Photo Gallery: Flowers in my Front Yard Garden

Several years ago, I convinced my husband that we should replace our front lawn with a front yard garden. It had been difficult to grow grass in our front yard for a number of reasons, including a lot of shade and competition with tree roots. We were constantly having to reseed and water the lawn to fill in bare patches, and the results were not worth the effort. I knew there had to be a better way.

In the spring of 2008, my husband and I set out to create our front yard garden. He did most of the work of digging up the sod and building a couple of paths as well as a raised bed near our porch, supported with a rock wall. We added a couple of yards of soil and I got to work planting a variety of hostas, perennials, groundcovers and some annuals.

Our front yard garden has continued to develop over the years, and we have received many compliments from neighbours - something that never happened when we had our grass! I find working in the garden to be very therapeutic and relaxing, and it is immensely satisfying to see the results of my labour. I have been fortunate to have been given many plants from friends and relatives who garden, and I always keep my eye out for new additions when the local garden centres have end-of-season sales.

The perennials and groundcovers continue to fill in more each year, and I enjoy the ever changing display from spring until fall. Some of my favourite flowers include: cosmos, daisies, daylilies, echinacea, liatris and hydrangea.

I have not once regretted our decision to remove all of the grass from our front yard and replace it with a garden. I would much rather spend my time pulling a few weeds and planting some annuals to fill in the bare spots than fighting a losing battle to try to maintain a lush, healthy lawn. Watching the changing display of flowers out our front window brings me a joy that a green lawn never could. I highly recommend it!