7 Ideas to Improve Your Driveway Landscape
Your driveway may not be the most exciting detail of your home’s exterior, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore it. A driveway can welcome you home and set the tone of your house’s style.
Looking for a way to boost your curb appeal? Giving your driveway a bit of attention can be the quick facelift your exterior needs. It’s also ideal if you want to do an exterior renovation on a budget.
This often forgotten feature is ideal for showing off some landscaping creativity. These seven driveway landscape ideas might be the transformation you’ve been looking for.
1. Tiered Gardens
If you’re looking for a space-saving option for driveway landscaping, consider a tiered garden. A tiered garden uses planter boxes or cement blocks to create layers of plants or flowers.
You can build these planters custom to have as many tiers as you want. For most homes, two or three tiers are the ideal height. However, if you have a hill, you can use a retaining wall to create more layers.
Line the length of your driveway with the planters or stones. You can add landscaping plants and ground cover for greenery. Or add some color with perennial and annual flowers. Vining plants that fall over the tiers will look lush.
2. Tree Canopy
Imagine gorgeous, tall trees lining the driveway as you drive up to your home. Emulate the look of the old South with a tree canopy over your driveway. This is a dramatic look that will make your home feel grand.
It will take a few years for trees to mature to their full size. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have trees lining your driveway.
Choose wide-canopy trees to give your driveway the aboveground shade. Great wide-canopy trees for your driveway include maples, Chinese elms, and birch trees.
You can also add colors by choosing ornamental trees that will bloom in the spring. Magnolias, cherry blossoms, and smoke trees offer stunning flowers.
3. Bursting with Colorful Flowers
Of course, you don’t have to plant trees to get the colorful look of flowers. Allow a flower garden to welcome you home as you pull into your driveway. Line the length of your driveway with tons of flowers.
Instead of planting bulbs or packs of flowers, choose flowering ground cover to give that bursting look. Ground cover will give that tightly packed look and are less maintenance than a flower garden.
Creeping Phlox comes in pink, white, red, lavender, and blue. Common periwinkle and thyme can give gardens pink and purple shades. Add yellow with Angelina sedum. Snow-in-summer will provide bright white blooms.
4. Neat Potted Plants
Maybe the wild look isn’t for you. Maybe your style is neater and more orderly. Maybe you’re looking for a quick landscaping renovation. In that case, ground cover probably isn’t for you. Instead, try neat potted plants lining your driveway.
Choose large, oversized planters and place them equidistant from each other down the length of your driveway. This will give a symmetrical style that looks great outside modern and contemporary homes.
Potted palms are a great option to add a lively look to the exterior of your home. Crotons, coleuses, and caladiums are a great way to add a pop of color. For a posh look, consider neatly trimmed topiary plants like boxwood, yew bush, and Japanese holly shrubs.
5. Go Greenery
Want a classic option that will always look good? Simple green shrubbery can be one of the biggest driveway improvements. Shrubs and bushes can be used as a border to help define your driveway. They also provide privacy.
There are a variety of shrub options to choose from. Shrubs like juniper and boxwood are evergreen, so they’ll provide greenery year-round. Tall shrubbery like Vicary privet, sumac, and dogwood add privacy.
Shrubs and bushes take a bit more maintenance than other front yard plants. They often have to be trimmed to maintain their appearance.
6. Gravel and Low Maintenance
Do you want to spend weekends trimming bushes or watering plants? That’s not every homeowner’s idea of a good time. If your landscaping plan doesn’t involve a lot of maintenance, you have a few options.
Instead, opt for gravel and low-maintenance plants. Gravel makes a plant bed look finished when there are sparse plants. It also provides the kind of soil that many low-maintenance plants prefer.
These plants will require little water and trimming to maintain their appearance. Succulents, cacti, agave, and sedum are great for yards that get a lot of sun and are drought-prone.
Ajuga, caladium, Persian shields, and hostas are all great options for shady backyards.
7. Center Garden
If you have a driveway that leads to space in front of your home, you have the unique opportunity to get creative with your landscape design. With the extra space, you can create a center garden.
This will create a circular driveway that allows you to drive around a central garden. Use landscaping stones to create the shape in the center of your driveway.
You can use this space as a large planter and get creative with landscape design. Add a water feature like a fountain or pond. Use plants to dress up that center garden. A tall tree in the center of the garden can be a grand statement.
Driveway Landscape Ideas to Transform Your Home
As you drive up to your home, do you feel welcome? Does your exterior feel warm and inviting? Whether you think about it or not, your driveway is a major factor in your home’s exterior style.
Landscaping can be a budget-friendly way to decorate a driveway and boost curb appeal. These driveway landscape ideas can help you give your home a transformation without an entire renovation.
Bayside is dedicated to providing premium landscaping design. We’re excited to work with you to create your ideal home exterior. Contact our experts to schedule a consultation or request a quote today!
