade of the maple. These two plants, with a ground cover, will give a little dressing to this side of the house, which is all that is needed. A quantity of plants here would compete with the maple and clutter the design.
The plant on each side of the door is one of the rock cotoneasters, trained in a low espalier against the wall. This plant has a great deal of character, and the red berries are attractive. If the climate is too severe for cotoneaster, a medium-spreading juniper can be used.
At the corner, next to the garage, the orange-berried firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea lalandi) would be handsome espaliered to the wall. It has a northern limit of hardiness roughly below the midwestern states and Massachusetts, except in coastal sections. Beyond this limit, Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) would be excellent for this corner. Boston ivy clings tightly to a wall by means of little appendages, and the color of the autumn foliage is wonderful. The self-supporting climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris) is another possibility. Its foliage is more massive than that of Boston ivy. In a sunny location, its white flowers are handsome. (Neither of these vines is suitable for painted or frame walls; for these, a vine grown on a removable support should be used.)
Baltic ivy, pachysandra, and periwinkle (Vinca minor) are all suitable ground covers for the space between the shrubs in the little strips of planting in front of the house. Baltic ivy is smaller-leafed and hardier than English ivy. It is also less luxuriant, and this would be an advantage here. It is to be preferred over the other ground covers mentioned, because it would flatten itself against the base of the wall and send shoots up it. Any tendency of these ground cover plants to become invasive and smother the shrubs could easily be controlled in such a small space.
Grass would be a nagging chore in the remainder of the front garden, and it would not grow under the maple. One answer would be to surface the area with crushed stone or gravel of a color that harmonizes with the house, and to continue with this material in the space between the evergreens and the house on the north side. Weeds could be controlled easily with a weed killer. Another solution would be to plant solidly with an evergreen ground cover. If English ivy were hardy in the area, its heavier growth would make it superior to Baltic ivy. There will be virtually no traffic on the north side of the house, but stepping stones could be placed amongst the ground cover if desired.
