Front Gardens are often overlooked and end up as somewhere to park the car or dump the wheelie bins. However, they can be as attractive as a back garden given a little imagination and plant knowledge.
The brief for this front garden in Hitchin was to make it very low maintenance but enhance the house and create a contemporary feel. The existing sloping path was to stay and the new design used a mixture of hard landscaping 
materials to echo the colours of the house. The orange of the cedar cladding was used in a sandstone circle and the blue grey of the paintwork used in the planting of the hebes and grasses.
The garden sloped up towards the house and had previously been an overgrown area with no structure. The design levelled the garden into two new sections which were much easier to maintain and access than before. The end result was a 
more open and airy space that complemented and reflected the age of the house.
The planting that was specified used strong colour and texture, mass planting of ferns sitting next to areas of blue grass. My favourite grass that I used in this garden was one called Helictotrichon Sempervirens. It’s an easy evergreen so needs little attention and grows to about 1.5 meters in height. I love it’s open shape in high summer and the way it moves in the wind.
Karen Tizzard Garden Design 